need help restoring fps!

[loser]

system:

P3 500
384 MB ram
ati rage 128 pro
sb live something something
Winblows XP professional
broadband connection.

here is the problem:

i just "upgraded" to WINXP from 98SE (my comp was messed and i had to fdisk, so i figured why not try XP.)

i used to get around 40-50 fps in normal level flight. Now i get around 12-15.  If there is any sort of a fur or smoke it goes down to about 3...totally unplayable.  What is worse, stationary ground clutter does the same thing!  eg: i was hitting one of the knit cities the other day. I was the only plane there but anytime i pointed my nose down towards the city for a pass, i got about 3 frames and baaaaad stuttering. This didnt happen before XP.

another thing:  just for chits and giggles i tried disablng norton auto protect yesterday.  I got a slight boost in fps in level flight, but as soon as i got into any sort of fight or too close to the ground, back down to poop frames.

i have all the current drivers for all my shizz.

anyone......HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lephturn]

A few things.

1.  Check your graphics card drivers/setup util and make sure you haven't turned on something you didn't have on before like Anti-aliasing.

2.  What resolution/color depth are you running the game in, and is it the same as your desktop?  Try setting them to the same res and color depth.

3.  That graphics card isn't so hot, and I don't expect you will get good framerates out of it, especially in XP.  ATI has newer beta XP drivers out I think, but possibly only for the Radeon series.