Concerning FSX I have added another gig of memory and upgraded my video card to a Radeon X1600. I have added all the fixes and tweaks mentioned in these forums and I did have some improvement to FPS, I find the simulator to be totally unacceptable in performance. I turn off my anti-virus software and have no other applications running. I have always keep windows very clean. Degfraged, internet files deleated on a regular basis and run scan disk often. I can't believe some people are getting 20 to 30 FPS with everything maxed out. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.Dell XPS800 FSB2.8 Pent 4 processor2 gigs memoryRadeon X1600 AGP 512 memoryAudigy II SB80 gig hard drive

With that setup? Go fly FS9! :)Your basic hardware is holding you back. Short of upgrading the CPU and the motherboard, which these days means a new PCI-X graphics card, you are at the limit of what you can get. Don't look at the processor speed as the ve-all and end-all of perfiormance indicators. Your Pentium 4 is an old processor, and that's all there is to it.Allcott

I understanding what you are saying and I agree, thanks.If your were building a new system could you tell me what you would do?I have always liked the Dell XPS series what would you put inside the box?Ken

>With that setup? Go fly FS9! :)>>Your basic hardware is holding you back. Short of upgrading>the CPU and the motherboard, which these days means a new>PCI-X graphics card, you are at the limit of what you can get.>Don't look at the processor speed as the ve-all and end-all of>perfiormance indicators. Your Pentium 4 is an old processor,>and that's all there is to it.>>>AllcottConsidering others have boasted of through-the-roof framerates with "basic hardware" inferior to his, telling him "go fly FS9" is not particularly illuminating.

>>With that setup? Go fly FS9! :)>>>>Your basic hardware is holding you back. Short of upgrading>>the CPU and the motherboard, which these days means a new>>PCI-X graphics card, you are at the limit of what you can>get.>>Don't look at the processor speed as the ve-all and end-all>of>>perfiormance indicators. Your Pentium 4 is an old processor,>>and that's all there is to it.>>>>>>Allcott>>Considering others have boasted of through-the-roof framerates>with "basic hardware" inferior to his, telling him "go fly>FS9" is not particularly illuminating.>>>>>And yours is?Allcott

>I understanding what you are saying and I agree, thanks.>If your were building a new system could you tell me what you>would do?>I have always liked the Dell XPS series what would you put>inside the box?>KenThe best bang for the bukc seems to be the Intel Dual Core E-series 6600 seesm the best value in the range at the moment, but then you need a decent mobo to go with it. That if nothing else, will improve the performance. Forget what this idiot says, `most people` are not reporting better performance with lower specs. Just go look at the specs and you will see that it is not true. L2 cache performance seems to be a major factor in FSX performance, rather than just CPU speed, and peak RAM usage is about 1.2-1.3 gig in its default state, so if you added a motherboard with about 2-gig RAM and an E6600 dual core you should see a reasonable increase in performance. But the trouble is none of the hardware around at the moment will allow you to run `sliders right` so your expectations should be commensurate with the depth of your wallet. Spending too much money right now is as bad as spending too little, IMHO. And if you upgrade the mobo it will be a PCI-X model, so you will have to upgrade the video card as well. Could get quite pricey.What I have decided to do is wait. For comparison yy specs are:AMD64 3000MSI K8N Neo 2 FIS2R (Nforce3) mobo1 gig RAM6600GT APG 128 megI will add another gig of ram, an X1950 Pro 512meg AGP card, and sit out the confusion of the beginning part of the development cycle, and only look to upgrade AFTER the benefits of moving FSX to DX10 are known and well-proven, and simply accept that my rig can't run FSX at a reasonable level as things stand. But the updates should ensure FS9 rocks!Allcott