You lucky Canadians. :tongue:
I do have the latest drivers and 7.1 Catalyst Control Center, and I game over highspeed DSL. Anyway, I normally run at 1280 x 1024, which is the native resolution on my monitor, and Vanguard only goes down to 1024 x 768. However, I did find that I get a few more fps at the lower resolution, and combined with the research that slava has done, which I've read, I think I will get a performance increase with the X1950 Pro AGP.
Besides the Sapphire and the PowerCooler cards, make sure you take a look at HIS Hightech H195PRQT256DDAN-R Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X IceQ3 Turbo HDCP Video Card - Retail. It also comes in a 512M version. Anyway, the HIS (who gets great reviews) is the card I'll be purchasing in the middle of February. Unlike the Sapphire, it has a 6-pin power connector, which is what my Dell PSU has for the video card. I'm just trying to tide my system over until I purchase a new system later this year.
TucsonPi said:Most of your system is good enough, but that 9800 Pro is holding you back. Even a 6600GT bests a 9800 Pro in most tests by 30-80% more FPS at 1024x768, ( http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2277&p=3 ) and a 7600GT typically has double the performance of a 6600GT. So a video card upgrade will surely help you out to a large degree. Even though FS-x, like all FS's are a more CPU intensive app than most games, your CPU is actually pretty good.[/q]
Yea, I realize it's my video card and with it being AGP, I have been really concerned about investing in "dead" technology.
TusconPi said:a 3500+ is approximately equivalent to a X2 4400+, since the second core isn't used by games yet.[/q]
That's interesting. I haven't done much research on the X2s compared to the single core chips. I know that non of the MSFS series explicitly usees the second core because of the way they designed FS (fibers & whatnot), but people do note a significant difference because the OS and other ancillary functions can run on the other core, giving MSFS the whole CPU. This is purely anecdotal, but worthy of investigation.
You could increase your performance a lot just by upgrading the video card, but you might want to consider also getting a PCI-e motherboard, and the PCI-e variant of the card you're looking at. It would most likely end up the same price total as the AGP card alone. Later on, down the road, when you decide to upgrade your CPU, RAM, etc, at least you could still use your videocard... That's my plan. Similar boat, but I already have a 6600GT, so I'm not quite as bad off as you are at the moment
My dilemma continues because of the "wife factor". She has to understand the value of it, and I know she won't. (That's not really related to the video issue, though hehe.) Anyhow, since I'm not rich enough to afford a whole new AM2-based system, but recognize now, after re-checking my current mobo capabilities that I can just upgrade my CPU anytime to X2 (yea!). This makes upgrading much easier. I'll probably end up buying a new socket 939 mobo and video card (or two, if I can get away with it), and upgrade the processor later. After I upgrade the processor, I'll move the old mobo/proc/video into my wife's computer.
So, I think, based on the stuff I have read, I'm not going to upgrade the video to another AGP card. It will cost a little more, but I think I can get more value from upgrading other components at the same time. Thanks for that insight, TucsonPi!
Relkin
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