Hi Grahame,Firstly, I need to correct something I posted earlier. My 1Gb of RAM comprises 2x512Mb matched sticks of PC3200. The other two slots are empty so could hold 2x1Gb sticks.The last hour or so has ben quite an eye-opener. I decided to monitor Available memory and Page File Size before and during running FS9 and FSX.Before starting either I had 687Mb of available RAM and the page file was 301Mb.I loaded FS9 and having let the system stabilise available RAM dropped to 365Mb and varied little with the aircraft stationary. Page File was 560-580Mb.Switching to FSX revealed quite a different picture. Once loaded only 102Mb of available memory remained and over the next 6 minutes this dropped to 53Mb. Page file started at 811Mb and rose to 888Mb in 6 minutes, again with a stationary aircraft.Clearly FSX requires and benefits from more RAM and your's and Mitch's recommendations make sense. However, for FS9 the amount of available memory remains quite high suggesting it is not as demanding of RAM.I then decided to disable Hyperthreading and check perfomance on both sims. FS9 increased by about 10% from the high 30's to the low 40's.However, FSX went the other way, down from around 15fps to 11-12. Not good. I decided to re-enable Hyperthreading. FSX clearly benefits from it. With FS9 it hardly makes any difference.All this has led me to believe that whilst FSX would benefit from extra RAM I'm not sure the same holds for FS9.Grahame, I'm a bit confused about your improvements in frame rates. Were they as a result of the RAM increase or following the 7.10 driver install? If your claims of a 40-50% increase in frame rates are based on either I would consider that a HUGE increase in performance. Is this purely with FSX or did you have similar improvement with FS9 too?Cheers,

well from 7.9 to 7.10 the improvement for me was ... negligible

Ray, I am also using FS9 exclusively. If I said with any guarantee that you would receive 'x' percent of an FPS increase, I'd be only blowing air...I do know, though, that anything you do to off-load any demand on the CPU, will carry forward for a positive result.Did I see an FPS increase by adding the 2 gigs? I really didn't check out what I had BEFORE slapping the 2 gigs in so as to establish a baseline.But, having said that...I did notice a much better ALL-AROUND performance increase on my total system. I would only imagine that perhaps with the CPU having less demand on request-fetch and more pre-fetch, I perhaps did see an FPS increase.Where I can though say with authority, is that by buying the X1950 Pro, it was/is responsible for a massive improvement in what I am now seeing and the smoothness of it all. It handles 1920x1200 as though slightly bored...lol. All in all, a great card to render high-FPS-high-resolution output.On your thinking that for FS9, one gig is plenty. I would respectively disagree with that thought. When running FS98, I would certainly have then said so, but not with FS9 or FSX. I had only one gig. My system ran slow...and dogged with FS9. With three gigs, it has plenty of file-on-tap breathing room and Ray,----it shows. I run with 30 FPS all day...clouds in, clouds out, on the ground, up with the buzzards!Salute!Mitch

RayThe increase in fps was solely due to the driver change in this case, I mentioned what happened with the RAM back then as an example only. After reading your observations about your system RAM useage, I can see why you think it's not going to make any difference on your system.I must say that I was a bit surprised too at the increase on my system, although as I mentioned in my last post, 40-50% of 16fps has only increased my fps to the low to mid-twenties.Basicly, I'm always on the lookout for the FS Holy Grail, as my system is by no means cutting-edge, and I need all the help I can get to run FSX :-)The main difference that the drivers have made on my system is the improvement in smoothness and texture display quality, and btw, we're talking about FSX only, since my last (involantary)hardware re-build a few weeks ago (my Asus A8V deluxe mobo went belly-up,had awful trouble finding a new S939/AGP mobo these days, but I digress), I havn't got round to re-installing FS9 again. I have tons of addons for FS9, the last time it took me two days of installing and tweaking till I had it all back the way I wanted it.Since FSX is running so nicely the only thing I'm missing in FSX are some of my favorite addons, but I'm digressing again, we were talking about drivers.....In conclusion, the 7.10's have improved things for me tremendously, it's just that, old cynic that I am, as long as I don't understand exactly why there should've been such an improvement just from a driver change, I still can't quite believe it.Every time I start FSX I'm expecting it to be back the way it was, a bit like waking up after a pleasant dream. So far the bubble hasn't burst....BestGrahame

>Ray>The increase in fps was solely due to the driver change in>this case, I mentioned what happened with the RAM back then as>an example only. After reading your observations about your>system RAM useage, I can see why you think it's not going to>make any difference on your system.>I must say that I was a bit surprised too at the increase on>my system, although as I mentioned in my last post, 40-50% of>16fps has only increased my fps to the low to>mid-twenties.>Ray I have a setup that I believe is similar to yours except that I currently have an XFX Geforce 7800GS video card. My current frame rates are in the teens and I have the dreaded blurries. Oddly enough I will be receiving the HIS RX1950Pro ICEQ3 TurboV2 512MB in the mail today.I was just wondering if you are experiencing any blurries with this card? Thank you.

Your system is basically my system, but one generation behind, and one less gig of memory. I think you will see no blurries running with the new Cat. 7.10's. If you do have see some blurries, it most likely will be the card just about to snap them into focus on a fast and regular basis. Probably just a vid-RAM load.Good luck!Mitch

Hi Mitch,Your compelling argument has convinced me! I've placed an order for an additional 2Gb comprising 2 1Gb matched modules of Crucial PC3200, Non-EEC, unbuffered CAS3 RAM matching the current 2x512Mb sticks.The fact that your system is so close to mine was an important factor. I did notice that when I switched to the X1950Pro there is increasing stuttering when turning the aircraft especially during taxiing. I put this down to the higher strain on the system pushing so many pixels around.Perhaps 1Gb was sufficient with 1280*1024 but with such a demanding resolution the strain on the system is showing. I should have it by the weekend and I'll report back with my findings.Suffice to say that if there is no improvement you can expect a visit from the boys! :-lol Cheers,

Hi Grahame,See my other post to Mitch. He's convinced the extra RAM will benefit FS9 which is what I fly 90% of the time. Having seen how FSX eats memory I'm sure I can also look forward to improved performance with that version. How that pans out remains to be seen. Hopefully higher frame rates and extra smoothness.I'm pleased you're satisfied with your system. It's rare when it happens and maybe this extra memory will extend the life of my 4 year-old system. I'm still loving FS9 although I do concede the clouds and some terrain do look better in FSX than FS9 with all the addons.Thanks for all your help. :-)

Hi SF,I'm guessing you're referring to FSX. I think there may still be some blurring of scenery especially in mountainous areas but I do have to admit I haven't flown it in a while.I do see them in FS9 on occasions generally when I've switched to external aircraft views and then switched back to cockpit view. I think it's just a limitation of the card to reprocess so much data. Blurries can be minimised by keeping to a standard forward view as it gives the GPU more time to process new data bit by bit.Enjoy your new card. It is a cracker! Perfect for big displays.

"Oh dear!" ;)"Hey Mitch...how do ya like the fit of those cement shoes, huh"...:)--------------------------------Seriously Ray, for today's RAM cost, you will score right across the board, with your system now being able to load up anticipated XP system files, game files, etc...and let your hard drive take a breather... All of us that have at least 2 gigs or better have seen this on our systems.For the price, you will pick up performance all-around.Cheers,Mitch

Hi Mitch,;)"Hey Mitch...how do ya like the fit of those cement shoes, huh"...:) >>:-lol What size shoes do you take? Might as well get a snug fit ;-)Tripling my RAM should have a seriously positive effect on my system. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all your advice :-waveCheers,

