Advise needed...

[Guest Glaudrung]

ok,Most of the time I am the last guy on earth to ask advise on something but now I really need some serious background.For the moment, I'm running Fs9 on a P4 2.5 with 1Gb mem, G4 Fx5600 with 256 Mb and 8x AGP. A second monitor is attached to a G4 Mx440 and deals with secondary panels such as radio or throttle and since both cards can use the same driver they run in perfect harmony.I want to spent some serios cash on an upgrade for my main graph. card and I really would like to buy an ATI. Type or brand is not yet decided but before I part with that kind of money I want to be sure (beyond any doubt) that I can run both the ATI and the G4. Normally I would change the G4 too but I can't seem to find a PCI-card of the ATI.Is there anybody who has has been there and would pass their knowledge on? I know that most highend cards can run two monitors but I find the loss of framerate too big an issue so I prefer the two cards instead of one.Luc 'Glaudrung' BrusselmansBelgium

[Guest daveg4otu]

I'm just a little surprised that you anticipate a frame rate problem running dual monitors off one AGP card.When I added the second monitor to my Ti4200 ,I found that by using it for such things as the GPS and Autopilot panels ,as well as running Servinfo on it,my fps on the main monitor actually went up . I can run at a steady 25fps(locked) most of the time on a system not at all as sophisticated as yours.(AMD XP2000,K7S5A,512MBDDRAM, Ti4200, WinXP,FS2004).Prior to adding the secondary monitor frame rates were at least 10% worse when using GPS etc.Dave

[Guest Glaudrung]

Dave,to be honest, I never achieve framerates of 25 but I really like to max out those sliders. One slider I really know to be framerate killer is the mesh scenery.I use it always at 100% because I use the FsGenesis mesh scenery from day one and that is a great improvement to the default mesh. But I have to give up on those FR as a tradeoff. Now I am not complaining because 20 is acceptable but I am afraid that a second monitor on my main card is going to decrease those 20 to an unacceptable 14 or lower.I must confess though I have never tried it with my Fx5600 and Fs9.With my previous card (asus Ti4600 128 Mb 4xAGP) it didn't work out and I went back to my dual card setup.Maybe I should try it once more now that I have a Fx5600.Thanks anywayLuc 'Glaudrung' BrusselmansBelgium

[Guest daveg4otu]

LucIt's got to be worth a try- nothing to lose anyway.I'm probably less hard on the settings than you are - run mostly at about 80% on a 1280-960 resolution .I have maxed all on occasions without to much difference,but as I do most of my flying online I tend to go for stabilty and a "reasonable" performance.Please post the results of your try - it would be interesting to know how you get on.Dave

[Bill Womack 7]

Hello Luc,For another option, you might do what I did a while back. I had an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro for my main card and wanted to add another, so I looked on Ebay and found a perfectly acceptable Radeon 7200 PCI card that could share the Catalyst drivers with my 9700. Since I'm not using it for displaying 3D, I get no performance problems and it works great for running 2D windows like instruments, FSNavigator and the like. Also, because it's not even remotely state-of-the-art, I bought the 7200 for something like $39 US -- a real deal. It's just a thought for another way you might proceed. Good luck!thanks,

[Guest Glaudrung]

Well, to answer both replies in one go:- I have tried the two monitors - one card option today but with not much of a difference. On one or two occasions (different locations) there was a small gain in FR to be noticed but not that much to really make a difference (neither good or bad). Since I have no ATI card I can't find out if that chip is better in handeling two monitors or not. What I do know is that the ATI seems to be coping with AA better than the G4 and in that respect I guess it is wouldnt be a bad bet to go for a radeon.And this brings me to the second reply.If I can find an older ATI-based card (pci version) that will work with the latest catalyst drivers, I think (no, I am sure) that will be the way to go to keep my two-card setup.Just finding one will not be that easy here in Belgium I guess.I will sart looking though right away. Maybe santa is going to bring me some goodies if I ask nicely...lolthanks Luc 'Glaudrung' BrusselmansBelgium

[Guest Glaudrung]

Well,Today was D-day. I spent some serious cash to upgrade my pc. Bought a new 480W powersupply and I am not easyly convinced but that upgrade alone was worth my trip into town. I really can recommend those powersupplies from Ant-tec. Silence, stable, heavyduty cables...But to top it all, I bought myself a real killer in the ATI 9800pro.I know it is not the top anymore since a few weeks but still...Until today, nobody could convince me to trade Nvidia for ATI, but as I said... until today.No extra framerates but, with almost every slider maxed out, with AA at 4x and anisotr. filt. at 16X, Fs9 runs as smooth as silk. No stutters to speak of, clear textures (not completely but a firm improvement over the Gforce4 FX5600) and even clouds cannot bring this card to its knees.Great stuff and worth every single euro (almost 500 to be honest) but, together with a good powersupply, it sure is a winner. I even found a ridiculous cheap ATI 7000 as a second card (PCI) Both run together on the catalyst driverset. (I didn't know they still existed, those pcicards)Luc 'Glaudrung' BrusselmansBelgium

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Luc,Welcome to the ATI fan club :)Mike