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

Hi,To all you computer gurus out there. Could you explain how computer sytem RAM and video card memory interact? Do you operate off of system memory until at 100% and then the video card memory takes over, or do they both work together somehow? Never have been clear on this. For instance, when I run FSX, my system memory maxes out at 100% at all times. My video card (ATI 9800 Pro w/128mb) is probably pretty puny now which is why I am considering getting one with more memory. Would making this change take some of the load off of the CPU?Thanks for any clarification on this.Jim

Hi allonce again a new release of FS is forcing many of us to decide between playing with low frame rates on our used-to-be state of the art PCs, upgrade a few components or go for a brand new wallet draining PC. Since I refuse to watch a slide show, I'm thinking of the middle option and I'd appreciate some feedback.My system, even though it's already two years old, isn't that bad. 3.2 GHz CPU, 1 GB of RAM and 256MB ATI X800XT card with 256 MB of memory. My question is this: if I upgrade to 2 GB of RAM and the latest generation video card, like an ATI x1950xt or a GeForce 7950 GX2, will that make FSX playable?I don't think DirectX 10 will have much of an impact of FSX, an…

Hi All...I'm having some sound issues with FSX:I'm having the same issue as a few other people with crackly sound when using the throttle, but this does not worry me as much as my main problem:For some reason, sounds get "stuck" its a little hard to explain, but when I start the engines of a plane, they sound like they are running flat out (max RPM) when they are only just idleing!If I increase the throttle to 100% the sound changes and I can then drop the throttle back again, and the sound drops to idle as it should.If I change views, when I go back to the virtual cockpit, the engines sound like they are running flat out again!!Then when I shut the engines down, you can …

I am thinking of building my system and still not sure to get a 7600GT 256Mbyte or 7600GS 512Mbyte. On the forums some say that FSX needs alot of video memory but others say a fast card is better. The 7600GT is faster but less memory.Can somebody advise what is best and possibly a PSU that can handle also 2x HD and DVD as well.

After updating my Catalyst drivers to 6.9 (and then also trying 6.10's that came out yesterday), and updating my DirectX 9.0c to the Oct update, I am immediating experiencing "Write errors" from one of my hard disks. Happens when running either FS9 and FSX. I think it reports the error comes from "harddisk volume 14". So a couple of questions.1. How can I determine which of my hard disk is Volum 14?2. There is a way to turn on and off "writing" (called caching?) if I remember... just can remember how. If it is a flaky hard disk maye I can shut that one off.3. Would latency have anything related to this? Maybe I could go back and adjust that? Maybe AGP Aperture too?An…

Right now, I am using an ATI 9800 Pro. It is a great card, but when I turn up AA and AF settings, my framerates drop way down. Is there a card on the market right now that will substantially improve my performance with AA and AF in FS9, with practically no hit in framerate performance? What are your suggestions? Is there a sweetspot in performance where throwing more money at a card does very little in helping improve performance? I'll take speed over IQ.RHAMD 3800+ (2.4)1Gb DDR SDRAM80Gb HD (8mg cache)

Dear FSXsimmers,I'm planning to build a new system. After a couple of searches and readings on the web i came up to the following system to build;-- Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 - MB - ATX - iP965-- Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB, BOXED with cool fan-- Crucial Ballistix - memory - 1 GB ( 2 x 512 MB ) - DIMM 240-pins - DDR II-- WD Raptor WD740ADFD - HDD - 74 GB - SATA-150-- Gigabyte GeForce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, -- additinal CPU Zalman CoolerIt will cost me with an additional case and PS here in the Netherlands about

HiI have been running FS2004 for over a year now on an AMD4000 + Nvidia 7800GT + 2GB Corsair.... and I use PMDG 747, LDS 767, PSS 777 + Active Sky, Ultimate Terrain, Ge Pro etc.... and have had good frame rates unless I max everything..... The other day I stared the sim and had at Seattle in the VC with the LDS around 6fps!! so I checked the usual suspects like scenery library other programs but to no avail... so in the end I reformatted the drive having saved my addons reinstalled XP then FS2004 and decided to check the frames before the long process of installing all the addons, well in the default cessna at KSEA with all the sliders at default I am only getting 12-14 i…

