New Computer & MSFS 2002 Pro

[Guest]

I just ordered a New Computer from Dell. :-yellow1 I am replacing another Dell with only a 450Mhz, 384 Ram and was wondering if anyone can tell me if I will be able to turn the sliders all the way up on the new one.The new one isn't a top of the line model, since I didn't want to spend to much but it has a Pentium 4 1.7Ghz and 384 Ram. I also have a Nvidia GeForce2 MX 400 graphics card.I know how demanding MSFS 2002 is, so I was just wondering what I should expect.Thanks. :-wave

[Guest fotieno]

All other things being constant... Yes.You have the horsepower to make FS2002 pretty visually stunning. However, and this is just my opinion, but MX graphics cards are not up to the task of exploiting nvidia's implimentation of AA. You may find anything above 2x AA may start to really compromise your FPS especially with any of the popular FS addons (PSS, DF737, or PIC767). I have a G3Ti200 and I actually prefer to run at higher screen resolutions without AA then run lower resolutions with AA.Ofcourse, I still think 3dfx's V5500 had the perfect AA implimentation but then that's a whole other discussion thread.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, and pardon my ignorance. But, what is AA? :-hmmmThanks again.

[Guest Max Cowgill]

>Thanks for the reply, and pardon my ignorance. But, what is >AA? :-hmmm >>Thanks again. AA stands for anti-aliasing (or full screen anti-aliasing, technically). Anti-aliasing is a process by which GPUs can lower "jaggies" (jagged-edges on the edges of polygons that do not run straight vertically or horizontally) to improve image quality. It effectively makes the image look as though you're running a higher resolution than you really are. All Nvidia GPUs since the original Geforce feature FSAA, as do all ATI Radeon series cards (and a few other offerings from other manufacturers too).Max Cowgill

[Guest PaulL01]

>>Thanks for the reply, and pardon my ignorance. But, what is >>AA? :-hmmm >>>>Thanks again. >>AA stands for anti-aliasing (or full screen anti-aliasing, >technically). Anti-aliasing is a process by which GPUs can >lower "jaggies" (jagged-edges on the edges of polygons that >do not run straight vertically or horizontally) to improve >image quality. It effectively makes the image look as >though you're running a higher resolution than you really >are. All Nvidia GPUs since the original Geforce feature >FSAA, as do all ATI Radeon series cards (and a few other >offerings from other manufacturers too). >>Max Cowgill Pssstt...I think you ment:AA =AntialiasingFSAA =Full Scene Antialiasing :-scatter

[Guest fotieno]

Sorry, I used AA as a substitute for FSAA or instead of typing it all out.

[Guest Max Cowgill]

>Pssstt...I think you ment: >>AA =Antialiasing >FSAA =Full Scene Antialiasing :-scatter From a technical standpoint you're correct Paul, but in the real world the two terms are used interchangeably. AA just refers to anti-aliasing in general, and FSAA is a specific implementation of AA, but all modern 3d consumer hardware renders AA'd images via FSAA (they don't just AA small portions of the screen and leave the rest alone). Seeing as how the original question was brought about after the discussion of different consumer-level 3d hardware, I assumed we were discussing consumer-level 3d hardware and stuck to the consumer-level 3d hardware AA implementation :)Max Cowgill