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

After buying off the shelves seven computers I'm gonna build the next one around a Canterwood. In choosing the MB, I wonder if OCing brings a real advantage to FS2K2. I mean the OCer crowd seems to have fun reaching performance figures in certain techie tests for the CPU, the RAM frequenciy, the FSB and so on. But what is the big picture for a FS user, all in all ? I understand this is a pretty naive question but better look silly than be ignorant :-) Dominique

Hi!I just wonder if you can recommend any specific brand hard drive.I now have a Seagate Barracuda 40 GB and intend to get another extra one, for storage, etc.I would like to try another brand, too.Is IBM Deskstar OK? Maxtor?Happy for tips..........Thanks.Hans HermanssonSWEDEN

Right now I have stuck with 29.80, but am wonderingif there are better ones for the geforce 4s.Also are you on DX8.x or did you move to DX9Thanks,MRC

Recently purchased an HP725n 512 meg DDR Ram XP2400 with above named vcard. Running XP Home Edition.Not bad for a low end system but I am not seeing chrome or reflections.dxdiag 8.1 shows everything works well.In FS, of course, everything is turned on, and I've tried various combinations of settings to get these features re-enabled.I have scoured the card settings and can't find anything different to do. Any ideas?Drivers appear to be 6.13.10.3150'sMilton

Hello,I just got a new comp (gateway p2.53/512mb/winxp/geforce4 mx440) and I have a problem with MSFS02... The program really screams, I am very impressed, BUT I cannot see any menu options. If I push "alt", the sim stops but I cannot see the menu bar. If I guess right and click on the right area I can acess menu options BUT they are not visible. Also, if I "right-click" on the screen to change the view the sim stops BUT the menu options are not visible. So is this a video card problem? Do I need a driver? If so, wich one??? Also, whats the scoop on the Ge4 MX440??? Thanx for all your help!Drew

Hi GuysI built a new rig for FSCOF and installed Windows XP Pro and Service Pack 1 (which is necessary for my nvidia nforce drivers). Before I install FS2002 again I would like to know which updates are absolutely crucial for XP from the update site. There are two drivers, one a processor driver (will this make any difference to performance?)and the other a nvidia nforce driver and the rest are security updates and some XP updates - all in all 22. I have read about the slowing down of other machines once updates have been installed and would like to avoid falling into the same hole...I am also currently running DirectX 9.0 Would installing DirectX 9.0a make much o…

I have just changed OS from Win98SE to Win2k and now have problems with my CH Pro USB Pedals, which worked under Win98SEJust done another search and one solution, 'get a USB card', I have not tried yet.If that does not work I will post back.

At the moment Ive got an MSI GF4 MMX 440. Tomorrow Im getting a new card!Ive got $300 Australian dollars ( thats about US$200 ). What card do you suggest? GF4ti or FX cards and why? Thanks for any help!

Just thought I would pass on a lesson I learned tonight. purchased a a mobo and a P4 2.8ghz cpu earlier this week and went to install them in my AMD 1.4ghz system tonight. Found out that my barely two year old Antec 400W PS is no good due to its lacking a 12V 4pin connector for the cpu core power. Another 70$ added to this upgrade just to get a little connector to make the mobo work. I had not seen anything about this during my research into upgrading my system. Now I have to wait another two or three days to get the new PS. What a drag, just thought others might benefit from my ignorance.Hornit

As above I have 4xaa selected in 4403 control panel but in FS2k2 there is no aa whether or not I enable it in FS. Also funny in the dxdiag I have dx 9.0 installed but in nvidia control panel it says 8.1Have another drink. No I never touch the stuff. Interferes with my flying. Any hints, simmers? Thanks!

My Specs:P4 Intel 2.4Windows XP Home512 Crucial DDR33380G ATA 7200 HD with about 65G available*************************************************************So, I think my Ti4600 card blew up right...OK, No problem, gives me an excuse to switch to Radeon ;-) Buy the 9800 Pro, plug it in, fire up FS2002, graphics look the same, if not worse, check settings, drivers, 6x AA is on 4, 8, & 16x Anistropic filtering with no visual difference what so ever. Everything is jaggie and I experienced the same with my Ti4600 which at first was awesome, i Had great clear textures to the horizon.Well...humm, this isn't good, fiddle with the AA and Anistropic some more, boot the game b…

This is the second time I had to download it and it is very slow to get. Is it possible to save the file instead? Where do I get it?Like in the past dor the directx 6/7/8.ThanksRakhamPIV 2.53 Ghz 1536 DDR ATI Radeon 9700 Pro WinXP ProYoke & Pedals CH Products

