I am considering an economic upgrade from an Athlon XP3200 to an Athlon64 4000. I fly Wilco and PSS planes in and out of detailed airports in FS2004.I have at departure and arrival ~8fps and in flight ~25fps. Would this give a frame rate rise, or would the excercise of mobo/cpu change be disappointing. Thanks for any input.

Jaroberts- you didn't say how much RAM you have. I'm have an AMD XP 2200 running triple monitors. I would suggest you need at least 1.25 GB of RAM for decent performance. In my setup, increasing further from 1.25 to 2.0 GB did not boost FPS, BUT DID help to put a better floor under FPS when the going gets tough in high density scenery.For comparison, with 3 mons & triple views, my FPS ranges generally between 14-24 @ 1024x768 res. If I kill the secondary mons, FPS will be in the 30-40 range. (AI below 30, Autogen Off, FS9 settings mid range.) Hope this gives a useful comparison.Alex Reid

I have 1.5gig ram, 6600gt graphics. I run ASV6, MYT2006, UT, Wilco and PSS aircraft with detailed airports. The sliders in FS2004 are generally ~80% with a res of 1440x900x32. So, I think you will agree there is a lot going on.Thanks for your input.

I think that almost any upgrade you can do is going to help. Last year I bought a cheap compaq. 3.4 ghz Celeron. Turns out I could put a 2 Ghz core duo on that MB. That and a 256 MB 7950 card with 2 GB of ram and that box kicks in FS9.Here's something else. My main box is a 2.6 ghz core duo, 2gb ram 8800gt. If I fire up FS9 on both boxes, ALL settings maxed,KLAX, same time of day, both computers run the sim at 60 fps. Go figure. I don't think you need to spend a ton on an upgrade, but as much as you can is good. I am not made of money, and really had to save to get what I have. Problem is, I run FSX and need all the power I can get...Bob