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

Is it worth spending $200 on my old computer for additional 512mb RDRAM? Been thinking of adding another 512mb ram to give me 1G. for my Dell 8250, 2.4g P4. It

Guys,Here is my situation.I am upgrading my old Athlon XP rig which just died on me, to a new Athlon 64. I am keeping my HD, case, DVD, soundcard etc and just replacing the mobo, ram and CPU.After some research, it appears that the new system will not boot Win XP once I have replaced the above mentioned parts.My HD has two partitions (C & D) C has win XP installed on it and other non important things. D has FS9 and many payware addons installed on it. (I do have the payware backed up on cd as well)Is there anyway I can save the FS9 installation on the D drive? If I only format and install XP again on the C partition can I get Win XP to recognise the FS9 installation o…

Hi all,the X52 HOTAS from Saitek ist now out for some while but I haven't found too many opinions on it. In some of the few reviews I have found it is descriped as "unprecise". How is this HOTAS compared to - for example - the old X35USB? Is there any alternative to the X52 (besides the X45)? Thomas

How can I be really sure if Antialiasing is working on my 9800 PRO? I've cranked it up to max AA but FS2004 seems to look the same nor is the framerate affected in any way. I'm using CAT 5.1 drivers and AA is disabled inside FS2004 and running at 1024x768 32bit. Thanks.

Hello Fellow Flight Sim Geeks!I am considering upgrading from 1GB RAM to 2GB RAM and I am wondering if anyone else has already done this and if so was there an apreciable performance gain within FS9?The main reason I'm considering this upgrade is I recently checked to see how much RAM my system was using while in FS9 and found that I was consuming over 800MB of my 1GB available!FYI, to get an accurate reading of RAM consumption I launched FS9, selected my current favorite aircraft (Beech A36), went to another PC on my network, remotely connected to the flight sim PC and ran msinfo32. This method allowed me to see the available physical memory without having to task switch…

OK I got the reversers to work and that is awesome... but now the problem seems to be the prop and mixture. I can't change the prop when the throttles are above idle, and I can't even adjust the mixture AT ALL even though it is assigned in FS9. FSUIPC doesn't seem to care and refuses to see the mixture axis I setup. HELP!!!

I think of buying a new joystick, but don't know wheter it should have force feedback or not. Do you recommend a force feedback joystick? How is it with PMDG 737NG, DF727, LDS767 etc.?Andreas

My last post went unanswered and I really need someone who knows what they are talking about. This is the specs I put together for my new computer: ASUS "A8V Deluxe" Sapphire X800 XT AMD 64 3500+ 939Pin Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM Corsair 1GB XMSHeatsinks and misc. wires - 10DYNAPOWER 500W Power Supply, Model "ADW-50063" A)will these system specs cause any bottlenecks, if so where?B)Is there a substantial difference between an ATI-Radeon X800 XT and a Sapphire X800 XT?C)overall how does this system seem?My budget is about $1,000Thanks!!Andras

Brand new ATI 9800 Pro. Using Latest Catalyst 5.4's. Is there some other driver I am not thinking about that needs to be checked? In the snapshots notice the aircraft textures, tree textures and then then even the ground. Sure I saw this issue before but after searching for an hour I gave up.

Hi folks,Notice distinct pauses or stutters [2 to 3 secs] when using FS9 replay - daytime or nightime and zoomed close or far and weather active or turned off - in normal 2d cockpit mode I am getting average of 20fps with pmdg 737 - which seems to present a fairly smooth environment while flying- thats even with most FS9 settings maxed out I have tried the recommended FS9 config file settings - but no change to the replay pauses. My hardware is reasonable - P4 3GHz / 1Gb Ram / ATI 9600 256 video card.Anyone got any ideas ?Use anti virus but have tried with it disabled and no difference.Am at a loss to understand thisCheers RogerEGPF

Folks,As you can see from my sig my system is slowly getting out of time.I am considering upgrading processor and the video card.I would like to stick to AMD and ATI, so my options would be clear.The money is not an issue, yet I am not willing to overpay for a component just because it's new.I am thinking about ATI Radeon X800Pro and perhaps AMD Athlon 64 3800. The only problem I see is my motherboard which supports socket A (socket 462), whereas new 64 processors require different socket.Will be grateful for your recommendations,Dom

Hi, right now im using av P4 1,7GHZ/ 512MD DDR / GF3 TI200. FS dosen

After years of being an NVidia user(last being a Ti-200 GF3 128mb)I had the opportunity to try switching to an ATI 9800 Pro 256mb. My system spec's. are as follows...Soltek SL-75DRV4 motherboard(VIA KT266A)1 gb of crucial/micron PC2100 DDRAMD 2400+using onboard sound(no PCI card)525watt(unknown, possibly POWMAX brand)power supply2 hard drives WD60/WD40Plextor CDRWYes, very outdated to today's standards but have served(pretty)well over the last couple of years for FS2004 until I can afford a new system. I made an extra effort to try to rid my machine of all old Nvidia drivers and such before loading up the ATI card. I have read as to the extensive problems related to power…

Found a very interesting article. Apparently not only Intel see dual cores as the futurehttp://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2397&p=1

Trying to reformat. but cant.. I am right-clicking on c-drive, and click format. A window comes up saying it cant be done.. See pic below.. What do i do to fix this?http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/114252.jpgany suggestions?

