jamiee

You could always get the X850XT from a reputable retailer with a good return policy. That way if you find it doesn't give you the added performance your're looking for, then simply return it.Somehow I think you'll end up keeping it though :)

Where the X850XT will come nicely into play is if you like to use FSAA & AF @ 1600x1200 res.In this scenerio the X850XT will most certainly give you a nice boost in performance. (At the very least you'll be able to turn up the eyecandy without adversly affecting your framerate).I've had a 9700Pro, AIW-9800Pro, & X800XT in recent years & with little question the biggest performance jump was in moving from the 9800 to the X800XT.

I recall trying out the demo version of that scenery a few months back when I had an ATI X800XT & thought then that the scenery was a framerate hog even with little AI traffic.With all your AI running, even with a decent graphics card I don't doubt you'll see poor framerates with that scenery.Does FS9 run any better when you move away from that Heathrow scenery or fly completly elsewhere ?

I used to run on 1Gb but upgraded to 2Gb over the summer.The improvement is noticeable but I wouldn't say it's huge.Though I will say it's nicer than I thought it would be :)BF2 sure likes the extra ram & FS9 even utilizes it when you're switching around to different views. The transition is smooter with 2Gb I find.

Another thing I've noticed on your list that you might re-consider is going for a Creative X-Fi Soundcard instead of the Audigy 2ZS.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16829102188Again this is one of those "you might as well" things. The X-Fi is newer & overall improved over the Audigy series & depending on model, won't set you back much more money.I'm guessing the X-Fi XtremeMusic should do you fine.

George,1. I'm currenttly trying v79.11 drivers & they seem to work well for FS9. But MS Train sim won't run @ all with them. Haven't tried any other games yet. I've had pretty good luck with the v78.xx drivers though they may not be the fastest for the 7800GTX (at least they work tho).2. If you want to try other drivers than the MSI ones, that's fine. You can easily find seperate 3rd party overclocking/tweaking utilities on the net. "RivaTuner" is one that comes to mind. Here's a nice guide on how to overclock your card, it also contains link's to various utilities: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=747873. After you've uninstalled the video drivers via "ADD REMOVE" in Windows, I'd run "Driver Cleaner Pro" in safe mode to remove any residual files before installing any new drivers. Here's a good guide to follow: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67799

First thing I'd suggest is moving up to a newer driver build.Try something from the 78.xx series.(78.01, 78.03, 78.05)I don't recommend the 81.xx series for FS9 as there's alot of texture problems associated with them.Now as for graphic settings...I've found the best visual quality on my BFG 7800GTX is to max everything out. The card can handle it in FS9 so you might as well. Your system looks strong enough.

Well here's my system, somewhat similar to yours in fact.-----------------------------------------------------------------OS =..........WinXP PROMotherboard =.ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Rev. 1.02Processor =...AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ (939 pin)Memory =......OCZ PC3200 1024Mb x 2 (2Gb) Rev. 2 "EL Platinum"Video Card =..BFG GF7800GTX OCSATA HD =.....Maxtor 80Gb x 2 (160Gb Total)IDE HD =......Maxtor 160Gb x2 (320Gb Total)DVD ROM =.....Pioneer 16xDVD-R/RW =....Pioneer DVR-108Floppy =......Fujitsu 1.44 floppy/7-in-1 media card readerSound Card =.. SB Audigy 4 ProMonitor =.....Samsung SyncMaster 213T LCD 21.3"Case =........Cooler Master CAV-T01 w/ Window-----------------------------------------------------------------If I were you I'd try a 3-6 hour run of Prime95 & try loading another game on your system and trying it out.If your system freezes up on either of these then you'll need to start going through a process of elimination. It's possible that the video card is flakey, its also possible that another component isn't right & fails under stress.P.S. make sure all your drivers are for your specific operating system and doubble check your BIOS settings.

Edwin,The 81.87 drivers still have texture corruption in FS9.Seems to be mainly ground textures this round.George,As Edwin has asked, what makes you sure it's your graphics card?Also, is your system locking up when playing FS2004 only or does it do it @ other times?If it's only while playing FS9, you should try a fresh install of the game & see how that goes.You can always backup your old aircraft, panels, sounds, & scenery Then once you know FS9 is stable, just start adding them back into the new installation.

Here's the two higher end multimedia speaker sets I'd recommend:Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 (Best for gaming & movies, good @ music)http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=712Creative GigaWorks S750 (Best for music, Good @ gaming & movies)http://www.creative.com/products/product.a...61&product=9306The Logitech Z-5500 is a decent set as well though overall not as sonically pleasing as the two above. I have a component HT setup in my room:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/131210.jpgHere's my new receiver (replaces the one in the above pic)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/131211.jpg

Not sure about MDT ram, but as long as your not planning on overclocking you should be fine. Good to see the upgraded motherboard & graphics card fit within your budget :)As for your old PSU, Enermax is a good brand. I'd think it would do you for now. If you find your new system isn't running stable, you may need a heftier PSU. But give the Enermax a try first & see how it goes.Btw, here's my setup just for reference:OS =..........WinXP PROPSU =.........Thermaltake PurePower 560WMotherboard =.ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Rev. 1.02Processor =...AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ (939 pin)Memory =......OCZ PC3200 (DDR400Mhz) 1024Mb x 2 (2Gb) Rev. 2 "EL Platinum" (2-3-2-5)Video Card =..BFG GF7800GTX OCSATA HD =.....Maxtor 80Gb x2 (160Gb Total)IDE HD =......Maxtor 160Gb x2 (320Gb Total)DVD ROM =.....Pioneer 16xDVD-R/RW =....Pioneer DVR-108Floppy =......Fujitsu 1.44 floppy/7-in-1 media card readerSound Card =.. SB Audigy 4 ProMonitor =.....Samsung SyncMaster 213T LCD 21.3"Case =........Cooler Master CAV-T01 w/ Window

Personally I'd go with the AMD setup.AMD Athlon64 CPU's are all around stronger processors. If your doing alot of video/music encoding & every second counts, then the Intel processors may be a little better.For FS AMD is going to be faster.Everything else in the system looks decent enough. If you have a few $$ lying around you may consider upgrading to a 6800Ultra from the GT, but its no biggie.

