I'd just like to say, for the record, that you shouldn't underestimate the importance of CPU core temperature when evaluating the performance of FSX.I've had my copy of FSX for more than 4 weeks now, and let me say that I've only just gotten it to run for more than 10 or 15 minutes without the whole system crashing. Throughout the last few weeks I've wondered long and hard about why I've had so much trouble with my installation. I followed the procedure recommended by the support site, and independently of their advice I doubled my RAM, and upgraded my GPU. But now it seems that CPU core temperature was the problem all along because I've just flown for more than an hour without the system crashing. Let me add that I live in Australia, and that it's starting to get pretty hot here!Following the advice of a particularly well informed post on this forum I cleaned the CPU fan and heat sink, and I got an external fan pointed at the vents on the side of my box, and presto! Suddenly FSX ran smoothly with half decent settings and frame rates.If you live in a warm climate you might consider temperature as a factor in performance. FSX is evidently much more processor intensive than FS9 ever was because I never had this problem until now.Mike.

Good post.Recently have been having some oddball issues myself on what I considered a well-maintained 3.2Ghz P4 (Prescott) system. I do keep my system cleaned and vacuumed out, but after adding additional memory and a nicer vid card (ATI 1650 Pro 512Mb) it appeared some stability issues were popping up. The Intel Prescott runs a bit hot anyway thus the term "Pres hot".I found this very good freeware program called "Speedfan" which recognizes most chipset/MB/CPU combinations and which can sit in the system tray and display CPU temps, as well as HD temp and internal case temp if your MB supports that. It also monitors voltage levels if you suspect a nominal power supply. It confirmed an overtemp condition when running demanding apps, and to make a long story short, after installing a much better CPU cooler and a new power supply with larger fan to evacuate the case more efficiently, temps are down on the average of 10 degrees (Celsius) and stability is now EXCELLENT.So here's a link to it for anyone interested, I give it two thumbs up and worth trying!http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

My experience, too - I'm in Western Australia and as soon as the temps started getting into the low 30s I am certain that my CPU started kicking up a fuss (mass texture corruption and alot of throttling resulting in up/down performance). I pulled the side of the case off and that's fixed it for the time being but I defintely need a better-than-stock CPU fan and some improved cooling for the case.Considering forecasts that this is going to be the hottest summer we've had in awhile (and normal hot includes quite a few days in the low 40s and plenty in the high 30s) any $ spent on better cooling will no doubt be well worth it.Triangle

What sort of CPU are you using? Core Temp is a program that will tell you the actual core temperature of Core2Duo CPUs. (It may work for others). Its usally about 10c higher than the CPU temp as displayed by programs like ASUS probe and Speed Fan. I've found those programs to be very inaccurate.

Hi Kael,3.2 GHz P4EPoX 4PDA5 MoBo2 Gig DDR RAMRadeon 9600 Pro 256 MbRealtek AC'97 onboard sound.My rig is a couple of years old now, but I'm pretty happy with the settings and frame rates I'm getting in FSX.Mike.

For those who can go this route, my system is a pretty *cool* idea, pardon the pun.As I live in northern California where it can also get hot in the summer, and since I have several piece of electronics in my PC room, I needed to get a small air conditioner just for this room. So, I bought a 8,000 BTU unit that I mounted in the wall, such that the air flow into the room is aimed directly at my CPU case, of which I have the side panel removed. Cold air then blow direcly at my CPU, memory, north bridge, video card, and all the rest. During the winter months it is plenty cool outside, so I just use the fan-only and this supplies ample cooling. As the ambient temp increases during summer I just set it on 72 degrees or so and the whole system runs super cool. It is very inexpensive to run as I don't need to cool my whole house, so my monthly energy bills are very small. My house is under an oak canopy so the house really doens't heat up much even during hot weather. This design kills two birds with one stone, and is very low maintenance. The unit I bought has a remote, so I can control it from my *cockpit* (read . . . seat!). Anyway, this is a good solution to cooling as it get everything anywhere from cool to icey cold, depending on where you set it, plus when the next PC is built there is no need to buy expensive cooling technology. My 3.06 GHz old P4 runs nicely at 3.5GHz, with it's stock HSF.Noel