I have received a new PC and wanted it to be the best there is as being a real world private pilot I wanted to practice my flying whilst having fun using FS9.1 but I don't seem to have gained that much by getting the best PC I could get. I have been to mobo forums, grahic card forums etc but they all don't have an intimate knowledge of the requirements of FS so I kept getting totally confused and being a newbie I can't seem to get my PC set up right for the best experience possible. When I use Auto settings I lose performance. So my last attempt is to come here to where the gurus are. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me with the best settings possible for my PC - I would be forever grateful.I know that asking for help in putting numbers in these settings is a lot to ask but I am at my witts end after spending days and days trying to get it right to the point that I have had to come to you gurus.My new PC consists of:Antec P180 case with an Antec True Power V2 550w power supplyAsus A8N SLI Premium (rev 1009)AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4800+ (with AMD drivers and MS Dual Core patch)Corsair TwinX2048 3200 C2PRO Ram2 x Western Digital Raptor 74gig 10k SATA 8meg buffer in Raid0XFX GEFORCE 7900GTX 512meg Dual DVI EXTREME (Recent 84.21 drivers and will possibly SLI with 2nd card next week)Pioneer DVD BurnerViewsonic VX922 19" DVI LCD 2msLogitech G-15 USB Gaming KeyboardLogitech MX-518 USB Gaming MouseLogitech Z-5400 Dolby Digital 5.1 THX-certified, 310-watt Speaker SystemATEN Master View CS-1764 4 Port DVI KVMP Switch (need for 2nd PC)Windows XP Pro (all patches and updates)Cable Modem through a Linksys BEFSR41 NAT RouterNow I believe there are 4 areas that I need to set up:1. The processor in the Bios2. The Ram in the Bios3. The Video Card settings4. FS settingsThe Processor in the Bios: (standard speed is 2410)Frequency - PCI Express - DDR Volt - Chipset Volt - HT Volt - CPU Multi - CPU Volt - PCI Clock - The Ram in the Bios:Memclock - CAS - Min RAS - *see noteRAS to CAS - Row Precharfe - Row Cycle Time - Row Refresh - Read To Write - Write Recovery - 1t/2t Mem Time - SW Dram - H/W Dram - Note: my ram is the TWINX2048-3200C2PRO which in the link http://www.corsair.com/corsair/xms.html is says 2-3-3-6 BUT the bios for Min Ras only allows for a range of 5-15 so now I am totally confused on which ones to use.The Video Card settings:Antialiasing - Anisotropic - Image Settings - Vertical Sync - Force Mipmaps - Conformant Texture Clamp - Extension Limit - Trilinear Optimization - Anisotropic Mip Filter Optimization - Anisotropic Sample Optimization - Triple Buffering - Negative LOD Bias - FS settings:Display - SceneryTerrain Mesh complexity - Terrain texture size - Terrain detail - Water effects - Dawn/Dusk texture blending - Extended terrain textures - Special effects detail - Scenery complexity - Autogen density - Addon dynamic scenery - Ground scenery casts shadows - Sun glare - Lens flare - Display - AircraftVC gauge - Reflection - Aircraft cast shadows - Landing lights - Display - WeatherSight distance - Cloud draw - 3d Cloud % - Cloud coverage density - Display - HardwareTarget frame rate - Display resolution - Render to texture - Transform and lighting - Anti aliasing - Filtering - Mip mapping - Hardware rendered lights - Global max texture size - Incidentally, I was told that by using an LCD which is only at 60hz I won't get better then 60fps which means I only have 35fps available to lose when I set traffic to 100% and load all my scenery which will limit me to what I scenery and traffic I can use.Thanks again.RegardsIan

I think you're trying too hard - you have a plenty powerful enough rig. Just set your BIOS settings to optimal or auto. AA to 4X or higher, AF to 8X or higher. All sliders in FS to the right and if FPS is too low for your liking drop AI % to 80% and Autogen one notch down. If clouds bog your system down too much for your liking, set display weather setting to ultra high (which will reduce vis and cloud draw distance). That's all you should need to do.Gary

>I think you're trying too hard>>GaryLOL - that'll be me, I first started with FS and felt there was "more" so I went out and learn't to fly and now I own 2 aircraft - a CTsw and an Australian Gazelle (and kept broke).RegardsIan

You indeed are trying too hard. That rig you have should be able to run max sliders to the right pretty well. The only "weak" link I see in your system is the power supply, but it's not really a weak link, it's just not quite as primo as the rest of your components are.If I may, I might suggest you set your frame rate lock to 30-35 fps;But of course you can experiment as you see fit as everyone has different impressions on that can of worms.You might also consider searching the forum for FS9.CFG settings, particularly in your [TERRAIN] section. The texture loading entries can be tweaked quite a bit especially considering that you have 512 megs of vid ram. Default vals are quite conservative.Rhett

(Editing to better answer the question)

Hi Iain,Instead of wasting time agonising over the various settings, why not do yourself a favour and get in touch with Michael Greenblatt of FSGS. He will tailor your needs to your system's capabilities. I along with numerous others here on the forum have paid for the FSGS experience and have never looked back. Saves so much hassle and frustration. Believe me, this guy knows what he is doing.I promise you, you won't regret it.http://www.fs-gs.com/If you're not happy at the end of it, you won't be expected to pay for the service. The reality is, of course, you WILL be happy, very, very happy :)Mike

Iain,I agree with Mike, you spent all that money the http://www.fs-gs.com/ will be a drop in the bucket and the service will give you want your looking for in your system, believe me. Changed my thinking and couldn't be any happier in my sim now.Jeff>Hi Iain,>>Instead of wasting time agonising over the various settings,>why not do yourself a favour and get in touch with Michael>Greenblatt of FSGS. He will tailor your needs to your system's>capabilities. I along with numerous others here on the forum>have paid for the FSGS experience and have never looked back.>Saves so much hassle and frustration. Believe me, this guy>knows what he is doing.>>I promise you, you won't regret it.>>http://www.fs-gs.com/>>If you're not happy at the end of it, you won't be expected to>pay for the service. The reality is, of course, you WILL be>happy, very, very happy :)>>Mike>>