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

I am in the market for a new display.I currently use a ViewSonic Ultrabrite 19" CRT. Since the majority of use of for FS should I stay with a CRT or go with an LCD Display?I always thought CRT's were best for FS, so:1 - Is there a large CRT out there that anyone could recommend (21"+)2 - Is there a large Flat Panel that anyone could recommend that good for FS.Thanks & Happy New YearCheersBrian

Hello I wonder if someone with more PC technical knowledge than me could answer this?Having tried most of the hardware and FS9 tweaks my system is running FS9 quite well but I still get the occasional stutter and frame rate problems. I know that FS9 is supposed to be CPU intensive but task manager shows that the cpu usage rarely goes above 60% and is normally around 50%. Is it safe to assume that if there is a bottleneck in the system it is the graphics card? Do you think a new card would help? I've tried over clocking the existing card but can't really see any difference! So would a new card be much better? I'd like to stay with a NVidia based card and was thinking of th…

After the shear terror I just went through I felt impelled to remind fellow simmers to make back-ups of their most precious addons.I had what you might call "the perfect storm". Within 1 month I had not one, not two, but three hard disk failures! Now I make backups but come-on, hard disks were dropping faster than I could re-install them. Granted two of them were in the 4-5 year old range but one was only 16months old (and of course just out of wrranty). Two years of work d/l, collecting, purchasing, tweaking down the drain. And one of those drives was of course my FS drive and backups. Luckily, the FS Gawds were favoring me as after two days of tinkering I was able …

Hi,I am thinking of purchasing a new PC. I was going to wait until later this year, but my harddrive is starting to go out (almost 3 yrs old).What I am thinking about is something that will last me a few years and will be more than FSX Ready.....I am looking at a Alienware brand...with AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 with 2 gigs of ram and a dual 512mb PCI-Express x16 Geforce 7800 GTX - SLI Enabled.....It seems everything else is secondary....Does anyone have one? Does anyone have any advice about this? I value your opinion!Thanks in advance!Paul

Hey everyone need your HELP!I read through ALOT of posts as to why i keep having my textures screw up in FS9. Basically I either get Greyed out Airplanes or i get flashing pixels every once in a while. After reading the posts and doing a few tests for myself I may have found the Problem.When i go into dxdiag under Display... where it says AGP texture acceleration: Not AvailableSo i went into my Display settings for my vid card and tried to turn on AGP.... It runs its test on restart and I find it again with no AGP. SO here is what i have tried doing..... uninstalling and reinstalling my Video Card drivers. I assume to help me you are going to want to know what im running…

Michael Dell dumps on Bill Gates and his XBox360 and here are some comments on his silly tirade.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/07/dell_game_letters/BTW, Its the Dell XPS 600 RenegadeThen again after hearing that Dell will be selling these system for $7,000 to $8,000 when launched we don't think many of our readers are going to be running out and buying one right away.http://www.legitreviews.com/article/285/1/:)

Hi All my new AMD 64 4000+ A8N sys is up and running with a few minor glitches...While trying to install FS9 the installation quits at 27% with a message saying data2.CAB won't open. it says the most likely cause is full swap file or corrupt .cab file.my page file is set to "let sys. handle it" and the .CAB file opens with winzip so corruption is unlikley. my hard drivees are C: WD cavier 250GB F: WD raptor 37GB neither is full, BIOS recognizes both as windows XP PRO SP2 does also.several other install programs also claim I am low on disk space too? Any ideas?. I tried a back door install copying my entire old installation to the new puter and used a registryset utility f…

Hey I got the CH Pro Pedals for Christmas and like them. I need help. When I use the Auto-Brake in the Heavys it comes to a complete stop on the runway with the brakes locked up and I have to set the parking brake and release it to taxi off of the runway. I saw something on here befor for the samething once befor. Keep it simple please thank you. FS9ScotGateway 604 GR P4 3.4 Ghz HT 1 MB DDR GTX 850 256 MB VC Sound Blaster ZS Duo DVD Burner

TweakGuides has just released their new Tweaking Companion. 174 pages in .pdf format. Simply an outstanding compilation that every gamer should have.Greg

I am thinking of purchasing a new laptop. I didn't see much information regarding the performance of the Pentium-M with FS. Please take a look at the following specs. What kind of performance can I expect with FS9 running a few addons, most likely Level D 767.Pentium M Processor 770 (2.13GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)1024 MB SDRAM256 MB GeForce GO 680060 GB 7200XP Home or media...Thanks, John

Now that Microsoft has announced FSX, I like many in the hobby spent some time cruising the net getting a feel for what others think. One of the sites I visited I hadn't been to in some months, and well... let's just say they ain't what they used to be!I studiously read through the reviewers' "predictioins" of what we can expect, until I came to the section on hardware recommendations. I simply shook my head!The review states that their "best recommendation is a system with an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 670 that runs at 3.8 GHz with an 800 MHz front Side Bus (FSB)." Now 3.8Ghz and 800Mhz isn't bad at all, but who wouldn't prefer a PR of 4800 with a 1000Mhz FSB and on di…

After much thought I have decided to hang on to my old Dell Dimension 8250, P4-2.4ghz, 756 RDRAM, 5900XT-128mb AGP, and wait for FS-X. Since that is almost a year away, would there be any performance increase if I went with a new AGP video card? They are coming down in price and maybe I could squeeze a little more out of the system with little additional investment. I would like to add another 256MB RDRAM but RDRAM is too expensive, especially since I would have to get 512mb.(lack of slots).Suggestions are welcomedThanks,Carl

What is the difference in these two yokes? There's a $10 diff. listed here:http://www.pcnation.com/web/topsearch.asp?...ext=ch+pro+yoke...and I cant tell the difference at all. Thanks!

