Here is what I am using....Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.40GHz 256 MB RAM64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 with TV Out (Dell 8250)I love the PMDG 737. I also love FS9. Obviously I want to use both in conjunction. I understand I need to upgrade my PC. From what I understand i need about 128 more MB for my video card and up to 512 RAM. Before I buy these, i want to know if the PMDG 737 will run well in FS9. Right now with my normal settings, I get less than 10 fps for airports like KMDW. I am not maxed all the way on the sliders either. It takes a very long time to load the plane, and once I do, there is always a pause when switching views. When I roll down the rwy, i'll get some hiccups and studdering. Once in the air, i'll be lucky to get framerates in the low teen range. I would like to know what people think would run PMDG smoothly in FS9. I dont want to buy 300-400 dollars worth of hardware and not see a noticable difference. I basically want to be able to fly and be happy! Who is happy with PMDG/FS9 and what are your settings and specs? What would you all do?

Who is happy with PMDG/FS9 and what>are your settings and specs? What would you all do?I'm happy, and here's what I haveIntel D865PERL system boardIntel P4 2.40B2 GB RAMATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MBXP ProATI Catalyst 3.8I have my FS9 directory compressed, and use the tweaked textures from Avsim for better performance.I have my fps locked to 20, and get it everywhere except when climbing through heavy broken clouds - it may drop to 15. This with FSMeteo, Squawkbox, RogerWilco all running.I find it quite usable.

Slow changing views is a RAM issue, the more you have the fater these will open etc. You can notice this in SPOT view when testing, with 256 megs of RAM I cannot mover around the aircraft without stuttering but with 512 RAM it's much smoother. Your CPU is great but the video card is lacking. Any *MX* version is on the bottom of the barrel, I have a GF2 MX so I know ;). So 512+ of RAM and a ATI 9700-9800 or GF FX will get you where you want to be (ATI is cheaper and FASTER). Rememebr that even with the top of the line hardware, you will not be able to run with everything on high, so you must find a happy medium with tweaking you FS settings...[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/196432/winglets_lg.jpg

>This with FSMeteo, Squawkbox, RogerWilco all running.> Tim,Can you point me in the right direction for SB setup with FS9? I was hoping Joel would have completed SB3 by now, but he is very busy with other projects.Thanks,ScottP.S. Any idea when SU2 is due out?

So lets say i get 2 sticks of 256 non edd RD Ram to up it to 768 MB, and I get a 128 mb card (either ATI something or GE Force4 TI4200), will I see a noticable difference? What is a good video card to get that is under $150 that I will be able to fly smoothly on mid to mid/high settings and the PMDG? I just want to make sure I buy the right things and dont feel "short changed", All input is appreciated!Brad

Always remember You get what you pay for. I using the ti4400 and keep my frames locked at 17. Which is fine for me with full sliders. I also compressed my FS9 folder and went with 1 meg of high speed low latency RAM. I really don't care what my frame rate is as long as I don't get the stutters and jitters. This is an expensive hobbie, so go ahead and miss a few rent or mortgage payments and buy desent hardware. It don't have to be top of the line, but if you buy below medium products, you'll be disappointed. Just my opion.Bill M

So would my purchase of what I said above give me no studders or hiccups? Or would I need more??

>So lets say i get 2 sticks of 256 non edd RD Ram to up it to>768 MB, and I get a 128 mb card (either ATI something or GE>Force4 TI4200), will I see a noticable difference? Almost certainly: yes. Been there, done that.- Pete

You would see some major improvments. But I strongly recommend the ti4400 over the ti 4200 because of the engine and memory clock speeds. The ti 4200 speed is the same as some MX video cards. You can overclock the ti4400 engine and clock speeds to equal the ti 4600 card with no special cooling.Bill M

Would you suggest 128MB of an ATI card or GeForce? What would be better for my system? Thanks for the replies!Brad

>>>This with FSMeteo, Squawkbox, RogerWilco all running.>>> Tim,>>Can you point me in the right direction for SB setup with FS9?>I was hoping Joel would have completed SB3 by now, but he is>very busy with other projects.>>Thanks,>>Scott>P.S. Any idea when SU2 is due out?Although I'm not part of the company, I'll quote the company line - "It'll be out when it's ready". i am 95% happy with SU1 so I can say that with a smile.as for SB, I recommend a couple of things.Get the SBHost DLL to run SB "inside" FS9.You need SBRelay, you can find it at VATSIM.If you want, send a private email to [email protected] and I'll try and zip up the appropriate apps and mail them to you.

>>>This with FSMeteo, Squawkbox, RogerWilco all running.>>> Tim,>>Can you point me in the right direction for SB setup with FS9?>I was hoping Joel would have completed SB3 by now, but he is>very busy with other projects.>>Thanks,>>Scott>P.S. Any idea when SU2 is due out?Although I'm not part of the company, I'll quote the company line - "It'll be out when it's ready". i am 95% happy with SU1 so I can say that with a smile.as for SB, I recommend a couple of things.Get the SBHost DLL to run SB "inside" FS9.You need SBRelay, you can find it at VATSIM.If you want, send a private email to [email protected] and I'll try and zip up the appropriate apps and mail them to you.

Here is what I have and it runs very smoothlyIntel Pentium 4GhzAsus motherboardAsus TI4200 128MB Graphics Card512MB RAMWindows XP Professional