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

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2868I'd say this pretty much sums it up as to why we don't have multi-thread support in FSX. Nothing new as we all knew the reasons anyway, but nice to see them validated. Valve is at the front of the pack in innovation and to sum it up in their own words:While it is listed as a challenge, one of the points made by Valve is that computer games are typically designed to make maximum use of your system. "You're doing a disservice to the customer if you're not using all of the CPU power."The short summary is that creating efficient and powerful multithreaded code is extremely difficult, and there's a very real possibility th…

My GAWD....I found out what FSX NEEDS! Yes, FSX is CPU bound, but it chokes at less than 3 GIGS! With XP, 3 full gigs of system memory or the max 4 XP will handle!I had one gig..then added another, than added all I had (3). That was the panacea!I can't believe this.....FSX needs GOBS of system memory!!!!!I just took off from KDFW, with all sort of full bore A.I. with 18 FPS or greater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great animation, no stutters!!!!!I am for the main part running now with 18 FPS no matter what I do!!!!No stutters!No blurriness!Fantastic Performance!!!!!Guys and Gals....you need as much system RAM as you can afford! 3 gigs seems to be the optimum, as 4 gigs with XP int…

Check out this article.http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html...GVudGh1c2lhc3Q=

I just came back from XP pages,and M.S. resource pages.Here is the skinny,This feature...to let XP use ALL available (repeat..all available PHYSICAL RAM) that is NOT being used in a running PROCESS (program) for input/output CPU tasks, GPU tasks, etc......is AVAILABLE within your easy-to-get at System Settings. If it were NOT supposed to be used, then it would NOT be, let me repeat that, NOT be available to the general user of Windows XP.It is USED for when your system has ample RAM (you have upgraded to at least 3 to a full system 4 of PHYSICAL RAM. This is the SINGLE one (not even a 'tweak' control that lets XP USE, I repeat, USE all your system RAM to where it finds a…

Hello,I am contemplating buying a sound card. Right now I use the sound card integrated on my motherboard (A8N32 SLI Deluxe with Realtek integrated audio). Normally I use my Labtec USB headset and not speakers. My question is, does my usb headset use the integrated sound card or is the usb sound software accelerated via the usbaudio.sys? I.e. is the usb sound "produced" in the sound card and then just distributed through usb or is the sound card not involved at all in the usb sound? I have searched several forums but have not been able to find the answer to this question.The reason for wanting a separate sound card is that the sound stutters for a short while when I chang…

With the launch of the new Intel Core 2 Duo and the amazing price drops of the Athlon 64 X2's wouldn't it be a good idea to get some real performance figures in FS?SimHQ has paid FS9 some 'lipservice' during its review, but what needs to be seen is how the full line of Core 2 Duo (E6300 - X6800) stacks up against the X2 (3800+ - 5000+)There are lots of benchmarks out there for FPS games, but as we all know, FS tends to be very heavy on CPU usage. Most sites seem to be comparing the offerings based on the results from the FPS games.As FS puts a lot of pressure on the CPU for 'number crunching' would the new internal architechture of Conroe be better?Should AVSIM be doing s…

This could be the answer to all our FSX woes. Shame it doesnt exist AFAIK.

you plug a second, PCI-E, vid-card on a mobo that already houses an AGP and can house both? Boom?

I am thinking of upgrading my Asus A8N-SLI + Athalon 4000 for the new Intel Conroe 6700. I will need to buy a new motherboard and memory but will keep my Asus 7800GT until DX 10 arrives. I am interested if I will see a noticeable improvement in frame rates. I usually fly PMDG 747/LDS767 etc with Ultimate Terrain/Active Sky/GE pro etc etc and find at a busy hub my framerates drop to around 8-10fps this is obviously in FS9... so before I bite the bullet anyone who has upgraded I would love to know your thoughts.......

Looks like the fun is going to begin now. All we need is DX10 ver of FSX.scott s..

Spent alot of time tweaking my video card settings to get everythign the way I wanted. I have mine setup to run in full 16x16 SLi, each card at 675MHz on the core and 1800MHz on the RAM. I use the new nVidia control panel.First off, I run dual monitors, so I need to disable the one to run in SLi mode. Engage SLi mode once that's done, and go to the "advanced 3D settings" applet. I have all my settings on maximum (set Anti-Aliasing to 16x SLi if you can afford the performance hit) and turn V-Sync off. I use my card's settings to override everything in FSX. (Anisotropic levels, etc.) I found that turning FSX anti-aliasing off and leaving it to the card gives a bit of a perf…

I did it! FSX is SMOKING! I had memstatus running after I used the registry tweak for large RAM systemsLargeSystemCache=1 Under Memory ControllerAt only 15 FPS, at 1,200 feet above sea level in high detail San Francisco, I am SCREAMING across the water with no stutters, and such life-like animation, I could KISS the guy who fed me that tweak/tip for 3 gigs and over systems.He'd probably slug me..so a hand-shake will certainly do!------------------------------------------------------------------If you look at task manager under the performance tab, there is a setting called "Peak" under "Commit Charge (K)". Anymore ram then that is being wasted except as a file system ca…

Hi allLike the rest of you I wanted FSX to run better so as I used to o/c a little years ago I thought Id have a go with my current rig (specs at end)Well cutting the story short I can now run 10-15 fps 1600 RES all sliders max - yes autogen too and over the SNOWDONIA DEMO HAVE SEEN UP TO 50 FPS THOUGH THIS VARIES FROM 15-50?wHAT DID i DO? TELL YOU THE TRUTH iM NOT THAT SURE BUT i GOT MY amd vENICE 3500+ TO 2.55 G @ 28 DEGREES STABLE.I think I increased memory bandwith from what it was - I believe this is what makes the sim run betterhere is HMTL from CPUZ so techies can see.Processor(s) Number of processors 1 Number of cores 1 per processor Number of threads 1 (max 1)…

