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

I am running dual monitors off of an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB AGP video card.I am also running a third monitor off of a Diamond Stealth III S540 PCI card.I have succesfully configured a clone display on the dual ATI setup. (Same display on both monitors). I don't mean just the same desktop, but the exact same display at all times.Is there anyway that I can clone the third monitor for the same display that is being shown on the ATI driven montitors?(XP Pro)Thanks:RTH

Not knowing one from another but seeing some decent reviews I bought a Logitech Freedom 2.4 cordless joystick. It was also inexpensive. I have since learned about MS's force feedback 2 which is supposed to be more realistic and have read mixed reviews on it plus it is pricey.What recommendations do any of you have for best results, reality and price? I don't mind paying a little more if it works with FS 2004 and there is less hassle with configuration. I have not figured out how to configure any buttons on the Logitech and continue to CRASH just using the stick and throttle.Louis Eagle Warrior

Graphical stutters. Sorry in advance for the long post.I recently started having less tolerance for those graphical micro-stutters that happen in 2D cockpit view that affect outside textures when in turns on the ground and in the air.I contacted Microsoft support, via chat. They've been trying to be very helpful but nothing they suggested has worked, including running FS9 with Minimum everything. It is now being sent to their support escalation team that are getting in touch with me today sometime but I honestly am not holding my breath for a magic solution.I think I have narrowed it down to a culprit, maybe, but I wanted to hear from you guys who have experienced this.Fi…

I recently upgraded from a P4 3.0C to a FX-55 with an Asus A8V motherboard and I FS2004 is performing the same as the P4 3.0C in a particular scenario. The scenario is LAX, autogen off, full 3D clouds, and overcast. I still get the same frame rate there and I though FS2004 was very CPU dependant. In fact I even downclocked my FX-55 from 2.6 to 2.0 and I get the same frame rate in that situation. If I underclock my 6800 Ultra to 350/1000 from 425/1100 my frame rate goes down 1-1.5 fps if I recall in that situation. Why isn't the frame rate increasing with a faster CPU and why is not changing if I underclock to 2 GHz?

Hi,I want to buy a new PC: AMD64 3000+SOLTEK SL-K890PRO-9392x512MB CL2.5Maxtor 160GB SATA, 8MB cacheNEC DVD

I have installed a Radeon 9600 Pro 128Mb card into my machine to replace the integrated graphics, and I've been able to up some sliders to improve eye candy. However I have anggle with Antialiasing (AA).When I have AA switched on I get corruption of the text in the ATC window and on the FPS readout at the top of screen (can't remember if ATIS text is affected or not).This occurs whether I have AA set on under the ATI control panel or under FS2002's display settings.I also get it with both the ATI Catalyst 5.4 drivers and the Omega 5.2 drivers.IIRC I also saw a similar problem years ago using AA on FS98, although it was the entire panel which was being corrupted by the AA …

I am on the fence on getting a Dell 2405FPW Ultrasharp LCD or put 2 19" LCDs together. Some games do not support widescreen, has anyone tried this on FS2004?

Hello All -I've been searching around and still not sure if I'm trying everything right. I have 2 monitors that I'd like to setup for fs9. I'm able to extend my windows desktop over to the other monitor. When it comes to FS9 I can't get my side panel to show up (just stays as desktop wallpaper). I'm trying to get my PMDG 737-8/900 to show up with the Captains panel on the main monitor and the sideview window on the second panel. Is there something in FS9 I need to activate or module I need to download?Also looking into firing up a 3rd monitor on the other side. I have another graphics card to do this. Any help? Thanks!Rob

Yeah yeah yeah, i know i know. The 6800 is said to be faster and better than the 6600. Basicly the next step up..But check out these specs. Which is better? Compare the 2 on the site...http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...37&pfp=compare&http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...03&pfp=compare&:-wave

I've posted before i no one answered so here is my question again:I want to get steady (25-30fps) when flying PMDG737 and heavy weather , can i achieve this by changing my videocard toHSI 9600XT 256MBOR XFX geforce6600 256mbis there a big difference bet. 128 and 256mb versions?Which is better???My sys specs:P4 3GHZ MSI GEFORCE 5200 128MB512MB DDR333 RAMSMSI NEO-2P MOTHERBOARDThanks

Hello all,At the moment I'm looking for a new storage system to replace my two old ata Maxtor 40 Gig's. Wanting the best performance in FS I'm concidering these two options: a new SATA Maxtor DiamandMax10 250Gig 16Mb cach drive or two smaller SATA drives in RAID1 configuration.First some specs.:An AMD Barton XP2800@3300 speed on an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, 1Gig internal memory, Saphire ATI 9700pro.I'd really like to hear your opinion on these two options. What is the best and fastest solution of these two options and what HD's do you recommend for the RAID config?With regards,Lennart

Hi All,Well, I thought I would write a little post to describe my experiance with water cooling.Firstly a little background, I have a P4 Prescott CPU, and as anyone with one will know they are a hot little beasty, as such the stock cooler when running makes a din no less than that of a hovercraft at full throttle, and with my PC in the bedroom those late night FS flights usually end up with me getting an earfull from my long suffering missus due to the noise.A few months ago I purchased a "silent" fan/heatsink kit, which while quieter than the stock cooler was still causing friction for my night flights, so this was still not good enough.After a bit of searching around on…

