ATI Graphics

[TPB]

Im running a ATI Radeon HD 3650 on my pc. My problem is that the framerates are are in the low 20's. I have tried every thing that I can think of.

What do i do?

[toprob]

First, we may need to understand why that is a problem -- low framerates are not generally a problem, as long as you are getting a smooth display.

Which version of the sim are you talking about? With FS2004 that would be about average, with FSX that would be above average.

Generally, in simple terms, the graphics card has very little bearing on your frame-rate. That's normally determined by the CPU. Upgrading a graphics card won't generally give you better FPS -- for example, I recently went from an older 128MB graphics card to a more modern (but far from state-of-the-art) card with 512MB, and I didn't get -- or expect -- any increase in frame rates. However it does look 100 times better.

To get better frame-rates, I'd need to replace my CPU.

One way to get out of the habit of judging performance by watching the frame-rate counter, is simply to keep the counter turned off. If you are suffering from poor performance, then try and determine exactly what could be improved.

I've known people who are very proud of their very high frame-rates, but their display looks rubbish. Their screenshots are a blurry mess, but you can't tell them that -- they've got it into their head that they need the best frame-rate of anyone. To me, that's not simming, its competing for the 'best' system.

[TPB]

Im running fs2004. Im only looking for a smoother experience than a stutter every few seconds

[toprob]

Oh, ok. Stutters in FS2004 are more likely to be related to hard-disc use, or CPU use. Does the drive light flicker when it stutters?
It may be useful to look at one of the tools to shut down other processes when simming.
Keeping your hard-drive defragged is the one single thing which keeps my stutters down to a minimum, but your results may be different.