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

This morning when I powered on my computer, XP failed to load at all (total black screen, HD light stuck on). One thing that got my attention was the ticking noise coming from my WD400EB 40GB HD. Now, I know this is not an ordinary HD sound, it was a distinct repeating loud TICK sound, something I have never heard from a HD before (espescially this one, since its normally wisper quiet).I was able to boot into Linux from my 6GB, and i'm in the process of backing up most of my stuff (to be on the safe side, and I think i'm lucky the 40GB works right now).Having XP not boot and having my main HD tick at the same time does not feel comforting LOL.Question is, is this a sign o…

I just reformatted and installed XP Home and it's freezing where it says "Windows shutting down". Anyone else have this problem?Todd

Hello simmersI just got the ATI Radeon 9800 pro 256 mb. I also just got FS2004. The graphics are absolutely spectacular!! However, there are two MAJORLY ANOYNING BUG with Catalyst 3.6 drivers. 1) When ever you press the alt button to access menues there are about 6 on/off screen flashes EVERY time which is increadily anoying and gives headaches. It might cause seizures which is NO joke. 2) When accessing emmbeded windows such as kneeboard with text scrolls within the text is increadily streched and unreadable which is quite anyoying for the nav log on the kneeboard.Has anyone (Beta Testers) wish FS9 FS2004 been able to find a fix for these two problems?Can someone running…

Hi all,Maybe is something to do with my bios settings, I think I get somewhere then the sim starts to hang again......:-(Which of these should be ok in the bios:AGP Fast Writes.....?System Bios cacheable....?Video Ram Cacheable.....?Video Bios Cacheable......?any help would be most welcome cos I tearing my hair here.....:-madWinXP Home ( updated )Xp2200+Epox 8K9ACreative G4 Ti4800SE 128mbCreative 44xx DriversDx9.0bSteve

Guys, I thought most of you would help me out here on some advice. Ok, I have a : 2.3GHz/ 768mb DDRAM / GeForce4 Ti-4600 / 80Gig HD / XP Home. Ok, well and I get not so great frame rates in which a lot of people I know have less specs and get a higher STEADY frame rates. My steady frame rates are usuallly around 20-30fps , however I know some people who get 60! and have a lower spec on their system. Will a better card help? Like a Radeon 9800 Pro ? or what??? because when I logged on VATSIM, I was lagging like crazy and this is not normal. I dunno what it is but I want to update to a 256mb Video card...in which will that improve my frame rates??? What card will help me ou…

My system specs are as follows:P4 1.6 GHz512 MB SDRAMNVIDIA Geforce2 MX/MX400, 64MBThe minor issue I'm having with both FS2K2 and FS2K4 is when I look at the airplane from the SPOT view, I see "jagged" edges, not like the smooth planes I see in the screenshot forums.Would upgrading the video card help smooth out the edges?Thanks.

Hi all,Have rebuilt my system with Epox 8K9A board and Creative G4 Ti4800SE128mb video 8x AGP and my FS2002 does not run for very long, it stutters quite badly then hangs........:-( :-(I have been in contact with the board makers with temp, voltagereadouts, psu wattage and bios settings, nothing was said re this info so I've taken it to be ok.HD reformatted for fresh start.WinXP Home ( updated )DX90bCreative 44xx driversSB128 pci soundCH yoke/pedals ( gameport ) I have run the game Vietgong for a while and it ran smooth withno sign of trouble.thanks for any advice :DSteve

like the subject ask,are you using the FSAA and Aniso functions of your video card when you fly on FS ?i think the FSAA can be nice to use but aniso?

Hi All,Can anyone who has the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Video Card, AGP, 128MB DDR, please let me know how it performs with either FS2004 or FS2002. I currently have a GeForce4 MX440 64MB. I just cannot take it anymore! :-erks No water reflections in FS2004 :-(The specs on the FX5200 looks good for the price (which is right in my price range :7 ).Thanks in advance.CheersHenning"You know that you are low and slow when you get a bird strike from behind..."

When I try to install my card drivers (either off the CD or the updated drivers from the ATI site) I get this error during the install. I click it off and the install otherwise seems normal.When using this card with FS2002, everything is fine. When I use it with FS2004, I get no "haze", visability away from the clouds is always extreme unlimited...I reinstalled my old (very old!) Creative Annihilator, and got my haze and fog back. Unfortunately, this card stutters every 8-10 seconds, memory issue I'm guessing.Any guesses or clues what this error is? It's in a Windows "red X" box labelled "Severe" so I'm guessing it's something pretty serious.Thanks in advance...DaveAthlon…

OK, I've run out and bought a new system for FS2004. Here are the rough specs:Windows XP ProP4, 3.0 GHz, 833 FSB, H/T1 GB DDR PC3200 Kingston RAM80 GB Western Digital HD and a slaved 40 GB Western Digital (both 7200 rpm)Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer sound cardANDATI 9800 Pro 256 MB video card.OK, I'm starting to read on the various forums that the ATI has more stutter problems than the GeForce, and I have the TI4400 card in my current machine. I bought the 9800 because the consensus was that it was a slightly better (faster) card, and this too is what is being said on the various FS forums, but it suffers more from stutters than the TI cards.So, my question to any folks he…

What, in your guy';s opinion is the best mobo currently?Just getting my stuff put together for a home built rig comeing up

Hardware know-it-alls,I'm currently running a P4 1.8 GHz processor but would like a little more juice out of her. I am a complete 'newbe' to overclocking and would like some advice on how to achieve what I want relativly safely. Ideally get her up to 2.1 - 2.2 Ghz if that is possible? Need to prepare myself for those FS2004 clouds etc. :)Regards,Adam Nardone