Hi,This won't be a problem for much longer since I'm building a whole new computer.. but I'd like to try to get it fixed if I can so I can enjoy FS during the weeks while I wait for all the new computer's stuff to arrive. :) Basically, all joysticks have just ceased to work when plugged into my old Soundblaster PCI card. Win98 control panel claims that the gameport device is working properly, but any yoke or joystick I hook up claims to be "Not Connected" in the game devices configuration.I have the latest version of the sound card's drivers as well as the latest version of DirectX. Can anyone think of anything that may cause this behaviour? Any help would be apprecia…

http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030522/index.html

Hello,Wondering if anyone has gotten their TrackIR to work smoothly with ActiveCamera Pro in FS2002? Actually I should say not smoothly, as TrackIR seems to have a problem dealing with Turbulence when ActiveCamera is on in the interior view, creating all kinds of rapid shifts.Both products work great independently, just trying to combine that great head latency/turbulence effect with automatic panning... any advice appreciated, thanks!Best,Joel

Hi I am curious to know if anyone tried the 44.03 Nvidia drivers with a GeForce2 MX on Windows ME? Any improvement in FS2002 fps?ThanksMichel

Has anybody had this problem before? After few minutes I am in the simulation, from external view, the program freezes and I have to reboot all the PC.It was ok at the first 4-5 days and it happened when I made some changes with new drivers ( if I recall well). Thanks for your help.RakhamPIV 2.53 Ghz 1536 DDR ATI Radeon 9700 Pro WinXP ProYoke & Pedals CH Products

I ran across an article at Toms about a socket adapter to allow those of us who didn't do our research and purchased the 423 pin Willamette processor to upgrade to the 474 pin processors using an adaptor.Has anyone done this?I have a Dell, P4, 1.9, upgraded from a 1.4, using the 423 pin socket. I am considering purchasing the adapter, about $50.00, processor (2.6 gig p4, 400 mgz fsb, 512 cache - that damn Dell motherboard won't support anything that doesn't have the 400 mghz fsb)for a total of $250.Would I be wise to upgrade a video card as well - up to a Radeon 9700 Pro? There seems to be a sense that the Radeons work well with these chips and will do better than my Ti …

hi i have an ibm deskstar 40 gb hard drive sitting in my computer . it's about 1 yr old and already it's making ticking noises when i boot the computer sometimes. i have replaced the ide cable, and done other things. when the ticking noises happen, the computer boots up and says "Primary master disk fail. Reboot" I reboot and sometimes the computer boots up normally. I don't think i have any device conflicts and all my hardware and software is pretty new (<1yr old). A friend says the drive may be dying. if this is the case, what brand of hard drives should i look into?

HI there,I have just upgraded to XP and I am satisfied with the performance of FS2002.The problem is: I can't get the Yoke/Rudder to work.I already did a search on the forums and lots of people have similar problems to mine and I tried everything including installing the control manager etc.Now, what happens is very strange. Some of the buttons do not work and some of them activate 2 different functions. For example, if I press button 12, button 10 is also activated. This happens with other buttons as well. On the other hand the hat switch does not work, only up and down works!What is even more strange is that sometimes everything works fine!The rest of the problems like …

Just completed assembling a new high end pc and want your opinion wich driver you prefer, the one from Nvidia or Omega for the TI4200Regard

Can anybody please help with some advice. My PC specks is as follows :Celeron 766VIA Motherboard380 Mb RAMESS Solo PCI Sound CardWindows 98I bought a GForce 4 MMX 440 SE. When I boot up the PC, everything works fine, untill I want to play FS2002. The graphics is excellent, but the sound is very scratchy. When I disabled the GForce 4 and operate with the onboard VIA excelerator, the sound is fine and everything seems to work properly. When going back to the GForce 4, the sound is scratchy again. I've tried quite a lot of things in the BIOS, but I seem not able to rectify this problem. Any other games is working well. This problem only excists in FS2002 and IL2. Can anybody…

hello all, first ,i have a ge force2ti at the moment, ihave had it for a year, no problems,at the moment i get the sim ,2002pro,sticking now and again, but i have installed textures for the usa,ai aircraft, overlays etc,can anybody tell me which gforce4ti800 is the best card to buy just for microsoft 2002 pro, second,i have a 21 inch monitor but would like to have a projector to bring up the cockpit to full size,i am working on the boss slowly!!!,would the gf4 card give good graphics say at 60 inch screen,i am in the uk so the cards are about

Just installed the ATI 9800 Pro, and was wondering if anyone can suggest what settings to use for its properties in the Control Panel.Thanks,

My mom just bought a new PC, very very nice spec except for one thing! The dreaded onboard S3 Graphics! It just totally lets down FS2002 and makes it run real slow. It's a SavageDDR card and is a good as a chocolate fireguard.I am at this moment searching for better drivers for the card as I think the default ones that Dell install are maybe outdated, or just some generic windows xp drivers that underperform (well, I hope that's the case!). One thing I noticed is that there's no aircraft reflections or any water effects...why's this? Is it just a crappy card!I am also going to take a look inside the computer to see if there is an available AGP slot...but with the S3 ch…