Finally found and FSX platform the works!

[Guest blazingcessna]

Well over the weekend a built a new rig, and loaded up FSX with SP1 and SP2.OH MY LORD!!!!!!! I had to get a mop and bucket!!!!I built a Phenom II x4 based system, and the performance is out the window!Specs:AMD Phenom II x4 3GHzASRock A780GXE/128M MotherboardOCZ Platinum PC8500 running at 800MHz (8Gb)MSI 9800 GT-OC 512MbRunning WinXP Pro x64I flew the stock 744 into LAX with EVERYTHING MAXED OUT. And I do mean EVERYTHING!Averaged 20fps. Lowest I was was 16, Highest was 31!I have finally moved on from FS9, as it's performance was lower than FSX, simply due to no multi-thread/core support. FSX has finally lived up to it's promise, although it took 3 years for the hardware to catch up. Now a question... Will running a second vid card increase this even more, or will I have to OC the computer? (OC'ing is something I really do not want to do.)Finally something good to report!!! :((Yay!! My Centennial post!)

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Well over the weekend a built a new rig, and loaded up FSX with SP1 and SP2.OH MY LORD!!!!!!! I had to get a mop and bucket!!!!I built a Phenom II x4 based system, and the performance is out the window!Specs:AMD Phenom II x4 3GHzASRock A780GXE/128M MotherboardOCZ Platinum PC8500 running at 800MHz (8Gb)MSI 9800 GT-OC 512MbRunning WinXP Pro x64I flew the stock 744 into LAX with EVERYTHING MAXED OUT. And I do mean EVERYTHING!Averaged 20fps. Lowest I was was 16, Highest was 31!I have finally moved on from FS9, as it's performance was lower than FSX, simply due to no multi-thread/core support. FSX has finally lived up to it's promise, although it took 3 years for the hardware to catch up. Now a question... Will running a second vid card increase this even more, or will I have to OC the computer? (OC'ing is something I really do not want to do.)Finally something good to report!!! :((Yay!! My Centennial post!)

I know nothing of the new Phenom II chip but some have compared it to the i7 series. I have the i7 920 and if it compares to the 920 I can tell you that your current video card is going to be a bottleneck on your system. I have that card and while I am very happy with FSX....I have FTX scenery installed and that is where I do most of my flying....the 9600GT cannot handle what the 920 is sending it. It is my understanding that doing a second video card will do nothing for you and I have known several people who have tried it with an i7 setup and it has actually slowed them down. If you will search the forums you will find a lot of info about the 2nd card issue. Regards

[Guest richard64]

Hi I'm about to build an AMD system based on the Phenom11 x 4 3.2 gh black edition, mainly beacuse I personally prefer AMD systems, however I am still unsure about what OS to use.Can I get away with using my existing XP Home or should I go for Vista Basic 64 bit.Richard

[sightseer 895]

Richard -Its just my opinion but I would get Vista 64. More memory is becoming the norm and a 32 bit OS has its limitations.Vista is kinda weird but it works. The weird part is "Windows needs your permission to continue" (aka UserAccessControl).I luanch a program and it asks me for permission to do what I just did. strange. some say to disable it completely but I can see where it should have some benefit. If I cant change anything without being asked twice then hopefully neither would some rouge(sp?) program that was trying to delete and rename my entire windows directory or whatever.the good news is that if you have bought modern components to run FSX then you re probably OK as far as drivers and install programs working with 64 bit.blazingcessna -what kind of CPU temps are you getting? are you using the stock cooler or something else?

[gman! 1]

FSX does NOT utilize SLi or Crossfire, so a second card would not help. I prefer 1 card solutions anyway, because sooner or later, your investment will become old, and that 600 dollars you spent, could have went towards some great new 1 GPU graphics card.I have a Phenom 9550 overclocked. Many may think this processor is a slump, but I beg to differ. Crysis on High DX10 gives me 35FPS on average! FSX with default aircraft will give me 24-50 FPS! Its the components and how you use and optimize your PC that counts! His card should be fine. FSX is too CPU limited for him to get a big difference even if he got a 4870 X2 or a GTX 280. Now if he had a Geforce 8600 or 8500, an upgrade would be necessary.I am running on Vista x64. If you get the retail version of Vista Ultimate it comes with both 32 and 64 bit versions. I say get a 64 Bit OS, so you can get better performance, and save yourself from hassle later on. I am glad I upgraded from 32 bit Vista last year, because I got 4GBs of RAM recently. Also 64 Bit lets your processor access more registers stored in cache, allows insanely large memory. 32 Bit allows 2^32 [32 power] of physically addressable memory (about 4GBs) but because of PCI, PCIe, and graphics memory, part of that memory is reserved, so a 32 Bit never recognizes 4GBs of RAM. With 64Bit, we get 2^64 accessible memory. That is over 16 million terrabytes! (We won't ever reach that soon though, I guarantee you :(. Not untill FSXII atleast xD). So don't doubt. Get a 64 Bit OS. At first I was a little hesitant, because I have heard of driver problems, and other errors, but I have had NONE, only BSODs are due to testing overclocks. There are many 64 Bit drivers, I assure you that you will find one. Vista takes care of finding drivers a lot better than XP anyway, so you may not even have to download them. If you can wait though, wait for Windows 7 64Bit, that will be the best version of Windows yet, and will be very smooth and efficient. Richard64. Make sure to get a 790FX or 790GX chipset motherboard. It will unlock a whole lot of possibilities for your processor, and it will ensure that you can use processors with high TDPs. I have a 790GX chipset on my motherboard, and I know these support 140W TDP processors, which is very high, and I think all 790GX motherboards support the all processors from the Athlon 64s to the Phenom IIs!To the poster above. Just disable UAC. There is no need for it if you have good browsing habits, or have anti-virus and/or a firewall. I use freeware products anyway, and they are way better than those subscription solutions (I used to have Mcafee. BLEH!! :() I use avast AntiVirus, AVG Free, and Comodo Firewall Pro.Almost forgot. 2nd Poster. The Phenom IIs are comparable to the intel Core i7 series. The new Phenom II 955 Black Edition surpasses the i7 in some benchmarks