I've got the textures turned down to 256. I've been tinkering trying to figure out -exactly- what the trigger is to me losing connection. From what I can tell so far, it's trying to launch bombers with formations enabled. I just took a B25 C up as a single with no problems. Earlier I did a Panzer and a Spit 8, again, no problems. After the single B25 I re enabled formations and launched again with the same plane and load out. Got a beacon light within ten seconds. I can do bomber formations offline with no trouble.
As for upgrades I've been planning to upgrade the graphics card for a while. That may be my Christmas present to me. Thought about updating the OS but that would cost as much as the graphics card and be a huge hassle to boot since I'd have to reload every single application too. Memory is an easy fix and I've heard adding a sound card, even a cheap one, goes a long way too just in freeing up CPU cycles. I've got an Asus P5NE SLI motherboard with Nvidia chipset and 800 watts of power. What would you recommend as an upgrade that gives the most bang for the buck? Do you think I should add an ethernet card instead of using the on-board ethernet?