Hello everyone, I need your help on this one. My wife was playing with the puter and messed up my video settings. I used to post, not too long ago, screenshots on the screenshot forums and 99% of the time I got perfect results. Now, since she did this I cant get nothing but shimmering, bad textures etc etc. I have been trying all afternoon to fix this but I have no luck. For some reason the planes and texture will look very good on a windowed screen. When I go to 1600x1200 I get awesome results on every view but tower view. This is what I get now: First I got what I call Disco Night at meigs :7 http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/25791.jpgand then I get this:http:…

WHat are the best drivers for the 9700 PRO? Reason I'm asking is because even at 20+ fps, ground textures stutter, shimmer, shake...etc. My aircraft paints don't look so hot either...EDIT: My system is: P4 2.4b GHZ ATI 9700 AIW PRO (128MB) 60 Gig Hard Drive Gigabyte GA-8PE667 512 MB PC2700 RAM (258MB free as I write this, why?) Directx 9.0

Hi all :-)Got a couple of questions if someone could help with info please..:D1/ On boot-up I get a 'no signal input' on my monitor very brieflyand then it boots, same on re-boot. Never seen this before is it ok...?2/ How do you no if your video card is running at 8x AGP in WinXP,in my bios, latest version, I have it shown as 8x AGP but not inwhite like most other entries....?thankyou,SteveXP2200+Epox 8K9A mobo with 512 DDR PC2100Creative G4 Ti4800Se 128mbWinXP Home

Hi all :-)Am about to rebuild my pc with a new mobo, Epox EP-8K9A, have looked at the manual and would like to just checkwith you knowledgeable guys that I am doing things right :Dmobo CLK Jumper setting for AMD XP2200+ / PC2100 ram :Jumper on mobo, CLK1 shows 1-2 default, 2-3 133mhz, so this should beon 2-3..?In the BIOS CPU Clock / key in a DEC number, this should be 133..?In the BIOS, CPU Ratio, this should be 13.5 x 133 for 1795 mhz..? where as I can plug the bits and bobs in its these settings thatmake me alittle unsure...:-shy thankyou,Steve

Hey guys, Just got aGeForce 5200 FX Ultra card and am getting the following graphics ... any ideas ? Or should I just take the card back ?http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cderek/Trouble.jpg

I need a little help in understanding "user accounts" in Windows XP Pro. Like somebody else I am sure, I do not fully understand how this procedure is applicable for home use with only one person useing the computer (me), nor do I know whether I am logged on as the administrator or a user, as only one account was entered upon XP installation. I as the user have the same name as the administrator if that makes sense. Over the past years, I have had occasion to F Disk, reformat, and reinstall this operating system three or four times on my computer. Each time during the installation, I am asked to name an administrator and told that I must add a password for that account. I…

HiI recnetly changed from a an XP1600 to an XP3000 and doubled the amount of RAM to 1GB (DDR, PC3100??), although performance in games such as FS is about the same. There must be some bottleneck somewhere and I'm having trouble identifying it.Would anyone be so kind as to suggest what I could do to perhaps solve the issue?Also using an ASUS A7N8X deluxe mobo - what drivers should I use? It has an Nforce chipset I do believe.Cheers

I have an ASUS A7V, about two years old, running an Athlon 900 (no overclock), 3 SDRAM sticks 512Mb total, SB Live sound, and an ATI Radion 9200 video, 1 HDD, 1 CDROM 1 Floppy and a case fan, 300W P/S.My AsusProbe indicates a +12v reading slightly high out of tolerances, around 13.2X volts. Is this dangerous? What might cause it and can it be "fixed"? What might happen if I keep running as is? I'm planning an upgrade in the next several months, just hoping its later than sooner...I first noticed it when I installed a slightly larger h/s and fan combi on the CPU to get the temps down a bit (was cruising around 140F or so, now 125-130F)Any words appreciated...Dave JKCOS

Hi People,I have just purchased a new Dell 8300 with an Audigy 2 sound card from Creative. I get some clicking and crackling sounds when running stuff like PIC 767 or PSS A320 etc.Could any of you experts out there help me with this issue. Much appreciated.Lol,Dinshaw.

Hi, very new to this, I am in the quest for a new system, something that run very good, Price, is not a top issue (I cant believe Im Writting This :-) ), but I'll have to consider...I have right now a crappy COMPAQ (please dont laugh) 1.3 Athlon, with 512 Mb RAM, and a Gforce2MX 64Mb, I was not able to fine tune my siming experience with this machine, the change in drivers never worked out for me, plus I have had to Reinstall the whole thing including XP home at least every 3 months due to severe crashes and weird things happening.I was looking at the Area 51 by Alienware, they have a very nice and good looking machine although a litlle pricey...Is there any real FS perfo…

Hi was wondering if an upgrade in vidio card for fs2004 will be necseesary?I have a P4 2.53, 512megs of ram and OS win98SE, my present card is a PNY GF4 Ti4200 64meg API card do I need to take that up to 128meg or one of the new FX cards with 256 ram? would I see any great improvement between the 128 GF4 and the new FX cards?Thanks for any help. Reddoghttp://www.enter.net/photoalbum/data/reddog/551867.jpgSceenshots and Pics athttp://community.webshots.com/user/reddog18951USMC Retired

There is this 3D professional video card called Wildcat VP970 for $359 that has onboard processors inside the VPU and seeing how dependant FS2002 is on CPU would this video card be good for FS2002. It has a 256-bit DDR memory.