I just built a new computer and want it to run FS relatively smooth but also want a realistic environment. How much AI traffic would you guys reccomend? Which airlines are good? Would anyone reccomend any weather add-ons. If so how do they effect performance?My computerAMD AM2 Athlon 64+ 3800 ProcessorBFG 7900GT 256MB GRAPHICSASUS M2N-E 571 ULTRA MOTHERBOARD160GB WESTERN DIGITAL HARD DRIVE500 WATT POWER SUPPLYrunning fs2004 with PMDG 747-400 (Great plane, highly reccomend it) (I flew the PMDG 737-800 which is also excellent but wanted something with greater range, but also quality and you can expect it from PMDG thanks guys its well worth the high price tag you wont be dissapointed)

ActiveSky 6 for your weather.As for your AI you can try PAI or many of the Payware products but most of them use FPS hogging models and suffer from some extreemly poor qualith re-paints.The best way to go is 100% custom but its very time consuming.But there is a saviour on the market with the last few months.Check out World of AI, http://www.world-of-ai.com/ They currently have over 50 packages to download i=and install. Take a look into their forums for other handy hints to get good quality low FPS hitting models and flightplans.

I prefer the real thing: http://www.airnavsystems.com/ANFS/

But isn't airnav limited for rw traffic to the US controlled airports?I use Flight 1's Ultimate Traffic 2 with a couple of freeware cargo packages added at 100% giving me enough international traffic to ponder.Weather is Active Sky 6 and ATC (for preferred off-line users) is Radar Contact 4.01 (of which to provide a disclaimer I just became a beta-tester of that team.)For high traffic situations I also use AISmooth 1.12 to provide better departure and arrival AI management.