Yeah the 81.xx series beta drivers don't seem to work well with FS9 or Train Simulator. Image quality and performance is nicely increased with them though.Word is that Nvidia will release the official WHQL drivers this upcoming Monday (17th). Lets just hope they work okay.

I don't think the 78.05 drivers are available off Nvidia's site (tho possibly from their beta section).You might check out http://www.guru3d.com/ for them instead.

Well I just made an interesting discovery Re: shimmering...I decided to do a full re-install of FS9 tonight. Backed up the stuff I wanted from the previous install (planes, panels, sounds) & did the full install. Updated the new install to FS9.1 & then pasted the backed up stuff into that instillation.When I booted up FS9 I was greeted with sharp clean textures that don't seem to shimmer @ all!!!I'm using the exact same FS9 & video card settings I was using before. So I'm wondering if there's possibly some sort of addon scenery that could be causing the shimmering problem? (I only have the default scenery installed now). or maybe I just needed a fresh install after installing the new 7800GTX.P.S. I'm using the 78.05 drivers.

An FX57 shouldn't be getting anywhere near that temperature.No Athlon 64 should as it's well beyond the CPU's threshold.The threshold temp for the athlon64's actually dropped & if I'm not mistaken their limit is around 80c.I'd make sure you have the heatsink/fan mounted properly on the CPU, maybe use some better thermal grease than what's on the stock heatsink.My Athlon 64 x2 4400+ runs @ around 40c idle & maybe 50c in full swing with the stock heatsink (using Arctic Silver 3)."Just out of interest although FS9 doesnt tsake advantage of SLi, is there any benefit in upgrading to an Nvidia 7800 GTx 512 when they become available, will this help in faster texture loading of AI Aircraft, and will this help in reducing the shimmering we get with some sceneries even at High Resolution?"Yes the extra onboard memory should help out texture loading times however the shimmering that we all see in FS9 seems to be more related to the game than any graphic card. ATI cards show the same issue.It can be negated somewhat with playback @ high resolution & extream graphic card settings, but this can reduce your overall performance. As fast as a 7800GTX is, it's still not going to run flat out in FS9 with everything maxed :(

1600x1200 @ 60Hz is quite beautiful.60Hz on a LCD isn't the same as on a CRT. It's a heck of alot better.Infact I don't know of any LCD's with a higher refresh rate.BTW the Samsung 213T can run with a refresh rate of 75Hz, but there's no difference when doing so, so I keep mine @ 60.If you want a higer screen resolution then you need to go for a bigger screen (23"+). Just remember that running anything @ a lower resolution than the reccomended for that screen will result in a softer image.Again, LCD's arn't like CRT's.Cheers.

Got my BFG 7800GTX over the weekend.Great card isn't it :)I do find tho that you need to max out the cards settings in order to get stellar quality in FS9.

I have a Samsung 213T LCD (21.3") & w/ the DVI connection don't notice any ghosting issues. FS runs smooth as silk. You shouldn't have any problems w/ FS on a 25ms screen (It's not that fast action of a game anyway). If you can, the preferred method of connection to your video card is DVI. VGA should be okay too but may be a little slower in it's responce.

Here's a few Benchmarks between an ATI X300 SE (128mb) & Nvidia GeForce 6200 (128mb, 256mb). : http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=15&page=2957While the ATI handly beats both Nvidia cards in all but one benchmark, it's also very clear looking @ the scores acheived, that both cards wouldn't make very good Flight Sim performers. Their just not great gaming cards period. I'd stay far away from the X300.If the only other available option for that particular DELL system is the GeForce 6800 then I'd go that route. It's a much better card than the X300 SE.Still if you can get/afford a higher end ATI card (in the X800 range)I'd unquestionably get one.

Yeah its a very interesting package overall.

It's in the news here (Toronto, Ont.) today that Air Canada has placed firm orders w/ Boeing for (18) 777-300ER's & (14) 787's. --Yes I did say 787's!--They will also be selling-off or retiring some of their older 767's.

I suspect its because you went w/ an external USB version.An internal PCI based A2 should yeild better performance.That being said, it may or may not provide better performance than your onboard sound. You'll have to try one out & see.

"So if I was going to lash out on a graphics card, which one should I choose?"Well that's largely going to be dependant on your budget.The higher end cards arn't cheap!For ATI I'd start looking @ an X800PRO & above for decent flight sim performance. The X800XT I have is excellent & the X800XT Platinum Edition is even a little faster. There's also the new X850 series which adds more performance & subsequently costs a little more. For Nvidia I'd go w/ either the GeForce 6800GT (256mb) or the 6800 Ultra.***In both cases make sure you get the right form factor for your motherboard as many graphic cards now come in either or both "AGP" & "PCIe" slot types.***

U mean a 6800GT ?Yeah their decent cards as well. Just make sure you get a 256mb card. (theirs 128mb versions floating around).For FS9 tho I think an Ati card will give you a slight edge in performance. If you play alot of OpenGL games such as Doom3, then you may want to consider a GeForce card.