Look at John Venema from Orbx's latest video on his 4.2GHz OCed machine - it's insanely smooth with everything maxed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTvnjvperQ

Way to make me jealous :( I'll finish my reinstalls then maybe look at what temperatures my system runs at normally.

Put something like a Prolimatech Megahalems cooler on your CPU and you won't even worry about it. (70C under full load is usually considered getting close to it). My 860 doesn't even get even remotely close to that while running FSX. When you stability test an OC, you use apps like Prime95 that fully load it to 100% - virtually no real world application is ever going to do that short of some really advanced 3D rendering/CAD design apps. FSX doesn't even come close to 100% thermal load.

So at this juncture, would installing FSX have any impact or should I begin installing FS9 planes. Id rather have a working, and high performing FS9 now than no FS at all as I dive into FSX.And essentially it sounds like I need to buy even more hardware for cooling...ayecarumba. Guess there isn't a problem that throwing more money onto can't fix. For now, I really need to see what I can do with what I have, I've already gone way over budget with this (tapped into several more paychecks than I was hoping).Thanks.

30 June 2010:FS9...-Reinstalled Carenado Saratoga, launched FS9, shut down.

2 July 2010:FS9...-Defragged FS9 drive, rebooted.-Ran registry cleaner.-Installed Leonardo MD-82 and liveries, launched FS9, rebooted, defragged FS9 drive, shut down.Hoping to get to base FSX installation next week. Bought the CaptainSim 727 yesterday for FSX, we'll see how well that guy performs.

2 July 2010:Hoping to get to base FSX installation next week. Bought the CaptainSim 727 yesterday for FSX, we'll see how well that guy performs.

Can't wait to read the continuation of this journey... but seriously, if you want to evaluate FSX for your needsand do not want to overclock to get the most out of your system, why not at least start with an airplane that you might fly in real life, rather that a 727?

2 July 2010:FS9...-Defragged FS9 drive, rebooted.-Ran registry cleaner.-Installed Leonardo MD-82 and liveries, launched FS9, rebooted, defragged FS9 drive, shut down.Hoping to get to base FSX installation next week. Bought the CaptainSim 727 yesterday for FSX, we'll see how well that guy performs.

Hi CaptKornDog,I've been quietly watching this interesting thread and note (unless I missed it along the way) that you have not yet heeded the advice regarding Norton. Norton may suit the needs of many folk, but I too can assure you that it is a definite no no where flight simulation is concerned, specifically FS9 and FSX. Norton has a very invasive and deep rooted hold in your system, is resource hungry and can be very difficult to remove completely. I am willing to wager that if you do decide to use FSGS (I took the plunge with FS9 a few years ago and have never regretted the experience or results) the first thing Michael will say to you is get rid of Norton. Fortunately Norton does appear to acknowledge this fact and provide tools to help accomplish this process.You are putting yourself through a heck of a lot of work reinstalling everything but, in the end, you may find you are no better off regarding performance and stuttering. NOD32 has been mentioned. I tried AVG for a while but eventually saw the light and finally switched to ESET's NOD32. It's not free but, as they say, you do get what you pay for these days. I can run both sims with NOD32 running in the background and, as far as I am able to determine, it has no effect on performance whatsoever.Do yourself a favour and LOSE NORTON!Actually, if you are doing all this from scratch, then perhaps I should have typed, "DON'T INSTALL NORTON!"Mike

Look at John Venema from Orbx's latest video on his 4.2GHz OCed machine - it's insanely smooth with everything maxed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTvnjvperQ

I've seen this before but even when he resets to 40 locked... lots of stutters lol... Maybe he should try the fps limiter set to 30...

