Hi,My current computer runs FSX at about 20FPS with almost all maxed except for no traffic and no autogen. AA and AF (using the video card settings) slow it down to 15FPS. When I on autogen or traffic, I can get maximum 10FPS.So here is my current computer :AMD Athlon64 3500+ VeniceATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800PRO 128MB AGP4X1024MB of DDR Ram (2x512MB SAMSUNG)ASUS A8V Motherboard with no PCIe support.Here is what I want to upgrade :Replace video card with ATI AIW X800XT 256MB AGPAdd an extra 512MB of RAMI really need a multimedia card since I watch TV often on my computer and I use the composite input and use it to record from my camcorder and stuff.So will those two upgrades help considering the fact that final version will be optimized and such ? Or should I consider something else. My budget is about 400-500$CAD for computer upgrades. If i can get 20-25FPS with dense weather, some traffic, sparse-normal autogen and 1-2meter texture resolution, and full water effects and AA filtering then I am happy.What do you think ?

I would certainly think that the upgraded video card would help. The extra 512 MB's of RAM certainly wouldn't hurt, but tdragger has stated that FSX can take advantage of 2 GB's of RAM, so if you could get another 1 GB in your system I'd recommend going for 1 GB so that you get the maximum result from sticking more RAM in there, if possible. No one really knows how well the final 'optimized' version is truly going to run on various systems yet of course.Hope that helpsSystem Specs:Intel P4 3.4C(C = Northwood Core) on Asus P4C800-E Deluxe(Intel 875P + ICH5R Chipset), Zalman 7000a-Cu HS/Fan, Enermax RG651P-VE 550W PSU, 2 GB Mushkin eXtreme Performance(2-2-2) Dual Channel PC3200 RAM, Samsung 214T MultiSync 21" Digital LCD Monitor, Sapphire Radeon X800 XT PE Videocard with Catalyst v6.8 Driver, DirectX 9.0c, Creative Audigy2 Platinum Soundcard with OpenAL Beta Driver v2.08.0002, Western Digital 250 GB w/8 MB Cache 7200 RPM Parallel ATA HDD, WinXP Pro SP2, Nortons Anti-virus and Personal Firewall 2006

Hi,Keep in mind that you will be stuck with DX9 when DX10 comes out - current video cards are not able to use DX10.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

I think you should wait for the final version to come out and then decide. It's a very risky proposition to try and guess anything about hardware from the demo and "public beta". Who knows what the final version will bring?Doug

If I were you I would upgrade the ram now to 2.5 or 3GB (its cheap). Then save your money until the DX10 cards come out and get that. I think I read somewhere that there will be AGP dx10 cards.

My advice is to not upgrade anything right now.Keep your present vid card until DX10 cards are out, Q1 2007. Not just too much longer really. You can gut it out. I gutted out a GeForce 3 card with 64 megs until January 2006. (!) If I can do that, you can tolerate a 256 meg X800XT. :)The ram, you could do it now, but I would not. Maybe once FSX is out you could spring for the ram, but 1 gig is ok. If I did up the ram, I would get another gig, to have 2 gigs total.RhettAMD 3700+ powered by Gerbil wheel + gerbil, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 gigs Corsair TWINX, blah blah, etc. etc.