Well I got my parts today, yay! I opened up my box and swapped the processor out. I wanted to do just the processor first to see if I could gauge the difference between having a new CPU vs. having a new CPU+GPU.Physical installation went fine... and in Windows the new CPU seems to recognize and operate okay. I had some fun junking around with the dual core (load up some program and have it calculate whilst the other core happily runs a GPU test, etc) and then proceeded onto the real meat...Load up FS, head on over to KEWR Newark to see what the damage is. FS Loads up (a new CPU helps load times slightly but not that much hehe) and I'm sitting at KEWR. I give the fps counter a whirl- looks like I'm gaining quite a bit of performance. In slew mode and no instrument panel showing in the C172, KEWR's fps is at about 20. (Keep in mind this is ImagineSim's KEWR with 98% AI traffic) Not too bad. Okay, let's get some altitude and see how she handles blurries.Uhh... hold up. What's that?Yep- I look out over the horizon and notice something strange. All the shorelines and water look funny. #####? It's as if there is landclass errors or something. I see square, 90-degree coastlines out in the water where there should be none, adjacent texture tiles have no blending (sharp edges between them)... something's up. I check some other locations in FS... the problem appears to be universal.I really don't think it's a scenery corruption or other data corruption. Could it be that there are some driver conflicts as a result of the new CPU? Remember I didn't install the new GPU yet, just the CPU.Here are a couple of shots from the Seattle area- notice the strange shorlines and visual anomalies:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/153610.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/153611.jpgI think it's a driver issue, given that my GPU test (rthdribl, if you have ever heard of it) does not display visual anomalies either. I might try swapping the GPU and seeing if installing new drivers fixes it?Ruahrc

I thought it was just California that was predicted to break off and fall into the Ocean...I didn't realize it was a universal problem?? he he...Just Kidding!!Wow..That is really wierd!! Yeah...I think it's a driver problem too...Hope it all Run's out well!!

Well I went ahead and installed the new GPU into my system as well. I removed the old nVidia drivers and installed ATIs catalyst drivers.I opted for the full package although I might play with uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling just the driver portion (no CCC). Before I did ANYTHING to the computer w/regards to the upgrade, I made a complete backup of the OS onto an external. What I might do is once I settle in I will overwrite the working HD with the backup, and re-install the new drivers for the CPU and GPU in the best arrangement. That way everything stays pretty clean.Anyways the good news is that my display glithces seem to have dissapeared. I thought it was a driver issue...The other bit of good news is that after some initial playing around, I am happy to report that the performance boost I got is pretty good! Given my low resolution that I sim in, I basically cranked all the ATi display settings (6x AA, 16x AF, etc) just to see how she handles.Flying the PMDG 737 into ImagineSim's KEWR with 98% AI Traffic and the "Building Storms" weather theme- I was getting fps in the teens on finals, and no blurries when I took a low level 250kt buzz of Manhattan. Not too shabby!!!i might back off the display settings a bit to see if my GPU is limiting, but so far I'm pretty happy with the result.The Connect3D card is really quiet, in fact it is quieter than the 6600GT I had in here previously. If it keeps up like this when the case cover is closed, I will be EXTREMELY happy.Best of all, the Power Supply seems to be holding out fine for now, I have only run the computer with the case cover off so far because I wanted to make sure everything was working before I closed it up. We will see how she goes when it's all buttoned up but for the time being- chock one more for the bulletproof Shuttle PSUs! BTW Running FS9 doesn't generate max heat I think because it only utilizes one core to any real extent, thus really reducing the amount of heat generated by the CPU.Anyway so far so good, I will keep you posted as I get more time to futz around...Ruahrc

Good Deal!!So what screen resolution are you running?? You should be able to run whatever you want...There isn't going to be any performance difference between 1024x768 and 1600x1200 with all else equal...So just pick whatever you like!! Your hardware should handle it just fine..Although I'm not 100% sure on your GPU(never had one)..I suspect it is going to do a good job for you...I know..I know...I read all that stuff...Whatever...With your level of hardware...I can see no appreciable performance difference while changing resolutions at any given settings...The settings are what have a effect on FS performance...You just have to monkey around with your system till you come across the set-up that looks and works good for you...It is totally a matter of personal preferance...I just happen to like 1600x1200...If I go right now and switch that to 1024x768 without touching anything else...I'm not gonna see a benifit in FPS near the ground....At altitude I may go from 200fps to 400fps?? That doesn't matter...Near the ground is where I'm concerned...That is why FPS don't mean squat to me...I can manipulate sliders to get a wide range of fps...That is why I hate FPS...But I guess it's all we have to "Gauge" performance...So I'll just deal with it...he heNow that you have the hardware in hand...I hope you enjoy it...I hope it meet's your expectations...Once you have time to explore it!!Have Fun!!