I've been attempting to download from the internet some trial versions of backup software aplications, but appear to be getting the above error in all cases as the install shield is invoked. The MS article is here:http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.a...ticleid=Q107094I don't follow most of it- however I have checked in Control Panel/User Profiles that I am logged in as "Administrator", and that the folder C:WindowsInstaller is not set to read-only.This is a brand new (almost) install of XP Home (SP2). Anyone seen this before that can add any info? I don't know if this type of error is unique to installing system apps such as backup software, or if this will be a …

Would someone please give me a quick AMD tutorial or a reference on their processor designations? For example what does the 3800+ on the Athlon 64 processor mean? Is this a faster processor than the 3700+ processor? What is a FX-55 processor? Some people refer to their processor as a "San Diego." Does that mean it was made in San Diego? (just kidding). And most important...what is the main reason why I would want to buy an Athlon processor for FS9 rather than an Intel processor?Thanks for any help!Airbus

Hi to all:Can someone please tell me how can I get the sound to play from a machine on wideFS to play on the main machine that is running FS9. What I mean if I have another program running on a different machine than the FS one.RegardsWalouigi http://www.oncourse-software.co.uk/forum_images/fdc_beta.jpg

Hi To all:Can someone please tell me if I can see my spot plane on one monitor and n the other the front panel or VCP, I have dual monitor setup but I cannot figure it out.Your help is much appreciated.Walouigi http://www.oncourse-software.co.uk/forum_images/fdc_beta.jpg

i have been trying to deal with this for a long time, but I havne't gotten anywhere still. let's see if i can explain it well.in FS9, when my view is perfectly parallel to the ground, i get great picture quality. if my view tilts slightly, distant object become jagged-edged and it is VERY distracting. I really can't remember exactly when this all started, but i seem to remember it not always being like this. i always try to keep up with the very latest drivers for my video card, and have tried Omega drivers, and the ATI drivers. I have tried old drivers that i thought worked better and the new ones. nothing will change this problem. i have attached some pictures to demons…

Hi All, I just recieved the parts for my new AMD dream rig. I have read multiple forum warnings NOT to install the Nvidia IDE drivers that come with the MB.I however see no reference to these drivers in the manual.Are they part of te chipset drivers? Which drivers should be installed and how is the best way to do it?Thanks muchStan

Hi, :-)Since Christmas a`m a user of a ATI X800XT Cardbut for shortness i`m not very happy with her. }( Picture shows the Wilco-PIC Add On 737-300 with openedRadio Panel ??????Anybody out there who knows what causing a show up like that.As i had my old Nvidia 5900FX Card didn`t had that Prob.Everything showed up right.Looks for me like a driver issue,and i tried it withATI Catalyst 5.10,5.11,5.12,5.13 and with Omega 5.12but still the same with all that different drivers.Is there any known help for that....http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/137665.jpgA little late i know...BUT WISHING ALL OFF YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR: :-waveCheersMario G

Im shure Greg or Jaap will shed some light on me here.. :) They always do...Based on my specs, what HDD recomendation would you make? :)Thanks guys! :-wave

Ggot a question about virus protection. When I got this Dell a year ago I also installed Norton virus protection . >((( it seems to work fine, BUT, the subscription is up in a couple weeks and I want to change products. Everyone I've spoken with says Norton is a disaster. Well, trying to contact them is impossible --Like DELL..:>)I came across a good review of-- BITDEFENDER. Ever hear of it? or does anyone have another recommendation? I also use the windows firewall which seems to work fine and Adaware..Many thanks,Bill

I haven't actually built the system yet, but this is the current plan:AMD 64 FX572GB DDR400 RAMAsus A8N64-SLI Deluxe Mobo2 x GeForce 7800GTX XT (475MHz Clock) SLI-linkedMy question is simple - is it too much. I want to run FS with really fluid frame rates, but want to use lots of stuff with it ie: PMDG/LDS aircraft, high detailed add-on scenery, ActiveSky 6, Ultimate Traffic AI.I'm pretty confident that this system will achieve what I want. Question is, can I get the same performance with only 1 graphics card, or with a lesser CPU. No point spending all this money (I think it totals at about

I've recently noticed that some trees display as ghostly images in FS9. I'm pretty sure its either a driver problem or due to some scenery addon.I'm using an ATI 9600 XT video card. Any suggestions appreciated.Ron

I've recently been lucky to acquire a set of CH products yoke.throttle quadrant and pedals and now I have more buttons than I know what to do with! :-)So I was wondering what sort of button assignments others, with the same products, have?Victor