In your FSX.cfg file, Section [Display] there should be a line called WideViewAspect and it usually is set to false. Make it read:WideViewAspect=Trueand you'll have 16:9 aspect ratio view (resolution can be anything, but it would be like watching a 4:3 tv show on a 16:9 tv - all stretched with this option set False).

Tom,From my perspective and experience, the essence of a fast FSX system, in order of priority, is the following: CPU - two or more CPU cores and the fastest clock speed you can buy or otherwise achieve through overclocking. Intel reigns supreme in this arena at this time.CPU Cooler - if you are going to overclock, get at least one of the value aftermarket HSF combinations, like the Arctic Cooler Freezer5 Pro 7 that I use. After that, they can get very big and expensive for diminishing cooling returns.Motherboard - if you are going to overclock, get a brand name, known overclocking friendly motherboard. It doesn't need to be the Deluxe++ WiFi Limited Edition of a particular board series, as quite often the value versions of these allow just as good overclocking, just minus the bells and whistles that don't matter much to FSX performance (eg. RAID, Firewire). Newegg customer feedback comments are your friend here.Power Supply - you'll need at least 500W PSU and one of good quality. I'd much rather have only 500W of quality power than 1KW of ripply volts and amps from a dodgy brothers unit. 500W is sufficent for the base unit I describe here. FWIW, I use a 480W ANTEC with the rig I used in the tests above, with no issues at all.Case - Again, if overclocking, make sure that the case you get is well ventilated and can accommodate any huge aftermarket HSF you buy.RAM - 2GB for XP and 4GB for Vista (with a strong recommendation for Vista 64 to make full use of all 4GB). Memory speed and timings don't make a huge difference (I will be testing for this shortly), just as long as whatever you buy run at your potential overclock speed. DDR2-800 at 5-5-5-18 timings is plenty good enough for what most want to do here.Video Card - either a 7900GT or 1950XT for DX9 only, or an 8800 GT for DX9 & DX10. Although video card performance does play a greater factor in FSX than any previous FS version, particularly if you want to crank AA/AF levels up beyond what in-game setting provide, having a fast CPU and enough RAM to feed it will do much more to bring up your low-end FPS with this title. No SLI or Crossfire, unless your house needs the extra heating ;-) it is pretty much entirely useless with FSX! Edit: And get a 512MB or greater version if you run a resolution over 1280x1024 or really like to push those AA/AF levels up to max at the video card driver level.Hard Drive - I know that some swear by RAID and Raptors, but in my experience it doesn't make a cracker of difference while FSX is chugging along, as long as your FS scenery directories are regularly defragged and you are running a 7200RPM unit. When considering hard drives for an FSX system, I think much more about capacity than performance.Sound Card - Any modern, name brand, even value, overclockers motherboard comes with a more than adequate for onboard sound capability for FSX performance consideration. Don't bother with an external sound card for FSX unless you really have a fine ear for the sound quality difference it offers over onboard.That pretty well covers the major system components. Of course if you play other games, especially First Person Shooter, then I'd consider upping the video card spec to 2 x 8800GT in SLI and say a 800W PSU to handle the extra load.Finally, here are some recommendations for FS-optimised rigs (minus monitor, mouse and keyboard) I put together a couple of weeks ago:Overclockers Performance System ~$1300 for 3.2-3.6GHz quad core DX10 power - http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=6548852Performance System ~$1150 for 3.0GHz dual core DX10 power - http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=6551312Value Overclockers System ~$600 for 3.2-3.4GHz dual core DX9 power - http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=6551492Gary

Mitch, In FSX.CFG there is a line that says: WideViewAspect=False, which can be changed to True to give a wider FOV at the same zoom level. Without it, FSX on widescreen...----------------------------------Thanks Gary! I'll try to find the same in FS9....if there is one. I thought that was what it was, but then also thought it could be for multi-monitors...:)Mitch

Hi Garry, Your hardware recommendations are spot on IMHO. Pretty much exactly what I thought is required for FSX (and works pretty darn well for Crysis as well). On that topic, I have to chuckle about the legion of fans moaning about the performance of Crysis; we have been doing battle with FSX for over a year and I have a pretty well sorted system now, so problems are minimal.Cheers,Noel.

I'm looking for a couple of volunteers to beta test my benchmark package before I put it up in the AVSIM library for public consumption. Nothing more than using the instructions to do one run through the standard test and reporting results and comments back to me.Please email / PM me if you are interested in helping out and I'll email you the package.Gary

Excellent work. I will publish fps rates for this system in the coming weeks: QuadExtreme 45nm 9650 CPU @ 4 MHz and 5 MHz / Asus P5E3 / DDR3-1600 / Asus EAH3870 DX10.1 graphics / Raptor HDs/ I am in the process of installing everything, then run a burn-in for a week, then proceed to install Vista 64 and FSX. First tests with the system in a slightly different test configuration with a different graphics card show more than double the rates of the Q6600 reported above.

Thanks, Garry, for your huge effort and very interesting and useful information.Dirk.

Hi Gary, great stuff.. Any chance you could test on Vista 32 bit? I'm ready to build a new rig and am just nervous about using 64 bit because of all the driver incompatibilities and problems with other software.thanks again,Kev

Kev, New rig and driver compatibilities with Vista 64 are pretty well a thing of the past. I had the same concern but a few here in this forum talked me around, and now I'm loving Vista 64!Getting older programs to run may be a different issue, but I have spent most of this afternoon installing all my 32 bit favourites and haven't come across a single compatibility issue yet (touch wood!).Re doing 32 bit runs, since I don't have a Vista 32 installation DVD, and wouldn't want to undo all the goodness I just setup with Vista 64, I won't be able to do any runs on my rig with Vista 32. Sorry!Gary

>QuadExtreme 45nm 9650 CPU @ 4 MHz and 5 MHz / Asus P5E3 / DDR3-1600 / Asus EAH3870 DX10.1 graphics / Raptor HDs/5 MHz and FS1 ? :D However, good luck with your 5 GHz attempt...Gary, congrats and thanks for this excellent comparison. With my 3.6 GHZ Conroe i was chewing through Vista 32/2GB and Vista 64/4GB as well and can confirm your findings. Well, that Vista 64 is that strong against XP i didn't know. Very interesting !Heiko

Hi ! I've a lot of benchmark results which compare XP/Vista32/Vista64 with Fsx SP1, and other results for Fsx SP1 vs SP2 dx9 vs SP2 dx10. I've post some graphs on a french forum, but I could translate my comments here if needed.

Gary,Thanks for this.Your previous work was instrumental in my decision making on a new computer. In my case C2D 6850 OC to 3.8 and using Windows XP. This just confirms that I made the correct decision. For expandability I decided on the 8800GT just in case I make a move to upgrade to Vista in the future.regards,Mark.

>Hi !>> I've a lot of benchmark results which compare>XP/Vista32/Vista64 with Fsx SP1, and other results for Fsx SP1>vs SP2 dx9 vs SP2 dx10.>> I've post some graphs on a french forum, but I could>translate my comments here if needed.>>hello,can you please post the link ?thank you very much

Here it is :http://www.francesim.info/forumfs/Default....osts&t=2892&p=4This benchmark is based on the Al Lauwrence "FSX Benchmark".I've add some dynamic scene and wrote a script which load each scene after the other.

>Here it is :>http://www.francesim.info/forumfs/Default....osts&t=2892&p=4>>This benchmark is based on the Al Lauwrence "FSX Benchmark".>I've add some dynamic scene and wrote a script which load each>scene after the other.Excuse me, where's the benchmark, on which page at least?Thanks.