First off, here are my specs: AMD 4000+ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe MboeVGA 6800GT1.5 Gigs RAMSince I installed some megascenery, I've had this problem. I flew from DEN-LAX-SEA without any framerate problems, but about 15 minutes into cruize, my CPU usage shows 100% with FS taking it all up. When in SEA with Fly Tampa and megascenery, I got about 20 FPS on taxi and climbout (I believe around 50% or so CPU usage)...but once I go open firefox or whatever when at cruize, after I checkin about the 2nd time every 10 minutes or so, my frames are at about 3 FPS, and eventually I can't reopen FS to where I have to shut it down. So far, it's only happened at cruize for SEA-DEN, and I will see if it happens anywhere else now. Does anyone know what might be causing this? I will get back to you if it happens anywhere else. Thanks.

>>Since I installed some megascenery, I've had this problem. I>flew from DEN-LAX-SEA without any framerate problems, but>about 15 minutes into cruize, my CPU usage shows 100% with FS>taking it all up. In my experience, FS will always use 100% of the cpu (as reported by task manager) on every machine I've run FS on.I don't own megascenery but before others help you with that problem, I think it's important to know that 100% is normal FS behavior, at least in my experience.Rhett

>...but once I go open firefox or whatever when>at cruize, after I checkin about the 2nd time every 10 minutes>or so, my frames are at about 3 FPS, and eventually I can't>reopen FS to where I have to shut it down. So far, it's only>happened at cruize for SEA-DEN, and I will see if it happens>anywhere else now. Does anyone know what might be causing>this? I will get back to you if it happens anywhere else. >Thanks. WHY are you opening Firefox or doing anything else at cruise? A real Pilot wouldnt be doing that in a real aircraft. Whenever using the FS since the first version, I never open anything else, but focus all my attention on flying. Even in long flights from SFO to Australia, I fly real time, and focus on the aircraft, flight, and seldom ever turn on the autopilot except sometimes for altitude hold. Ninety + percent of the time I fly Props (to me more realistic) and the rest of the time the Citation X for really long flights. Have even flown round the world five times in GA twin props.

"WHY are you opening Firefox or doing anything else at cruise?A real Pilot wouldnt be doing that in a real aircraft." Ever been in a real aircraft cockpit at cruise altitude on a long-haul flight? :-)

Hi Rhett,I just checked my cpu useage while flying in FS9. Mine showed about 60%. My cpu is dual core and one core showed the most useage while the other showed much less. I assume FSX/Vista will make good use of both cores.

Hey that's pretty neat to know Howard. I have only ever had single-core cpu's and they have always showed 100%. I will have to go dual-core eventually.Rhett

I'm pretty sure the 4000+ that the OP has is a single, not dual, core hence his should be running at 100% CPU use whenever FS is non minimised. I've tried FS on a dual core CPU and it loads one core up to 100% and lets the other one handle ancillary tasks, hence the experience of seeing 50 - 60% use while using FS. IMO, FS with external addons running is heaps smoother, but not faster, on a dual core system as a result of this load sharing.Gary

>I'm pretty sure the 4000+ that the OP has is a single, not>dual, core hence his should be running at 100% CPU use>whenever FS is non minimised. I've tried FS on a dual core>CPU and it loads one core up to 100% and lets the other one>handle ancillary tasks, hence the experience of seeing 50 ->60% use while using FS. IMO, FS with external addons running>is heaps smoother, but not faster, on a dual core system as a>result of this load sharing.>>GaryI agree, the 4000+ the OP has must be a single-core....but I wasn't 100% sure so I didn't say anything. :) At least I have never heard of a dual-core 4000+.I think when I rebuild my current system (3700+) about 1 to 1.5 years from now, I'll go with some sort of dual-core setup, either a Core 2 Duo or an AM2/DDR2 AMD setup. Not sure, that's a long way off, we'll have to see what happens with FSX and DX10 and Core 2 Duo vs. AMD AM2.Rhett

Hi Gary, Your comment makes sense, so I rechecked Task Manager for more info. While it registered about 60% the graph showed that one core was at about 3 lines from the top (of the graph), while the other core was at 1 line from the top. I have seen at other times where one core was at the top line depending on what was running. Therefore, I believe the processor was running at less than 100% while in FS9.It will be interesting to see what effect dual core processors will have with FSX/VISTA.