When I C+A+D and look at my sytem performance I notice my CPU usage is at 100%.....is that normal or is it time for me to invest in a new CPU????I just installed a Gig of DDR/333 ram and am no using 578meg of RAM when running MSFS2004.Sys Specs2 sticks 512 PC2700 333/ddr ramAthlon XP2500ATI 9600 Saphirre Vid CardMSI 6350E MOBOWinXP

Completely normal.

In my world of database and web servers, 100% utilization is not a good thing. I wonder what the cpu queue length is with fs? If queue >2 then you need a newer cpu. These stats and others tells me there is an application problem. I could need more cpu horsepower or possibly memory or even faster drives. 10 times out of 10 I have been able to get the programmer to change their code and/or I have added an index and the app starts flying. No costly need for new cpu or more memory. Alas, FS and db/web servers are not apples and oranges.I don't think anyone who has thrown the best cpu at FS seen it drop below 100%.I wonder if you drop all the fs sliders down, is cpu still at 100%?

I hav an Athlon 64 3200...it is not an issue of new CPU. It is how they wrote the application, in this case the application runs all out with no regard to being "friendly" with any other programs. Which is why other programs that take CPU cycles away will affect MSFS.

100% usage all the time??? That isn't normal IMO. Also working with high end computers at my job, only when there is an issue such as spyware, hardware overheating , virus, or something similar would CPU usage always stay at 100%100% usage in high traffic areas with lots of bad weather possibly, but all the time I find that hard to believe as normal.

>100% usage all the time??? That isn't normal IMO.You will find that any 3D game on a Windows platform will drive the CPU to 100%. This is to provide as high a frame rate as possible. Even with FS9's frame rate locked to something lower, there is still the massive task of geometry calculations for the game engine, not just for the graphics display, but for the aircraft physics, scenery, radio & navigation devices etc.Even with an infinitely powerful graphics card, the FS9 engine would max out the CPU to 100%, since it devotes every available cycle to running the game.Personally, I'm astounded that the game runs at all on the current crop of processors. If you could look under the hood as it runs, it is calculating an incredible number of variables to present the user with a good representation of flight.As for comparing FS9 to a server / workstation / database application, those platforms are dependant on message queues from other sources i.e. users, SQL clients, external network connections etc, so they are often idle waiting for those events.

I am using an Intel 3.8 with 2 gigs of ram. My CPU usage is never over 51%. Is that because of the pyperthreading or the ram?Abe

That's down to Hyperthreading. There's a way to set up your applications to run one one virtual core or the other. I haven't tried it but I would assume the best setup would be to dedicate one virtual core to the FS9 engine, and the other virtual core for Windows, traffic add-ons, other FS applications (Squawkbox etc).Have a search on the forums for dual core processors, hyperthreading etc. Hopefully you'll find something which will help you optimise your system for FS9 :)

Thanks Jock.I'll give the search a whirl and see what I can come up with.Abe

Info here about Hyperthreading and FS: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...sg_id=230&page=Greg

Thanks Greg.Looks good....I'll try to sift through everything later.Abe