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

Hi Folks,Tell me I'm dreaming. Tell me I ain't right. Last night I got in the tweaking mood again. Just can't stop. I told myself two weeks ago after last reinstall of both FS9 and FSX I would stop. Maybe I'll make it my resolution this New Year. Anyways, I updated my video driver from (nVidia) 175.19 to 178.24. I then flew FSX on FSEconomy for an out and back and I swear that it ran better. I then went to settings and popped the FPS slider to unlimited. They were 30s and even some 40s. That is practically double the teens and low 20s I was getting before. I flew the return trip in FS9 and it was doing about 60 avg. (I saw a couple 80s!) on unlimited. I was always locked …

Okay. I've had FSX for two years now, have over 360 hours, but at this point, I'm really looking to make it run the way its supposed to. I'm the type that needs the best scenery possible, but I am simply tired of game lag with framerates bouncing from 5 to 15. Most hardware is relatively cheap, but I'm not educated at all on this. What would be the best to upgrade, RAM? Video Card? Graphics Card? and by how much. Thanks for any help.

I got a 3ware 9690 controller card and also a Patriot 32Gb SDD. I also have 2 Vraptors already in use. I'm going to reinstall everything. I plan to use the SDD for my OS (XP x64) and the 2Vraptors for FSX + Addons in RAID0. I plan to plug everything into the controller card. I'm just not sure how to set up and initialize the hardware so I can install the OS. Do I need to flash drivers to a floppy before installing the OS? Thanks for the help.-jk

I have two drives as follow in my system.Drive D: Reads and Writes to both CD's and DVD's.Drive E: Reads and Writes to CD's and reads DVD's.In the past, I have used either to write to CD's either with the WindowsXP default provisions, or more often with Nero.I also for some time kept my FS9 Disk 4 in Drive E and it was recognized with no problem when I cranked up FS9. Other disks were also recognized and operated normally.Presently, for some reason drive E will not recognize any data CD or DVD, including new blank disks, various commercial flight simulator addon disks, nor my FS9 Disk 4. My experience over the years has been that CD and DVD drives have seemed to be the we…

Okay, come next week I'll be ordering my 920 system. I opted for the 260 for the video card seeing will make use of the 448 bit even if it won't use the 896mb of vid memory...that could be handy with other games. So I'm wondering if I really need the 6 gigs or will that 3 gigs be fine? I know that FSX won't even use the 5-6th but with it being about $50 more to add I wonder if it's worth it?

So I just got the Pro Flight Yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals. However, I got an extra throttle quadrant, nearly identical, but it does not have a USB connection. I instead, it has a round connector that supposedly goes into the round port in the Yoke controller box. I have not yet been able to get this second throttle quadrant to work. I have installed all drivers (I think), as well as the installation software (I tried the throttle before and after installing the software). The computer still does not sense the second throttle quadrant.Would appreciated any suggestions. I am running FS9 on Windows XP. Thank you very much!

Since hearing good things about UD 2008 I decided to download the free trial to see if I would see any improvments on my system but I don't really understand the options; and I think this is a simplified version :( Seems like there is about six menu choices Fragmented Files only, Consolidate, Folder/File Name, Recency, Volatility, and Auto and within those there are a few options like Respect high performance, respect archive, move to MFT. Can anyone give me some pointers on what I should be selecting? I'm running a 300GB Velociraptor in a FSX stand alone machine. I can provide more detail if needed. I'm just a little lost and the .pdf instructions seem to confuse me …

My darling wife surprised me this year with a neat little toy. Anyone think FSX will run on this?http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecen...cle.php/3767731 :( In other news, I pulled the trigger on a new system for FSX (and video editing.) After lots and lots of reading, and a slight cutback in my budget, plus waiting for the boxing day sales to begin (that might be a Canadian thing...) I've submitted an order for the following:Intel core i7 920Asus P6T DeluxeMushkin DDR3 3x2GB 7-8-7-20BFG GTX 260 Maxcore OCThermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (with fan)Western Digital 640gb hard driveLG DVD+RW SATAPC Power & Cooling Silencer 750wCoolerMaster HAF caseI already have the mo…

