Hello all,Hope I've directed this to the correct forum.I currently have FS9 setup on a HP quad-core (6600) system with a Geforce 8400GS card and 2 gig of ram. I run at the native resolution (Acer 24") at 1920x1200 with most all sliders to the right. When using LDS in VC mode, I can sustain around 17FPS although it drops at times around 8-12 with default real world weather. I've tried assigning different tasks to different cores using Task Assignment Manager from "Tom's Hardware Guide" with minimal improvements.Question:Since I have a very large HD, 600GB, would I benefit better from installing XP on a second partition and use FS9 with the XP OS and my regular stuff on the Vista OS? Perhaps then I could install a slim line version of XP dedicated only to FS......Thank you.

What is an LDS? Do you have the same FPS with a default aircraft? Anyway, I am running FS9 with all sliders to the right on my Dell Vista machine at 24FPS locked consistently. Unlocked, it can do anywhere from 30 to 60FPS. It is a Q6600 with 3GB of RAM and a 8600GTS card and integrated sound. I haven't changed the core usage settings at all.There are so many opinions on the drive partition matter that it isn't funny. My opinion is that the sim should be allocated its own space. One would think that a system as powerful as yours (or mine) should be able to handle anything we throw at it. But sometimes this isn't so.This is a matter of organization IMHO. I don't like leaving my disk as one huge hunk of space simply because it makes things such a mess. I have divided my 320GB into 4 drives. Drive C: is 204GB is purely Windoze Vista and MS Office and other system utilities. Drive D: is 40GB devoted to flight sims (FS9 and FSX both installed) along with the utilities and some downloaded files that I eventually move to CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. (If 40GB isn't big enough, make it 60GB. I would for sure if I had a 600GB monster!) Drive E: is 40GB and is devoted to .mp3 music in my case.Finally, drive F: is 15GB and is Dell's recovery stuff. I don't mess with it. At least until the warranty runs out. What this does IMHO is allow FSX or FS9 to do what it needs to do on its own drive and it gets defragged daily.I hope this helps.dolph