My nephew wanted a flight simulator so I downloaded FlightGear. However my computer doesn't seem to have an independant graphics card, rather it has a mother board that integrates all the video and audio functions. I quote --------[ Motherboard ]---- Motherboard Name ECS L7VMM(2) Front Side Bus Properties: Bus Type DEC Alpha EV6 Bus Width 64-bit Real Clock 100 MHz (DDR) Effective Clock 200 MHz Bandwidth 1600 MB/s Memory Bus Properties: Bus Type DDR SDRAM Bus Width 64-bit Real Clock 125 MHz (DDR) Effective Clock 250 MHz Bandwidth 2000 MB/s Chipset Bus Properties: Bus Type VIA V-Link Bus Width 8-bit Real Clock 50 MHz (QDR) Effective Clock 200 MHz Bandwidth 200 MB/s Motherboard Physical Info: CPU Sockets/Slots 1 Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR RAM Slots 2 DIMM Integrated Devices Audio, Video Form Factor Micro ATX Motherboard Chipset KM266 --------[ Windows Video ]---------------[ S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR ] Video Adapter Properties: Device Description S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR Adapter String S3 Compatible Display Adapter BIOS String 30.00.02 Chip Type S3 ProSavage DDR DAC Type S3 SDAC Installed Drivers s3gnb (6.14.10.0017-13.94.17) Memory Size 32 MB Video Adapter Manufacturer: Company Name S3 Graphics --------[ PCI / AGP Video ]---------------------- S3 ProSavageDDR (86c420) Video Adapter S3 SuperSavageDDR 3D Accelerator ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº The above set up handles DVD movies well, smooth and no video or sound lag. But when the flight simulator runs it is really slow updating between screens, even swithing the video down to 16 colours Can I add a graphic card to improve things, and if so how many megabytes on the card would be need to get the action flowing once more? Thanks for any suggestions. Bye Fred

Look for a AGP card that has at least 128mb video ram and at least 128bit video memory. Nvidia 7600 series or ATI X1600 series should suit all of your needs for what you are playing. these card are decent cards at a good price. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ OC 2.7ghz 2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200 Nvidia 7900GT SATA II 2x 300gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0 Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

The problem with jerky performance in latest Graphic intensive games is The inability of a onboard graphics processor to render the frames as they r meant to be! Eyes can see smooth moving videos only if the scene is being rendered atleast 15fps. For be able to rnjoy latest games i suggest u get yourself an AGP graphics card,Ati or nvidia with atleast 128mb video RAM and higher depanding on ur budget. I would like to add that any NEW graphics card is "OLD" after max of 6mnths in pc industry! :) Manufacturers are already in the verge of releasing Direct x 10 compatible cards,that cost a bomb! For games,i guess consoles are future proof....Atleast for the next few years... southern dragon

Thank you both Cobra_R and madhan, You confirmed my worst fears. So I need to add one of the graphics cards you mentioned. Well I'll go shopping on Monday. A last question Are these cards self installing ater plugging them into an empty socket? Bye and Thanks Fred Madrid

You need to confirm your motherboard has an AGP port before you go shopping! Yes, they pretty much self-install. You just install the drivers, which I'd recommend downloading the latest ATI or NVidia reference drivers before installation to have them ready. "How many squirrels had to die to make you look fly?!"

"Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR" He did. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ OC 2.7ghz 2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200 Nvidia 7900GT SATA II 2x 300gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0 Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

"Flight Gear is a fairly typical OpenGL application in terms of it's performance and hardware requirements. It requires a reasonable hardware accelerated 3D card with OpenGL drivers to achieve smooth frame rates. Software only rendering typically yields frame rates in the neighborhood of several seconds per frame. But, with a 3d accelerated card you can expect much higher. On a 2-3Ghz class CPU with a GeForce card, frame rates in excess of 60 fps are reasonable to expect in most situations. The actual frame rate varies of course with scene complexity (which changes from area to area and changes as your view direction changes) and the specific details of your hardware" http://www.flightgear.org/hardwarer... FYI, that is a KM266 chipset motherboard. These boards are notoriously bad for their memory controllers. You may consider upgrading the motherboard because of this. They reference a 2-3GHz machine in the above quote, which you don't have, but with the poor performing motherboard, it's even worse. Don't bother upgrading your CPU with that motherboard; it will do little good because of the motherboard's memory controller. Please make a decision about that BEFORE you buy a graphics card. If you are going to upgrade your motherboard, you might as well do the CPU, and you would then make sure you get a PCI-e based motherboard. You get a much better bang for your buck in PCI-e than AGP typically. Also, that flight sim is OpenGL based. NVidia cards typically run better with OpenGL based games, so you probably want to go with something with an NVidia GPU. Finally, usually lower end video cards don't benefit from more video RAM, but the sole exception are games with huge visible landscapes, such as flight sims. I would definitely look for something with at least 256M video RAM, but you still shouldn't discount other specs in a video card. Make a decision about what you want to do with your motherboard and CPU first, and we can help you pick out a video card appropriately. If you want more info about possible upgrade paths on the motherboard and CPU, we can help with that, too. "How many squirrels had to die to make you look fly?!"