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

Can someone educate us about external sound cards and FS? Will they work with VATSIM? If so, what kind of headset is best?I guess I could buy one and see for myself, but I am too cheap.Happy Simming - Steve

I have a strange problem that has appeared recently with the sim. It has so far happened three times in the past three flights, and is really ticking me off.First time, it was a flight from VHHH to EGLL, and on short final, an out of memory error popped up. Now, I was able to go back to the sim, finish the landing, and taxi off the runway, but all of the AI aircraft and ground scenery textures were gone. Everything was grey, ground tiles were really blurry, taxiways had no texture just grey and a yellow line. As soon as I tried to end the flight, the sim locked up with just a black window. I could still hear the sound, but the sim became unresponsive.Yesterday, I repeated…

I am running fs2004 on WIN2KPRO with a 3.4ghz p4 with HT and tried a tip i read to increase frame rates.It involves going into the task manager and seting FS9 to run on only one vitual cpu. The results were very impressive.Being the sceptic, i am thinking anything that is too good to be true probably is!Is there anybody out there that really know's computers that can tell me whether using this method will risk any kind of damage to my proccesor or any other hardware in my pc.

Every time I try to defragment my HD after installing BEV, my computer fails and shuts off. It seems like my power goes out on my pc and I need to reset my power. Do you know what could be causing this and is there a way to check for errors on my pc? ThanksBrad

Just thought I mention how I was getting on with ED 3d glasses, my 19inch Acer LCD monitor, FS9 and my Nvidia 6600GT 128mb card.I use default settings for the Nvidia stereo drivers except:-1. On the Nvidia stereo options, I set Separation to around 10-11%2. On the "Colour Vibrancy" tab (I think it's called something like that) I click it up a notch3. I set the brightness and contrast in the Nvidia display options to around 110%.Items 2 and 3 are saved as a profile (I name it FS2004) so I can easily switch when wanting to use 3d.I have also downloaded the ED Activator program from their site..Also, you need to ensure that both your FS9 display and your desktop are set to y…

Subject: Performance problem with 2 scenery monitors and a high end pc?The hardware:- Intel 3,8 GHz 2mb socket 775 - 2GB 667 Mhz DDR2 Pc5300 - Asus P5ND2-SLI (not in SLI mode) - 2x Nvidia 7800 GTX 256 MB - 2x 250 GB SATA RAID edition- 3x Samsung 19

For months I have had a problem with my new setup consisting of a AMD X2 4400 + nVidia 6600GT (also tested with nVidia 6800XT). I could FS for 10 minutes to 45 minutes without problem but then suddenly the computer would 'hardlock' which could only be resolved by a reboot.This thread is a gathering off 'solutions' I found until now. The most recent fix I tried is using the Beta Driver + registry Fix. Until now I had no crashes but I have not been able to test much.Be aware that the described problem could also indicate a hardware problem in your machine. That is the reason that it has taken this much time to get the problem to the attention of nVidia. In case of stability…

I now own the X1900 XTX card and I discovered one quite important thing considering 3D. The card uses clock of 500/600 when in 2D mode and clock of 650/775 when in 3D. Although, 3D FULL SCREEN. And not windowed. So basically, if you flying in windowed mode, you are not using full potential of your X1900 card.

Hey all! Does anyone have any idea on why fs goes all to h*** after awhile? Here's what happens...a sort of play-by-play scenerio, by time.9:01am: I wake up9:30am: I start FS to make a flight10:00am: I take off10:05am: Pass FL18010:13am: Reach cruising altitude10:15am: Leave and go to class (college)2:00pm: Get back to the computer2:03pm: Turn off FS due to crap performanceThe problem, is that at some point while I'm gone, FS's performance will go down the tube. If I stay at the computer and move the mouse around, etc, it doesn't happen, which makes me thing that something happens on the computer if I'm away from it for awhile. All I know is that I get really really…

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I'm not a hardware expert and so I wonder if anyone could recommend a good laptop for running FS??I'm thinking of a Sony Vaio FE11S...Intel Centrino Core Duo 1.83GHz 1GB DDR2 SDRAM160GB Hard Drive DVD Dual Layer Drive15.4" XGA X-Black Widescreen TFT Screen NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 128MB TurboCache graphics Thanks in advance!

Anybody have a Gateway 21" widescreen monitor? I'm thinking on buying one to run LDS767 & PMDG 737 & 747 series software. I'm wandering how good it will show and if it will show on the whole screen and not just a partial showing.The resolution is 1680 by 1080 & I was wandering if I should hold out for a 1600X1200 resolution.The brightness is 300:1 and the contrast is 1000:1....Model # is FPD2185W "LCD Monitor" with 8ms response time.HD-ready via DVI with HDCP and component inputs.Anybody have one of these and like it.Regards & thanks for any inputs.jack

Hey GuysI just got my new rig, AMD 4000 San Diego, ATI XL1800 256 graphics card.Its great, FS has never looked so good. But my buildings, trees, taxi signs and ai traffic all shimmer. Its like the lines in the textures are moving up and down a few pixels constantly.I have tried reducing the mip. I have turned the AA and the AAA up to max! I have removed the drivers and tried the 5.11 catalyst. Also the 6.2 - no joy.I have run out of ideas and am ready to rip the card out of the tower!Regards,TED320

With the newer Catalyst 6.2 drivers installed for my 9800 Pro, I get severe flashing of textures in FS9. This is not just runway bleed through, but all over the screen with spikes in the sky etc. This is a problem both with downloads from the ATI sight, and the Omega download of this version.I went back to the Catalyst 5.12 drivers and do not see this problem.Anybody else had these results?Thanks:RTH

