Hi, I was considering upgrading my chip to a 9650, as I have heard that they overclock better than the 9450. I was also considering another gtx280, running in SLi mode with my original card and a SSD. Is any of these ideas going to get me some good results? In particular is the 2nd card a good idea? I know Nick says that dual core cards are not utilised well by FSX, so how about SLI? I have read some great test reviews on conventional games for 2 280's in SLi. I am just desperate for a fast, reliable installation of FSX. My present set up is ok, but still getting some issues which I dont know yet are set up related or not. Any opinions etc would be gratefully received, thx, Mark

Hi, I was considering upgrading my chip to a 9650, as I have heard that they overclock better than the 9450. I was also considering another gtx280, running in SLi mode with my original card and a SSD. Is any of these ideas going to get me some good results? In particular is the 2nd card a good idea? I know Nick says that dual core cards are not utilised well by FSX, so how about SLI? I have read some great test reviews on conventional games for 2 280's in SLi. I am just desperate for a fast, reliable installation of FSX. My present set up is ok, but still getting some issues which I dont know yet are set up related or not. Any opinions etc would be gratefully received, thx, Mark

Do NOT get a second GTX280. Its waste of money. FSX does not utilise SLI. In some cases (lower resolution monitors) SLI will make it perform worse. SSD are nice to have for fast loading, but will not improve your FPS.What is your exact system specs? What OS are you running? What are the issue you currently have anyway? A lot of issues can be solved by tunning your FSX config. Here is a good link by Nick (He is the best). http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041

What issues are you experiencing?If it's a performance issue, get mentally and financially prepared to do a full upgrade i7 965 etc.If it's video issues, check the drivers. You might have to wait for new ones that work. That's where I got rid of my issues.Now I'm ready to upgrade. But I'm keeping my 8800ultra and the 180.50 drivers. This is one great card.

I am currently waiting for Nick to advise on the issues I am having, my aim is to upgrade to whatever will give me the snmoothest gameplay and best textures.I am also considering getting a raid controller card and another 300gb raptor. However one potential problem with this is that they have replaced my 1 year old raptor (wd3000ghfs) with a different model (wd3000hlfs) Will this matter? Do the drives have to be identical ? Would I be better spending the same money on a new solid state drive instead? thx,,Mark

I am currently waiting for Nick to advise on the issues I am having, my aim is to upgrade to whatever will give me the snmoothest gameplay and best textures.I am also considering getting a raid controller card and another 300gb raptor. However one potential problem with this is that they have replaced my 1 year old raptor (wd3000ghfs) with a different model (wd3000hlfs) Will this matter? Do the drives have to be identical ? Would I be better spending the same money on a new solid state drive instead? thx,,Mark

It has to be identical or the array runs the speed of the slowest drive. I would not mix 1st and 2nd generation RaptorsI would not use RAID with FSX unless its a dedicated RAID array to feed very large photo scenery and then I would use it for that database alone and place FSX on its own drive letting the scenery library point to the RAID array with the photo sceneryDO NOT SLI in FSX.. its a waste of moneyMark you have a problems with DDR3 1800 if your buddy did not set that up right and most people do not know how to set something like that up. See your other thread for details.. and lets try and keep all this in one thread Mark.. chasing you around the forum is getting to be a job in itself LOLand if you are thinking about buying new hardware then lets go that route instead of screwing with 1st generation DDR3 1800

LOL NIck, I was having trouble following it around as well !! I put myself in your hands, I will check at home, but I think that he set the memory up to run at 1500 mhz. I have just had 2 x 2GB sticks of the same RAM delivered, I was going to swap out 2 of the 1GB sticks I have. Do you suggest I wait? I read in your windows set up thread (after I ordered the new ram!!) that you did not advise mixing 1 and 2 gb stick combinations.Basically, I am just trying to arrive at the best way to get FSX set up and running and to get the very best out of my system. I dont mind splashing some cash either, I am keen to learn all I can as I go along as well, but am finding it confusing, as there is so much contadictory information out there. My buddy who built my system for instance, he is a microsoft certified engineer and has worked in computers for a long time and has built hundreds of systems and does lots of overclocking - but I fully realise that he does not know it all and there are probably gaps in his knowledge, one of which it looks like I have fallen down! Expect a post in the next hour or two with a comprehensive list of my settings etc and much useful infor as I can summarise for you.Many thanks for your time and help, if you are ever in London, you dont have to worry about paying for dinner!!! Speak soon, Mark

Downclocking to 1500 must also be done correctly and the sticks must be in the right slots. DDR3 1800 modules are finicky as hell to work with. Even if its stable downclocked, if timing is not in order then downclocking itself kills the performance. If that memory is in the wrong slots, or, you are using more than 2 sticks you can expect all sorts of issues regardless of the speed since Asus board have defined slots for high and low speed memory 1st generation is really dead now and there is a reason they went to generation 2 with DDR3. The chips used in 2nd gen DDR3 at 1866 and above are brand new on the market and the platform is designed to work with them. i7 920/940/965 (all C0 stepping) can run DDR3 1866+ but it requires voltage settings outside of Intel spec to do so.. the 2nd release 920/950/975 D0 stepping processors fix this issue. DDR3 1800+ is something best left to people who are very savvy with computer hardware and BIOS/settings engineering. By the end of this year and next year it will start to become a norm but right now it is not something I suggest anyone use unless they know what they are doing and are willing to work through the possible issues around it. Post your information.. the more the better .also, if you post the CPU, Mainboard, SPD (one stick from dropdown) and memory tabs from CPUz it will help me to see the current status of system on this sideinstall this and run it to get the 4 tabs I need to seehttp://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz/cpuz_151_setup.exeYou will need to bear with me as I may not be able to respond right away