Hello allI currently have an i7-930 (OC to 3.5Ghz), 8Gb 1333MHz RAM, and an ATI HD5770 GPU. I do not use third party airport scenery, nor do I use any form of AI aircraft. Autogen is Low, and Scenery density on Dense. I have applied *******' tweaking tool. I would expect solid performance.Using PMDG 744X at a scenery intensive stock airport such as Heathrow or JFK, I get good FPS using an external limiter set at 30. Flying in the cruise, I always get >30fps. My problem comes when Activesky draws an overcast or slightly more complex cloud formation. This SIGNIFICANTLY hits my FPS when on the ground with very large stutters, sometimes to the extent that it is barely usable. I have limited clouds to 3 layers in Activesky and have one-notch down from full coverage set in FSX.I understand that ATI cards are not good with clouds. I have installed the Shader 3.0 mod which has not entriely helped. My question is - would swapping out my GPU for a 1Gb nVidia GTX460SE improve my performance when on the ground in cloudy skies?Greatful for any experience or insight. The GTX 550ti is also an option. Anything greater than this or a GTX460 is getting too pricey for me.Another question I have is: I currently have AA and AF set within FSX and CCC set to Application Preference. Do I understand correctly that this is the best way with *******' tweaks? Either way, it makes a limited difference when setting these in CCC.Thanks in advance.Rob

Hi Rob,I'm in a similar situation as you, although I do have a little more horsepower (see sig). I have a 6970 and experience the same problem. Things are fine until you get into moderate to heavy clouds, also using ASE. I found two things that have worked for me:1. Turn AA down to 2x, problem is it really dosn't look very nice. Must be set using the CCC, not in FSX obviously.2. Turn water to a max of 1x High. Anything greater than that and the FPS take a beating in clouds. With water at 1x High I can keep AA set at 4x and stay locked at 30 fps. This is with lots of eye candy and most sliders full right. You could try those first before buying another card.On Sunday I reinstalled everything, Win7 and up, and can confirm there was no change with performance. I thought the problem may have been because I was playing with FSWater Configurator at one point, and it may have messed with the shader 3 mod, although the shader mod wasn't installed at that time. I think it comes down to ATI cards, higher AA settings, and clouds in FSX. Good thing is, you don't have to pull your hair out looking for an alternative, it's pretty simple, Nvidia.Glen

Hi Rob,I'm in a similar situation as you, although I do have a little more horsepower (see sig). I have a 6970 and experience the same problem. Things are fine until you get into moderate to heavy clouds, also using ASE. I found two things that have worked for me:1. Turn AA down to 2x, problem is it really dosn't look very nice. Must be set using the CCC, not in FSX obviously.2. Turn water to a max of 1x High. Anything greater than that and the FPS take a beating in clouds. With water at 1x High I can keep AA set at 4x and stay locked at 30 fps. This is with lots of eye candy and most sliders full right. You could try those first before buying another card.On Sunday I reinstalled everything, Win7 and up, and can confirm there was no change with performance. I thought the problem may have been because I was playing with FSWater Configurator at one point, and it may have messed with the shader 3 mod, although the shader mod wasn't installed at that time. I think it comes down to ATI cards, higher AA settings, and clouds in FSX. Good thing is, you don't have to pull your hair out looking for an alternative, it's pretty simple, Nvidia.Glen

Thanks for that Glen. Glad to know im not alone (actually thats quite selfish of me - im sorry im not the only one! :) )I just bit-the-bullet and ordered myself a GTX 460. I dont fancy turning any scenery settings down as the FPS drop is so intermittent. I would hate to lose out on the lovely 2.x water textures when flying around say Greece in summer skies! I think i can claw back £50-60 on my 5770 if I offload it through a certain online auction site. It was the GPU that came with my new system when i purchased it 10 months ago. Outlay for this upgrade is then c.£75. If it solves this issue, I think it will be money well spent.CheersRob

Thanks for that Glen. Glad to know im not alone (actually thats quite selfish of me - im sorry im not the only one! :) )I just bit-the-bullet and ordered myself a GTX 460. I dont fancy turning any scenery settings down as the FPS drop is so intermittent. I would hate to lose out on the lovely 2.x water textures when flying around say Greece in summer skies! I think i can claw back £50-60 on my 5770 if I offload it through a certain online auction site. It was the GPU that came with my new system when i purchased it 10 months ago. Outlay for this upgrade is then c.£75. If it solves this issue, I think it will be money well spent.CheersRob

Aaaaannndddd.... the power hungry lil bugger (GTX 460) wiped out my PSU. So much for a cheap upgrade!