HiI was surfing around trying to find articles on cool modifications to the CH Yoke. I did find a few that covered ie. painting the thing or installing a map clip.What I would need is how to install more buttons on the left horn of the yoke, where you mostly keep your left hand during the takeoff/approach phases. I'm a VC only flier using Active Camera and need more buttons to change view presets. Currently the two big red buttons are reserved to FS2Crew functions, the trim button.. well, for trim, and the trigger button for PTT (vatsim use). That's all the buttons available for left hand.Does anyone have experience or thought on these kinds of modifications?

Last week I had to get a new mother board. So I had to reinstall windows. So I had it done at a computer store. I had my old c: changed to e: and added a 160 gig sata II as the c: and had windows put there. My d: is a sata II 250 gig where I put fs9. It took about a week to get everything back to normal. At the time I had an amd 64 x2 3800. Everything loaded fine. The yesterday I put in a new amd 64 x2 6000 running at 3.1 ghz. But now loading fs takes forever. I can load other programs that are installed on the c: drive very fast. But fs and my silent hunter IV take forever to load. This didn't happen before I put in the new chip. Any ideas what could be caus…

If there is anyone out there who is using the CH yoke, pedals, and throttle (GAMEPORT versions) in Win XP PRO 64 Bit. Could you tell me what drivers you are using and where I can get them? Thanks for the help and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,lots has been written about FSX and Performance in the last few years. As a lot of other people did i constantly upgraded and upgraded, never really achieving the ultimate flawless 50+ FPS FSX performance... This time i upgraded as much as possible, i would like to check if people with almost the same config have a better performancethan I, as i am still not really happy about it and maybe i am missing something.Config (main components):Vista64+Sp1I7 920 OC @ 3.8 Ghz (still amazing how much OC can be achieved with air cooling)I58X Board + 8GB DDR 1600EVGA GTX 280 FTW (Detonator 180.48 driver)Matrox Triple Head2GoTrackIR4FSX with SP2fsx.cfg not changed (only wi…

FSX was running woefully slow on my machine and I wanted, no, I needed more!Well after struggling tweaking and pulling out my hair for a year, I finally bit it and bought an upgrade. I almost replaced the computer completely but I decided to see if I could go a different route.The machine is a Dell XPS 420 with a [email protected], 3GB RAM, and a 8600GTS/256. I have been thinking the bottleneck was the video card but couldn't put my finger on it. So one day I plugged my friend's 8800GT into the slot and even though my 375W PSU only had one power connector, the FPS went up by at least 10. That was it.Christmas Eve, I received my new ASUS 9800GTX+ from Newegg after checking out …

Just got a gtx-280 1gb ddr3 pci-e 2.0 for xmas and right now it's worst then my 7950 i had . Does any one have one and set 1/2 decent so i have a starting point in the nvidea control panel - manage 3d settings? i'm running a 6000 +processor 2gig ram-raid zero and a year ago i got Mike from fs-gs.com and he set it up for me and never had a problem .Paying him for me was well worth it cause i don't have the savy you guys have out there. Trees shimmering to beat the band - airport buildings just a shaking lord what a mess- oh and i just put the 180.48 drivers in Thanks --- Louis in alberta

Hi all My present pc is 2 years old and am wondering how much improvement i would get with this new one old pcIntel core 2duo 2.4g e66004gig ddr2 533memory2x320 seagate sata2 16mb hard drivegeforce8800gtx pci-e768mbwindowsxp home3x 19''acer lcd monitors run on triple head 2gonew pcAll New Intel Core i7 Performance CPUAsus P6T-Deluxe X58 SLI/Crossfire Mainboard6 Gb DDR 3 1333Mhz Triple Kit RAM2 Terabyte Storage Space in RAID 0 for SpeedDUAL 1Tb Serial ATA-2 16M 7200RPM HDD512Mb ATI 4850 DDR3 PCI-E 16X24

