a little update...

my GPU again: ATI 9250, 128 MB, 64 bit

I've determined now that the only real issue with using my low end GPU is that you need to reboot the computer before changing aircraft. It seems that the GPU doesn't reset properly and perhaps still contains the airplane graphic elements from the last airplane in it's memory.

I've been going through the selection of planes and all of them work great without GPU errors (provided I reboot before flying).

The ultra stick lite is one of my favorates... really flies nice and great for aerobatics. T34 is another nice flyer.

So far I've been sticking with the pano scenery (with sharpness lowered a bit), because I don't see the point of 3D scenery for RC flying. But you can guess that 3D scenery will add many more polygons and surfaces for the GPU to deal with.

But anyway I'll be upgrading my GPU mainly for the convenience of not needing to reboot.