That is a nice build you have there Sir. I am still debating whether to upgrade my GF 9800GTX 512Mb to one of the GTX 2XX series, or just add a second 9800GTX to my rig. I think I am leaning more toward the additional 9800GTX, for the cost effectiveness. The one I have is water cooled, and you can find the 9800GTX for around $140 to $160 and a waterblock for another $75 to $90.....$250 total compared to $400 to $500 for a GTX 2XX + water block setup. My 680i SLI mobo is ready for full speed 3 way SLI, so if I save for a while, I can add two more....that should more than handle my gaming needs. CFS3 is all I play...... Have you ever used the GF 9800GTX? I am just wondering how much of a difference or performance gain the GTX 285 actually has in comparison...
I am locked into some settings now that seem to be a pretty decent balance of image quality to performance.... In addition to the scenery and terrain xml adjustments, I also set the cap on my FPS to 65 so my rig isn't wasting effort trying to hit frame rates beyond video clip smooth ( in your CFS3 or ETO folder find the "default" folder, in that edit the "CFS3".xml, the line where is says <Graphics OldAircraftRender="No" MaxFPS="(Enter your max FPS here)" />). Then, in the configuration utility>Texture info settings I pushed the composite aircraft texture max dimensions slider up to 4096, and in the Z-bias settings I pushed the Z-bias resolution up to 22....both settings come from "enabling 2048x2048 textures" at Groundcrew/Regs Hanger........the aircraft detail is markedly improved.....and my two .xml file for slider 5 settings follow:
Scenery:
<Budget Name="Five">
<Rings AboveGroundLevel="0" MaxDistEyeInnerRing="0">
<Ring PatchWorldDim="2048" RingDim="15" LOD="5" MajorDensity="0.00005" />
<Ring PatchWorldDim="512" RingDim="21" LOD="25" MajorDensity="0.00010" />
<Ring PatchWorldDim="256" RingDim="17" LOD="100" MajorDensity="0.00020" />
<Ring PatchWorldDim="128" RingDim="13" LOD="350" MajorDensity="0.00025" />
</Rings>
Terrain:
<Budget Name="Five">
<ImageQualities>
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="16384" ImageQuality="0"/>
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="8192" ImageQuality="0"/>
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="4096" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="2048" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="1024" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="512" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="256" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="128" ImageQuality="0" />
<ImageQuality PatchWorldDim="64" ImageQuality="0" />
</ImageQualities>
<Rings AboveGroundLevel="0" MaxDistEyeInnerRing="0">
<Ring PatchWorldDim="16384" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="49152" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="8192" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="24576" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="4096" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="12288" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="2048" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="6144" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="1024" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="3072" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="512" RingDim="5" MinMaskRadius="1536" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="256" RingDim="7" MinMaskRadius="768" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="128" RingDim="7" MinMaskRadius="384" UseMips="y"/>
<Ring PatchWorldDim="64" RingDim="7" MinMaskRadius="192" DetailTileCount="16" />
</Rings>
Now I don't see wild 125+ fps over water or above 30k feet, 66 is as high as it will go, and I don't drop below 38 fps even down on the deck with hate and discontent spewing forth around me in abundance. I only noticed a slight stutter when banking hard from over water to over a busy shoreline as the detail went from nothing to everything...but it wasn't too painful. I added the 1024 terrain textures from SOH addons, and I am really happy with the scenery detail I'm getting here......and in the infamous words of the Keebler Elves......" KEEEEEP TWEAKING!!!"
The Marines.....making mayhem and misery.....its what we do best.
:isadizzy:
