I decided (like many other's I'm sure) to upgrade my computer a bit towards FS9. Namely for getting FPS up with those sweet PMDG gauges. Personally for several reasons I went the overclocking method. It also kept me busy while waiting for SU2._____OVERCLOCKING IS NOT RECOMMENDED, DANGEROUS, CAN VOID WARRANTIES AND DAMAGE NERVES._____Because I was able to play with various speeds and different settings I was able to clearly see what gave MSFS with PMDG's gauges the most increase (for me anyway). __ system specs __AMD 2200+ 9.5x207 1960mhzThermaltake Volcano 12 CPU cooler1 gig KINGSTON HYPERX PC3200ATI 9700 PRO 12880 gig 133ATA 8mg cache HDabit A7n8x rev 2.02 21 inch CRT'sXoxide.com's X-turbine case (cool cases with lots of fans there)3dmark03 = 5210The biggest thing that made a difference in MSFS/PMDG frame rates came not from overclocking the vidcard (its a good vidcard anyway.) This did very little in improving things though it was noticable. Increasing the CPU speed did not yield all that much either, though again it was noticeable.It was the Front Side Bus. Upgrading from PC2100 to PC3200 ram and clocking the FSB up from 266 to 414 made a huuuuuuuuuge difference in frame rates. Each 4mhz increase showed eye-popping results.I say this not to encourage people to overclock - its dangerous and scary at times. Although staring at a computer thats trying to crunch the prime of 95 for two+++ hours a night while praying to the MHZ gods can yield a nifty little adrenaline rush. For those of you looking for increases and various hardware options I wanted to report that FSB has a massive massive impact on performance. I'm getting much more than twice the framerates and no stutters anywhere anytime. --I love PMDG. I know I'm not alone in saying it. I am a Douglas/MD fan by nature, there aren't any options for those in simland and I'll be darned if you'll EVER see me at any time in any kind of Airbus. PMDG has converted me to a boeing fan. I am consistantly awed and amazed by this piece of software. I see a 737-700 flying out of burbank every 10 minutes and can honestly say "hey, I could fly that!" its cool. Together with FS9's great atmosphere, every time I start up I have a "sim moment." Thank you PMDG. You rock my wings!Josh Laughlin

>__ system specs __>AMD 2200+ 9.5x207 1960mhz>Thermaltake Volcano 12 CPU cooler>1 gig KINGSTON HYPERX PC3200>ATI 9700 PRO 128>80 gig 133ATA 8mg cache HD>abit A7n8x rev 2.0In your specific case, as you have an nForce2 chipset, you have to know that the best performance will be acheived by running the memory in synchronous mode with the FSB. This means that in your case, as you set the FSB to 207 MHz DDR, then you should also set the memory frequency to 207 MHz DDR.On your other remark, I would say : You increased the FSB from 133MHz DDR to 207MHz DDR. That's a 55% increase. I don't know by how much you tried overclocking the CPU or vid card, but it's certainly not by that amount. So, I would say it's normal you noticed the greatest improvement there.Actually, CPU and FSB freq are both important. And a correctly scaled vid card is important as well. A really powerful vid card is really important if you want to run AA or AF in large resolutions. Otherwise, a Geforce 3 or ATI 9500 will do without slowing fps.Eric.

"3dmark03 = 5210" :-)It is nice to see people post *real* system numbers. I get so tired of the stupid SE numbers where tweaking the driver fools the software and produces 14,000+ numbers!Ray

Can you guys give me hand here, I too am looking at beefing up my system.AMD 1800+ IWILL XP333 MOTHERBOARD 266 FSB512 PC2700GEFORCE 2 VIDEO CARD PCII am currently maxing my frame rates out at about 8 with the TNG and 20 with default most sliders maxed and alot of SRTM mesh installed. I am looking at two options. 1. Upgrade to 2400+ (the most I can find for 266FSB) and a FX5200 128MB AGP video card.2. Upgrade to a 400MHZ Motherboard and 2500+ 333FSB CPU with no video card upgrade?My max spenditure is going to be around $200.Thanks for any advise,Jeremy

>"3dmark03 = 5210" :-)>>It is nice to see people post *real* system numbers. I get so>tired of the stupid SE numbers where tweaking the driver fools>the software and produces 14,000+ numbers!The numbers in the 14000+ are 3DMark 2001 results. 3DMark 03 includes news DX9 tests that crawl the machine to it's knees if you don't have a video with DX9 hardware support.Eric.

