System Hardware: PC | MOBO | RAM | CPU | HDD | SSD | PSU etc

Hello,A couple of days ago, I was just digging out some old 19" CRT monitor from my basement so that I could fly multiscreen on FSX.My goal was to keep using my current screen as my usual virutal cockpit in fullscreen mode and have the panels I would use in flight on the extra monitor. Although, I was very unsatisfied with the result and failed to find much help online. It was either running in extended desktop mode which, for example, cut the PFD in half on a 737, or in windowed mode which required much window undocking and many size adjustements.I just wanted to share how I finally resolved that issue.First of all for FSX to 'understand' that you got two monitors you go…

Hey guys - just had a question for those of you who are familiar with the symptoms of hard drive failures.I have a hard drive that keeps "disappearing" from my computer (i.e. not showing up in My Computer, etc). I also am experiencing some very long pauses that were not happening before. I have three drives - my main drive, which Windows Vista is on, along with most of my regular programs, a storage drive where I keep all my videos and software stuff, and a drive dedicated to game installations. The game hard drive is the one that is disappearing. Does that probably mean that it is failing/no good?Thanks for your help!Todd

My wife and I both needed new PC's, so last fall I decieded to build 2 new systems. I enjoy putting them together, so ordering a pre built was not something I wanted to do. The first system I put together last Nov was going to be for my wife. It is a Wolfdale e8600 with an asus geforce 260, 4 gigs 1066 mushkin ram, 2x 500 gib Seagate drives in raid 0, on a P5B Premium vista edition motherboard running Vista 64.The second system I built was for myself and just completed a month ago. It is a core i7 920 with 4 gigs DDR3 and the same video card and hard drives. also running Vista 64b bit. Both systems have the same mid tower case and 650watt power supply and an asus silent s…

I have a Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.0ghz running FS2004. Assuming I make no additional hardware changes, would a Core 2 Quad Q9650 @ 3.0ghz improve frame rate?I can get one for $349, but don't want to spend the $ if it won't make much difference.

I found reference to the above hotfix which I don't appear to have installed (does not appear in Add/Remove programs as being installed). Is this desirable for a Q6600 running XP (32), and if so what does it do?Thanks, Bruce.

Heres the skinny.. Nhancer is currently in Beta2 for its next release 2.5.0 which will be required for any Nvidia driver from 185.xx and aboveAlso.. it REQUIRES .NET 3.5 be installed to useANDIt means 'FULL" support for any video card less than the 8000 series Nvidia will be problematical, meaning nHancer will still work with older cards, but not all AA options will work correctly with them. Only 8000 series cards and up are fully supported as of this release and driver 185.xx or aboveThere is a beta version of Nhancer availablex32 http://www.nhancer.com/downloads/nHancer32....0_B2_Setup.exex64 http://www.nhancer.com/downloads/nHancer64....0_B2_Setup.exeI am NOT suggestin…

Finally got tired of trying to decide what would work best for a new sim PC. I know the video card is not optimal, but the rest of the system seems fairly stout. I'll see how things go with the ATI 4850, but if I'm not happy, I'll probably pop a GeForce 260. Unfortunately, the Dell I ordered only has a 360 watt PS, so with the rest of the hardware, I'd be surprised if it could power a 260. Anyway, here are the specs:Studio XPS 435MT Studio XPS 435MT, Intel Core i7-940 processor(8MB L2 Cache 2.93GHz) 8GB DDR3 SDRAM AT 1066MHZ-2X2GB/4x1GB,X 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 640GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPMRunning Vista 64 (planning on Windows 7 when possible though)Of cour…

Hey guys, I have an issue that I really need help with.I was putting some old parts into a half-empy computer with the hopes of creating a fully functioning one. I put all the components in...loaded windows...drivers...everything was ready to go, and I was getting ready to load software on it. Suddenly, my computer froze, so I had to pull the plug. When I tried to start it again, the computer turned on, all the fans started going, but nothing appeared on the moniter. I checked that the moniter actually was plugged in, and that it was functioning properly, which it was. I have no idea what to do next, has anybody had an issue like this? I have heard it could possibly be a …

I'm thinking about picking up this Netbook:Asus EEE PC 1000HEIt's supposed to be one of the best netbooks out there, and fairly powerful. It can apparently run Windows 7 fairly well.But has anyone tried installing FSX on it?I wondering if FSX will even load on it (assuming all sliders set to full left).

Well, I got the blue screen of death this morning. I was listening to some music and working in Max when I start hearing a pop like a relay after each song. Then I got the BSOD and now when O go to reboot, I get as far as the screen telling me Windows did not shut down normally and no matter which option I choose it only gets that far again. I thought it might be my video card, so I pulled that, but the same thing happens. I was thinking a RAM stick, but it really doesn't seem like that would cause this. I'm going to re-install Windows tonight.Any ideas from anyone? Kevin

This Q is probably specific for Nick, and whoever had experience with it!?I would be wasting GB of space on my Vrap if I set 64kb clustersize - apart from files being easily become defragmented, would in fact increase performance?!