I have been specing out a new PC and was looking at various dual core processors. Someone asked a very good question for which I don't have an answer... and was wondering if anyone out there could help to answer it.The question is: "with FS9 and FSX really being single thread wouldn't it make more sense to use a single core 3.8 GHz processor than a 2.4-8 dual-core?"Would a more powerful single core CPU be more beneficial than a dual core?Thanks!

Is there any way to figure out which port(s) FSX uses to connect to Gamespy? I can't login to gamespy in FSX and I am 99% sure its because of a program I use to connect/authenticate over the internet - we have to use it because we're on campus, etc etc. Our IT department said they might be able to allow the connection if they knew what port Gamespy/FSX was operating on....Is there a way to find the port(S)?Thanks a lot!

Hi all, I just got my new PC and it is running FSX beautifully with most of the higher settings. I researched first and got the best price I could find:CASE: Antec Mid Tower SONATA II 450W Piano-BlackCPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Dual Core 2.40GHz, LGA775, 4MB L2 CPUMOTHERBOARD: ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium nForce 590 SLI Chipset/DDR2 800,667,533/Gb-Lan/Audio/1394/Wireless Lan/Raid/PCI-E (2 full-speed 16x Pci-e slots)(I went with a very high-end board for upgrades and I love it but some $ could be saved by getting a lesser board.)MEMORY: 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800HARD DRIVE: SATA: 320GB 7200rpm Western Digital 16MB cacheVIDEO: XFX 7300 GS (changed it out later)DVD-RW: DVD Burner 16X +…

I am using FS9 on a DELL XPS machine with eVGA 7900GTO card. I get very good frames and fluidity with all VCs using a single 24" LCD monitor and a secondary 20" LCD for maps, gauges, etc. But there are two conditions where fps can fall considerably and stay low even after I remove the "offending" circumstances.First, when I open a new SPOT view by using the bracket key on my keyboard in FS9, and then undock and enlarge that SPOT view on the secondary monitor to around 15"x15" or so, frames fall somewhat (not a lot) but the image generally remains fluid and crystal clear. If I am using a VC, however, frames can plummet at some point (especially with lots of clouds for e…

I'm a bit of a technical ignoramus... Can anyone tell me the viability of using an external hard drive (via USB 2.0) to run, say, photographic scenery? Would the transfer rate be able to keep up with FSX? Is this a totally silly query?! I faint at the idea of having to install a new internal HD but it feels as though 1 million Gb is getting to be the minimum spec these days!

http://www.excitingsimulations.com/FSX/FSX-HW-UWP10.pdf

Hi,Here is my PC configuration, in brief :- Athlon XP 2600+- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB- 2 x 512 Mo DDR PC2700 dual channelMy video card was good to run FS2004 but with FSX, all its memory is used. I'd like to buy a new video card with more RAM (256MB or 512MB) but I don't want to buy another CPU and motherboard for the moment.What do you think of the HIS Radeon

Hey guys,Just looking for some advice. Its time for a new CPU and motherboard. I've been doing some researc and am looking at spending about $350AUD max on the CPU. From what I can gather, the E6400 is a great buy because of its overclocking abilities and runs at around the same price as the AMD X2 4600+ I'm willing to spend about $250AUD on the motherboard (something that is good for overclocking). Any advice?Its going to run my current Nvidia 7800GT 256MB PCI-E graphics card in it. This is primarily for running FSX. At the moment with my AMD 3500+ is running around 13FPS at a busy airport with AI, i'm hoping that by doubling the CPU power will give me another 5-10fps.Ad…