I've been following this thread very closely because I'm curious as to why your performance has been so poor. If you look at my system specs it is drastically less powerful than yours and the most upgrade it will get is some memory and possibly a new processor. What are your frames like in FS9/FSX CaptKornDog? I run about 55 on FS9 and 30 on FSX (varies depending on scenery of course). On FSX I use frames unlimited since that pulls out 6-8fps but I'll probably limit that sometime using an external program. So now I'm curious what sort of performance you're looking for with that i7 monster of yours :( Hope all goes well with your setupRegardsAlex

There's half your problem right there lol!I recommend ESET NOD32 or even the default Microsoft Security Essentials, they use little resources.When I ran freeware AVG on my FSX rig I was getting stutters all the time. And my system is old look at my specsAlso, I'm sure you've already checked out the FSX tweak guide?http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041One more thing - not to sound like a complete debbie downer, but how the heck did you manage to spend 4200 on that rig???? An i7 930 overclocked to 4.0Ghz will give you better performance and the cost of the cpu is only around 300, 200 if you buy one at microcenter...

I exclude the FSX root folder with Windows Defender.jja

Thanks guys for the interest, and general support. Taking a leave this weekend and have some upcoming surgery but I'll be back next week hopefully to post some more details about performance and see what I can do with Norton.Need to at least get some more FS9 planes installed to fly at the Boston Tea Party next weekend.Sent from my mobile

5 June 2010:FS9...-Reinstalled PMDG MD-11 repaints, rebooted.-Reinstalled Level D 767, rebooted, launched FS9, installed current service pack, launched FS9, installed repaints, rebooted.-Reinstalled Abacus Flight Deck III, rebooted.-Reinstalled PMDG 737, rebooted, launched FS9, installed service packs, installed liveries, launched FS9, rebooted.-Reinstalled FS2Crew 2010 for PMDG 737, launched FS9, rebooted.-Reinstalled Flight1 ATR 72, rebooted, launched FS9, installed liveries.-Reinstalled Aerosoft DA-20, rebooted, launched FS9.-Defragged FS drive.Getting close to the end of FS9 finally, just have the Wilco 737s, PSS 777, RFP 742s, Wilco ERJ, PMDG B1900d, PMDG 744, and Hilmerby's DC-9s to go; then some assorted utilities. I'll table reinstalling all of my FS9 AI for now.

6 July 2010:FS9...-Reinstalled Feelthere 737-3/4/500, rebooted, launched FS9. Installed liveries.-Flew KCLE-KEWR in the Feelthere 737-500 offline, rebooted.-Reinstalled PMDG 1900d, rebooted, launched FS9. Reinstalled liveries and SP, launched FS9, rebooted.-Reinstalled PMDG 747-400, rebooted, launched FS9. Installed SP and liveries, rebooted, launched FS9.-Reinstalled SGA DC-9 with Hilmerby's awesome panel (my favorite freeware combination of aircraft, panel, sounds ever), launched FS9, rebooted.-Reinstalled Real Environment Pro textures.-Reinstalled Feelthere E145v1, launched FS9, reinstalled SP, launched FS9, rebooted.-Updated FS9 joystick assignments.-Added AutoSave.dll to modules folder.-Added ADF2MOD.dll and FSSound.dll to modules folder and added[OldModules]ADF2MOD.dll=1FSSound.dll=1to fs9.cfg-Launched FS9.

7 July 10:-Reinstalled RFP 742 and repaints, rebooted, launched FS9.-Reinstalled Tinmouse 732 and repaints (shameless plug: check out my Frontier and Aloha Air Cargo repaints here on Avsim), rebooted, launched FS9.-Installed Enigma Simulations ATP (good repaint, just need to find a decent panel; wasn't too happy with my results so far from here).-Reinstalled AES, launched FS9, rebooted, defragged FS drive.-Reinstalled FSInn and assorted AI/multiplayer model aircraft, rebooted, defragged FS drive.OK, all done with FS9 except for the PSS 772 but I think I'll be moving onto FSX here shortly.

8 July 2010:-Finished rebuilding FSInn repository for multiplayer aircraft, defragged FS drive.-Reinstalled FSX Deluxe, booted default flight, exited, shut down. (No SPs or anything installed yet, too late tonight)