I just brought a new PC AMD 64 FX 57 (4000 ~ actual speed 2.8 Ghz) with a new Nvidia 7800 x GTX 256 Mb Video Card.Fantastic system, but boy does it get warm even with 4 quite large fans. Yesterday when I booted up the temperature inside was 48 degrees, as soon as I loaded up FS9 with the following settings:1600 x 1200 x 32 bitAI Traffic 2005 set at 50%PMDG B744All display settings set to maxClouds : Broken @ full 3D rendering set to maximumMS Speed -up shutting down everything except FS9 and Windows ExplorerVisibility: 60 MilesAiport KSEA by Flytampa (superb scenery!!!)Flight: KSEA to KSFO (both Flytampa Sceneries)Average Frame Rates: 27 (Peak 37, low 21)Alternatively:As above, except using the Default Bell Helicopter constant 37 - 39 FPS.The temperature rose to 86 degrees after 1 Hour, and started to get fairly noisey.After passing BLUIT en route to ENI for arrival at KSFO, the system frooze presumably down to excess heat. I then flew the flight again but with the side off the PC, wow the noise from the 4 x fans (certainly added realism to my flight!!). The temperature seemed to stabilise at around 79 degrees. Other interesting points:FPS seem stable at any resolution even up to 2048 x 1940 (although the Heat jumps up to 86 degrees within 15 mins or so)When the system gets warm ie above 84 degrees, the shimmering appears to return, I dont know whether this is true or not. The main benefits of the system,:Stable FPS at any resolution. (level D is about 12% faster than PMDG B744)and has quicker loading timesSuperb quality especially at higher resolutions with a 21" Mitsubishi CRT monitor.Very sharp Images.In some sceneries like Gary Summons Manchester EGCC with settings above, runway and building shimmering still exsists. Even changing the display settings. (Although none at all in Aerosoft's sceneries, EDDM, EDDS etc!)You dont have to wait for the scenery to load, its there !(Although Aircraft Textures using Traffic 2005 set at 50%, at KSEA take quite a whilt to load), even after changing the TEXTURE BANDWIDTH to 80 not the default 40. Any higher and the dreaded shimmering returns!Just out of interest although FS9 doesnt tsake advantage of SLi, is there any benefit in upgrading to an Nvidia 7800 GTx 512 when they become available, will this help in faster texture loading of AI Aircraft, and will this help in reducing the shimmering we get with some sceneries even at High Resolution?Hope this helps.Best Wishes to all,Chris

Hi Chris,Wow, a very high-end system you have there! Congrats! :DAre your temperatures Celsius or Fahrenheit? They seem very high if Celsius (and would explain the system freeze) but seem quite low if Fahrenheit. Having 4 fans in a case is pretty standard now for a high-end rig like yours (I have four case fans plus one in the PSU and one on the CPU heatsink) but the key isn't quantity so much as the placement of the fans and design of the case. What case do you have? I have a Cooler Master aluminum case that has served me very well for over 3 years now. Even though I have six fans total, they're quite slow-moving so the noise level is controlled (not that quiet but I can live with it).Anyhow, now that you have spent so much $ on your rig, I'd spend some extra time and effort to keep it cool! It's important to protect that investment! :(Take care,Edwin

Thanks Edwin, good adviceChris

95 Celcius is the melt down temp for AMD CPU's unless they raised it but your getting close if your talking 85C. Don't know if you could handle the work but I'd check out a Zalman heat sink and one of their HS fans. Also maybe the die on the CPU wasn't lapped in with a quality grease like Artic Silver.Your system is getting way to warm,you need to get it figured out.David

An FX57 shouldn't be getting anywhere near that temperature.No Athlon 64 should as it's well beyond the CPU's threshold.The threshold temp for the athlon64's actually dropped & if I'm not mistaken their limit is around 80c.I'd make sure you have the heatsink/fan mounted properly on the CPU, maybe use some better thermal grease than what's on the stock heatsink.My Athlon 64 x2 4400+ runs @ around 40c idle & maybe 50c in full swing with the stock heatsink (using Arctic Silver 3)."Just out of interest although FS9 doesnt tsake advantage of SLi, is there any benefit in upgrading to an Nvidia 7800 GTx 512 when they become available, will this help in faster texture loading of AI Aircraft, and will this help in reducing the shimmering we get with some sceneries even at High Resolution?"Yes the extra onboard memory should help out texture loading times however the shimmering that we all see in FS9 seems to be more related to the game than any graphic card. ATI cards show the same issue.It can be negated somewhat with playback @ high resolution & extream graphic card settings, but this can reduce your overall performance. As fast as a 7800GTX is, it's still not going to run flat out in FS9 with everything maxed :(

Well I just made an interesting discovery Re: shimmering...I decided to do a full re-install of FS9 tonight. Backed up the stuff I wanted from the previous install (planes, panels, sounds) & did the full install. Updated the new install to FS9.1 & then pasted the backed up stuff into that instillation.When I booted up FS9 I was greeted with sharp clean textures that don't seem to shimmer @ all!!!I'm using the exact same FS9 & video card settings I was using before. So I'm wondering if there's possibly some sort of addon scenery that could be causing the shimmering problem? (I only have the default scenery installed now). or maybe I just needed a fresh install after installing the new 7800GTX.P.S. I'm using the 78.05 drivers.

Thnks Gents, I will check out the Nviida website and look t the 78.05 drivers. I have removed the side of the PC case for a couple of days, and the temperature ranges are 49 - 69 degrees now. Best Wishes,Chris

I don't think the 78.05 drivers are available off Nvidia's site (tho possibly from their beta section).You might check out http://www.guru3d.com/ for them instead.

The 78.05 drivers are indeed available in the beta section of the NVIDIA web site. There are also 81.84 drivers on there but with those in FS9, I get texture problems.Chris - are your temperatures Celsius or Fahrenheit? I presume Fahrenheit but then they seem rather low. With Celsius, they're bordering on dangerous. How are you measuring those temps?Edwin

Yeah the 81.xx series beta drivers don't seem to work well with FS9 or Train Simulator. Image quality and performance is nicely increased with them though.Word is that Nvidia will release the official WHQL drivers this upcoming Monday (17th). Lets just hope they work okay.