popov54

Dan, your rig is higher grade than mine and from my very recent experience, you will get a boost just by upgrading to Win7 Pro 64bit for this reason: By running 64 bit your Video card will be able to use the system RAM. So instead of just seeing 512mb, you would have whatever else is left after OS start up. In my case (hd4850 512mb) after boot up, my card has 1.3 gb it can tap. Also, I believe the latest driver (with APP) has some sort code that allows a program to task the gpu directly if needed, without burdening the cpu. Whether this is active or just some future option for devs, I'm not sure. In any case, the additional RAM allocation alone is good for some higher AA or Texture settings or other eye candy settings without any change to Hardware. Good luck.

I just wanted to give an update to you guys about my discovery. I purchased a G.Skill SSD and also upgraded to Windows 7 and am now running A-10c at double the frames. No CPU (E8500 @3.1)overclock, no GFX (HD4850) overclock, and ONLY 2gb or RAM! Windows 7 is probably the most worthwhile upgrade you should do if you aren't already running it, and I'm an XP diehard. I ran the win7 experience eval and my system got a 6.5 with that cpu, 5.5 for RAM, and 7.7 for Hard drive (SSD), but the most surprising thing was my GFX. It got a 7.4. Not sure if the new ATI driver is the cause or the OS, but it is confirmed by A-10C performance. It is smoooth except when the Sun enters the screen, then the frames lag. In fact I have gotten such a boost in FPS that I can now run 19x12, textures high,tssaa,HDR,8xAA,512 pit res, and shadows High at the same frames that I had when I disabled all that stuff @ 12x10 res, Pre-win 7 and SSD. I am running 40 FPS with the above settings, but can hit 55 FPS if I just turn off HDR! So Long story short I am a happy camper. Now I am in no hurry to buy a new GFX or CPU. RAM is my weak link and that's cheap. The SSD has also made my computing experience so much better all by itself. Oh and I did run A-10 with win XP on the SSD and the sim's performance improved dramatically. But the SSD was $200. Win7 was only $85, you decide what's best for your setup. Hope this helps someone out there. Cheers-

^ LouisV on page 3 or this thread confirmed as much. He's running a GTX 480. The best single card most of us would ever consider asking Santa Claus for, lol. He's saying the load on the card is 99% Which is holding back his CPU!

Oh cool, I'll have to look! Pilot has so much workload in this type, I don't get to notice much past my pit.

I'm not going to claim I know I'm right, but I have to ask this. Whenever you read a benchmark for a new processor, they alway try to take out the GPU from the equation by removing all AA and AF and also reducing resolution to it's lowest level possible. If I do this in A-10C, I get buttery smooth FPS even at Nellis range and I'm running an e8500 OC'd slightly @3.6. But even stock at 3.1 it still runs perfect. Try it. It's when the res is bumped up past 1600, and or, the AA or other settings get used that rendering bogs down. So what I'm after, is the performance of A-10c when AA and AF and the eyecandy is turned down at 12x10, but all at 19x12 and with everything maxed. Surely that can't be too much to demand from ???? Cpu or Gpu that is the question? In my earlier post on this thread, I mentioned I was building a new rig, piece by piece, so waiting for the 6900 series isnt specifically for A10c, I just want this new rig to last another 2-3 years. A-10C just sort of gave me a nudge to get on with it. If a dev or tester could chime in and tell us all what they use on their "master" system to run A-10 and why, it would be helpful. Not to say the logic experiments we're doing on this aren't fun. :)

Iraq. And if it could be pulled off with joint operations, Afghanistan/Pakistan. However, if an Apache is the next sim, then Afgahinstan/Pakistan boarder works perfectly because it is not overkill against ground threats. And lets face it, warfare is not getting bigger, it's getting smaller, more precise targeting required with lots of urban operations with civilians around. And also there is still a risk of being shot down over Pakistan/Iraq.

I am building a new system right now (I build every 2-3 years). I've been ready to do it all summer, but the release of A-10 has given me a little push. Even though it's Beta, I found that the Video card seems to be the limiting factor when you enable all the eye candy. I have less RAM than most of you (2gb) and only a dual core e8500 @ 3.6, and it runs like butter when I lower all the settings and run at 12x10, even at the Nevada range. Thing is I want to crank all the eye candy up and run at 19x12, so guess what my next purchase is.....probably one of the new 6900's that come out in 2 more weeks. I'll be installing A-10 on an SSD this weekend so I'll report back how quick load screens and program starts go. Would love some feedback from anyone who has a 5870 right now....Can you put everything on high with a single card or will I need to crossfire?

Well, I voted for the F18 but only because the question asked which "plane" should be next. Out of the choices the F/A - (Fighter/Attack) 18 would be the broadest sim experience they could offer. However, I would prefer an Apache sim next, especially with JTAC getting implemented. Just my 2 cents....actually, my $60.00.

Greetings, I just wanted to state that I had a huge frame rate increase by merely changing the Texture Resolution to Low or Medium. Also bumping the screen resolution from 1920*1200 to 1600 or even the 1440 (to maintain aspect ratio does wonders). To illustrate, i was not able to even turn on HDR or Max shadows without a crash or slideswhow, now Im bumping up shadows to MAX and HDR on and it's flyable with a 2 core duo at 3.6mHz and an ATI HD4850. So Texture Resolution and your selected Screen-res in-gamecan improve your FPS vastly over any other in-game setting. Danger close!:pilotfly: