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

While some of the 4CoreDual-VSTA BIOS options are easily understood, many are simply an unknown danger from adjustment. As an example,one of many, there is a setting for Hard Drive "strength". I tried to get a list of explained BIOS options or at least an explanation of the one mentioned. I was told to refer to the documentation. Neither the printed manual, or the web site, offers any explanation of many BIOS options. My question is - does anyone know of a BIOS functional descriptions, or at least, what does hard drive strength mean?Regards,Dick BoleyA PC, an LCD, speakers, CH yoke

Hi folks,I have a problem with Fs9 loading weather/clouds, my FPS die from around a steady 25 to 8 for up to 30 seconds. This problem only occurs when actually looking at the sky if I quickly look down at the vc instrument panel the FPS instantly return to 25, when the slow down has fininshed FPS return to normal values when looking at the sky,if I set only one layer of cloud it does not occur or turn off Anisotropic filteringThe strange thing is that I have just install a 320 STATA 11 hard disk,up from a 40 gig IDE, the 40 gig IDE had exactly the same device drivers (chip/video), same sim weather display / cfg tweak settings as before, same settings addon weather engine …

I went to START and typed in DXDIAG and I saw this:Direct X Version DX10, and underneath it on the bottom line:DXDIAG 6.00.6000.16386 32-bit unicodeI've downloaded the latest Direct X and installed it. Is this correct or should I see something like 9oc version?How do I correct it if it's incorrect? Stanps. Using Vista 32

You can see my system specs in my signature on this thread. My SoundBlaster X-Fi card has the latest Vista Drivers, but I'm not sure they work that well. FSX "sound" stutters and skips and you can see the stutter in the plane's spot view when the sound skips a beat. I've reinstalled over and over again.Is there a setting within FSX that I can adjust, because the sound on my computer with my ITunes or other sound sources does NOT skip or stutter. It is only in FSX....from the opening song when FSX opens and throughout a total flight.I really could use some advice on this....should I get another card. If so, which one is good with FSX and VISTA?

Having second thoughts:I'm still working on a videocard for fs9. I'm running a X1950 Pro 256, got it today, store has the 8800gts 320 for $112 more. I'm running a 22-inch CRT with a 10-inch second for RC4. Right now 1280X960, will GTS make 1600X1200 more usable?Kay

I discovered a bad sector on my wife's HD, she's using VISTA, can anyone recommend software I can use to try and repair it, for VISTA or XP?Much appreciated.

I tried to install a Geforce4 MX440 on my geriatric system when my old card finally died today, and when I tried to start it up, the monitor would not come out of standby while the rest of the system appeared to boot normally (no beeps from the MB or anything out of the ordinary - just the monitor not responding).I an attempt to fix the problem, I tried to reset the CMOS by unplugging the system and removing and reinstalling the battery. After I did this, the system came appeared to do the POST (keyboard and drive lights flashing) but the MB makes two beeps after the AGP port tries to turn on, the system refuses to boot and the video system still doesn't work.Note: Since…

I upgraded a while ago for FS2004, but not to FSX given the early dismal performance reviews. Now that there is much more scenery available, as well as plane add-ons, I am thinking of upgrading to FSX and along the way upgrading my rig.It would be going from A64 4000+ to X2 6000+ with 2gig RAM, Nvidia 8800GS video card, and Asus N570/N590 chipset.I like flightsim packed - commercial plane along the likes of LDS767, with scenery, and full AI traffic.With the FSX patch and the rig above, will Flight sim run decent, or is it going to be like the P4 1.8 days with FS2004 (slide show, 10fps)?Many thanks!PS: Is it worth the extra money for the Nvidia 590 over the 570 chipset on …

To those who have an opinion, what do you think? I'm talking at 1600X1200 in FS9. Tom's says no contest in FSX.Thanks,K

Got my new imac. FSX runs superbly on it. My X-52 driver loaded no problem, and the SST programing software installed ok (the one with all the magic mice/keyboards). However it simply refuses to open. THe profile launcher appears in the taksbar and works normally, but the profile editor - needed to create and modify profiles, does nothing when selected either from the task bar, or from the program list.Any one else ever seen this? Ideas?

For anyone who has followed my trials and tribulations in my first attempt at overclocking, you might recall that I've achieved a stable overclock at 3.653ghz on the Q6600 2.4ghz quad. I however have been trying to track down the souce of a long beep coming from the system speaker whenever I run graphic intensive applications like 3DMark or FSX with all the bells and whistles on. I've tweaked voltages, bus frequencies - I've replaced the PSU, the memory and just yesterday the motherboard. All under warranty but the freight charges add up.Still no joy. I finally decided that other than the noise, it was causing no other issues and I decided to see if I could cover the syst…

I have a Pentium 4 with 1G of memory and currently have an nVidia GeForce FX5500 video card. I am planning on buying a new PC next year and will get the top of the line video card at that time. In the meantime I would like to upgrade my video card to improve my FS9 performance. Is there an intermediate card that is better than my current 5500 but not as expensive as the best cards that might keep me happy for the next 6 months? Again, FS9 only.--Tom________[a href=http://www.corpairamerica.com]http://mysite.verizon.net/tjrush/tjrcaasig.jpg[/a]

Hi Guys,I have an Athlon 3500 with an ATI X800 card.I am wondering how much of a performance boost I would get by upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS?Any opinions would be appreciated.Thanks

Hi Guys,I have an Athlon 3500 with an ATI X800 card. I am thinking of upgrading to a geforce 8800 -320. Can anyone tell me if I will seea night and day difference in performance? Thanks

This is odd, and I'm not sure why, but whenever I want to click a hotlink on any aircraft panel, default or add on, I must place my cursor somewhere below the hotlink spot. I thought it might be a driver issue, but I've changed a couple and think it must be something else. The cursor issue shows up in no other applications (such as Word or Quicken) or internet urls...only in fs. anyone have a similar problem and a cure? thanks...Sherm

Hey everyone! I have a serious problem with FSX. I have the Saitek X45 joystick and when I access fsx, the aircraft's ailerons will be at full right deflection, elevator up, and rudder to the left. I have reinstalled the drivers many times and reinstalled the fsx itself. I have also done the recalibration many times and the weird thing is that in the calibration window, the joystick looks and works perfect and centered but when you get into fsx it seems like the "center" changes which makes my planes have full deflection by default. Anyone know how to fix this? Again I have the Saitek X45 with Windows Vista.Thank!

Hi,since i am experiencing huge problems with my current joystick i'm looking to buy a new input device for fsx. Preferable not more then 100

I'm getting a new pc soon. The store will install windows XP Home that I got for my old system.They will transfer all data from my old hd to the new hd.Question is- what happens to fs9 and the tons of addons. Is the transfer going to move fs as is, or will I have to reinstall everything from scratch?Eytan Ornstein800MHZ/2.13CORE2DUO/S775S775/945G/D2/V/L/SA2/SB Motherboard512M/DDR2160G/7200/8M/SATAII hdGeForce 8600GT 256MBSamsung 931BF 19" monitor

Hey all!I decided to pick up some rudder pedals for FSX. However, I have a slight problem: The rudder axes (pronounced ax-ees) overwrite the yoke axes and vice-versa.I have the CH control manager, and there seems to be an arcane method of combining controllers together. I can't seem to make it work. I have somehow assigned the Yoke to a virtual controller, but the pedals aren't getting assigned in.Can anyone help?Thanks!

For those that do not know...XP has a LCD exclusive setting that is designed to bring TEXT in, clear and sharp on an LCD screen.Google 'Clear Type Tuner' without the hypes.On the Microsoft Page, just follow step-by-step directions, and if you haven't used this before, you will be amazed now in how clear and easy-to-read all your text and graphics are.Cheers!

I bought a small 8" LCD touchscreen monitor on eBay primarily to display the RealityXP Garmin 530. I read on this forum a while back, a year or so ago, that other people were using this set up for that purpose. My video card, actually - cards, I have an SLI set up - are two Nvidia 8800GTS. My main monitor is a Dell 27".When I tried to plug the small monitor to the video card there's no picture. It gives me the message that there's "no RGB Synch", or something along those lines.The weird thing is that this monitor worked well on an older computer with a single Nvidia card (an GeForce 5900SE).Can someone please help me troubleshoot this problem? Any assistance would be…

I have a dual monitor set up, on which I use an extended Windows desktop. So far so good.For FSX however I just want to use the primary monitor. Whenever I load FSX in full screen mode however, it "grabs" both screens. Is there a way to tell FSX to just use the primary monitor without resorting to windowed mode? That way I can use FS Commander and Navigraph without having to minimise FSX.Anyone know?Thanks.

I just installed 3 monitors and have set them up with the 2D cockpit, but the horizons are not aligned. I have them aligned in XP desktop, but need to align in FS9.I keep read how great Panel Config is to fix this, but what / where is Panel config??

I'm finally getting around to moving from a rig that is olderthan January's and after reading much of the postings here onmulti-monitors, I have chosen to go that route. I do have acouple of questions though that I would like to present to thisaugust group. I'm running FS9 on XP and plan to stay that waywhen I replace the existing system which is too old to mention.1. Can you use widescreen monitors with this without distortingthe gauges, etc or should one stay away from wide screens ina multi-screen environment.2. I plan on using a single computer. How many graphics cardsdo I need? and should they be the same? I know if I use theMatrox THTG gadget I need only one, but J…

I just landed from a flight from KDTW to KORD. I used the DYNAMIC contrast setting on my Samsung 245BW LCD monitor.If you engage this chip, your contrast will change in real-time, with whatever is happening or being displayed upon the screen.I heartily recommend you use/explore this hardware feature with flight simulation. I was flying the NOBLE Air 737 and this REALLY added to the realism of the wings, in that the leading edge, heading West had a VERY hard 'glint' to it as a result of the DYNAMIC MODE, giving you a full 3000:1 contrast ratio. It wasn't just---whiter--but had a sun-reflected 'hard' edge to it.It almost made you want to look away as you would in real lif…