First, let me say hello to everyone, as I am new to this forum.Although I am new here I am not new to computers, my specialty being hardware.I have noticed that some people have been making comments regarding having a problem with stuttering, even with "high" frame rates [over 30]. Some have suggested quad core CPUs as the answer, however, I am not fully convinced that is the proper fix.My system consists of a 500 watt Seasonic power supply, Gigabyte P35-DS3R revision 1 motherboard, 2GB DDR2 800 by Transcend, Intel E4400 2.0GHz overclocked to 3.3GHz [it will do 3.85GHz and remain stable, however, I do not want the extra associated voltage increase and heat], HD 3870 X2 video card, two Western Digital 320GB hard drives, plus some other standard hardware that does not effect gaming.As you can see, my computer spec is not the most expensive. To those of you that are wondering why I chose the HD 3870 X2, its drivers support wide screen HDTV resolutions, which I use, its color is unmatched while watching movies, and other reasons.FSX is now reported to support eight CPU cores; however, MS support does not mean that they actually make use of that many cores.All indications point to FSX using primarily one core for most of its work, if that is the case then dual core CPUs should address the stuttering issue.I do not have a stuttering issue with my set-up. I have everything turned on and most of the important sliders all the way to the right [i do not consider cars, boats, and so on or building shadows as important, though I like to see a lot of vehicles on the airport grounds. Mesh Complexity: 75, Mesh Resolution 38, Texture Resolution 1m].Some have made the remark that they like to fly outside of the airplane and that stuttering is worse there than in the cockpit. I put the Beechcraft Baron at the San Francisco International airport, runway 1R. I took off and while over the runway I switched to chase plane view and made circles around the aircraft. I flew over the water, turned right to 060 degrees, then in a 60 degree bank turned left until the airport terminal was center screen. I remained at an altitude of 340 feet to make sure I had plenty of scenery to paint, and from the chase plane flew circles around the Baron until I had flown past the airport. I never experienced any stuttering.Note that I have FSX installed to the outer area of the platters on the second hard drive [not the boot drive]. I partitioned 120GB of the second drive to install programs on.Again, the stuttering issue is nonexistent for me and my reason for making this post is that I hope this thread will help others resolve the stuttering problem.

I have noticed a problem with using parentheses, in my above post, I do not see any of my remarks that included them. Also, after the first set of parentheses all of the following text became italicized.In reference to FSX settings:Filtering: AnisotropicAnti-Aliasing: checkedGlobal Textures: Very HighAircraft Tab: Ultra HighTraffic Tab: Airline Density: 24% GA: 26% Airport Vehicles: Medium Aircraft Labels: All except User and Tail Number Land and Sea: Cars 2%, Ships and Boats 15%Scenery Tab:LoD: LargeMesh Complexity: 75Mesh Resolution: 38mTexture: 1mWater Effects: Max 2.xLand Detail Textures: CheckedScenery Complexity: Very DenseAutogen Density: NormalGround Scenery Shadows: Not CheckedSpecial Effects Detail: MediumWeather Tab:Global Settings: Ultra HighCloud Draw Distance: 60 milesThermal Visualization: NoneCloud Detail: Detailed, Cloud Coverage Density: MaximumHopefully, I never left any settings out. If I did, please accept my apologies.