I'm thinking of buing a new graphic card, mainly to improve my AA and AF settings, as they and resolution have the major influence on my performance, especially in heavy weather (complex cloud settings).Would a good GPU improve performance with high AA and AF settings or are those CPU dependent?Wolfgangedited, because I forgot to mention my current sys specsP4 2.4 Ghz512 DDRGeForce 3 Ti200Win XP Pro

Good QuestionThe GPU is really what determines AF and AA performance. I noticed that right away going from a GeF 2 to a GeF 4, all other things being equal. AA certainly had less of an impact in MSFS, especially COF... I don't know what the impact of the GPU would be if you have a card on the level of the 4200 and chose to jump to one of the high-end Radeons or Nvidia cards... As for heavy weather, I still think more than a gpu, the best gift you can give your system would be Chris Willis' great cloud set. Like a newer gpu, the set increased the level and density of clouds I could have without an impact on performance...I could not go back to simming without AA and AF.... Take a look at the screenshots forum, and look a couple of days back for my Piaggio 166 post. And those shots were taken with a '4200, and I was still crankin' along at 25 fps...-John

Hi John,thanks for you reply. It took me a few days to answer, bacause our newly arrived baby son keeps us busy and I'm more into my family at the moment.Your comments were very helpful as allways. I now know, that I will go for a new graphic card. BTW I allready use chis' cloud sets.These shots of the Piaggio and the new water textures are really impressive. Does your textures still look so good, when you are in motion? Mine are also pretty ok (not as good as yours though) when I stop the sim, but during flying I get those infamous flickering and shimmering, baceus I have set my AA and AF to 2x only for performance reasons. BTW, do you use RivaTuner? What stages and levels have you ticked in the AF optimize tab? I never know what I choose there - actually I do not quite undesrtand this options.Wolfgang

Yes, FSAA is pretty much a function of the GPU. ATI is very strong in this area.........TonyDigital-Flight

I do use Rivatuner.... I just leave the AA and AF set to 2...I usually run with a LOD of -.5 (after applying Rivatuner's patch to my 30.82 drivers)... The water looks very good while moving.... If you are seeing a lot of flickering and shimmering, one thing to look at is whether your LOD is adjusted too far in the negative range. I get some flickering and shimmering, but not a lot... Taking the LOD too far into the negative range can increase perceived flickering and shimmering...-John

>Yes, FSAA is pretty much a function of the GPU. ATI is very>strong in this area.........Agreed. The gpu is really the player here. High end ATI and Nvidia cards will match up almost equally until you turn on AA and AF. At that point the ATI cards really pull away.