Hi Guys,Just a couple of questions before I dive into installing. What is the correct software install procedure? BIOS settings, format hard drive, WinXP and SP2, Mobo drivers, then video card and drivers? Will I even need new Mobo drivers?Also, what are some of the BIOS settings I'm going to need? The specs are:ASUS K8N (800 fsb, nForce 3 250)AMD 64 3000+, 800MHz, 512 cacheCrucial DDR2100 512 RAMATI 9500 Pro 128mbThanks for any help,Todd

Hi,seems that my memory might not be up to the job.can anyone recommend a good 1gb of memory that is compatible with the Athlon 3500xp 64..I'm using crucial ballistic ddr400 at the moment,if i drop the speed to 333 i can now(fingers crossed)use Fs2004 for longer than 10 minutes. thanks for your Advice steve

I plan to buy a ASUS A8V Deluxe Wifi-G and a Athlon 64 3000.If I understand things correct this MB requires memory modules in pairs. I now have one 512M Samsung PC3200 and one 256M Samsung PC2700and one 256M Apacer PC2700 (works fine on my current MB)I suppose I will need to get another 512M Samsung PC3200.What is then the best way to do?1) Only use the PC3200 modules to get max speed but only have 1 Gb2) Use all modules to get 1.5 Gb at the cost at running them at lower speed

I am thinking of getting a Dell 24" widescreen monitor and it needs a card that supports 1920x1200 widescreen resolutions.I have the FX-5900 Ultra video card. was wondering if it would support it.anyone knows?

Have to admit after having to return two video cards in a row to to ATI (don't ask), and unable to crank up the ol' Flightsim for 5 weeks I now know what it must be like when a smoker goes cold turkey.Just found out FedEx is dropping it by tomorrow at 10:30Am!!! :D

Okay, just upgraded my computer to an Athlon 64 3000+ with 1GB of PC3200. I've seen beautiful screenies of Flight Sim, and am impressed with the gorgeous 1280x1024 resolution. In fact, if I'm understanding correctly there are users that won't play at less than this. I'd love to get it going, but I continue to get jerky performance in some occasions.I'm thinking it may be time to upgrade the old video card. I'm still using a GeForce 4 Ti4200. It's been my understanding that FS is more processor based than graphics card based, so I haven't bothered ot upgrade before now. What do you guys think? Is this card insufficient with my rig, and if so, can you make any recomm…

Can anyone tell me why I can't program the two red buttons on the CH Products USB Yoke??? I am currantly programing everything with Pete Dowson's FSUIPC but have also used the CH Control Manager and I get the same results... I have can assign something to these buttons but it does no good, both just change the outside view of the aircraft...Can any tell me why and maybe a fixRon Mashburn

I thought I had this problem licked but the gremlins have returned.After a 2 hour+ flight my CHPro pedals stop responding or respond erratically, a well known problem I believe.I have searched the forum for posts, in fact found one I contributed to a few months back, and carried out the suggestions but am still plagued by the problem.OS is Win XP ProUSB2Mo/bo chipset is an Nvidia one, CPU is AMD 2500 BartonI have installed the latest CH manager in the hope new drivers would cure the problem.None of the USB root hubs have power saving ticked.When the problem occurs the output, viewed in FSUIPC or windows calibration, is sluggish. Often it will move to one extreme or the ot…

Last night I was doing a complete reinstalltion of Windows XP. I usually do this every 6 months to clean out the system of old junk and outdated files/drivers. Afterwards I reinstalled FS2004 with the 9.1 patch. Anyway let me get to the point.I usually configure FS2004 with maxed out settings. I mean every single slider is maxed out including the clouds. I have the FPS locked at 25fps. For the first time last night I noticed something quite interesting. If I create a flight at a very graphics intensive airport, JFK for example, and attempt a takeoff I notice that the graphics lack smoothness and fluidity. You can see the runway move by but it's kinda choppy. Ok now here c…

I have a P4 3.2 Ghz with 1GB Ram and currently have a Fx5600 Ultra (Chaintech) for the last 2 years. Everyone says a 6800GT card is much better for games (Doom3 Halflife etc) but I'm only a flightsimmer. Will shelling out 400 dollars give me better graphics or FPS or smoothness? Currently I get 10-15 FPS with max sliders in a dense environment (simflyers, ActiveSky) with a complex aircraft and about 35-40 FPS with bare min-medium settings in default aircraft over lower dense scenery. I realize this topic has been discussed many times and really appreciate any input you can offer me.-Mike