ATI graphics and fs2004

[Drewsta]

Hi guys, just seeing if anyone uses ATI cards and fs9 in particular? I have mip map set at 8 and still get quite a bit of shimmering in the distance with buildings etc. When I was using Nvidia on my older system I used the Nhancer utility to setup the graphic component of flight sim and that seemed to fix the problem. I'm not sure what settings if any to use with ATI. Can anyone shed any light on this one?

Thanks
Drew

[jackpilot]

When I was using Nvidia on my older system I used the Nhancer utility to setup the graphic component of flight sim and that seemed to fix the problem. Thanks
Drew

Can you elaborate on that one,

[Drewsta]

He Jack, I used to run fs9 with the older 8800gt and a utility called Nhancer which was a much better version of the Nvidia control panel. In that utility you could set all the parameters for each individual game such as flightsim. You wouldn't set things like antialiasing within FS9 for expamle, you would set it inside the Nhancer tool and it worked like a charm for the graphics. ATI doesn't do that unforunately and as far as I can see the control center for ATI is poor compared to Nvidia. I have read forum after forum on ATI vs Nvidia and there are good and bad for both. I have always been an Nvidia fan and never had any problems. My new computer came with ATI 5670's x 2 and I thought Id try them just to see. My FS9 performance I feel could be better even with the 3 undocked views with TH2go and projectors. With a Intel CoreI5 760 2.8 ghz and 4 Gig Ram , Winxp and the TH2go using the ATI 1gig 5670 for outside visuals on FS9, all maxed, I was hoping for more than 20 fps on average. I'm seriouslt thinking of pulling out the ATI cards and dropping in a Nvidia gtx550ti for the outside visuals. Just not sure wether I'd be throwing away good money  because FS9 won't need such a card.

Cheers Drew

[saabpilot]

Hi,

I believe you must have a "bottleneck" somewhere in your system and need to sort the culprit out.

With a Core2Duo 3.2 gHz, 4 GB RAM, WD Velociraptor, 3 beamers connected to a TH2Go Digital we do have 40 fps+ in FS9 on ground and in heavy scenerys like my Swedflight Pro Copenhagen (EKCH) - full bad weather.  FS9 have all on MAX settings.
Maybe the I5 processor is too slow so you could also try to overclock it to 3.5 mHz since FS9 needs all CPU power it can get ?

20 fps is way too little - you need at least minimum 30 fps all the time for a fluid sim with FS9.

Best,
Bjorn

www.boeing737sim.se

[Drewsta]

Hi Bjorn, I have my networked with 2 computers. A Pentuim D dual core 3.2 Ghz with 2 gig ram for just the LevelD767 Instruments, everything else and all sliders on lowest. The 3 beamers and Th2go are on the Core I5 760 with 4 gig Ram. I really should be getting really good frames because the Corei5 IS DEDICATED ONLY TO THE OUTSIDE VISUALS. I might try tweaking fs9 and see what happens.

Drew

[Emesis]

Drew,

Have you experimented with installing different drivers for your ATI card? Maybe an older one just to test. When you run on a single screen instead of the TH2GO are the frame rates the same? Have you been to a site called widescreengaming, they might have some tips there.

I run the TH2GO with an 8800gtx OC and I have to run an older Nvidia driver for the TH2GO, the newer drivers don't work.

G'luck,
Cheers

Drew...I just thought of something, doesn't the ATI cards have the Eyefinity, where you don't need the TH2GO to run on multiple monitors? I'm not much on ATI but was just curious if you have that option.

[Drewsta]

Hi all, I'm going to experiment with my system and see what happens. I'm going to fit a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus to the Core I5 760 and overclock it from 2.8 to perhaps 3.4/3.6ghz. Im going to pullout both ATI HD5670's and drop in a single NVIDIA GTX275 896MB and run Nhancer. I did some further reading and apparently the HD5670 1Gig is an ok card but the numbers don't mean alot. Put it this way the earlier 4870 out performs the 5670. The Nvidia GTX275 outperforms the HD5670 considerably in all areas, especially antialiasing and anisotropic filtering etc. Maybe just maybe that will boost the performance enough for smooth 25 fps with the TH2go and three beamers over wideview.

Ill keep you all posted.
Drew

[Drewsta]

Hi guys, I ripped out the HD5670 cards and replaced them with a single Nvidia GTX275 and disabled the wideview setup and ran the entire sim from the coreI5, that is 3 beamers (1280x800) 3 mip screens (Fo on splitter). Now she is smooth as silk with virtually not stutters at all in crap weather too, unbelievable. I guess the whole networked wideview thing slowed the whole process down somewhat because I did try that with the Gtx275 aswell and still got some stuttering. I guess I'll have to go without curved visuals and warping and try 45 degree angled side views instead. Also a bonus , I will get my landing lights back too!! I might still overclock the CoreI5 slightly to better the performance again.

Cheers
Drew

[Drewsta]

Oh dear, 1 step forward 2 steps back. Tried to fit a second graphics card in the new computer but it was pushing down on the hard drive sata cable ,so I unplugged the sata cable and put it in a same coloured blue slot below that. Turned computer on and "error loading operating system". I put it back into its original sata slot and still the same. I'm not sure what I've done now but doesn't look good

Drew

[Garys]

After making sure all sata and power cables are secure press the clear cmos button on your motherboard if it has one. If not then restart computer and reset your bios settings to default. Make sure you have no disks in your cd rom as well.

Gary

[Drewsta]

Thanks for the reply Gary, I went to try what you asked and turned the computer on and it came good all by itself. Wierd but great!

Drew