Since i bought a GigaByte 7800GT, i've a problem with all panels. If I hover over a button (or switch etc.) the "old panel state".Here's a example:(I'm on the screenshot in the 3d cockpit, you can see the old 2d panel state appearing)I've got a solution that is put AA and AF off. But i bought a 7800GT not for low quality, is there a solution to put AA and AF on?Thanks

Hello, I am setting up a second computer for work and I cant get dualview to work properly. I have it set up on my flightsim rig and I works fine.The rig in question is using a fx5200 with a new Viewsonic CRT and a old Dell CRT. I have used a variety of drivers including the 77.72's.When I go in to the settings, it looks as if everything is set up - dualview is selected, the Viewsonic is the primary and the Dell is the secondary. Both monitors are working but they are showing up in a manner similar to mirrored - the exact same image is on both monitors. When I try to detect monitors, I get a "1" on both screens. It appears that it thinks both monitors are #1 and #2 is som…

well there has been alot of discussion on widescreen and non widescreen so i thought i post pictures from what you would see in a 17" at 1024 x 768, a 21" at 1600 x 1200 and a 24" Widescreen at 1900 x 1200,mind you i had to reduce the image size to reduce size of the picture, but you can see for yourself the greater viewing of the wider monitor.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/135165.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/135166.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/135167.jpghappy flying!

Perhaps someone here can help me. I'll try to give as much detail as I can.Recently, all of a sudden, FS9 began crashing when either:I tried to go from window mode to full screen (via Alt+Return);Just resizing the FS window in window mode.It does not crash every time I try to switch and I can go from full screen to window (via Alt+Return) or going from full screen to desktop (via keyboard Windows Start Menu key) ok.A crash will occur soomething similar to this: I press Alt+Return or click to resize the FS window - the picture freezes, though sometimes the sounds continue normally - the mouse pointer changes to an hour glass and flashes repeatedly very quickly - If I press…

Hi all,I wonder if any of you guys who have TrackIR can help me? I got version 4 today, set everything up ok and had a few quick flights in Lock-On and Falcon 4. Very impressive!But what I really wanted it for was FS2004, as I can imagine my PMDG 737 and 747 will look awesome. The problem is I start the program, create a flight, cycle through to the Virtual Cockpit and start moving my head around, but there's no movement at all on screen. I can pan around with my hat switch or the keys as normal, but thats all.Now I noticed that the little blue light does not come on when FS2004 is loaded, so I guess the two bits of software are not talking to one another.The strange thin…

I thought it was kind of neat when someone posted that they thought that the frame rates at the end of a 5 hour or so flight were just as good as when they started the flight. They had changed to 2 gigs of ram from one. Before that the frames would get jerkey at the end of the flight.JimCYWG

If you would like to have a simple frame rate display on the screen at all times (in MSFS), plus probably a few other thinks you might like with ATI downloaded drivers, I might suggest the following for your consideration:The following pertains to an ATI 9800Pro, but may well work with others:With some of the latest ATI drivers, only the Catalyst Control Center has been offered for setting options (No Catalyst Control Panel Option). Unfortunately, with some of the Catalyst versions on my system the CCC did not work, or at least would not work all of the time. (Yes, I do have NetFramework). Therefore, I opted to use the Omega drivers so that I would have setting options.Th…

Guys, I'm planning to buy ATI Radeon X700 256MB AGP today. I'm planning to sim PMDG 737NG, with default scenery, and couple of addons (fs2crew & fspax), and graphics settings at least slightly above average performance. Sys spec:Pentium 4 2.4GHz1GB RAM DDR Question: 1. Is this card will give me good first impression in term of graphical quality in fs9 when installed? 2. How far will it take the video settings in fs9? Thanx for your priceless opinion. I'm impatient to get it today.

I am currently using the 4.12 Catalyst drivers. Recent posts indicate a preference for the 5.XX drivers for the 9800 Pro, even over the latest 6.2 drivers.Which series 5 drivers are recommended and where can I get them, along with the ATI Tray Tools?Thanks a lot,Howard

HelloI would like to buy FS. Hovewer, I don't know which version will run acceptably (let's say around 20fps in medium quality, 1024x768 resolution) on my system. I have a Celeron M 1.3 laptop (roughly equivalent of PIV 1.7-2.0) with 256 RAM. The worst thing is my graphics card - as it is integrated ViA S3 Unichrome Pro chip. It has up to 64mb of shared memory and it is crap. What is more, as it is in a laptop, I cannot replace it. I already know that it won't run fs2004 as it has no T&L or shader suport. I am considering FS 98, 2000 or 2002. So maybe someone has an idea what can I expect from these games on my computer?kind regardsPawel

I tend to move about a lot with my job, which means a desktop PC isn't really an option. For the last year now I've been using an HP ZD8000 laptop (P4 3.2Ghz, 1gig RAM, 80Gig HDD, 128MB Radeon X600 Mobility graphics, 17" widescreen display).I want to buy a new laptop sometime over the next couple of months. I want a really powerful system that can cater for all of my needs. I use my laptop for MSFS, as well as other stuff such as Lock On, IL-2, Rome Total War, Civilization 4, etc. I also use it for the internet, watching DVDs and the occasional bit of work.I've been looking round and I've narrowed the playing field down to three options:Dell XPS M170 (www.dell.co.uk)Alien…