I installed FSX Standard on a 2.8 GHz hyperthreaded P4 with 512 MB of 'PC 3200' DIMM's. Note I had applied many of the 'fixes' listed in this forum: reduced Autogen file, and some edits in FSX.CFG. 'Traffic' is set around 10%. Usually I run FSX in a window at DT resolution: 1152 X 864 pixels. I got quite a few stutters with sliders up a bit past half way. The HD light blinked ever second or more, indicating HD access. Last week I added another GB. Stutters have disappeared (there may be short pauses at times, especially with clouds). The HD light hardly ever flashes. I assume required files have been preloaded in the HD Cache. Task Manager indicates it is around 750 MB. The Cache had dropped to 100 MB with only 512 MB RAM Ironically, the swap file still increases to 750 MB. Task Manager indicates over 500 MB Physical Memory available. I'm running FSX on a three year old PC. With a $50 ATI 9250 Video Card (128 MB RAM). I set 16 bit color to reduce Video Memory requirements. I increased the AGP Aperture to 128 MB with the added RAM. FPS is limited to 15, in most cases that's what I get. Heavy clouds may drop it below 10 fps, but I find performance of FSX quite adequate. Conclusions: If your HD light is flashing all the time when flying in FSX you probably don't have enough RAM. Some users have reported going from 1 GB to 2 GB really helped. My feeling is that 1 GB may be quite adequate when FSX files are appropriately defragmented and memory hogging things such as 32 bit color, high resolution textures, etc are avoided. In no case should more than 2 GB be required. I'd think 1.5 GB should pretty much cover the more extreme requirements. I'll also suggest that many of the stuttering problems in FSX are more due to XP, rather than FSX itself. XP tends to swap out code that would better be left in ram, in order to increase available RAM for other apps. Who brings up 'other apps' when flying in FSX? Hardly anyone. I can reduce available RAM with a Resource Kit application, maybe I'll do more testing some time in the future. Ron

I added 2 gigs to the 1 gig I had in my slightly faster 3 year old 3.2 hyperthreaded P4 and a 512 k 7600 gs nivdia video card . Made all the difference in the world and this is the cheapest upgrade I've ever done for a new version of the sim-in the past I always ended up getting a new system.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Try doing these two things (one at a time)1. Increase AGP aperture size to 2562. Set target framerate to unlimitedMartin

Depending on settings such as autogen and texture resolution 2 gigs should be optimal. Buying a new system (core2duo) with 1 gig had FSX running horribly when turning up autogen and texture settings but adding another 2 gigs was the cure for those ills.FSX is a memory hog depending on the settings. The higher the settings the more memory it demands, especially autogen and textures.Load times are another area where more system memory can help. 1 gig was rather slow compared to 2 gigs and higher. Loading a flight went from around 2 minutes to 30 seconds.Ian.

Geofa, I'd be interested in comparing notes with you in a day or two....when hopefully Santa drops a copy of FSX down the chimney (gave up waiting on the convention copy to show, and my luvin' wifey knows the scoop). You and I appear to have very similar systems, 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 HT's, and while tweaking with the demo it became clear my system was somewhat adequate but struggling with a few things, esp. textures. So I also upped my RAM to 2 Gig (400Mhz DDR) and my vid card to a 512MB, although it's an ATI X1650 Pro instead of an Nvidia unit.It made a HUGE difference even in the demo, and I could particularly tell the benefit while playing the "Flour Power" mission which seemed a good way to stress the system, given what the demo offers.With some of the more standard tweaks (no texture resizing or turning off Shader 2.0 messiness), fine-tuning some setting adjustments, and some O/S housekeeping, it is quite smooth now and looks wonderful.I agree that if that's all it takes, then yep, it's one of the easiest upgrades between major versions I'll ever have gotten away with. Can't wait for a lil' box to be under the tree now, hopefully, and am curious about performance expectations. You seem happy!

>FSX is a memory hog depending on the settings. The higher the>settings the more memory it demands, especially autogen and>textures.>For most flights, I keep auto-gen and water "off" as water is an fps killer too! These two items are good for at least 10 fps. My texture and scenery mesh settings on on the high sides, if not at full.L.AdamsonAthlon 3800+/2Gig/Geforce 7600GS 256MB/ 1600*1200*32/ fps target=25