I have a Radeon 9800 Pro and 2.6 GHZ pentium 1.25 GHZ memory. Win XP sp1My problem is not good framerates [20-30+] but rather that when I look out the side cockpit window of my PSS Airbus or default jets the landscape moves by in little jumps not smoothly.When I run FS 2004, I terminate all active programs, set my NOrton Internet Security 2005 to Block all communications and then disable the antivrus.When I look at the Task Manager performance graph that graphs cpu utilization I still see a rhythmic spike of up to 10 to 20% every few seconds. I do not know what process is doing that as it shows only system idle running But I wonder if that might be interfering with smooth landscape flow.I wonder if this is typical or not for other Win xp users.Thanks,Greg

Sorry Greg, but you're not going to like this...Norton is a pretty nice app, but it is not the best choice for a gaming machine. It roots itself deeply into the Windows Registry and still has numerous background services and .dll's running even after you think you've turned everything off. And removing it competely can be challenging at best (the best method is to do a format... yuck).See this thread started by Cruachan http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...g_id=2504&page= There are numerous posts about cleaning up the OS and leaning it out to run the sim better.You should visit BlackViper's site for a very good Services tweaking guide. His guides are very good for all computer owners, and I recommend that you study each and every Service to better tune your system for your needs. http://www.blackviper.com/index.htmlFinally, every gamer should be using Ken Salter's FSAutoStart. It's available here in the Avsim Library http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=55460 You can use it with all your games.All this will take a great amount of your time, but in the end it will be well worth the effort. Keep in mind that there is no "silver bullet". Configuring a computer to deliver top gaming performance is time and labor intensive. The only other solution is to throw a ton of money at the problem.Here's an example of what you should try to configure for with regard to running services and programs. These are all I have running at desktop... excluding taskmanager (had to open it to get the screenie) and FSScreen (opened to make the screenie). This screenie includes AVG, my anti-virus. I use a hardware firewall. 13 services and programs... and this is before I fire off FSAutoStart for gaming:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/96998.jpgGood luck,Greg

Hi Greg and Greg! >I have a Radeon 9800 Pro and 2.6 GHZ pentium 1.25 GHZ memory. Win XP sp1< Could you be more specific about your chipset, amount and types of modules and who built your system? It's 1.25GB not MHz, isn't it? >Sorry Greg, but you're not going to like this...< ........the second: Connecting to the 1.25GB supicion: It might be helpful to remove a RAM-stick (or two)? Sincerely Greg, I hope you can handle all of today's 'bad news'!? Definitely don't go and do funny things! Dr. Greg will assist in the display field. And maybe I'm your Dr. DDR for now? Cheers, take care, good luck and kind regards Jaap PS, Greg, good to see you back!

Greg, post a screen shot of all processes running.

"Greg, post a screen shot of all processes running."OK, but anybody who sets their Services based upon what they see here deserves exactly what they get. :-) http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/97391.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/97392.jpgGreg

I have a Dell 8200 with 2.6 GHz pentium, brand new 1.25 GB DDR RAM [400Mhz][just upgraded about two months ago], Turtle Beach Voyatera sound card, not sure of the chipset but it is Intel. I run the unregistered version 3.411 of FSUIPC, and Active Sky 4.5 and I fly the PSS airbuses pretty much. using Chris Willis v2 clouds.Radeon 9800 Pro with AI= 16X, no AA, Mipmap High Quality, Wait for for vertical sync on, Texture hi performance, using catalyst 3.9.The memory upgrade from 512 to 1.25 GB did help things.See attached processes which are many.I am happy to do something that will limit the ongoing processes.Again the main thing that bugs me is not the framerates but the textures pass by with micropauses instead of smoothly.Greg

Greg, what do you have your frame lock on?Noel

Greg, I have the identical phenomenon... in the virtual view, micro pauses but pretty solid 25 fps (locked) display rates.In the 2d cockpit (forward view) no problem.This is only at airports, however.. Once I get up and flying, the scenery smoothes out.Running with minimum processes active..P4-2.8, 512 Meg, Nvidia Ti 4200-128 video, Win XP pro.