Hi guys, I just got a mail from SimWare that mentions a competitor to TrackIR. Hat Track looks very similar but is half the price,

FSX is running fine on my Mac Book Pro with Vista under Boot Camp, but I would like to have a proper desktop with a large monitor. I have an old Pentium 4 3.0 gig with an ATI Radeon 9800 128 MB video card running Windows XP. In the day it ran FS9 pretty well. Is FSX likely to do well on it? What should I consider improving? I don't want to have to buy a new computer unless I have to.Thanks, Tim

Hi,I'm using FS2004 on an i7940 and a ENGTX GTX285 TOP graphics card, however I'm having problems with blurry textures as I posted in this post: http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...p;#entry1570616Could anyone using this setup or a similar system please offer me some guidance in terms of nhancer settings as well as fs9.cfg tweaks or something in order to lose the blurry texture problem, I've tried all searches and researched everything but to no avail. Really appreciate any of your inputs!Kind Regards,Bhavesh

Hi All,I recently installed FSX (pre SP1 & SP2) and so far have spent about 1 hr tweakign with the settings and I can't seem to get things exactly where I want them.My Specs:Biostar TF720 MontherboardBFG 650W PSUAMD Phenom 8450 x34GB DDR2-PC8500 (1066MHz)BFG GeForce 9800 GTX+WD 80GB SATA19" Acer @ 1440x900x32Single MonitorFSX OnlyMy first question is, is this system up to par with what FSX would need to run the game with High settings?It seems that I can max just about everything out and set the Autogen to None and I get very smooth gameplay. In larger congested cities things start to bog down. I'm not done tweakign yet but I'd like to know if I should upgrade my CPU …

Anybody have this motherboard and if so, how do you go about overclocking this thing? With the AI tweatker, do you put everything (options listed) in automatic and see what happensor is there a more specific way to do this?jack

I want to know who is currently using an i7 965 and fs9.What are your frame rates with heavy clouds and all sliders to the right?I like to test using the "fogged in" weather above the first layer.I also test using Manhattan.With my Asus Striker, X6850, 4gig ram, 8800ultra, and Win XP Pro, I get 30-40fps. I'm looking for 60 fps.Video settings: 8s, 16aa, High Quality, 1680 X 1050I've tried over clocking but my system performs better without over clocking.Every year I want a faster system. Maybe this is my last one? Anyone using an i7 please let me know before I waste my dollars.

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but what is the best specs for fsx. I'm thinking of building my own pc.Thanks in advance -Fskid8

After reading lots of posts about overclocking the processor I was wondering if overclocking would cut short the life expectancy of the processor?Does anyone have any thoughts on this?I7 processors are so expensive I would hate to "toast" one. I know if I were to go to extremes in overclocking that it would put a great strain on the overclocked parts.What about some mild overclocking? You know, not having to go with liquid cooling and such, but just a good after market cooling setup.Thanks,Alan

I have been running an i7 940 Rampage 2 extreme for several months , It was perfect, 2.9 oc to 3.8. then all of a sudden i started to get ctd's.Does anyone have the settings for 4.0 at i7 940 Rampage 2 extreme, vista 64.I cant even get it to boot . Thanks Peter

Hello All,Anybody able to get 7-7-7 timings @1600 with DDR3 @ 4gHz on a P6T deluxe with an i7920? I can't seem to get thatto be stable on my board. I can post voltages if needed. See sig for specs. Thanks,Dan

I finally got the money to upgrade my rig. I thought I would post my current specs as well as my new specs for my new mobo, processor, and ram im gettingCurrent:Windows Vista Home basicAMD 64 x2 4200`2.2ghzRam 3.5gb, only reads 3 becasue I think my mobo is dying or i had a stick go bad.9800GTX nvidia regular onboard crappy moboSoon to beAMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition ProcessorASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard4.0gb OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) 9800GTXWhat do you guys think? How will fsx run compared to now where i only avg 18-…

I'm planning on building a system Intel core QUAD Q9450 2.66G 12M 1333 I64 S775Asus MB P5QEVGA Geforce GTX +9800 video card i will start with 4 gig ram but i do plan on boosting as soon as i have more moneyany comments on how this system should run with FSX and I plan on using FS9 and FSX should i use Windows XP or Vista ? should i go with 64 bit ?will a partition hard drive with one side strickly for Flight sim and other for other stuff affect performance?thanks jat

I need some advice. I am thinking of buying a PFC yoke to replace my Saitek yoke.Problem being the PFC yokes don't have a hat switch and I still want to pan around when using the VC cockpit. Has anyone got any suggestions on how somehow I can still have the functionality of a hat switch when the yoke itself doesn't have an actual POV hat switch?Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance.Andrew

Does anyone else find that Sata cables don't have a very 'firm' or 'positive' connection?I have four - sometimes five hard drives in my PC, and I often have problems with sata cables not properly connecting. Sometimes, if I've been inside the case, I find i've accidentally disloged one, causing the drive not work.