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

Hi,Is anyone using the new Audigy4 card?I have the original audigy1 and was wondering if there is any reason to upgrade? Creative have released several generations since the original.My only interests are with music playback and flight simulator.Is it likely to improve game performance over what I already have?My system is P4 2.8 (533), 1 gb 333ddr ram, ATI All in Wonder 9700pro, intel 865PERL motherboard, soundblaster audigy pro card supplying signal to, get this... a Marantz PM17 KI signiture amplifier and dynaudio 50 speakers... reason for this is I used to listen to a lot of music via the cd player but now with mp3's and all...most of my music is PC based... so I deci…

I bought the CH twin engine throttle quadrant a while ago. I've created different configs for flying piston singles, piston twins, and turboprops. I'm having trouble finding things to set all of the switches to.For single engine planes, I've just been flying without the TQ plugged in and using the throttle, prop and mixture controls on my CH Yoke. Eventually I will get to the singe engine config for the TQ. I don't fly very many turboprops, so I haven't even started on the config for it yet.I'm mainly working on the config for piston twins right now. Here's how I have it set up currently:On the Yoke:left trigger = both brakesbottom left thumb button = AP mastertop l…

I am going to buy a new yoke and was looking for advise on which one to get. I have pretty much decided to go with PFC, but I can not decide if I want the desk top Cirrus with the jet style yoke, or the Jet liner yoke. I did get to try out a Jet liner yoke at the Airlifter Tanker Assocition convention this year at Dallas. It was in a Boeing simulator demonstration, but they had a piston at the bottom that I don't see in any of the pictures on PFC web site. This was a push/pull resistance type thing that made the yoke stiff to pull, felt like the real deal. But I digress, does any one have a suggestion on which to buy? Thanks in advance.

Dear FriendsI have a problem with my Side winder 3D pro joystick. I use the game port to connect my Joystick (as it is an older version) and not the USB. I have a P4 3.2 GHz computer with Creative SoundBlaster sound card, 64MB NVIDIA Geforce 4 VGA card. I use Windows XP.I am unable to use the Joystick and Gamecontoller says "not connected" when is infact is connected. I have gone into this problem and am told this is due to conflict with the sound card. I am told to

I'm thinking of upgrading my system case. My current case has a single exhaust fan. The case I'm contemplating has one intake and two exhaust fans. My mobo (an MSI K7N2, for now) has a single 3-pin connector for the fan. I'm confused on how this would (could?) work as far as monitoring fan speed/rpm? Does one 3-pin plug into the other and then into the board? Does a board support more than one fan? I'd appreciate some input regarding this. Thanks for your time.

I've noticed an oddity in my Win XP which is now reporting the file size on disk as being significantly less than the file size. (See the images which are typical.) I've an up-to-date version of Norton AntiVirus, SpyBot, and BT Yahoo! AntiSpy, none of which reports any problems. I've also run Check Disk with no reported errors.There are no other problems and the files can be run OK. I've searched for this the Microsoft website without any success.Any ideas anyone?http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/109375.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/109376.jpg

Hi,I recently upgraded to a ATI 9800 Pro graphics card and I'm using the latest Omega drivers (2.6.05a).I've been messing around with the settings in the control panel and within FS2004, but I've yet to find the best settings. I read somewhere on the forums to turn off filtering in FS and set it on the ATI control panel, but when I do this the graphics in FS go all blocky and horrible.Can other 9800 pro users tell me how to set both my card and FS so I can get the best performance? setting by setting would be lovely!Also, I'm getting a stutter of about 1/2 to 1 seconds when I make big turns during taxiing or airboune. I've looked at a lot of options to sort this, but noth…

Hello,I have relocated my simulator to a new room. The room gives me access (while I did not plan this) to a Large screen HD TV (Mitsubishi Medallion HD1080) that has DVI input. I tested my system with the DVI and TV and ran into the following :The NVidia 4200 adapter that I use works great with my displays (Samsung 912 and a Samsung 172N). Whan I hook up the TV I can only get the lowest resolution (800x600). Nothing else is available, I use XP and am wondering - is this a plug and play issue (using the TV as a monitor)? The adapter gives me much higer resolutions with my displays.I'm not real sharp here!!!! Any help would be appreciated.Thanks in advance,Ron Sagelrjsagel…

Hi, Brand new Saitek X52. When I switch the computer on, all lights on the throttle and stick are lit as normal, but the stick is dead till I unplug, then re-plug the USB. Saitek advised me to exchange it, which I did. The replacement is exactly the same. This makes me suspect the fault lies elsewhere. I'd be most grateful for any suggestions. Apart from this little hitch, I have to say this is one very nice piece of equipment.Russell.

I've been trying to OC my Graphic Card; but am not sure how far to push it. I attach a .jpg showing my Performance Clocks, they are on default settings. At the moment, using nvtweak tool I have tried a max. setting of Core - 280 and Memory - 507; this gave me a nice smooth flight into La Guardia Airport. Not wishing to burn my card out :), I put the settings back to default.Reviews on the Web have pushed the Settings up to a "safe" level of Core - 310 and memory - 550. Can I ask anyone who also owns a similar Card what levels they would call "safe" or maximum?Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.KenSomerset, England

... a GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE 128MB card and a GeForce4 MX 440 SE 128MB DDR card, in terms of performance in FS overall? Is the latter a later, faster card? I realise that most reading this post are probably using far more recent cards by now but this dinosaur would appreciate any advice. Thanks. I'm thinking of retiring my GeForce2 ....Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

I have a CH Flight Sim Yoke USB and CH Pedals installed with no problems for winged aircraft. When I fly the Bell Ranger helicopter, I have been using the yoke's throttle and prop control for collective and throttle, and the keyboard arrow keys for cyclic control. I decided to get a joystick hoping it would give me better and more realistic cyclic performance. I installed the USB joystick and it calibarated and tested fine in Windows XP. When I use it in FS, it seems to confuse or conflict with FS9. It works until I hit pause, then when I unpause, it takes a while to return to normal flight, then the joystick doesn't work. I try to unplug and replug, and nothing happens. …

Hi all!I currently have an on-board audio chip (my m/b has an Nforce2 chipset). Because of that, I lose 5-10 fps in FS9 (I noticed a gain of 5-10 fps when sounds are off). I've read that with a good sound card there are no fps losses. So, what model of sound card can you recommend? I need just a basic one...Anyway, is there a way to avoid fps losses with on board chip?Thanks.

