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

I'm hoping for the latter, as one of those "early adopters", but currently the situation looks bleak.Cheers,btOctober 31, 2007 DirectX 10 is Dying By Joel Durham Jr. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2209866,00.asp

My big machine died some time ago and am now about to have my new machine delivered on Tuesday. Here are the primary specs:HP Pavilion d4995t customizable Desktop PC Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) Intel® Core� 2 Quad processor Q6700 (2.66GHz) 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024) 640MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, 2 DVI, TV-Out 802.11 b/g USB Wireless LAN card & USB external modem 1TB 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s dual hard drives (2x500GB) LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer I plan on a clean install of FSX immediaely followed by Acceleration.Here are some assumptions that may not be c…

In case someone else comes across a similar issue, I thought I would post a recent experience to hopefully save someone else the time and research.Issue: Some, if not all, factory-overclocked 7900GT video cards from the likes of Evga, XFX, and BFG, may have a 3D display issue with the Nvidia Vista drivers whereby, once a 3D display (including the Aero desktop) was activated, the display would become fragmented in semi-horizontal, wavy, completely unreadable, lines (garbage).At first I thought it was a driver issue but after a thorough Google search, I was convinced otherwise as no version of any Nvidia Vista driver was addressing the severe problem. The fragmented displ…

I see Tom's Hardware VGA charts (with the FSX benchmarks)now has the ATI 3870/3850 cards listed.gb.http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

Let me begin by saying that I never really believed that my machine would even begin to handle fsx. I began with a (XP) Dim 9200, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6320,(1.86GHz,1066FSB) with 4MB cache, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8300GS. Since I knew that I would eventually have a machine that would run FSX, I went ahead and purchased and installed the game on the above computer. The Total cost of the computer was 789.00 including tax and free shipping. It also included Dell's lower end 20" widescreen monitor. I was surprised to see that the Sim would run at all, let alone very flyable at very lowest settings. Frames of about 20 to 30 fps. I then decided to …

I am running Vista Home Premium 64 on a separate drive. For the most part, I like it, specially for the fact that it does recognize all of the 4 Gigs of ram I have. I did change the look of it as close as can be to XP pro.The thing that irks me most is SECURITY. Even logged in as ADMINISTRATOR, there are some tasks that are either DENIED completely, or have to be modified somewhat. I did disable UAC for whatever it's worth, but it does not seem to cover everything.Does anybody have any tricks up their sleeve that would make VISTA TAMER?Appreciate any help.Thanks.Abe

My ATI Radeon 9800XT decided to give out on me so now I'm in the market for a new video card. My plan is to stay as close to or under $300 if possible, but still upgrde or better performance than what I was getting with the 9800XT. My system specs are: 1GB of ram, 3.2 GHz P4 CPU, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound card and a 20" Dell wide angle monitor. I am realy looking for better performance in FSX if posible in this price range.Thanks

Hi guys, just curious to know if other people out there that had similar setups noticed any improvments from changing their graphics card from like a Geforce 6800GT 256MB (AGP) to a Sapphire ATI Radeon 1950 Pro 512MB (AGP)?Thanks,Bill

Does anybody know of a program that would Measure and maximize the output of my computer...........Or if someone cares to walk me through it?Tim

Hi,I've set up FSX/Acceleration with FSGenesis meshs, MyTraffic, ASX and Level-D 767 on a rather good equipped rig (see below). Basically I'm fairly satisfied with the overal performance. I have locked my frame rate at 18 fps with scenery sliders at about 2/3 and 40% of AI traffic. Everything looks good and runs smooth until I approach a busy and detailed airport (i. e. KLAX). During approach FPS fall to 9-11. At the same time I see a overall CPU load of 35-40% and if I go into the task manager I see that only one core is really used while the other three are near idle. Playing with the sliders shows that the fps depend directly on the scenery densitiy (clouds and AI traf…

If the TripleHead2GO is designed mostly for three 19" at 1280x1024x3, could somebody confirms that it works well too with dual 22" screens at 1680x1050x2, under FSX's VC ?btw if ok, a DH2GO should be sufficient since it supports too 3360x1050 ? Last but not least, could it possible that the TH2GO is "somewhere inside" faster than a DH2GO at this common resolution of 3360x1050 ?Thanks !

I bought the HSI HD3870 because I was concerned with power consumption and heat production, and both of these are very well addressed by the 3870.Also there are no 8800GT cards left on this Earth. or FutureShop even :-)Problem: Although I got it to install in my WinXP partition, it had problems with my Vista32, which also may be that I have an Nvidia chipset, I think (?... its a DELL...). I did get the display driver installed, manually, but cannot get the CCC in.Errors during install = "Failed to load detection driver"and "Failed to find any installed componets"Anyone familiar with this type of error and its remedy?Otherwise the card is pretty good, quiet, and not too m…

Hi,Why not run a regular on-line survey in the same manner as is done on STEAM? http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.htmlI have just updated my installation of STEAM and participated in VALVE's survey. As you will see, it does make for some very interesting reading. Currently there are well over half a million participants and I am pleased to see that my hardware spec is still rubbing shoulders with that owned by the majority of gamers out there. I gather the results are sent on to STEAM and, I quote, "The survey is incredibly helpful for us as game developers in that it ensures that we're making good decisions about what kinds of technology investments to make" unqu…