SuperfortressI've only just seen your post, as I was out of the loop for a while today doing RL things( Actually buying furniture with my wife and daughters for hours and hours and....:-(As you seem to have mixed me up with Ray, I thought I'd let you know how the HIS card runs on my system..You asked about the HIS RX1950Pro ICEQ3 TurboV2 512MB: I have that exact card, although I actually only bought it 'cos I thought my Sapphire 1950Pro had bit the bullet,the sysmptoms I was experiencing turned out to be the beginning of the end for my mobo, but at the time it looked like a failed videocard. I nearly bought an Nvidia, but after reading reports about their Driver problems I decided to stick with good old ATI. The last Nvidia card I bought was a GF3 Ti200 :-) It's hopelessly outdated now for gaming, but it suffices still for a normal office/ internet box my daughter has.Back to the HIS card: It's a great piece of kit, I have two screens, a Samsung 225BW 22" running at 1680x1050x32@60hz and an LG 19" running at 1280x1024x32@85Hz. The Samsung is connected with a DVI cable, and the LG with a D-sub adapter, as it has no DVI socket, and the card doesn't have any problems with them both at all. As I installed the card, it was just a plug and play thing, apart from having to set it up for two monitors in the system properties.The funny thing is, in FSX I had blurries sometimes with the Sapphire card, and cured it by reducing the PCI latency to 64. With the new HIS card, which is slightly overclocked from the factory, I've left the PCI latency at the default 255, and have no blurries. Go figure...Aprt from that, the card runs very cool and quiet, and has the advantage that it blows the warm air it uses for cooling out of the case at the back, which helps to keep the system temps down. Although, since I rebuilt my system into the Antec Nine Hundred case, thermal problems are a thing of the past. It's the best case I've ever used by far, and runs quieter that some water-cooled systems I've heard.Hope the info helps, and have fun with your new HIS card, it rocks!BestGrahame

Thank you I appreciate the info. Would you mind posting your FSX.CFG as well as the settings for your video card?Thank you very much again.>Superfortress>I've only just seen your post, as I was out of the loop for a>while today doing RL things( Actually buying furniture with my>wife and daughters for hours and hours and....:-(>As you seem to have mixed me up with Ray, I thought I'd let>you know how the HIS card runs on my system..>You asked about the HIS RX1950Pro ICEQ3 TurboV2 512MB: I have>that exact card, although I actually only bought it 'cos I>thought my Sapphire 1950Pro had bit the bullet,the sysmptoms I>was experiencing turned out to be the beginning of the end for>my mobo, but at the time it looked like a failed videocard. I>nearly bought an Nvidia, but after reading reports about their>Driver problems I decided to stick with good old ATI. The last>Nvidia card I bought was a GF3 Ti200 :-) It's hopelessly>outdated now for gaming, but it suffices still for a normal>office/ internet box my daughter has.>Back to the HIS card: It's a great piece of kit, I have two>screens, a Samsung 225BW 22" running at 1680x1050x32@60hz and>an LG 19" running at 1280x1024x32@85Hz. The Samsung is>connected with a DVI cable, and the LG with a D-sub adapter,>as it has no DVI socket, and the card doesn't have any>problems with them both at all. As I installed the card, it>was just a plug and play thing, apart from having to set it up>for two monitors in the system properties.>The funny thing is, in FSX I had blurries sometimes with the>Sapphire card, and cured it by reducing the PCI latency to 64.>With the new HIS card, which is slightly overclocked from the>factory, I've left the PCI latency at the default 255, and>have no blurries. Go figure...>Aprt from that, the card runs very cool and quiet, and has the>advantage that it blows the warm air it uses for cooling out>of the case at the back, which helps to keep the system temps>down. Although, since I rebuilt my system into the Antec Nine>Hundred case, thermal problems are a thing of the past. It's>the best case I've ever used by far, and runs quieter that>some water-cooled systems I've heard.>Hope the info helps, and have fun with your new HIS card, it>rocks!>>Best>Grahame

Well here I am 48 hours after installing an extra 2Gb PC3200 to supplement my existing 1Gb.I expected some improvement by tripling available memory but to be honest I cannot see any whatsoever in FS9. Frame rates on my Meigs test are identical and any extra smoothness in flight is less than obvious.Looking at Task Manager with FS9 running I have 2.3Gb of available memory with FS9 loaded which suggests none of the extra RAM is being utilised. What is very annoying is that the page file is still being written to. Why? There's no need to write there XP - use the memory I've given you!! :-hmmmOn the FSX front things are better and the extra smoothness is apparent. Just a pity my processor can't get the most out of this version.Is there some way of telling XP not to use the page file when so much memory is avaiable? It seems downright stupid!! :-madCheers,

Hi Ray,Yes, you should have better performance in FS9 as well. About the Page File, I'm sure that there is a way to limit the size that XP builds and accesses. I can't help you with the wherefore and why though. I hope that some XP 'tech' out there can give you the information that you seek.Mitch