formally lost my sanity. Fps dying

[coreservers]

Hi.
Recently, due to a faulty Nvidia 450, I got hold of an HD 5870 Vapor-x I reported this in the hardware section. on installing my fps within fsx has dropped to an unuseable 5.5- 8.5.
So far I've tried, altering the fsx.cfg file to remove all traces of nvidia, also used driver sweeper to remove them from pc. I've tried all the optimisation tweaks, I could find across here and the internet.
and today I've performed a complete removal and reinstall of FSX. now with everything defaulting to medium high (as a test) if I go to the default friday harbor microlight flight I get 18-20fps........

but as soon as I move to any airport, large or small, it drops back to 5.5 -6 fps. no external addon's either.

can anyone save an old man's mind. I wanna get back in my ryan air 737-800. but as it is it's just unuseable

[Thai09]

Check your settings in CCC, careful not to use SS - SuperSampling, go with multi or adaptive..

Use Aniso inside FSX, and AA set to X4 box.

[Capt.Propwash]

im sure you thought about it, and it is a really dumb question, but do you have the latest driver for your HD Card?

I have seen a few people who upgraded to a new card, installed the drivers for it, but forgot to check with the manufacturer's website to see if there were any updated drivers.

[coreservers]

not a dumb question, but I always go to the manufacturers site when installing a new card, my CCC is version 11.3
It's becoming an obsession now, I'd be happy with 15-20 locked frankly.

now this may be a dumb question.... I'm using the HD connector via a vga adaptor, could this be an issue?