Hi Ruahrc, great you sorted the 'Californian Break-away' problem. I agree with Chuck it might be time to increase your resolution. ;-) Have you activated Adaptive AA? Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Yeah I'm pretty happy so far with the new hardware. I am planning on making the first "real flight" with it later on today so I will see how it goes.Re the resolution; I fly in 1024x768x32. Unfortunately, at this time any increase in resolution must be accompanied by an appropriate increase in LCD size. Thus I am stuck at 1024x768 for a while until I scrounge enough to get a new monitor.As far as video settings: I am currently setting it at 4xAA/8xAF. I don't have Adaptive Antaliasing enabled, nor Temporal AA. Should I be enabling one, or both? Also, what's the deal with Catalyst A.I.? Can you guys explain it in a little more detail, as I am not very familiar with it. Lastly- high quality AF, should I enable that too, or just leave it at 8x (or even 16x?) I guess at this point I have a bit of GPU power to burn since I am running such a low res. As it stands with my current 4xAA/8xAF settings, however, things look just as smooth and actually the "sparklies" have dissapeared! (Previously I was running 4xAA/4xAF, I don't know if sparklies are just more inherent on nVidia hardware or something? But some places like FlyTampa KSFO there was quite a bit of flicker in the ground textures- now it's totally gone!!!!)Ruahrc

Sounds like good news, Ruahrc. :-) Well, I don't know whether it would make a difference at your res, but Adaptive AA is supposed to remove the shimmer in certain textures. Pls note, some people reported odd texturing with AAA activated. In such cases it apparently helps to have at least one of the 'Cntrl+Z lines' visible. Perhaps give it go since you can always revert back if it doesn't work for you? Could well be those troubles were sorted with newer drivers and the latest and greatest hardware? ;-) AFAIK, 'Temporal' can be left off. I also leave AI off (this stands for certain driver optimizations AFAIK). IMHO it's a good idea to set the image quality settings to max. Vsync is likely best at either 'Application controlled' or 'On' (avoids image tearing). If desk space is not a concern, you could probably get a second-hand 21" CRT for next to nothing. They allow a lot of room for resolution experiments and you could easily check how your updated FlyTendo i.e. does 1600x. :-) Have fun and kind regardsJaap

Shift+Z of course... :-)

The essential tweakguide for ATI card owners.Regards,Greg

Hi Greg, thanks for adding the link. Hope you're doing well! Did you get the Demo? :-) I'm pretty excited and really like what I'm seeing thus far. :-) Kind regards Jaap

Thanks for that link! I downloaded and installed ATI Tray Tools and blew away the crummy CCC. That gives me 60MB(!) less memory usage at boot, yet I still keep all of my display settings (AA/AF, etc). Thank heavens!ATT basically does the exact same thing as CCC only it doesn't have a convoluded UI nor does it hog resources. In fact, you do not even have to run ATT to get the display settings. You can run the program, set up your display preferences, and then quit ATT. Your settings will still apply. Thus, you don't even need to start any tray or background program on windows boot. IMO this is the way it should have always worked. I don't see what lamer programmer thought when he invented that constantly-loaded program stuff...Re: AAA and Catalyst AI, Here is what I found on my system:Enabling AAA gave me some texture corruption like you warned. I disabled it then.Catalyst AI seems to be a sleeper function that will take advantage of hardware-specific tweaks built in by the developer of a game, and AFAIK it will only enable if a Catalyst AI enabled game is run. Since it doesn't seem to do anything otherwise, I just left it enabled.P.S. Yesterday's flight test went very well in terms of hardware. I did have to rush things in the end a little though as I underestimated the time it would take to fly the leg and had to use time compression (first time I have used that in A LONG, LONG time) in order to prevent me from finishing the leg at 4 a.m :)Ruahrc

Hi Jaap. Yep, I'm playing with the demo. Still tweaking and testing different configs for my hardware. I like it alot... shows great promise. No doubt I'll be one of the first in line to get the release. :-) Ruahrc, Catalyst AI is better explained in this article.The .NET application is one we'll be seeing more of in the future. It certainly has it's place in software development (today as well as tomorrow). I have it installed on my laptop (yes, Jaap, you read it here first! I have .NET on one of my systems! Shocking, isn't it? :-) ). But to use it as the foundation of a video driver tweaker is a complete waste. As you've seen ATI Tray Tools is a far better tweaker and has a much smaller footprint. All it requires is itself, an ATI card, and a bit of studying on the part of the user. All the system resources it DOESN'T use can go to other, more important apps (like games).Regards,Greg

You know nothing shocks me, Greg! :-) It's true there's almost no way around one of the .NET packages anymore. That's fine with me if small, intelligent packages can be built which rely on stable code. Re FSX; there's a hint in tdragger's blog about AMD CPUs. I'm not really able to read between the lines, but it seems we need to adjust something (some thing!). :-) What strikes me most with the beta - not knowing whether this is unusual or not, my memory usage jumps to 1.2GB within no time. And this makes me 'worry' about FSX's memory requirements when fully garnished. Presuming this is normal, I'll be going for 4GBs next year. :-) All in all and comparing my 2 almost identical FlyTendos; there seems to be less bugs with the Radeon than Geforce. Could it be the OSs? The Radeon is on XP64 and the Geforce on XP32. Good to see you around again, Greg. Kind regards Jaap