Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!FS9 is running better on my bro's Dell 4700 that doesn't even have a graphics card than it is on my Emonster 550 with 192 out of a total possible 256 RAM with 32 MB SDR vid card. I have a DDR 64 MB lying around, but it's not compatible with M.E. and it physically won't fit in my bro's Dell. Well, one strike against them.I am considering a new computer for myself after Christmas, makes more sense than buying XP for the old. I paid $225 for the Emonster in 2001, my bro got his on clearance a few months ago for $300.The only thing I use my computer for is to fly and play chess, but if I can do better so cheaply, why not?A few friends of mine are in I.T., and are of the opinion that even Thunderbirds aren't worth working with, just buy new. I might be happy with an AMD processor/board that can take one gig of RAM and a great graphics card though.Current specs:Pentium III 550 MGH192 MB RAM32 meg SDR ATI vid card1999 AMIBIOS15 gig HD, a new 160 isn't working out even with a special PCI card/ATA cable for it.According to Emachines, 256 MB RAM is the absolute roof for me. Not much of a jump from 192, and when I run FSAutostart now 150 MB is free. (I think 32 is dedicated to video to help the card. If so I did it so long ago I can't remember how to undo it.) My drivers (other than for my vid card) are probably not the best, but Emachines has not been very helpful in pointing out where to get new ones. Would there be any advantage to flashing? Last quote I heard was thirty bucks for BIOS. Or just forget even trying, and move on...Any advice apreciated...:-wave

You really need a new machine. I'm surprised FS9 even runs on that!I wouldn't bother trying to add anything to your current PC. You can get some great deals on fairly recent technology if you look. The AMD Athlon x64 3000+ is a great cheap deal right now. Pair that with a decent motherboard (nforce4 chipset), 1 gig of ram and a 128mbgraphics card you will have a very respectable machine for not too much money.Exmaple for the above spec from Monarch Computers (built and tested, if you dont want to do it yourself) would be around $900Hope this helps

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!You confirmed what I was thinking about not being worth further investment.Believe it or not, for a while I was locked at ten and getting 9.9-12, performance actually increased when I added US waters/roads and freeware Summer texture enhancements that reduce the load and IMHO look better.But now there's two apps I can't stop from opening with FS9 and dragging it down, e54141 and winmgt. There is a file in my temp folder called e54141.tmp though a registry search turns up nothing before.By the time I get back to my computer I'll probably be spoiled by my bro's. Even with no vid card 15 FPS in a solid overcast with a PMDG 1900 C, occasionally dropping to 12.5. Sometimes- not always, it drops further when textures are loading after switching views, usually they load right away. I could live with it.I'll keep my eyes out for an AMD though, that really seems like the ticket.Working half a day, I'll take the 1900 C up for a hop soon. Turning the frame counter of now, I'm really getting spoiled.Thanx, Donny:-wave