Just installed a new ATI 4550 and was wondering if anyone can provide me with the best optimization settings for FSX. It appears the driver configuration utility has HD type settings (720 or 1080i), etc. But I have no idea where to start with ATI drivers and any FSX settings.Any help would be greatly appreciated!Thanks and Merry Christmas to all!Barry

Hi,I did recently budget upgrade to run XP + FS9 for additional 2-3 years.My system is P5Q, E5200 dual core, Ati Radeon 4670, 2*1 gig mushkin memory, XP sp3, Avast antivirus+XP firewall.Everything is newbuilt, updated and really works like a charm.Regarding FS plan is not to install any unneeded addons to maximise stability. I use LDS, PMDG, F1 ATR, FE, GE, FSmeteo, nothing 'exotic' really.However in some cases, typically on approach 10-20 NM (several locations, could be dense clouds over Atlantic as well) out, my sound goes really crazy, becomes totally incomprehensive (just bzzzzzzzzzzz...) and takes few secs to restore. In a worst case this may result black screen with…

Here is a strange one.All the sounds in my Windows have gone into acceleration mode i.e. songs, windows sounds are being played in 2x speed. Beyonce sounds like a singing beaver... :( :( Anyone have a clue why this might have happened?ThanksShez

Hey guys, I've posted on here before looking at building my own pc. I can't make my mind up with what I should use. My budget is around $800. This is going to be for FS9 ONLY and tons of add-ons. Any help is appreciated. Second questions, any idea when the prices will drop on the Dual Cores?

Hi All, I posted this query in another Forum back in October with little response (In last few days Greg has offered some advice - Thanks) I wondered if it might be useful to run it again here as this seems a suitable subject under this forum. Thanks..................."I wonder if anyone could give me some advice. For several years I've used a separate Hard Drive for my Flight Sim programs - using the other drive for the operating system and everything else. (A tip I read about here a long time ago) My system is a few years old now and no doubt the HDD is slow by comparison to the newer ones. I have recently seen adverts for these new fangled "External" hard drives that …

Just looking for some extra advice on curing my blurries with Photo Textures.TimDXDIAG-------------------System Information------------------Time of this report: 12/25/2008, 10:56:51 Machine name: HOME-PC Operating System: Windows Vista

Hello, I'm novice in FSX simulation.I look for a profile .pr0 for FSX and for the new drivers of Saitek X52 (under XP or Vista). I loaded that of the site saitek http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/x52pro.htmbut commands don't seem to me very complete: in particular, I don't manage to obtain a sight outside the aircraft while without profile that works :( TIA.

I am looking to buy a 42" LCD TV, and was wondering if the difference is very noticable in FSX between 768p and 1020p. I will be sitting about 3' away, and it will only be used as a computer monitor for FSX.Thanks,Bill

Not specific to FS so sorry if it's in the wrong forum!Switched it on yesterday evening and found all my network connections gone and that I was unable to open "Help and Support" or access "system restore". Then had a couple of abortive attempts at using the XP repair facility. Now when I try switch stwich on in starts normally by detecting the drives etc but then all I get is a blank screen and a cursor. Tried booting from the CD with the XP disc in but same thing happens. The other cd drive gives me "Press any key to boot from cd" but when I press any key nothing happens. Heeeelppp!!!

Hi all,I'm considering to replace my current system (AMD X2 5000+, 8800GT, 2GB) with a new one.With the zillions of parts available I need some advise :( The system is for FS9 (not FSX) and maybe later for FS11, although that may be a long time away.If possible I would like to keep running WinXP and not Vista.Here's what I came up with so far:- Intel i7 920- ASUS P6T Deluxe- 4GB of matching Corsair memory- ASUS GTX 280 / 1GB DDR3- 750W PSU- 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200 ST3750330AS, 750GB, mirrored- A casing and some other stuff? As I keep running XP, does it matter I have 4GB installed? XP can only see 3Gb, but I guess it doesn't do any harm to install 4GB? Do I need a GTX…