How long is a piece of string???

I'd say for CFS3, your system has probably passed its sell by date already....

Then again, as long as that GF4 is not an MX but the TI variant, along with another 256MB of RAM, your machine should be pretty good for a little while yet. 

Ultimately, the  64bit AMD CPU is now here, the 64bit p4 (p5?) surely not too far away..... By this standard, it and most of the other millions of pc's are destined for the 32bit museum.

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I live in hope CFS4 will be as well written..... 

Actually, if you can run fs9 with what you have and are satisfied, keep it until it breaks and can't be fixed. In a couple of years we are going to see technology leaps that will make the xt to 286 jump seem like child's play. There was a recommendation to add RAM and I second that with the proviso you add two sticks of 256 to what you have now. Other than that you are just fine - AS LONG AS you are happy with how fs9 does currently. If not, a partial upgrade might help - more capable video card and as before - more RAM.

The computer is back from the shop......

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What would a better graphics card do to my FS experience?

Where do I get the full system stats?

Its been given an extra 256MB RAM, But if FSsafe mode is anything to go by im getting under ten FPS.....

Its feeling much better thankyou agamer

But still way under 15FPS
With settings on 'low'

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Yup, but it'll be crap with Direct X9 games.....

My Asus9560 5600 betters the ti4600 my friend has in his machine in most DX-9 games, and if you like using anti-alaising and anisotropic filtering, then frankly forget the GF4, you need an FX5600 or Ati 9600 or better.

Why "upgrade" to a 3D card thats already obsolete???

I've just had a quick read through this thread and to be honest, I haven't read everything completely.

However, I've just gone through the process of starting from 'scratch' in terms of what I should get (within my price range) to make up a PC specifically for my Simming purposes (which will make it pretty much capable of everything else).

I've found that the differing opinions, provided they come with valid reasoning, are very useful. I learnt a great deal in the couple of days that my thread was active here.

The thing you have to be most aware of (my Mrs made this BIG mistake 3 years ago, which is what has me building my own now), is not to buy a so called "package". They are useless and greatly overpriced, regardless of the brand or the specs of the machine. Most also come with heaps of software that you are paying for and will never use.

Whatever you get, make sure every single part of it is "updatable".
PC's (and their components) have a bad habit of becoming redundant in as much as weeks).

Correctly matching the components is important too. It can result in superior performance over what would normally be better components which are being 'dragged' down by another inefficient part of the system.

Of course this doesn't help Bird Man. he has his PC and it's a good one at that. You say you're Dad says get a Card that won't be dated so quickly. Can he guarantee that the 253 pound one (sh*t, that's $800 Aust), won't be useless in 12 months?
If he can't you are probably better off going for the far cheaper 128mb card. At least it won't be a great outlay if it's outdated in 12 months.

Of course, the best (and probably most expensive) of everything would probably be the best way to go, but we all have our 'pecuniary limitations'.

I can say one thing for sure though. You've come to the right place to find out what you need to know. These blokes know what's going on, especially when it comes to aspects regarding graphics, speed and Simming capabilities.  

P.S. There are many people in this Forum who bought CFS3 when it came out. Alot of them are sitting on their shelves waiting for a better PC, Graphics card, more DDR ram and so on.
Even those who had the so called 'high end' PC's back then (less than 12 months ago), are still unable to run CFS3 as they would like (on reasonably high settings), even with all the wonderful effort and sharing that has occurred in the 'Tweaking ' area.  

(I found it to be a very useful exercise to go back 12 months in this and the 'CFS3' Forums, to see what was considered to be 'REALLY GREAT' or 'NOT BAD' in terms of Graphics cards, Ram and PC's generally, then and what it is considered now!   )