I saw this driver-said better graphics and performance than the standard nvidia -was a little skeptical but thought I'd try it.So far it is pretty amazing-picked up about 4 fps with full autogen-but what I saw that made the biggest difference is-with full autogen the underlying textures don't blurr now-the best of both worlds. Try at your own risk-but I am pretty impressed so far...http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1512http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

I would not mind updating my CPU and motherboard combo . My current AMD xp2400 does everything else that I need it to (ie non-Fsim) and I dont need anything faster for those non-FS things. I do not play any other games.Currently I can buy a single core AMD Athon64 3800 for $165AUD, a dual core AMD Athlon64x2 4600 for $349AUD , or the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6600 for $469. You can see that there is quite a cost differential between the single core AMD and the dual cores form both AMD and Intel. I am not really worried about that - but what is the best processor for FSx or FS2004? I have heard some people saying that the dual cores have been a problem with FSx and FS200…

Hello again all, I was wondering if anyone is playing FSX with ATI's Crossfire stuff instead of NVidia's SLI. I was wondering what kind of experience you are having with it. I plan on upgrading in the not so distant but not immediate future and have always leaned more towards ATI graphics cards. I think that ATI is more user friendly and you basically get just about the same bang for your buck. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!-Tommy-

I'm very curious what the results are, even though it's with XP/DX9!

Bought an 8800gts today at microcenter and man i can tell you these things are amazing. I had a highly o/c'd 7900gt before and this thing is just SICK fast compared to it. My FEAR benchmarks went up about 60-70% and NFS Most Wanted i can run with all the eye candy turned up as far as it goes with smooth frame rates. I don't have FSX installed yet (bought it today too) but FS9 and the flightscenery Portland is just amazing with this card. It didn't improve the frame rate any but it just made the entire thing 3x smoother and this is with 4x AA and 8x AF on. The visual quality that this card produces is just so much better than the 7900gt. I couldn't really run at more than …

Dumb question time: In FS9 the file for the Baron, including guages is "around" 16mb. But the same one in FSX is 69mb. That seems huge for "also" glass panel. Cub is 10.3 in FS9 and 25.2 in FSX. Have I been out in the sun too long, or does that make sense to everyone else? :)

HelloI have a saitek joystick with throtle-control I experience a problem that the planes keep moving while parking-brakes are set and the throtle idle.The movement verys between diff a/c I noticed that it makes a difference which plane was chosen.moves slow . but its anoyying pls help?

Hi allPerhaps someone has tried this and can give me some advice and the pro's and con's of this idea:I have a pc with a builtin sound chip. For better performance and sound, I added an Audigy ZS and disabled the onboard chip. But could I use the onboard chip for, say, Game Commander or Teamspeak and keep the FS sounds on the Audigy? I'm a careful guys, so I don't want to just try it. My system works execllent, and I wouldn't want to see it messed up if it chokes on 2 sound cards.TIA & BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCH

When I read the requirements for FX some of the possibly "other supported hardware" is not listed. The hardware that is really needed to run FX with the sliders advanced and knowing the system will also need to be good enough to carry the extra overhead of a weather program, flight planner, scenery, your favorite addon aircraft, TrackIR, throttles, buttons, switches, two or more monitors, ATC softwate, FSUIPC and other nice enhancement software packages that will be available for FX.So, for a computer upgrade or a brand new computer, it becomes a problem ordering the correct hardware. Intelligent choices can only be made if you know what is supported by MSFSX and the addo…

Hi,Since I don't have the cash to upgrade to the Core2Duo system now, and my own now actually still rocks, I wondered if there will be some noticable performance speedup if I go from:Intel Pentium 4 550 3.40GHz Sockel-775 tray, 200MHz FSB, 1024kB CacheTOIntel Pentium 4 661 3.60GHz Sockel-775 tray, 200MHz FSB, 2048kB CacheFrequency I boost anyway, which means that 3.6 I could probably push up to 4.2, but what I am interested in: cache.How important is cache for FS9?And would there be a huge difference between this CPU and Core2Duo E6600? Since Core2Duo has 4MB cache per CPU...but then again, FS9 or FSX don't really use the 2nd CPU.

First I'd be interested in anyone who runs the above motherboard and video card combo. Have you had video and subsequent sound freezes ( video freezes for about 20-30 seconds, sound enters sound loop then eventually freezes too, then system unfreezes to either start another freeze cycle, or runs OK for a bit before happening again)?.I've tried first replacing my 350W PSU for a 500W one, ran memtest86 and found that my Corsair 3500LL 2X 1GB was faulty (now being RMA's back, I'm using 2X 512MB PC3200 Crucial until I get the Corsair stuff returned).Tried various cooling, driver and BIOS settings, lockups still occurred. Then I read last night on some forums (search Yahoo "…

Hi to you hardware gurus. Here's a question. I'm about to install a new graphics card, the power requirements state that I must have at least 22 amps power at the 12 volt rail (whatever that is)I have a HEC 550TD-PTE power unit, the label on the side says 550watts output and then it has two 12v ratings 12v1 =18amps 12v2=17 amps.My question is does the total of the two figures(35amps) count towards that required 22 amps or does each one need to be over 22 amps ?Any help appreciated.ThanksBob.