I bit the bug at the end of last year and replaced my ageing Pentium 2.8 Ghz Nvidia FX5200 with a new self built rig whic is a Thermalite case and a system which is an ASUS A8N SLI Premium Mthboard with an AMD 4000 chip 2048MB Corsair Ram and an Asus 7800GT card a 74gb Raptor drive and a western Digital 150 GB second drive it all run with a 500w Seasonic PSU. When I originally installed fs2004 with all my addons (PMDG,LDS,Active Sky, Radar Contact, Fly Tampa etc) the sim was incredibly fast and very fluid. I was achieving 30fps + at a large airport with 50%Traffic etc... then suddenly I started to get slight micro stutters... very annoying especially if I was flying in VC with Track IR running... enough to give you a headache.. the stutters came every 2 seconds or so but would mean you could not take a turn without having them become very obvious.It feels like the graphics card is redrawing every frame with a slight pause.... so i decided after having no luck with changing settings to completely re format and install windows xp professional again and do a clean install... but this is the odd thing after having done this and re installed FS2004 in a vanilla state even with the default cessna at KSEA with no other programs the stutters are still there. Even if all the sliders are to the left the stutters are apparent so its not the system is struggling... I can only think that the graphics card is faulty or maybe even the CPU is not working correctly... before I pull the system apart I was wondering if anyone has any ideas that I should try or I may have overlooked. It is SO difficult to enjoy FS2004 with stutters when you have seen and played it without...Any help most appreciated.Hamish

Hi,1. DirectX up to date? Have you run dxdiag to check results there?2. All system drivers up to date? MB chipset, sound, video?3. Any anti-virus software set to scan every XX seconds?4. File Indexing on in XP? Turn it off. It is a known performance killer.Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development TeamActive Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter

Thanks Jim...1. Will check what version of Direct X in dxdiag2 All system drivers up to date except Mobo.. will check3. No antivirus is installed yet4. Where is the file indexing found in XP?Thanks for you suggestions

Hi,#4. To pause, stop, or start a catalog or Indexing ServiceOpen Computer Management. In the console tree, click Indexing Service. Where?Computer Management Services and Applications Indexing Service If you want to pause, stop, or start a particular catalog, in the details pane, click that catalog. On the Action menu, click All Tasks, then click the appropriate choice. NotesOXOInstead of using the Action menu, you can click Indexing Service and use the buttons in the upper-right corner of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to start, pause, and stop a catalog or the entire service. Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development TeamActive Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter

>3. No antivirus is installed yet>>Thanks for you suggestions>Hi Hamish,Do you have a reliable firewall? I wouldn't be surprised if your computer have caught a virus, trojan or spyware.If you pause FS and open the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Delete) and have a look at the processes. Is there any other process than FS9.EXE and the 'System idle process' (I'm not sure about the process name because I'm running a swedish WinXP) that's using the cpu?Ulf B