I fly f4af with no problem but BMS is obviously more resource intensive. still, the graphics are horrible on my system. This is what I am using and according to the recommended spec's I should be fine but i'm not. Windows xp sp 3, xeon cpu 3.40 ghz, 4 gigs of ram, nvidia quadro fx 3400 dual dvi 256 megs. the monitor is a 21" viewsonic with a resolution of 1024 x 768. I can mess with the object detail and density and also with different resolutions and hz in the setup area and can get it better but it still is horrible and the trackir 5 is SO slow to respond. any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys

I would say the problem lies with the quadro fx 3400 as it's not really for gaming but designed for workstations and for CAD work. The minimum specs for a video card is 'PCIE 512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible3' and yours only has 256Mb RAM.

Thanks for the insight. What kind of card would you suggest and do you think the rest of my system is acceptable?

When it comes to gaming, except for the GPU, my PC is quite pathetic: an Intel Dual Core E5200 2.6 GHz. Used to go with 2GB of RAM and it worked flawlessly. So yeah, I bet on the graphic card (I know nothing about it). For comparison, I had a GForce 9500 of some 512 MB IIRC and it worked perfect in 1920x1080 res...

Depends on your budget, motherboard and what you intend to play with it.

Is the Quadro a PCIE card? If it's AGP then that means your motherboard won't take a modern card as AGP is old technology now. I'm sure I saw the FX Quadro was PCIE but you need to make sure.

If you are going to only play F4 BMS an AF and are on a budget then look at the NVIDIA GTX 550 Series as that exceeds the 'it rocks on' requirement on the BMS site http://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/content.php?132 and is pretty cheap with a 2Gb version at £149 HERE but start at around £35. Or a GTX 560 starts from around £120 up to over £200.

I don't know anything about your CPU though so can't comment on how it stacks up against the specs list on the BMS site. 4Gb is the most WinXP will recognise so nothing to improve there.

Great! sounds like a video card it is then. With the new card (like the gtx 550) will i still need to dumb down all the graphics options to get a great frame rate or can i get the full benefit of bms with the new card? What i mean is, if i need to spend a little more money to get a great frame rate with all the options up i will.

I need to say I have no hands on experience with the 550, I have a 570. You do need to make sure you can install the card in your motherboard, you will need a PCIE slot, and your PSU will take the extra strain.

Before you do anything, go onto the 'hardware forum' on here and post what you have and what you want to do, tell them your setup including your motherboard and there are far more knowledgeable people on there that will help you out. Just don't want you to buy something that won't work

I have a 560, I don't know what's the difference in performance from the 550 to the 560 but I bet is practically none. I run the game maxed out and it works perfectly. But if my old 9500 would run it, I bet a 550 would do it too.

Thanks guys! i'm off to buy a 560 or 570

Have you checked your motherboard is ok? A 570 will use much more power than your current card so depending on your PSU it may be a problem.

Be honest, you only wanted an excuse to go and buy a new card...

But yes, like Mace said, check your PSU and your PC case, because these things are HUGE, my 560 almost didn't fit in there.

How will I know what card will work with the motherboard and power supply?

Personal experience from a Sparkle GeForce 210 1GB user (bet you can never find any lousier card than that one): Turn off that bloody bloom thingy and you'll go from slideshow to "this is just right" kind of frame rate.

Any idea what would be good options to keep off if I get slowdown only when using the MFD video for the AGMs or targeting pod?