wanna donate 500 bucks?
Yeah with the current map I'm incapable of flying by clouds. If I look at them I lag baad.
You don't need $500 to unsuck your graphics. There are any number of graphics cards on ebay that will make a huge improvement on what you're seeing for a fraction of that amount.
What card are you currently running, or are you on an on-board graphics chipset built in to your mother board?
As I'm writing this, I'm looking at ebay at an ATI Radeon 5770 that ends in 2 hours, current bid is $54.00. That is similar to what I have, and I run this game at 100% on all the detail, high res textures, self shadow, etc.
All it takes is some looking and you wanting to upgrade.
edit: I have a Radeon 6850, the 5770 should be close to that. Probably still more than capable of running this game maxed out.
edit part duex: if you're on a laptop, ignore everything I said and buy a desktop.