I bet Microsoft Flight Simulator X would slow your GeForce 8800 GTX system to a crawl (<15 FPS maybe) on max settings. MSFS 10 is positively the most unoptimized game I have ever seen - my 7800 GT can't even run it on mid settings above 15 fps.
Definitely. FSX is the worst piece of "professional" programming I have EVER seen! It is absolutely unnacceptable. FS9 outperforms FSX, I can run FS9 at the max at 60fps - FSX is jerky even at near minimum settings - settings so low FS9 looks better. Microsoft needs to redo the whole thing.
I have a GeForce 7950 GX2 and I can run any of my other games at max with no slowdowns. Age of Empires III is GPU intensive but I run it just fine.