Microsoft Flight Simulator X SP2

There is a DirectX 10 preview with Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Flight Simulator (FSX). Since the release of SP1 for Vista, frame rates have dropped back to 15 fps from 30 fps. Without Vista SP1, up to 70 fps was possible. AMD has optimized CrossFire for slower cards, so there it is possible to achieve more frames, but with the faster cards and SLI there are almost always losses. Generally speaking, FSX runs better on Nvidia hardware than it does on AMD’s.

The results shouldn’t be too much cause for concern, since in many combinations the frame rates increased with anti-aliasing. Since the graphics card does more work, the pressure on the CPU is relieved slightly, and this sets free more power for the app. The GeForce 8600 and 8800 GTS 320 have problems with the 1920 resolution and anti-aliasing applied—frame rates may decline rapidly.