I have an ASRock 775 dual VSTA board with both AGP and PCIe slots. Currently using AGP with an ATI 9800SE. Time to move up a bit to a PCIe card. However, I have seen conflicting info on this board's PCIe slot. It is either 4x or 16x. My question is - If it is 4x does that make a material difference?Regards,Dick BoleyA PC, an LCD, speakers, CH yoke

Did anyone witness the AMD eight monitor setup at FanCon 2007?What frame rates were they gettingand at what settings?Given the recent reviews of the 3870 and Phenomit is hard to believe you could get decent frame rates outof such a system.Is there some multi monitor magic going on that hasnot been mentioned in the reviews yet?gb.

Anyone noticed that the presence or absence of the mouse arrow affects frame rate?I'm running triple monitors/triple video cards. I've long observed that the cursor affects FPS depending on its presence on which mon.Ex.- arrow visible OR hidden on main AGP monitor= max fps. - arrow visible on AGP/mon 2: fps drops 25% - arrow hidden on AGP/mon 2: fps = max - arrow visible on PCI/mon 3: fps drops 50% - arrow hidden on PCI/mon 3: fps = maxClearly, the cursor has a significant effect on frame rate- depending on which monitor has been focused by it - AND whether the arrow is visible or hidden!!Anyone out there who can explain this? Is this significant also with TH2G…

Hi everyone,All I wanted to do was enlarge my C: partition by 5GB to give XP Home a little more elbow room and I understood that THE tool for the job was PartitionMagic. Not so, or so it now seems.My main drive is a WD Caviar SE16 250GB (WD2500KS) SATAII. There are 2 partitions on this drive: SYSTEM C: (15GB) and PROGRAMS D: The system has been stable for some time and the remaining free space on C: is currently around 3.5GB, although this yo-yos up and down according to the number of preserved restore points and various routine cleaning operations.When I built this PC I felt 15GB was more than enough space for the o/s and its paging file. Sadly, despite my best efforts, …

Hi all, Some of you may have seen my previous posts on here asking for help! I have spent the last month or so trying to bring myself up to speed on the latest and greatest in the world of computer hardware. I have now put some components together for a new PC for myself. You may have seen from my earlier posts that I am now involved with a business that have employed me to do video editing work. Although the main priority of this PC is to do video editing work, I am also hoping (if and when I get any spare time ;-)) to use it for gaming sessions including FS9! I would be interested and grateful to see any one's opinions or suggestions? **Processor

Just checking my sanity. Has it always been possible to run FS9 with one monitor in windowed mode and the other (TH2GO) in full screen? I seem to recall that whenever you selected one to full screen then the other also changed. It now seems to be possible to run the FS Commander map in windowed mode on one screen while enjoying TH2GO full screen at the same time. This applies to FS9 only. FSX flips both monitors to full screen. This on Vista.

I currently have an older AMD 4800+ X2 CPU, and when I installed it I had to download a driver from AMD, plus a hotfix for WinXP that wasn't available in the normal WinXP updates. I'm about to install a Q6600 Intel, and am wondering if anyone has experience, or has a link to, any special items that I need to be aware of when installing the new CPU (beyond a simple XP install and applying all current updates (including SP2) to it.Thanks- Bruce.

Hi Guys,A few months ago I`ve bought a new computer. It`s a pretty good system: Geforce 8800GTX, Intel Core2 Quad, with a windows vista operating system. Despite this good system my FPS in FS9 were sometimes not what I expected them to be. I optimized the settings, downloaded latest Nvidea drivers, vista updates and found out that setting the affinity is a must when having core2quad. When I wanted to change this I selected the set affinity option when fs9.exe was running. Unfortunately I didn`t got the menu which you normally get(where you can select the processors) but I got an error "Cannot enter the affinity settings panel. Access refused"(but then that message in my l…

Is this a bug? FS9 in bad weather with landing light on.... (all acft)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/181414.jpg

Hello Gang!My old P4 1.7 2GB of SDRAM is not cutting it anymore. I am ready to take the plunge and build a new rig. My budget is about 2,000 USD. In your experience and with this type of budget, what are your recommendations for the following:1. Motherboard2. RAM (Type and speed)3. Hard Drives - I understand SATA is better/faster???4. Video Card5. DVD/RW driveI will be implementing a 1000W Power supply because my current 400W sometimes has a hard time powering up all of my 13 USB peripherals.Your input and assistance is sincerely appreciated.Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert

I think anyone who has looked at video card prices for the new 8800gt and 3870 have wondered the same thing. I was going to buy one but I think I can wait a while until prices are back where they are supposed to be.http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2222929,00.aspDon

To the AVSIM readership, this is my usage review of the Samsung 226BW 22 inch 16:10 wide view format.Members, I have decided to not go into the mechanical and software details of this monitor, as you only have to GOOGLE a search for it, and will get all the details you could desire. Instead, I want to focus this review on the usage of this monitor to display Microsoft