Resolution problems after System upgrade....

[Mr.Mugel]

Hi all,

We finally updated our PC, now featuring an AMD Sempron 64Bit 3000+, 1GB DDR-RAM, new board and stuff, graphics card is still the FX5200 128MB. It

[legoalex2000]

then your monitor may not be set up to handle such large resolutions. i know the maxes of my monitors are 1024x768, and i don't mind it. the only time i change is when it's contest time, so i can get rid of the jaggies.

more help can be found in the hardware forum.

Ramos

[Mr.Mugel]

The problem is, that I ran 1280 fine, before the upgrade.....

Would use 1024, too, but only if I can use AA....

[Mr.Mugel]

OK, got the resolution thing fixed, it was just a simple thing about my monitors config, it has a setup for each resolution......

[congo]

You made an incorrect assumption about the 5200 video card being adequate, as it is not. Graphics in FS9 require something more than "cheap". I'm sorry, but this is a reality that cannot be tweaked, dreamed or wished away.

No one can have a clue about what your system actually is without you specifying your motherboard model, so if you want valueable advice, you should state that info or include it in your PC spec in your signature.

The mainboard model gives me enough info to research your system's capabilites and make suggestions that are more than merely a "guess".

The motherboard uses a chipset which defines all potential performance limits and is the key to understanding your system. Balancing performance components on that mainboard is what defines your PC's ability in FS9.

I was going to post a comparison chart showing your video card's performance compared to card's that will work, but I couldn't find a chart that included your card, ie. it was not good enough to even make the list of possible candidates.

Once you have seen a good graphics card in action, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

[Mr.Mugel]

It

[congo]

The graphics card (5200) was limiting your old PC, you got a new PC and kept the problem.

[Mr.Mugel]

How can the FX5200 have limited a 5 and a half year old PC, there was a GF 2MX installed first, and it was one of the best cards when we bought it back than.

But I sure understand that the Card is limiting this PC.... Maybe it can be changed sometimes too, but that will have to wait a bit....

[congo]

Five years ago the GF2 TI500 was a high end card, the GF2 MX400 was a poor cousin, I know, I had it as well.

The MX models that followed were also poor and ATI gained a good following during that period. GF4 TI 4xxx series brought some grunt back to nvidia, and they were superceded by the 5000 series, however, the low end models never were as good as the previous generation.

This included the rather poor performing 5200 cards which were a little bit better than the GF4 MX440's which were popular then.

ATI had the 9600XT and 9800XT then and they were far superior, further strengthening ATI's popularity. The 5200 was very poor in comparison, and was, at it's release date, only really popular because it finally brought some budget performance to the market.

Many people got their first taste of reasonable graphics with the 5200 which may explain why it got such good raves and was a relative success while it was actually a very mediocre card when it was released. Here is an old chart showing the food chain about 3 years ago, note the very poor performance of the 5200 by comparison to it's contemporaries of the time. Note there was a 5200 ultra which performed a bit better but you don't hear of many users owning them.



The 5900 series of that GPU type was released then also, it included a 5900XT model which could be overlocked to or near 5900 Ultra speeds, that was the card to get if you were on a budget at the time. However, the 5900's were still expensive by comparison to the 5200 which nVidia touted as the mainstream graphics card.

The 5900 series was top dog for a very short time and because of this, it got a bad rap it didn't deserve. it was simply out-teched very quickly by ATI products. The Radeon 9800XT was, in fact, still a very powerful contender when manufacture ceased due to it's old DX8 vintage. Many cards were and are still being released that can't hold a candle to the 9800XT of that period.

Now, we've been thru a more modern period where ATI showed us the X800 series and the X1800 series, while nvidia progressed with it's 6800's and 7800's, all this with a change from AGP to PCIe.....

Technology moves so fast in PC's, you can easily and unwittingly buy into old or poor technology unless you really have your finger on the pulse and are willing to shell out a bit of cash for it.

There are areas where you can cut costs, but core components, and especially the video card, need to be the best possible for your budget if you want good simming performance.