Hey guys, Im pondering a frame rate issue with my Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. These are my PC Specs that I just built. Windowx XP Home Edition Pentium 4 3.0GHZ 800FSB with HT 512 PC3200 (400mhz) Ram 80 Gig Western Digital with 8MB cache Samsung DVD drive ASUS P4P800 board (intel 865chipset with HT technology enabled) PNY Verto Geforce FX 5200 AGP 8X video card I have been testing different resolutions and display settings. I set Microsoft Flight simulator to the highest detail in almost every category. When I set it to FULL SCREEN display the frames really stink. I only get 5 fps on full screen display. My windows display is 1024 x 768...now when I deselect the Flight Simulator Full screen display my frames go up to 20 fps... I guess its on 800 x 600 when you do that. However I notice the graphics look worse with a lower resolution. My question is... why the heck cant a 3.0ghz 800fsb processor with an ASUS motherboard and 512 pc3200 dual channel RAM with HT enabled with affinity turned on , be able to get high frames with FULL SCREEN selected in the game. You figure a machine like this would be able to deliver high frames on full screen display. I paid 99 dollars for the video card...the box looked really cool so it gave me incentive to buy it. Guess I have to go and get a 500 dollar card to get high frames on full screen ?. Thanks for feedback. Cheers.

Don't be fooled by colorful boxes. ;) The GeForce FX 5200 is crap, by the way. The thing can hardly run Halo. The 5900 is probably one of the only real good FX's (I can honestly say i've experianced both of them, on identical machines). I'd stick with ATI, man. I just switched over, and now I'm devoted to ATI. If you're looking for budget, get the 9600 Pro or XT. Make sure its a pro, though, as the non-pro versions usually are bunk. In order to run games, it isn't JUST processor power. It also relies heavily on the graphics card. Do some research, and grab a good card. www.pricewatch.com or www.newegg.com are excellent sources for hardware online. Good luck, -Ian AIM- Asellus Tertius

Yea, the price of that video card says it all - 99 bucks , don't expect to get a great card to handle full frames, high resolution, full screen on a game like Flight Simulator 2004.

True, if you want to run games like Halo you'll definetly need to change video cards. The FX5200 is not really crap though, after all its a cheap, decent Dx9 card, well worth the price if you only have around 70 bucks to spare. Im not really on ATi's side or Nvidia's side, but I'd go for a Radeon 9800 XT if you're willing to pay around 500. I got the FX5700u for around 200 and it was a good deal. It works great, and my games run perfectly without any lag.

Yup, your vid card is your achilles heel. If you can, return your FX5200 and get something like a Radeon 9600 pro (around 150 on newegg)