hey guys..I am going to list my computer specs and see what you all think. I have the 747 for FSX and at a larger airport (default scenery) my frame rates will go down to about 4-5 and sometimes it will stop and say I have ran out of memory and completely close FSX. I just think my computer should be doing alot better than that. Could you guys suggest what should/could of been changed to make better and what settings in FSX I can change to increase my frame rates. Thanks

AMD Phenom X4 9850 Quad Core Processor HD985ZXAGHBOX - Black Edition, Unlocked 2.50GHz, 4MB Cache, 2000MHz (4000 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket AM2+, Processor with Fan

MSI K9N SLI-F Motherboard - v2.0, NVIDIA nForce 570 LT SLI, Socket AM2/AM2+, ATX, Audio, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, RAID

OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)

EVGA GTX 280

Western Digital Caviar 750GB Hard Drive WD7501AALS - SATA-3G, 7200rpm, 32MB

HP HPDVD1060i DVD Writer - 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW, 20x DVD

First thing I noticed is the PSU...500 Watts for a GTX 280? I don't think it's enough. Minimum is 550W with +12 Volt current rating of 40 Amps combined.

First thing I noticed is the PSU...500 Watts for a GTX 280? I don't think it's enough. Minimum is 550W with +12 Volt current rating of 40 Amps combined.

ok, what should I get/change? I really dont know anything about computers. lol

I would swap out the PSU for a 750W PSU. Something like THISI also suggest you take a look at NickN's FSX guide found HERE

I would swap out the PSU for a 750W PSU. Something like THISI also suggest you take a look at NickN's FSX guide found HERE

Ok so you think upgrading my power supply will help increase my frame rates and make it "smoother"? Thanks

I mean right now your video card is basically crippled because it's not getting the power it needs. Once you upgrade, then you can expect the card to perform how it should perform. One more important thing is system maintenance. Make sure your computer is well maintained. That is do a disk/registry cleanup using CCleaner or other program, terminate unnecessary programs in the background - you should have around 45 processes running when you first fire up your PC, do a defrag using a 3rd party program and etc. If you read the FSX guide above you will really be able to get the most out of your current PC. I know it's long but just go through it. It will help.Regards, :(

I mean right now your video card is basically crippled because it's not getting the power it needs. Once you upgrade, then you can expect the card to perform how it should perform. One more important thing is system maintenance. Make sure your computer is well maintained. That is do a disk/registry cleanup using CCleaner or other program, terminate unnecessary programs in the background - you should have around 45 processes running when you first fire up your PC, do a defrag using a 3rd party program and etc. If you read the FSX guide above you will really be able to get the most out of your current PC. I know it's long but just go through it. It will help.Regards, :(

Ok Thank You very much...yes I use the CCleaner quite often and I use the default defrag program. Thanks for your help.