I've been thinking about this problem for months and I need your expertise. I upgraded my P 4 3.2 with ATI x800 pro video card, to a new Lga775 P4 3.4 extreme with an Intel motherboard and 1gig of ddr2. The mother board came with a pci express slot, so I bought the ati x800 xt pci express card.With the older video card (x800 pro AGP version) I had to reduce the AGP setting from 8x to 4x because FS9 encountered micro stutters, especially in clouds. With this new PCI Express card I can't find a way to reduce this setting, if it can be reduced, or a change the settings on the motherboard's BIOS to a lower setting to see if the stutters stop. This could be a latency problem. I don't know. Once again with the AGP version I had the same stutters with a setting of AGP 8x and the stutters ceased when I switched to AGP 4x.I don't have any crashes with the Catalyst 5.3 Drivers and the game is generally smooth. But when I enter the clouds, look left and right, that's when I get these micro stutters. I know that many of you have experienced these problems and have been able to rectify them. I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who has a PCI express board with this same issue. I would love the experts to also share their wistom. Thanks in advance.Here's my system:Pentium 4 3.4 ExtremeIntel 925xcv1 gig ddr22 Raptors SATA HDsX800xt Video Card (Catalyst 5.3 Driver)I run the game at 6x, 16x all sliders to the right except weather and I'm getting from 12 to 30fps. Locked at 30. 12fps when using Fly Tampa Sceneries.

Could you describe these stutters a bit? How long are they, how frequent is occurance between stutters etc?Which aircraft, where, what clouds? I'll make a similar/same situation since I have a similar system, so maybe we can find the solution...?

"I run the game at 6x, 16x all sliders to the right exceptweather and I'm getting from 12 to 30fps. Locked at 30."That is where I'd start. Try bringing the AA back to 4X and the AA to 8X. Also, you will need to do some tweaking in the sim (that "all sliders to the right" thing). Don't know of too many systems that can run this sim at "all sliders to the right" (and most of them would be AMD based system these days).Try to get the FPS up to something consistently close to your locked framerate. Lock the framerate at 24 and then start making adjustments in the sim (for instance, turn off ground shadows... they are a killer).You should make sure that your MB chipset drivers are up to date before doing anything. Finally, are you using Ken Salter's FSAutostart? If not do so. It is absolutely essential for shutting down unneeded programs and services while your're simming.Greg

Word Not Allowed,Stutters like "skips" in a video. They happen quickly. This is really apparent when you set the FPS to unlimited. When you use the FOGGED-In scenerio, at the second layer, where you see the puffy clouds, that's when it's really at its worst. I've tried using FS Environment, lower level clouds, different settings, tweaks, but no solution yet. The SF 260 is my favorite airplane, but this is a problem with any airplane. I managed to find the solution with the AGP version now I have to see if this is as easy as a BIOS setting since PCI express is not AGP. Any ideas? Does this also happen to you?Thanks for your help.Jose

Just to confirm one thing, shutting down EVERYTHING that is not needed for simming is one of most essential things. Turning off DEP in SP2 is one of the things which boosted my fluidity.

DJJose, no, it doesn't happen to me. And I think you should do what SoarPics said, first turn down your settings, LOCK the framerates to something like 40fps, make sure your system COULD pull in that particular moment more than 40fps and then see if it's happening.It starts happening to me if I set to unlimited, or have some background programs running (other than FS9 background programs).And also, install FSW FSSkyWorld clouds. Limit weather to 40nm and visibility to 100nm. Autogen one or two notch back. No ground scenery shadows. Rest at max.

What is DEP?Jose

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352set to alwaysoff.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352set to alwaysoff.

Greg,Thanks for the reply.....I've done all the tweaking and reformating you can think of. I also defrag often.Jose

Thanks for the link I'll do some more testing and flying.I'll post when I find a solution.JoseCFI, CFII

Jose,First of all, I have almost exactly the same system as yours except I have the P4 3.6 processor. It's a Dell too....You now have a PCI video card and NOT an AGP card so AGP settings are not shown or used in your system.I have the Omega 5.4 drivers installed and they seem to be working very well. I also experience micro-stutters occasionally after downloading new weather depending on how extreme the weather conditions are. I have my sliders all to the right except weather is set at the default level (I have had great success with FPS with the cloud sliders all the way to the right too. I changed back to default to see if it would improve FPS). I Have my FPS locked at 40 and always get above 20 fps even with the Fly Tampa or SimFlyer sceneries. I will get some stutters though and more than "normal".Display settings are ALL set to the max. My game resolution is set at 1280x1024. Hope this helps.Jim