Hi AllI finally broke down and bought a new Dell (see specs below) in hope of improving my FS enjoyment. Unfortunately I have not been that pleased, especially taking many hours with new installs of FS9 and all the pay ware goodies that have accumulated over the years (not counting the $$ spent. My major problem is the stuttering or jerkiness, especially in

I've been tweaking for years trying to get rid of stutters and I really have not found a solution. The problem stems from FS itself, not add-ons.I've run it bare bones on clean systems many times with no joy. It's been all but admitted to by the FS team that in order for their code to allow add-ons they cannot eliminate stutters. I have yet to see FS9 running on any system without stutters. Ofcrouse, they vary in frequency depending on hardware and how well tweaked both the OS and FS9 are.There are many many tweaks available all over the net and here in this forum. Just do a search and you'll be flooded with 'tricks' and recommendations.On the hardware front, the X600SE might be the same, more or less, core as the 9600/9700 which are just OK cards for FS9. I have three systems running FS and from my personal experience, ATi cards have exhibited better image quality than NVidia. If you really wanted to try a different card, try an X800 or X850 but purchase it from a place that you can return it to in case you saw no improvement. Also, use Omega drivers instead of ATi's own.My advice is to first reformat that new Dell if you haven't already. They come preloaded with alot of crap that are difficult to get rid of. Then just run a clean install of XP and FS9 alone, at different settings and see what happens to the stutters. And then build from there.Sorry for being a pessimist about your problem. I've given up on it a little while ago. I'm just waiting now for FSX/Vista and new hardware late 2006/early 2007 in hopes of no more stutters.

I also have a reasonably new Dell system with the same card. Clean out the crap and get rid of the card. It's OK for general business, but sux for the gaming format. The Radeon X1600 cards are dropping in price.

Thanks for your replies,I have tweaked FS for years as well. In fact I almost take more time tweaking instead of trying to just enjoy FS. I agree that Dell loads your system with a lot of garbage. I have already deleted most of stuff. I do not plan to reformat; since, I have spent days loading FS9 and all the other software onto the new system. I had a 5900XT-128AGP on previous dell and had little stutters. What I don't understand is why more stutters in "windowed mode" with the a new machine that has a faster processor, more ram, and a PC-Ie video card with 256mb. CarlNew Sys.Dell E510 P4 650 3.4gig HTRadeon ATI-X600SE PCI-E 256 meg1gig SDRAM80gig HD19" 1907FPCWindows XP-SP2Old Sys.Dell P4 8250 2.4gigNivda 5900 XT 128 AGP756gig RDRAM17"FC120gig HDWindows XP-SP2

Dell bloatware? If your new system is loaded with anything like what my Inspiron 9300 came installed with, it's a wonder games can load up and run at all. Norton AV is a particularly noted program for giving FS the stutters, no matter how disabled you think you may have it.If you have the time and the backup disks, consider reinstalling your OS, main apps, essential utilities and FS2004 and keep the bloatware well away from your clean install. Consider another AV program if yours came with Norton. AVG is one of the good freeware ones out there that I have been using for years now without viruses being able to infest my system.Gary.

Hi Gary,I bought a Dell Insp.6000 during Christmas and you are so "right on" with Norton's and the other stuffings that Dell put on. It took over 5-6 minutes to shut down the notebook with Norton's installed. After I took Norton's off it shut down in less than minute. I use Comcast McAfee at present since it is free with cable. It does not appear to cause any problems with the FS on the notebook or the desktop. I just finished uninstalling most of the Dell stuff including virus, jukebox, Roxio and others. After I restarted I started getting the message "Sonic update manager needs to update" I thought I would never get rid of that message after trying to cancel the update numerous times. Finally found a "hot fix" off the net. What a pain.Thanks for your reply,Carl