Hi all, From Jim. These are my CPU usages after running Enditall 2. am running WIN-XP-Pro,Do these look good, or can they be better? Thank's for any replys!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/37897.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/37900.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/37901.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/37902.jpg

Hi Jim,there are a few items in your task manager that make me wonder - those are 'Pavproxy.exe', 'Avengine.exe' and 'Pavsrv51.exe'. Are those part of your anit-virus program? If so, I would disable those as well, before starting FS - virus protection can have a serious impact on performance. Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Thank's Gosta! Yes ,I just Installed Panda Antivirous software. I will see If I can disable those.

Hi Jim,I've got a question for you - I notice your system is very similar to mine, same motherboard, same graphics card, same amount of RAM, slightly different CPU (but close enough, I've got an XP3000+). The big difference is that I'm using the onboard sound (standard acceleration), and I get the occasional stutter in FS2004 (which I didn't get in FS2002). This appears to be sound related, although I also suspect a memory leak somewhere (I'm still investigating that...). So I wonder, did you notice any improvement in FS9 performance by using your sound card vs. the onboard sound?Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

I had unresolvable popping and distortion with my onboard nvidia sound, So I installed my Soundblaster 5.1, And have no issues. I think we are better off not bogging down the CPU with on board sound task's also.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/37919.jpg

I had the popping and distortion as well in FS2002, but with FS9 it's completely gone. Right now, if it was just a question of sound quality, I would have no reason to buy a new card. But it's the occasional stutters which bug me - maybe I'll try disabling the sound and do a very quiet flight. If that solves the problem, I guess it's time to give the CPU a break and buy a sound card :).Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Hi Gosta,For the final six months of FS2K2 I used a A7N8X Rev1.4. I used both the onboard sound, and then after a few weeks installed my trusty ol' Turtle Beach. I noticed no difference, and both worked well with either FS2K2 or FS9.Upgraded to FS9 when it was released in July. Haven't flown FS2K2 since.A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to the Rev2.0 ASUS, and started with the onboard sound. Got some popping (which was no big deal to me), and the occasional stutters as you mention. Installed the Turtle Beach and their latest drivers, and the popping and occasional stutters are gone.Hope this helps... I would definately test with sound disabled before purchasing a sound card (I just dropped the TB in because I had it sitting here already).

Hi Greg,that just reminds me - I do in fact have an old Turtle Beach card lying around somewhere. Time to enter that cupboard of darkness which houses all those old electronics parts :)...I'll give that a try.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

I have another tech question;) When I boot up, One of the bios startup screens state that The primary and secondary drives can not be found. What does this mean? Also I am too chicken to upgrade my bios!;( Jim

Hi Jim,that's normal - the motherboard supports a RAID configuration, but as you have only one hard drive installed, it can't find the RAID drives.You could probably disable it, but I haven't bothered to look how to do it - all it does is adding a split second to the time it takes to boot up your machine :).Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Very good! Thank's

Yes, Jim, you need to disable the SATA. It's done by jumper on the MB (on my Rev2.0 board the SATA jumper is next to the battery at the 4:00 o'clock position). No harm if you leave it as is. Just a little longer boot time.What BIOS are you using? Flashing the BIOS isn't too tough... and if it goes bad on the A7N8X, all you have to do is remove the battery and set the "short" jumper on the MB. Cleans it all out, and resets to the factory BIOS.The old rule applies, though... if it ain't broke, don't fix it. My new 2.0 came with 1005 BIOS. It's a good one, so I'm leaving it be for now.These things overclock very nicely. Running my 2400XP at 2700+ (2200... 13x170FSB). Very stable. Lot's of adjustments in the BIOS to tweak it however one wishes. Just make sure you've got good cooling.

I finaly updated my bios,(rev 1007)about 2 months ago,and went back to on board sound. I got about 7 to 10 FPS increase in CF9/PMDG737:-) This is all I have running, before FS Autostart.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/87305.jpg