The specs:Intel P4 3.2GHzASUS P4C800-E Deluxe mobo1GB Kingston PC3200 DDR400 Ram (2x512MB)ASUS Radeon 9800XT video card w/256MBSoundblaster Audigy 2Plextor PX-708A DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW driveMitsumi CR-487ETE CD-RW driveMaxtor 80GB 7200rpm P-ATA hard drive (Primary Master)Maxtor 250GB 7200rpm S-ATA hard drive (Quad Master)Whatever brand 1.44MB floppyFSP (don't know the exact brand, but it's FSP something) 350W powersupplyAltec Lansing 251 5.1 surroundsound speakersMicrosoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick (original model)Probably doesn't make a difference in this case, but... Canon S500 Printer-----------------------------This is going to be a long post, but this might be easier to explain this way.... :(Ok, when I built this computer on December 19, 2003, flightsim 9 performance was great, even with almost everything at maximum. Without locking, I took off in the default DC-3 (using a modified trev morsen panel) from kittyhawk for the next leg in my round-the-world tour and got 60-70fps going up into the 90's occasionally. Of course, that dropped once I installed a few more addons....Recently, my flightsim performance has been dipping into what I consider the "unacceptable" range, considering I used to get decent performance with the same settings without too many new addon installations in between. Framerates were dropping to 15 and below with any significant cloud cover. Chris Arrington's cloud fps fix did nothing. Then, I noticed that my computer's fans were no longer speeding up when running flightsim or nascar racing 2003 season (to name 2 specific games).... I'm not sure if the noise was from the video card fans or the cpu fan, but before the fan(s) would speed up and become rather loud while playing 3D games. Now, it does not. The box just stays quiet. Videocard temps seem to be higher now, but I can't prove much because I did not often look at asus smartdoctor especially when quitting a game. Even tried dropping all my sliders to roughly the settings I used to use on my old P3 800MHz system, and got about 35-40fps, which is way below what I would have believed the card was capable of with most of the sliders at minimum or relatively low.Anyway, I reinstalled windows XP the other night, and I just got around to reinstalling flightsim earlier tonight. With only an "out of the box" flightsim installed, I configured FS9 the way it was before (the way I like it), and set myself up in the baron at Sea-Tac with the current weather at the time. Got about 15-17fps. Took off, climbed about 1000 feet before the framerates dropped to 8. Unacceptable, considering I *know* the 9800xt can do better than 8fps, even with everything (except 3d clouds) at max.Installed the Chris Arrington cloud fps fix again, and this time framerates improved--(dramatic pause) by about 3-4fps.. Still unacceptable. If everything was still working properly, fps should have been well above 30.....Any suggestions to improve framerates?Should I be taking the computer to the shop regarding the fans that no longer adjust themselves properly?With an 800MHz FSB, should my bios show external clock (which I read was the same thing as FSB) as 800 or 200? Currently shows 200.....Is a 350W power supply enough for everything in this system?Any help would be *greatly* appreciated... :D

When you indicate you reinstalled Windows, did you also reinstall the MOBO Controller Chip drivers, i.e., Intel, VIA, SiS, AMD, ALI, NForce. If you install the drivers that came with your MOBO, have you searched for updated drivers?Press start, run..., type dxdiag, OK. Let the directx diagnostic stabilize, review the version (9.0b recommended - download and install from Windows Update site. Select the Display tab and ensure DirectDraw, Direct3D, and AGP Accelerations are enabled. If grayed out, you need to reinstall the MOBO Controller Chip drivers and possibly the graphics adapter drivers.Also if you don't have WinXP SP1, then download and install SP1 and any pre-SP2 updates.W. Sieffert

Have you also checked for and/or blown away an dust that might have settled over all boards in your computer ?

Could be a memory leak. This is a common problem with FS and high speed ram. This is a big problem for you. Your getting the same preformance I do. The Duron 950 just doesn't cut it anymore but I can't afford anything better right now.

strange...possible memmory leak as mentioned above.but while i was reading your post yous aid something about the fan speeds.i assume that your fans are using a sensor to change rotation speed..right?well the you should check the snesors, check that they havnt been put under too much pressure.i doubt that the heat could be a major influence on the running..but it could help to the reason...dunnoi cant think of anything else that could be a problem..dario

reinstalled all the drivers that came on the cd, haven't got a chance to look for and download newer versions from the website..Installed directx9.0b already. Using WinXP SP1 with all available updates installed from the automatic updater.

Yes, I have done that very recently, before I reinstalled windows, to no effect.

>strange...>possible memmory leak as mentioned above.Don't think it's a memory leak... In my Sea-Tac test after windows reinstallation with an "out-of-the-box" FS9, I literally started up FS9, setup the flight, and immediately put full throttle and took off... Don't think that's enough time for a memory leak to fill up so much memory that everything bogs down....>but while i was reading your post yous aid something about the>fan speeds.>i assume that your fans are using a sensor to change rotation>speed..right?Built onto the videocard / cpu, I believe....>well the you should check the snesors, check that they havnt>been put under too much pressure.>i doubt that the heat could be a major influence on the>running..but it could help to the reason...dunnoProbably something for the repair shop for the built-in sensors.. :(>i cant think of anything else that could be a problem..I'm out of ideas, myself... :(

What would the "normal" operating temperatures be for a P4 3.2GHz cpu, and the radeon 9800xt?My cpu is running about 38C right now, was up to 49-50C (fans pretty steady around 2700-2800) while playing Nascar 2003 Season earlier tonight.... GPU is currently running 54C, was up to 60 when I got dumped out of Nascar (fans regularly 5200-5500).... Didn't catch the message in time (only flashed for a few seconds), but asus smartdoctor was complaining about something which is what crashed nascar on me.... Are these normal temps, or am I running too hot?

well...im running an amd2800 and my temperature is almost always 44C, my system temp is 29 stable . i dunno about the gpu..dont know how to measure it :( while im playing something temperature doesnt really rise in the cpu, but i guess i have a 5400rpm cpu fan and 3 more case fans.i think your cpu temp is fine..not too sure bout the gpu...it might be the problem if smartdoctor said something...dario

CPU throtling could at play here, either via software drivers running under Windows or in your system BIOS.Check that throtling of the CPU speed is not set to a too low temperature.Have you ever updated the system BIOS ? I've seen a few instances where settings get reset to default values or even zero after a BIOS upgrade._______RegardsChris Ehttp://www.circle-software.co.uk/php/html/images/logo.gifVisit http://www.circle-software.co.ukHome of X-Plane Photographic Scenery : England & Wales

Well, I did have to reload default settings a couple weeks ago after it mysteriously wouldn't boot due to "failed overclock settings" or something to that effect, even though I don't even overclock...Tried tweaking as much as I could in the bios, even tried overclocking as much as 10% (3.54GHz) and got very little effect....What do you mean by throttling of the cpu speed? You mean the fan speed control based on the temperature, or cpu speed itself?

I mean the CPU speed. Lots of system BIOS have this feature to set a 10%, 20%, 30% or even more reduction in CPU clock speed at and above a selectable temperature.

And any idea where I might find it in AMI's bios?Closest thing I could find is in the APM section with the other power-saving features, no mention of temperatures there..... Currently set at 50%....

What is set at 50% ?_______RegardsChris Ehttp://www.circle-software.co.uk/php/html/images/logo.gifVisit http://www.circle-software.co.ukHome of X-Plane Photographic Scenery : England & Wales