Good day fellow simmers! I am planning to buy a system upgrade next week.At the moment I have:- Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe- AMD Athlon 2600+- 1GB PC3200 RAM in dual channel- ATI 9800 Pro videoI am thinking of:- Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe- AMD64 3500+ Winchester- Asus Extreme N6600GT- same RAMI run FS2004 in 1280x960x32 windowed mode, no need for higher resolution. Aliasing at 4x/8x. Addons running during flights are AS2004.5, Ultimate Traffic, Active Camera and FSNAV. Aircraft in use, mostly PMDG 737NG Series and LDS767.Now I wonder if this upgrade is worth the money FPS wise. I do want to upgrade my CPU and therefor want to go the AMD64 way. So a new motherboard is also needed. Howeve…

Next week i will have my new Dell ultrasharp 2001fp 20" lcd. Its only a 16ms, so i wonder if it is any good for gaming, or maybe i should still use my "old" trinitron for that.OHN

Hi,Thought some of you using P4 CPUs with Northwood and Prescott cores might be interested in this article:http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/p4-throttling/Prior to upgrading the heatsink and fan on my P4 2.4 Northwood with the intention of cutting down the noise generated by the fan supplied with the processor, I did a little research and came across the above interesting article. I must say I found it very reassuring and it also made me wonder just how relevant the claims are that P4 CPU overheating can, at times, be responsible for poor performance in FS9.However, it seems that the other side of the coin may be far less reassuring for those of us who may be flirting a…

Hi, a general question regarding your drivers for your Radeon card.I have just got a Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Advantage 128Mb card (to replace the shabby onboard gfx on my shabby mobo). I have downloaded the ATI Catalyst 5.4 drivers and the Omega 5.2 drivers and found the Omega ones to be much faster (as expected).On my Duron 1.2GHz (I know, I know... :-)) I'm getting a 3DMark 2001 score of 4844 with the ATI drivers, and a score of 6731 with the Omega ones. This seems an incredible increase.The increase in frame rates in FS is minimal which I'm sure is limited by my CPU. However I'm getting a constant & smooth 30fps in the sky and around 14fps on the ground at KORD. T…

Both with my old 9700 Pro and my new 9800 Pro I can only get 4x AGP. Yet my Asus MB is 8x capable and my MB Bios is set for 8x. Yet in the ATI Control Center it always shows 4x.

I am getting a new motherboard (Abit AA8xe Fatality) and a new Video Card (Ati850XT).I have a scsi system using Adaptec 29160.If I install the adaptec card on the new motherboard and use my existant drive, would my system boot up ok? If not, what's the best procedure to use whether to start fresh or use my old C-drive setup. I would prefer to keep most of my old stuff on my drive the way it is.Would starting fresh go like this?1. Install the scsi card on the motherboard.2. Install my Cd Rom on the the motherboard.3. Boot up with windows XP CD.Would appreciate any help.Thanks.Abe

Just interested in peoples views - not strictly a hardware post because in affects how we fly our sims. I'm considering buying a yoke to use with the airliners and most civil stuff but keep the joystick for the mil and the Realair Spit etc. Was wondering if anyone has made the change to a yoke and whether it added to the overall fun and reality of FS9 or if it didn't really matter - I've got used to using a stick for everything - including the Boeings. If enough people can convince me that the yoke is the way to go I'll jump over to the hardware forum and find what yoke is best.Kev

hello,i have 1 hd, with 4 partitions, c windows d fs9 e scenery f data,they are almost the same size, on wich one should i put paging size, and shall i let xp determine the size, or do it manually?? Or should i put paging on every partition?i have 1024 mb ramthanksrick

Just did an emergency upgrade (Amd 64-3000+, 512m of Crucial Ballistix 3200, and ATI 9550se video card being the main items). I know the video card is not on the same level as the processor (this will be the second computer when I get my act together, so I did not want to go hog wild)...But I have an idea. With most sliders set pretty high I do get very good average frame rates (30-60 with no cap) as long as I don't do extreme view changes in the Seattle area. However, I do get pauses on final, and periodically, when turning steep or checking all views. I am going to increase the ram (1 more 512 stick of Ballistix), plus I will be (minorly) overclocking the whole sy…

Hi Folks,Using an ATI 9600XT at the moment but went out this week and bought a BFG GeForce 6600GT. Expected a marked improvement in framerates and AA etc but there was none! I did the usual thing with proper removal of the ATI drivers and also used a driver remover to clear the registry, finally adjusted the graphics card reference in the FS9.cfg. Took a while to install the new card and drivers and switched on FS9 with great hopes. Disappointed!! No real change in display and the framerates were down a frame or two in each view. So hacked off - I took the GeForce 6600 GT back to the seller and reinstalled my ATI 9600 XT. Strange, maybe someone can enlighten me or …

I've currently got an AMD XP 1.4GHz, K7S5A board (266 FSB), ATI 9500 Pro 128mb, 512 DDR 2100. I'm thinking of getting an AMD XP 3000 or 3200 Barton and Asus A7N8X-X (400 FSB). This would land me in the $200 ballpark where I want to be. Would this be an okay setup? I know I'm not going for the bleeding edge here.Thanks,Todd

Anyone have any experience running FS on a laptop recently, especially one with the wide-screen LCD display? I'm considering buying one of the Dell 9300s, given that my primary system is going to be in a crate for some months making yet another international voyage. I can get a Dell 9300 with a 2GB CPU and an nVidia 6800 Go board...but wonder whether the compromises are so bad as to make it not worth spending the $$.Any experiences and/or thoughts on the topic??CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300

I have discovered that on both Flightsim Yoke and Rudderss USB the output values from all the axes are no longer smooth. I see it in rawdata values in CH control manager. Both the graphical representation and rawdata numbers vary erratically to a rather great extent ( neutral aileron 100 - 120 ). It won't help to recalibrae or changing the USB ports. This problem has arose suddenly on both controllers without any changes in settings.Does anyone recognise this?