RAM

[brundlefly]

[quote]But I too think the onboard graphics is the real BIG issue.

[Gixer]

You can get G/cards to fit in PCI slots but they dont work as well as AGP ones.

Might be time to get a new mobo with an AGP slot.  U can pick up a half decent one for

[4_Series_Scania]

Hmm, Fancy swapping that ti4600 for my FX5600?  :D  ??? http://uk.asus.com/products/vga/v9560td/overview.htm

[JBaymore]

bundlefly,

Personally, I would not "waste my money" on a new PCI graphics card.  If you don't have an AGP slot on the board.... then the MoBo is the place to start.  PCI cards are not really up to fs2004.

Sorry to have to say that.

best,

................john

[4_Series_Scania]

Very true, unless your getting confused with PCI Express.... either way, a new motherboard indeed would be the first place to start, invariably with an old system, I'd expect possibly more to be required i.e. RAM / CPU etc.

[Gixer]

[quote]Hmm, Fancy swapping that ti4600 for my FX5600?

[B42L8]

After reading the very helpful hints about maxing FS 9 soundds like a new card is a must........now have the Radeon 9200 with 762 Ram (Dell 8100) and think I will invest in the 9600XT.......any sugestions about who has the best price and if a other mfgr is better choice????

[brundlefly]

ok,i know AGP is better but  i seen online that theres a "VisionTek Xtasy 9200 256MB PCI Video Card"  for $100 USD (after rebates):
so you all are saying that

[brundlefly]

bump. ok i fixed the page stretch,guess the

[Gixer]

B42 try and stretch to a 9800pro, its a better card and will handle FS9 better.  With the intro of the new gen cards you should be able to pick one of these up for a reasonable price.  Make sure you get the 256bit version though.  It can be 128DDR or 256DDR but have 256BIT this means the card has a greater bandwidth and will work better.

Brundle I do not know enough about PCI cards to say whether you would see any performance difference with that card or not.

[ludo62]

I have an 9800 XT, with 2 gig of ram and i have no problems with my frame rates at all. Even over airports with a lot of traffic, my frame rates almost never drop under 20 FPS. Just see that you have the latest driver for your card installed correctly and the settings of your card set to work best with FS9 (different for every card), i got my settings from Splash and they work great for me. Good luck , happy flying

Ludo

[JBaymore]

The issue will be the speed with which the standard PCI bus can get information from the CPU to the video card.

[congo]

now have the Radeon 9200 with 762 Ram (Dell 8100)

It looks like you have 768mb total system RAM.

But, 6mb is shared to your onboard video card.

You should be able to set your shared Ram amount up to 64mb in BIOS settings for better video performance with what you have now, but don't expect miracles, it will be better, but not great.

You really need to determine whether or not your PC has an AGP slot (I doubt it does!) before even considering a graphics upgrade.

[B42L8]

Coongo, sounds like you may know the answer or make a suggestion.......I have a Dell 8100 1.48 with 762 RAM, 120 harddrive and now a RADEON 9200 graphics card,  thinking about getting a 9600 or higher card, BUT, there are so many RADEONS and others it is confusing as to which to install (some are too fast for this machine, so waste of money??)    Any suggestions from all the experienced users out there..................Thanks

[congo]

Do you have an AGP slot?

You see, I'm not sure which Dell 8100 you have, The is a desktop version, a laptop and several in between, on top of that, Dell uses several mainboards in the same series a lot.

If you do have an AGP slot, Don't worry about too much power in a graphics card, there is no such problem, you need all you can get.

You are not stuck with the RADEON class of cards either.... ANY AGP Graphics card will do.

Currently, I have three suggestions in order of price and performance starting with the best... (there are other cards that will work of course)

NV6800 Gainward Golden Sample (or XFX brand)
Radeon 9800XT (some say 9800pro can be modded up)
NVidia FX5900XT

It's just that those cards also represent value for money, and there is a distinct Price and performance gap between them.