Ive a fairly old system running a Pentium 4, 3 ghz. Ive 2 gig of memory and a ATI X1950pro card.Ive a limited budget but would like to upgrade the CPU to a dual core or similar but I would also need to change the motherboard. (Mine had the wrong socket).If I were to do this would I be able to keep my hard drive with all my FS9 stuff on it, or do i need a reinstall which id prefer not to do.At this time I have the frame rate fixed at 20, and the systems runs quite well, but with the newer meaga sceneries available ie Barcelona, I'm down to between 9-15.Im on windows XP home, and at present Ive no intension's to change to FSX.Any suggestions or recommendations. thanks Steve

Ive a fairly old system running a Pentium 4, 3 ghz. Ive 2 gig of memory and a ATI X1950pro card.Ive a limited budget but would like to upgrade the CPU to a dual core or similar but I would also need to change the motherboard. (Mine had the wrong socket).If I were to do this would I be able to keep my hard drive with all my FS9 stuff on it, or do i need a reinstall which id prefer not to do.At this time I have the frame rate fixed at 20, and the systems runs quite well, but with the newer meaga sceneries available ie Barcelona, I'm down to between 9-15.Im on windows XP home, and at present Ive no intension's to change to FSX.Any suggestions or recommendations. thanks Steve

I would recommend a new computer - and you need decide price and what you canafford. Once you have replaced the CPU, mother board, got a better GPU thenyou might as well do the whole thing.As to using the system disk, just put this in your new machine and it should allwork fine. The only issue here is that most new computers use SATA-3 connectorsfor disks, and you might struggle to find a mother board with the correct connectorfor your old disk.

I got my setup (in my signature) for about $550 but I already had RAM and a graphics card so those combined may set you back another $200. Another huge expense is buying Window which can set you back anywhere from $30 (student discount) to $200 (full price not OEM)

Thanks for your replies. Looks like I need to save up some extra cash steve

Your GPU is fine don't bother with it but a Core 2 Duo or a quad would definetly help you out. Once thing though a quad is a much better deal for the money! If you check around you can get some Quads cheaper that dual cores.

A few thoughts on Dual vs. Quad, the Dual cores seem suited for MSFS since they can reach higher clock speeds (a Q9650 won't reach what an E8x00 can) and FS9 only uses one core anyways but if you're playing other newer games I would highly recommend getting a good quad like the Q8x00 series or a Q9x00 series. Newer games can utilise more cores so it will be worth it to get the quad.Oh also if you can afford to buy a processor that doesn't use socket 775 I'd suggest going for a 1156 processor so you could start off with something like an i3-560 which is the same price as an E8400 or Q8400 but it's newer technology. Then since you'll be using socket 1156 you can upgrade to an i5 or even the i7-870.

Actually that's also a good idea, the i3 performs very very well for a dual core : http://forum.avsim.net/topic/292181-i3-530-fsx/ I would suggest the i3 550 with ahigh clock speed http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115065CVF&cm_re=i3-_-19-115-065CVF-_-Product or if you want to save some money the 530, good luck

Hi,Although FS9 only can benefit from on single core, it perfectly makes sense to use a multicore processor with this application. The other cores then can run external weather programs, such as REX FS2004.On my tripple core processor, CPU0 most of the time runs full steam by keeping the simulator going with all parameters maxed out, while the other two cores are nearly idling. However, once in a while REX loads fresh weather into the sim, whereby the remaining cores come into live. Hence, close down the weather engine completely in FS9, and deligate this task to the other program. And thereby benefit more from your multicore CPU.As the other contributers in this thread, I would go for a new system. Based on a tripple or quadcore and at least 2,8 GHz if you also have add-ons like REX or similar.BR,Anders

No, I have to disagree to run FS9 well you don't need an Quad AT ALL. Bangoman can run FSX with good settings with his i3 which is more than fine for FS9.

thanks again for your replies. Plenty to think about. steve

No probelm, I hope you like your upgrade, keep us updated on what you buy. But I'm telling you an i3 is a super deal.

I am running FS9 on a Phenom II x2 555 black edition processor, with ASV 6.5, Rex, Gepro, Ut and many complex add-ons. Can easily push 70+ fps if I wanted.Win Xp proAMD Phenom II x2 555 BENvidia 9800 GtSound Blaster X-FI Xtreme AudioCorsair Twin 2X4096 DDR2 1066 So I also concur that you absolutely dont need more than a dual core system to run Fs9 like a dream.

In continuance with the promotion of dual cores I'd suggest a setup something like this:-i3-560 or for 50$ more get an i5-750. Either way go with socket 1156-Asus P7P55D-E Pro Motherboard-2x2GB of Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM-nVidia 460GTXThrow in a 10000RPM drive or an SSD or something and I think this could be a pretty good setup. Also not too incredibly expensive.

REX can benefit from a multicore CPU. And all I can say is, that when I have the WASys running in the background simultaneously with FS9, all three cores are active.I hope you will be happy with what ever system you end up with.BRAnders

REX can benefit from a multicore CPU. And all I can say is, that when I have the WASys running in the background simultaneously with FS9, all three cores are active.I hope you will be happy with what ever system you end up with.BRAnders

So yea dual core= perfect for FS9 And the fact is that most people don't run WASys in the backround...