I have a fairly limited 'C' partition about 36 gigs. It seems that whenever I install an application or upgrade or any kind of addons, there is a significant extra amount of space taken. I figure there is about 500 megs to 800 megs added on.1. I do not use restore. I backup my drive manually.2. I check for TEMP and tmp files and delete them all.3. I check for duplicate files and delete safely the redundant one.4. I believe most of the extra stuff resides in the 'numbered installation folders'. I think they are used to repair any corrupted application. I did delete, very carefully, some of those files.Has anybody been successful in removing those hopefully unneeded files? …

My sytem is an Athlon 64 4000 o/c @2540mhz - Asus A8S-X - 2048mb PC3200 Ram @ 2.5,3,3,6 and a 6600GT 128mb Graphics Card. I just upgraded the RAM from 1024 to 2048 mb and the cpu from an Athlon 64 3500 and while framerates have improved and FSX is much smoother than before upgrading, the blurries have gotten even worse! I'm using all the reduced autogen textures and I have the buildings capped at 300 and trees at 3000 with autogen set to dense. I am using the 1m texture resolution and 80% mesh and global texture on high. I tried setting the FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION as high as .44 and I still get a sea of blurries on the ground and even the aircraft itself after flyin…

Hi allI am currently running version 6.14 with no noticable problems, but it is years since I have been updating.I have a dell Dimesnion 8400, P4 3.4Gh, 1 GIG of ram.I just downloaded the newest Catalyst 6.9 drivers.Di you think there will be any advantage by updating to this version.RegardsHentikBGGH

nVidia released the 93.71 drivers today.

I built a new computer, but connected my harddrive from my old computer to the new machine. Would WindowsXP boot?? and all the stuff on the Hdd be recognised.?When I have built new machines in the past - they have been completely new with new HDD and new OS - format the new HDD and reinstall everything.But I am happy with everything that is on my Hdd now - I just need a new MOBO,CPU and RAMAny advice much appreciated.Thanks barry

Hi Gang,I am in a position where I can pick up some more RAM at a really good price, but I didn't want to waste the money if it wont do anything, so I thought I'd ask here and see what some of you thought.I will post my specs below this, so you can see what I have got. but, before I do that, let me tell you about why I'm thinking of this first.I plan on staying with FS9.1 for a good while yet, just personal choice, and I plan on keeping this PC as is for a while too.It's a good machine that has served me very well, and has never given me any real problems, so I'm keeping this too until all the paraphernalia has been sorted out with Vista, and all the hardware stuff, then …

I'm thrilled with the amount of helpful responses to my last post (First Time PC Builder ...), and I'm floating a little bit off topic from that original question, so I figured I'd start a new thread. Here's the deal. I: can afford to buy two 7200RPM drives and configure in RAID 0; can't afford two small Raptor 10,00RPM drives for RAID 0, and could afford a small Raptor, but also need to store other applications on the new PC. If I had a Raptor, could (or should) I get a larger 7200RPM drive to store the other data and apps on? I'm sure I'm oversimplifying, but if I placed only FSX on the Raptor, and everything else on a 7200RPM drive, with no RAID configuration, wou…

Hello everyone, I just purchased a new system that is being created and delivered from Dell that I would like to know how well it will handle FSX with it's settings sliders almost maxed out.Dell Dimension 9200-Intel

I am finalising my shopping list for a new system which I will be using for FSX and many other things including development. I appreciate if I do not get replies like "FSX still not run on any system", I read enough and frankly I am not interested on such comments, I heard that before and in anycase I will buy FSX whatever the settings I need to make. I am thinking of the following:-Motherboard: ASUS P5WDG2-WS I hope this allows for future upgradability.Processor: Core Duo 6600Video Card: 7600GS 512Mbyte Is it OK for FSX.RAM: 2 Gbyte would like some idea regarding type which is cost effective. I have seen prices vary from one type to another and I do not know exactly the …