I've tried unlimited and limited to as low as 20 makes no difference.Tried turning down all the flight sim settings and it also seems to make little difference.I agree that high up the micropauses are minimal, worst on the groung and climbing descending. Also with turn the horizon "shivers" as the redraws seem unable to keep up.Greg

Cheers Greg, yep, Dell usually ships with Intel chipsets. Having said that, I wonder how long Dell will still be able to fend off the AMD64? Now at the latest, they could be starting to feel the impact of not being able to offer AMD64 systems? Hmmm... Anyway, 'undevidable RAM amounts' on Intel i875/865 chipsets, are often strong indicators 'something RAM' isn't optimally configured. 1.25GB is one of those amounts, as are 768MB, 1.5GB, etc. So, my next question(s): Your Dell came with 512MB RAM, right? What exactly did you get or do to upgrade? FYI, the 4 RAM-slots on a.m. Intel mainboards are intended for use in conjunction with 4 -so called- 'single-sided' (SS) RAM modules. The recommended alternative, is the use of 2 'double-sided' (DS) modules and to leave 2 slots empty. And not use i.e. 4 DS ones or a mix. Now, if your Dell was shipped with a total of 512MB, Dell will have definitely plugged 2 double-sided 256MB 400MHz(PC3200) modules and nothing else. Unfortunately, if you want to upgrade such a 512MB Dell config, it theoretically and technically signifies -ideally- having to replace the entire RAM Dell supplied in favour of 2 new DS-modules. I.e. 2x512MB or 2x1GB. Any other RAM-config on an Intel i875/865 chipset, will bog the system's FSB down. Often though, this bogging down will go unnoticed... Until an app like FS appears... Btw, nForce2 users could be keen customers for such DS 256MB PC-3200 Dell modules, since nForce2s prefer DS-modules per definition. General note: 333MHz(PC2700) 256MB modules usually are (were...) double-sided. Pratically all PC3200 sticks of 512MB and greater are double sided too. Home-builders/modders with 2x256MB SS PC3200 'shop RAM' on i875/865, will frequently be unaware they're only using a fraction of their FSB's potential. In this case, 2 additional SS 256MB modules would help noticeably. In your case, a RAM-reshuffle might help too? You'ld probably get better performance, if you stick one old Dell (256MB?) module (DS) on one channel and your (I guess?) 512MB (DS too) on the other channel. Like this you'll at least have 768MB going full speed! You should be able to notice a difference, even with significantly less RAM. I'm sorry if this is an old call: Please make sure you're 'unloaded' before touching the interior of your case and your RAM modules. Push the case's front power button after removing the mains. Perhaps disconnect the PSU --> mainboard leads too? Touch the heating and/or wander around barefoot on a stone floor. Hope this helps, good luck and kind regards Jaap

52 processes running!!! My gawd, that poor computer.http://www.fs-gs.com/Greg

Wow this is complicated. I looked it up.What I have now is two 128 MB 800 mHz rambus RDRAM =256MB in one bank and two 512 MB Rambus RDRAM modules in the other slot = 1 GB. = total 1.25 GB. They are all ECC and all 40 ns.I recall having a 400 Mhz FSB.I swapped out two of the 128MB for the 512MB pair = 1 GB kit.The 1 GB kit cost me a small fortune.You would recommend then taking out the 256MB then and putting in fillers and have just a 1 Ghz system?Greg

Greg, please print processes running from Task Manager's Processes tab and let us have a look. If it isn't a process that is polling the cpu, then it prbably has something to do with some of the following:1. Have you reinstalled DirectX 9.0c?2. Do you have confirmation that you have active use of the AGP system, ie AGP Texture Acceleration?3. Try limiting frames to 15 and see if the rhythmic pauses don't abate. You can get this if the is alot of variability in the video processing load such that some segments are processed much quicker, versus others that are 100x more difficult to process, and end up with the slide and catch up phonomenon.4. Try lowering resolution and see what effect.Let us know . . .

To limit your processes, try out FSAutoStart (link in my sig).plug>

I just downloaded the program and tried it out! Does help, and it is one nifty utility complete with explanation of all the entries and recommendations on what to stop. I will continue to fine tune it.I think everyone should use it!Greg