Hey Guys and Gals:Here is what I got for ChristmasGateway 552GE P4 3.51 Gig RamRadeon X700 Pro200 Gig HD 7200 RPM17 Inch Plasma Flat ScreenNot the X800 but it will due. Do you guys and gals think I can run everything at max when I get it home? If not what are the best settings. I will be updating FS to 9.1 and I am using Active Sky 4.5. I would also like to use my Active Camera but I lost all of my reg info. Also any good freeware programs like Active Camera out there?Thanks and Merry Christmas from Las Vegas Nevada.AAL244

LOL! No, you probably will not be able to run "everything at Max". You can try it, and may be happy with it, but I wasn't with a comparable system (P4 3.4, 1gb RAM, ATI XT800 P Pro). At some point the Weather and Clouds will kill you. When YOU decide is "enough" is up to you. I draw the line at 20 FPS, as a general rule, but will go to 15 depending on the situation. There isn't a system made which will run FS9, with add-ons, in any weather, at 100%, with a "decent" FPS. It doesn't exist. If anybody tells you different, I'll make a flight to prove them wrong. (remember...I said "add-ons"). I can get 15 FPS at default KJFK in a complete snowstorm...add-on scenery would make the same flight unbearable. This whole sim is about "compromise". You find the settings that allows you your "comfort level", for a flight. There is no "ultimate".

I don't understand when I hear this. I have:Athlon 3200+1 gig ram (pc3200)Radeon 9700+The one and only thing that I don't have "maxed" is ground objects casting shadows. Every slider is maxed. I have FSGenesis terrain and landclass, ActiveSky, FSRoads, FSWater and Ultimate Traffic running. I have my FPS locked at 25 and that's usually where it runs unless I'm at Chicago (which seems to be a scenery issue because it never runs smooth there) Yes, I have tweaked the heck out of my system. FS WILL run good on high end systems as long as you are not running a bunch of junk in the background on your system.Dave

But the other poster referred to the fact that everyone has their own personal "comfort level." FPS is not the ultimate goal IMHO. The ultimate goal is SMOOTHNESS.Are you saying that with 100% AI, and with several layers of MAX default 3D clouds, with a high quality add-on such as Dreamfleet for example (there are several others)that you get totally smooth operation...NO stutters...in turns...say base to final, at LAX?I HONESTLY hope you do but think you would be a rare exception...even with users that have a rig of your standards.My only point is that when people say that they are "satisfied" it is important to know what they are satisfied with.Regards

"If not what are the best settings."You should start at 4X AA and 8X AF. Disable Temporal AA in the driver tweaker (in order for TAA to work you must maintain FPS at the same refresh rate as your monitor is set at... tough to do in this sim). I prefer to Force AF, but others don't and it's a matter of choice... go with what looks best to you on your monitor. You should be able to run both Texture Preference and Mipmap Detail on High, and set the Vsync at Application Preference or On (this allows the drivers/X series cards to give the optimal AF).In the sim make sure AA is Disabled and MIP Mapping to no more than 4-5.Your driver CD may include the Catalyst Control Center for tweaking the drivers. CCC is cool to play with but it has far too much overhead for a simple video card tweaker. Another option is the Omega drivers. He tweaks the ATI Catalysts, and is very good at it. He is the only driver tweaker that ATI formally recognizes. His drivers now come packaged with Radlinker, which will allow you to tweak the drivers to your preference without alot of resource hogging overhead. http://www.omegadrivers.net/Hope this helps,Greg

Thanks guys:I should have mentioned that the card is a PCI Express 16 Pipeline.Any word on a freeware program that act like Active Camera?Shawn

http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=54760Greg