>Can you guys give me hand here, I too am looking at beefing>up my system.>>AMD 1800+ >IWILL XP333 MOTHERBOARD 266 FSB>512 PC2700>GEFORCE 2 VIDEO CARD PCI>>I am currently maxing my frame rates out at about 8 with the>TNG and 20 with default most sliders maxed and alot of SRTM>mesh installed. I am looking at two options. >>1. Upgrade to 2400+ (the most I can find for 266FSB) and a>FX5200 128MB AGP video card.Avoid the FX 5200. IMO, you're better off buying a used Ti4200 on eBay (lots to sell at under $100). And as you already have PC2700 ram, you will be able to easily overclock the CPU by simply bumping the FSB to 166 MHz DDR (333 MHz). That will even let $50 in your pocket.>2. Upgrade to a 400MHZ Motherboard and 2500+ 333FSB CPU with>no video card upgrade?That will give the best performance, but the vid card will become under par and you'll have to keep the resolution to a modest setting (and of course no AA/AF). In addition, the RAM you have will not allow to overclock the FSB to 200 MHz (otherwise, a 2500+ can easily be overclocked to a 3200+/FSB 400).So, I would advice to wait a little more. Try to sell your MB/Proc/RAM/video card (value around $150 I think, and a great value for someone with an old system who want to upgrade for cheap). You will then have $350 in your pocket. Then, look for an nForce2/XP 2500 or 2800/PC3200 RAM/GF4 Ti4200. You should be able to find that lot for about $400. That's only $50 more than your budget, but you get a machine that can sustain 24 fps at KSEA with the NG737 at 1600/1200 resolution (FS2004). Well, that's what I have at least (my setup is an AN78XDeluxe/XP2800 at 3200 with a simple FSB overclock at 400MHz/PC 3200/GF4 TI 4400 (overclocked to 330/650).Eric.

WOW!!!Thanks Eric I had to print that out so I could really sit and read it a few times. That is a great idea, I had not even thought about going that route. Thank you,Jeremy

>>"3dmark03 = 5210" :-)>>>>It is nice to see people post *real* system numbers. I get>so>>tired of the stupid SE numbers where tweaking the driver>fools>>the software and produces 14,000+ numbers!>>The numbers in the 14000+ are 3DMark 2001 results. 3DMark 03>includes news DX9 tests that crawl the machine to it's knees>if you don't have a video with DX9 hardware support.>>Eric.I know Eric, but the 14000+ numbers are crap generated by people disabling various features with tweek tools then running the benchmark.My machine to give you HONEST numbers is around 10,000 with 3DMark 2001SE, it pulls about 6300 give or take with 3DMark 03.Funny how I get higher marks in the real program then the people posting the 14000+ marks against my 10000. I just find it amusing that people cheat then post their results instead of simply running the test properly and accepting the results.It also leads people to a lot of frustrations thinking that they bought something that is no good, or have something wrong with their systems when they find themselves 4000+ short on the tests of what they would have if they went down the fake "tweeking for numbers" path.It's nice to see that Futuremark is nuking faked entries with 3DMark 03 left right and center.Ray

Yeah Eric is right. That is essentially what I did. --AMD's like to be sync'ed with the ram and you can be sure it is. In a moment of weakness last night I decided to order a barton 2800+. The funny thing was once I got it all zooming I just sat on the ground at Vegas twirling the third person view round'n round with a silly smile on my face not really sure what to do..Beware overclocking is seriously addictive.

What "mild" OC'ing can you do with a AMD XP 2100+, PC2700 DDR 512MB and an Abit KD7?

http://www.jet-precision.com/Uploads/MM-JPS.jpg

Your CPU is rated for a 266 FSBYour ram is rated for a 333 FSBAthlons seem to be fine at higher FSB's as I have my XP2200+ at 414FSB right now. You can clock up your Front Side Bus speed to 333 slowly, considering your ram is qualified. You would need to lower your multiplier to prevent overheating the processor. Multiplier x FSB = the Megaherts of the processor.Also know that FSB is effectively doubled (DDR) so your BIOS should be listing 133 as your FSB. You could be able to get it up to 166 (333 DDR) with a lower multiplier like 9.5, 10 or 10.5 If you have a newer model of the 2100+ (commonly known as a B core) your options increase substatially with good cooling. Check out the forums here:overclockers.comhardcoreware.com <-- the troubleshooting forum there helped me a TON those guys are very friendly.

Just an update, here is my current system and what I have decided to do.AMD 1800+ overclocked to 1656mhz 144fsbx11.5IWILL XP333 mobo at 1.85VPC2700 Ram at 288mhzGeforce 2 400 (Geforce 4 Ti4200 64mb is in the mail should be here any day)With this current set up I was still only hitting around 8 at KSEA with the 2d panel and 13 on an external view. Yesterday I found this thread in the avsim forum and tried it out. http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchI am now getting 13 with the 2d panel and 18 externally at KSEA, I flew to KPDX and on the external view as I passed Mt. Raineer I was getting over 30. I have never seen over 25. I can't wait to get my new card. :)Jeremy