Hey, thanks for your answers! I'm getting more confused....not good.
On the box - this brand new card - the card is supposed to be 256MB, which is what I thought I was buying. But if I go into Display properties/adapter it says the following:
Chip GeForce 8500GT
DAC Integrated RAMDAC
Memory size: 512 MB*
Bios Version 60.86.39.00.68
* but on booting the computer the video RAM is listed as 256MB.
So do I have one of those cards that shares RAM? My system has 2 GB of RAM so I'm not sure why that would be messing it up? So far I can't see how to turn off that property.
I got this "upgrade" (no read that downgrade!) just to be able to run a model airplane flight sim....the min requirements are DX9 and 256 MB on board RAM. When the plane flies just across a clear sky there is no hesitation or jerkiness in the control of the plane, but as soon as any stationary background scenery comes into view the motion is very negatively affected. With the old ATI 128MB card the plane flies smoothly in all conditions, but the detail is rather lacking, and edges are quit ragged.
Unfortunately I don't have another computer I can check the card in....My requirements for a card are/were PCI express, 256MB on board, DX9, and low raise form factor. This last requirement has greatly limited my selections...
I'm going to try updating the MB bios...
Any other ideas?