Anybody use this? I am getting a sector read error and Drive Image and Norton Ghost won't let me lay down an image on another drive.I have tried Check Disk / r /f and defragmented the hard drive.Would this correct the problem? What other benefits does PC Doctor provide? Any Impacts on being installed on my FS 2004 machine?Barry

Hi,At this stage I'm just curious as to whether it would be worthwhile upgrading my Saphire ATI 9800 Pro 128MB GPU to the AGP variant of the ATI X800 XT/PE 256MB card?There are, of course, a number of considerations, not least of which is whether my current CPU would hold it (the X800) back significantly. I am not able to install a CPU faster than 2.6GHz and I doubt whether this upgrade would result in a noticeable difference in system performance in any case.The other factor is the growing interest in PCI Express and the likelihood that AGP slots on new mainboards will be gradually phased out over the next year or so. I had not intended on uprading my Mainboard until it …

I just ordered a new PC (yeah finally! it's a 3.80Ghz, Radeon 850XT Platinum Ed) and am wondering how I will deal with a reinstal of Fs2004. I have about 200 aircraft and 50 different panels and have modified many cfg files of various a/c.Would I be best advised to reinstal every single a/c one by one and re-execute those files for complex commercial add-ons as if they are brand new?Or is it possible for me to use my Detto Intellimover USB cable exchange which allows me to send files from one PC to another at 30MB/minute ? I have about 10GB of FS2004 files including maybe 5 or 7 GB of aircraft files.Appreciate advice here, thanks!JS

Hi all.I seem to not be able to get flightsim to load up.This has only just started happening, it seems that it has something to do with memory. Im getting hte message: "0x7c14F0e7" referenced memory at "0x0000001c" the memory could not by "read".I've done a search on google and found other people who had this problem but no answer to solve it.Is the only way really to reinstall?!?Thanks in advance for your help.Baz

Ok, here's the results of not getting quick response to a help request in this forum. I asked earlier what would be a good card for upgrading the ATI 9200SE card I was using and got no response so I went out on my own. Went to Frys Electronics and they had the 9200SE card available and a few that were discounted by a few bucks after being returned and tested. I bought one of those, brought it home and got terrible screen resolution out of the thing. Even the text on initial bootup had this colored halo around it and was nearly unreadable. Brought it back and bought one of their new ones figuring the discounted one was simply defective. Now, the haloing is much bette…

Hello!What would you think: What would be the ultimative Computer for FS2004? Or should there be two or more computer connected?Any suggestions would be helpfull.Thanks,Tom

I have an analog gameport 4 buttons yoke and Thrustmaster Elite Rudder pedals (gameport). If I purchase a CH throttle (USB), will the system of yoke+pedals (gameport) and throttle (USB) work??Thank you in advance for any help.

Hi all, I have the above motherboard (Full specs: P4 3.0 GHz(with HT), 1024 DDR Ram, ATI X800pro, Soundblaster live 5.1 Audio). I have been pondering on the benefits of trying the D.O.T. technology. If anyone uses it successfully, can you make some suggestions with my set-up (I'm looking at beefing up my FS performance). Thanks in advance for any assistanceJ.C. (MYNN)

Taking a different tack to off-the-shelf PCs at DELL in my endless quest for a serious FS rig, here's an e-mail I got today from a gaming PC maker (not Alienware!) in response to whether they could build me a "killer" PC for FS2004:" I recommend the FX55 chip (the most powerful in the world right now), 2 gigs of ram and *at least* dual nVidia 6600s powered by the Enermax 660w power supply. You would be better served performance-wise with two nVidia 6800 gts or ultras. However, that can be really expensive and I'm not sure what kind of money you want to spend on this. If you go for the "ultra" version of the card then you will have selected the most powerful configuratio…

I have a dual monitor set up, and a floor mounted console holding my throttle and GoFlight stuff. I had an idea to make a two place sim, with a seat on either side of the console and a montor for each 'pilot'.I'm sure I saw a post about 'stretching' the window of FS to match the area of two monitors. I did a search but couldn't find it.My idea is to stretch the VC over two monitors, showing the panel in it's entirety. The left seater would see the left portion of the panel, and the right seater the right. I have a GeForce 5900. Does anyone know if this is possible, and of so how?Thanks for any help,Gareth Evans

I was on short final to runway 15L at KIAH in my PMDG Continental 737-900 after a long flight from San Diego when my CH Yoke just quit working. I went to lower the gear and nothing happened. I tried lowering the flaps from 10 deg to 15 deg and nothing. I quickly checked the drop down to see if the yoke had disconnected itself and it showed as it as connected. Luckily I was in autoland mode and when I finally stopped (well, I did over run the runway slightly). :-eek Anyway, after the tug came and towed us away, Maintenance still could not find the cause. :-mad After a complete reboot all was well. Has anyone had this happen to them? If so, what was the cause? (n…