Question about Anti-Aliasing

[krakee]

My system:

Soyo K7V Dragon Plus
Athelon XP 1900+
512 RAM
64MB Geforce TI200

All settings set mid to high
All boxes checked except AA
Trilinear selected
Mid Map to 4
1280x1024x32 Res.
Frame Rate locked to 20

With this configuration in FS2004, I'm only able to maintain the desired 20fps with AA off, unlike FS2002 where it ran great with AA on. Like everyone else, I'd like to utilize AA to eliminate the "jaggies", but when I select it, I'm never able to get more than 10FPS.
My question: Are there any significant adjustments or tweaks I can make or would it be to my advantage to just purchase a new video card in order to effectively use Anti-Aliasing?
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

[spotlope]

A severe drop in frame rates when enabling AA is a sign of a video card that's being overwhelmed by the sim. Your card, while perfectly acceptable a few months ago, is not going to be able to keep up with FS2004 when running in high visual quality, as you have discovered. I'd suggest that you consider getting a newer card with a minimum of 128MB of video memory if you want to get the most out of the sim. I've got an ATI 9700 Pro, and with the exception of the current bug that causes screens to flicker when selecting menus in full-screen mode, it runs FS like a champ. I'm currently using 6x AA with 16x AF at a steady 24fps and it looks beautiful. I'm not bragging, mind you (after all, my card is a bit long in the tooth compared to the new hotshots), just trying to give you an idea of what you could see with a new one.

thanks,

[wsieffert]

I have the same MOBO, except 1800XP and GForce 4200Ti 128MB x 8X. I am using the 44.03 drivers at the moment and AA off. I don't find I need AA on with these drivers or card. My resolution is only 1024x768x32, however. I also have my FPS locked at 20.

W. Sieffert

[sir_snookie]

With resolutions above 1200x1024 AA does very little to the overall
texture of the screen