ATI 9500pro. good performance ,low price. and forget the Gf FX 5200,it's much too slow.

Well its a question of budget Scott. The Ti4600s have taken a price drop recently, and I've got one and swear by it.
In both FS2k2 and CFS3 the performance is awesome! CFS3 is smoother than a cashmere codpiece, and FS2k2 is simply fantastic, all the sliders maxed, resolution at the limit! Wow

Mark

Crap, I looked at two tonight and I can't remember which they were.

One was the ATI 9000, and the other was.....hmm  It came in an X shaped box too. lol

Either of those any good?  (for the price.)

$500?  I don't mind spending $500 on something if it's worth it, but that's nearly 5 hours of instruction!  lol  I don't need THAT much for a game.  (Though it's tempting.  haha)

the 9000 is quite slow. if you really want to spend just little money,go for ozzys Ti 4600. the 9500pro costs about 230 US $,maybe even less.

P.S.
    What vid card do you have right now?
I got a GeForce 64MB and have been getting better framerates then most people with a 128MB vid card. HA!

erm me personaly would choose the nvidia fx5200 which is sensibly  priced and offers great performace.....you might wanna go a bit higher to the nvidia fx5600 which i currently have and i swear by this card..

the only other alternative i can suggest is the geforce 4 ti4200 64MB version quite simply a card that can hold its own even in todays market even though its aging quite a bit now.....i used to have one of these babies and if you tweak it right you can still get very good performance out of it and its v v cheap

hope this helps and sorry for not mentioning any ATI cards i personally do not like them - sorry ati fans nvidia rules

Completely, NVIDIA all the way!
I have a 64MB GeForce and it is really holding its own. Chuck something at it and it will hit it. 

i personally use an asylum nvidia fx 5200 128mb, have all the sliders maxed, resolutions maxed weather maxed, oh well i have every selectable option maxed out on fs2004 and i get between 28 and 35fps at every busy airport i have ever visited. Oh and on the up side it only cost me $80.00us at best buy and i got a $40.00 mail in rebate, so it really cost me 40.00! I caught it on sale but it normally runs around $100.00US last time i checked.


DISCLAIMER: I seem to be the lucky one as i have found the above mentioned results to not be normal.


Most people do not have these results with this card but do have good results with it.

NVIDIA RULES!!!

i love mine Hyperion. Haven't had a bit of trouble with it and it is awesome. Check the manufacturer of the card though to see what kind of ram it has on it  some of the 5200's are running at 4ns wich sucks. make sure you get a good one.
Good luck!

Do NOT buy the FX5200 unless you really need a "BUDGET" card. It is weak having only 60% of the performance  of the much older GF4 TI4200, the lowest performer of the GF4 TI series. The TI4200 can be found at similar price and is a reasonable card.

The GF4 TI4200 series are available in 64 or128 mb, 4x and 8x AGP versions. The 64 mb, 4x AGP model is as fast as the 128mb, 8x AGP one due to the ram configuration.

www.pricewatch.com starts the TI4200 at $76.

If the Dell only supports 4x AGP, then get the suitable card.

The 2 gig P4 will hold the TI4200 back a bit in FSim.

So there you have it.

Good idea Hyperion,

Just turn your settings and resolution down til you get a good frame rate in the sim.

You need the Faster Frame Rate for accurate flying and instrument updates, not fancy graphics.

Good luck and have fun with the lessons!