Hi all,I currently have a Geforce Ti4200 128MB, which runs the CaptainSim 707 at about 12fps with most of my sliders on low or medium. This quite frankly SUX as the fps totally ruins any immersion/feeling of flying a B707 because of all the stutters and harddrive loads etc... Therefore, I am finally going to update my 512MB PC2700 (333) ram to 1GB and get either an ATI 256MB 9800XT, 256MB X800 Pro or most likely, a 256MB X800 XT. However, I could do with some of you that have these cards, letting me know what frame rates you get an what settings you have.So, if anyone can contribute their system specs etc... then please do so.

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (i.e., one step below what you are asking about). I also do not have CaptainSim 707 ... I mainly fly GA aircraft like the Mooney Bravo. So my framerate info may not be that useful to you ... but just in case, I'm able to easily maintain a framerate of 28fps in most areas, dropping to 20fps or so at worst in denser metro areas. This is at 1024x768 with 4XAA enabled, and with most of the FS2K4 graphic quality settings near the highest, including a high setting on the original 3D clouds (the exception is maximum view distance, which is set at around the halfway point IIRC).I expect to receive a new monitor this weekend that will finally allow me to try some higher resolution settings with the ATI card as well. (Now I just need to update to the latest Catalyst drivers and get that forthcoming FS2K4 patch from MS and then I should be having way too much fun for my own good.)The most pertinent specs of my machine are: AMD Athlon 64 3000+, MSI K8N Neo Platinum MB, 1GB Kingston PC3200 RAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB, WinXP Pro. Neither the CPU nor the videocard are overclocked, and I'm using a stock FS2K4 installation with no tweaks, fixes or add-ons.Hope this is of some help.- David

Like David I do not have CaptainSim 707 ........ but - I do have a ti4200/128 and with an Athlon xp3000/KT6V mobo and 768MB 333mhz DDRAM I get consistent FPS of 25-40(locked at 40) and this is with most settings maxed. Screen res is 1024x768. AA set on the Ti4200 at 2x.No overclocking. These frame rates are pretty consistent whatever aircraft/wherever except at places like EGLL/KLAX where they may drop a little(18-20).Maybe your video card isn't the cause of the slow fps-?Dave

Thanks for your contributions guys.Maybe my GFX card isn't the problem, most likely it is my 512MB of Ram, where it should really be 1GB. However, I certainly think that the GFX card and Ram are partners in crime.Another area of interest may be my hard drives as I constantly hear them while flying. I have a 120Gb Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 ATA-133 (7200rpm,2MB). Is this HD ok or is there another HD better suited to FS2k4? Maybe the next one up with 8MB cache would be better?My mobo is a P4S8X and as far as I know it doesn't support SATA HD's so if I was to get a SATA HD drive then I would have to also update my mobo, but to which one?

Yeah definiatly start with getting more RAM that you should get anyway.Then if needed either get 9800 PRO 128 (not 256) If money is a concern I think that should let you fly it well it was enough for me and the CS 727 anyway.As for harddrive I think the more memory will solve much of your harddrive problem :). I went from a 7200 RPM 8 mb cache to a 10000 Raptor. Now load times got a lot shorter but in game performance well hard to see a real difference without benchmarking :) Again SATA you don

I'd take a look at the GeForce 6800GT or the new 6600 (cheaper, same relative performance to a 9800XT) - the image quality is better with the newer Nvidia cards because they don't exhibit the texture shimmer and crawling problems with AF enabled that ATI does. I love my 9800, but I'm seriously considering grabbing a 6800GT because of this issue.If you do go with ATI, get the X800 Pro - getting the absolutely top of the line card rarely justifies the extra price when compared to the relatively low increase in performance. In the case of the 6800GT for instance, you can easily OC the card to 6800Ultra speeds and save yourself $150.

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If you do not intend to upgrade your computersystem go with a card of max $200.For a x800pro or x800xt to show what it can, you would need a better cpu.Minimum an A64 3000+ or P4 3.2 with a true 200 MHz fsb.Just to save you the disappointment of saying: I expected a bigger frame rate increase.Have Fun JamesK8VSEA64 3200+1024 MB Corsair PC400HIS X800proCreative SB Audigy 2 Zs

Hello All,Well, I have a P4 3.4 OC'd to 3.71 on air, and a Ti4600, (I have a 9800 but it is out for repair, and has been forever), and 1gig of ram running on an ASUS P4C800-eDelux MB.I don't drop below 25 fps ever, and I can't wait to get my 9800 back.I think you are more cpu dependant than GPU in this case. And in truth, I noticed only about 5 fps difference in the two cards.All sliders are maxed out on this machine, except for Ai traffic which is at 50%BestClay

I'm with Clay on this, I have 2 rigs running FS, one with the 4600 and the other with a 9800 pro. I notice about 5-8 frames difference, but the 9800 cuts thru the weather much better and things load faster. Your 4200 should run most addons fine with no weather or detailed scenery.You don't need another card at the moment, definately the memory, then tweak you PC, your drives should not be that busy and it sounds like there might be internal issues, get those sorted out before forking over for a new vid card or it won't help.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/PBTMCa.jpgCalVirAir International VACalVirAir International

Your CPU will be a bottle neck with a X800Pro/XT or 6800GT/Ultra. If you're not planning on getting a new CPU anytime soon (3.0Ghz+) I'd suggest you go for a 9800 Pro or 9800XT.

I recently upgraded my 9800XT to a X800XT. I have been flying various flights using different aircraft PMDG, PSS Airbus Capt Sim and Simflyers airport scenery. All my setting are at MAX MipMap Level 5 Antilasing 6X all setting on the card at High Quality. 1280x1024 32bit. There is a noticable improvement in frame rate. Still in the mid teens at some airports but generally at mid 20 to mid 30 (locked at 35)Mipmap level 5 and trilinear mapping makes the biggest difference to the quality of the scenery. The other big difference I noticed was Set Affinity to CPU0 this improved the frame rate by 5-10fps.My system is a P4 3.0Ghz clocked to 3.4 DDR RAM 1024Sapphire X800XT (running at 520mhz core 560mhz DDR (1120) MemoryI am using mesh and landclass for the entire USA.Hope this helpsAndrew.