I'm thinking of perhaps reformatting my hard drive just in case I didn't uninstall the previous nvidia drivers or whatever, but before I do so in order to rule out that perhaps I have a lemon from Dell or ATI, can you all please throw my way some hints on perhaps what I'm not doing correctly?My system: Dell 8300 P4 3.0ghz 875P w/ 800MHz FSB, new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card, 512mb PC32000 RDRAM, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 soundcard.First off, the system seems to run just fine in everything else, from IL2:Forgotten Battles to Hitman2 that came with the soundcard. (I have an Audigy 2 Soundblaster.) Although, when I run FS2002 it seems to take a lot longer than my previous machine (Dell 8100 with P4 2.0ghz and 64mb GeForce2 Ultra) to load new aircraft for example, as well as the frames being less than spectacular, (in some cases it's as if it's actually slower!)Yes, I have installed the latest Catalyst 3.5 drivers, the latest drivers for the Audigy 2, and even made sure the chipset and BIOS were up to date as well just in case Dell made a mistake.On the video card, I have switched from the medium to the far right setting (full graphics) for both the OpenGL and Direct3D settings, all to no avail. When I run flight sim, for example on the new Beech 400A from Eagelsoft, it takes WAY too long to swithc from 2d pit to VC and then to the outside. Something has got to be up there. Even on my other aircraft, it never took near as long as it does now. (ARGHH!)Second, after I switch views a couple of times, (2D-VC-outside) I'll loose my interior sound and ATC! (Oh yeah, that is as frustrating as it sounds - intermittent and completely random.)If any of you all have any suggestions, please let me know before I go through the hassle of something more extreme.

I would suggest to format your HD, when my Dad's company got new laptops from Dell (Can't remember exactly which kind) But I beilieve that they were2.0 GHZ P4256 MB RAM30GB HD @ 7200 RPMXP PROThey were quite slow, my old computer beat them for bootup times and loading times of programs, they formatted the HD's, then they acted like a 2.0 GHZ computer should, I would format the HD, make sure file system is NTFS, then it should work very well.

This is my second Dell computer and I often re-format every 4-6 months simply because of how cluttered I end up making my system.I noticed you mentioned that I should make sure the hard drive is in the NTFS fromat and so this poses a great question:I took the hard drive out from my old computer and added it into this new computer. Well, the 40gig that came with the new computer that I am using now is listed under NTFS but the D: which is my old computers hard drive is listed as FAT32. What is the difference? Does it make a big deal? (I say knowing that it now probably does!)Yes, FS2002 is on my FAT32 drive. :(

Don't be bothered by FAT32. In fact, it is a bit faster for gaming, but it lacks some of the things that NTFS has. For example, NTFS has journelized FS(no idea what that means, but it is supposed to be good ;-)), security settings, and some other things. I, personally, have all my HDDs formatted as NTFS, but it really doesn't matter.

No I do not think it matters just that XP is desgined better for NTFS, so using this file system gives you the most of XP and advantages of that file system. I my self have all of my HD's with NTFS as well. Maybe a problem that you are having with your computer could be because you are using a different file system, but you said you took the old HD out of your old computer and put it in the new one, when you put the old HD in, did you format it, or just run the games off of it, because if you didn't format it and it's in your new computer, that sounds like your problem right there. Windows might be having trouble running some files off of that HD. Just format the old HD, doesnt matter if it is NTFS or FAT 32, and see if that helps. That will save you lots instead of having to format the new HD and reload windows.

You said that the HDD that FS is on came from your old computer. I would bet, with almost positive certainty, that your probelm lies in the fact that the HDD is probably really old, and uses a slow transfer mode to transfer data. This would explain everything, all of your symptoms. Well maybe(more thoughts as I write this ;-)). Did you have the same kind of slow problems when this HDD was in your old computer?To test this theory out, and to possibly save yourself some time reinstalling XP, do the following - re-install FS2k2 on your HDD that came with your Dell. Also, do the suggestion for KS, I think he might be onto something. If you have still have slow problems, reinstall your OS.Let us know what happens!

Cool, thanks for the tips, I reformatted the second older drive and switched it to NFST or whatever that is but haven't been able to re-install everything back on it yet. The second older drive is a 7200 RPM Ultra 60GB and it has always ran just fine. Hopefully, as I did not re-format it under my new system that will be just the problem. I could try putting it on my new drive if that still doesn't work out, just to see if it is the drive. I'll keep you all posted either way, thanks!

You could try putting it on the HD that came with your Dell, but it is almost certain, your problem is fixed, about the old HD, who makes and how "old" is it?

January of 2001 and it's a Maxtor 5T06OH6 60 gigabyte which under my new XP Pro OS interestingly enough shows only 55gb. It's a got a warranty under Dell until next Janruary, is there any way one can prove it's not working as well as it should be so that Dell would replace it? :)

I think you would have noticed problems before with your 60 GB HD, my 80 GB Maxtor shows up as 76 GB, not to worry about that. Have you tried to run FS yet since you formatted the HD?

Kurt --So I am not the only one who as an 76 gig drive ;-)

Nope Fred dont worry, your not! I have the HD now partioned, the 10 GB partion is actually 9.76GB and the 70GB partion is 66.5GB

Just out of curiosity - what do you consider poor performance?Even a powerful system like yours will not deliver FPS in the mid or high 30s at a busy airport with add-on scenery and a healthy AI schedule. ColinP4 2.6 gig/400fsb768 mb RAMBUS RamRadeon 9700 Pro

Colin is right...I am still tweaking my 3.06 PC1066 RDRAM and I am finally "settling" for a constant 22 FPS with 12-15 FPS in busy SIMFlyers airports. I get 8 -10 FPS at Simflyers DFW which I understand to be the toughest on frame fluidity. I too thought that I would get 50 FPS with all sliders at max...did'nt happen. I have pulled back on MESH, DETAIL, and TERRAIN COMPLEXITY and am finally starting to stabilize my "monster" machine.

Salbado; Run the sim at 4xAA & 16xAF (big difference with Performance anisio) and leave all the terrain sliders maxed except for Mesh. Set that one at about 90 Percent. I lock my frames at 22 also, and it runs at 22 even at the busy airports. My AI is at the default setting. I've got a PIV 2.53 512mb PC1066 & the 9700 Pro. Also, I don't use any addon airports. Just the defaults.