ATI Radeon 9200 dual-head vs FS2002Pro - advice wanted

Hi all,

I have recently bought a new, custom-built PC from a local shop (not a megastore
chain) and budgetary constraints meant that the most expensive part was the CPU
so I had to skimp on the graphics card. But this can always be upgraded later.

My first few attempts at running FS2002 Pro have been enjoyable (the 'copter is
now very controllable, locked at 15-20 FPS) but all ended in freeze-ups.

Common features of the freeze ups a -
In the close vicinity of landmark buildings or non-generic airport buildings.
Autogen buildings on but low to medium density.
So far, one has happened during an instant replay of a helo-pad landing, whilst
zoomed-in on a spot view.
Sound was on
There is an audible 'click' at the instant of the freeze-up. I'm wondering if
the gfx card is fine but the sound card has a problem?

I'd like to hear any success stories, similar failures plus recommended scenery
display/aircraft display/hardware menu settings with which you've achieved
several hours of program stability at frame rates of 15-20 (or better??) using
the ATI Radeon 9200 dual head card.

As a separate matter, the shop described it as a "256Mb" card but the Users
manual lists something called "frame buffer size" and for 1024x768 this is given
as 64/128Mb. Does this mean that I have 2 chunks of 128Mb memory, one of which
is unused until I attach the second monitor? Is there a way of accessing all the
memory at once and, if so, how is this done?

Relevant specifications
Mobo P4 MSI 865PE Neo2
CPU P4 3.06Ghz (800 fsb)
Memory 512 Mb (intend to add more later, if it becomes necessary)
Graphics ATI Radeon 9200 dual head
Sound 5.1 Sound (Soundblaster, or clone?) - built-in on the mobo
OS Windows XP Home Edition
Sim MS FS2002 Professional Edition, no patches or fixes applied,
no freeware or commercial add-ons
(as yet - I plan to add Justflight's FS Traffic)
DX Ver Direct-X 8 supplied with gfx card. Unsure whether FS2002P
installation upgraded this or reverted it to an older version (!!??).

DXDIAG.EXE reports no problems with Direct Draw, Direct 3D and Direct Sound
although one such testing session ended in a program crash during a full-screen
Direct Draw test which XP successfully recovered from.


--
regards,

Mark
mailto -- .- .-. -.- -.-. .... . .-. .-. -.-- {.- -}-.-. --- -- .--. ..- ... .
..-. ...- . {-.. --- -} -.-. --- --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~