I just bought a new PC for FS9 and FSX, with specs at the bottom here (signature). Unfortunately, after only 4 days with me the M/B developped a serious fault (HDD controller no longer sees the hard drives, it seems anyway) and it has had to go back to the manufacturer to be repaired.This gives me time, just, to sort out a question. It came with an nVidia GTX460 2GB GPU, but I since learn that this may be responsible for the black screens I get when accessing PMDG and Level-D option menus from the main FS9 menu bar I will use the PC for both FS9 and FSX). PMDG themsleves sent me an email saying that there are "documented problems in XP64 with the GTX 4xx series of cards and FS that probably won't be fixed"... I know that perhaps the performance of the Radeon HD 5850 may not quite match the nVidia card (?) but if, as it seems, that card would help me avoid these black screens, I would far prefer it. The i7 CPU at 4.00GHz should bear the brunt of the performance load...I'd be most grateful if anyone running FS9 and/or FSX using an nVidia GTX series 4 card or a Radeon HD 5 series card (5850 seems the best option) could post back whether they have any problems: if I am going to be able to change the card (and it's not sure I will) I need to say so in the next 24 hrs whilst it's back being repaired. I really have no luck with PCs at all - I should have known this would happen. Four days old only!!Many thanks,Martin

Hi Martin:Hope it's not too late for this info to still be of consideration.Although I don't yet have my own ATI 5870, based on various reviews, tests, and FSX end-user feedback elsewhere, I believe with an I7 CPU running at 4 GHz, you'd really want to spend the extra money and go to that 5870 model rather than the 5850, since you'd very likely be able to benefit from the high performance that both those CPU and GPU components working together can provide you with in FSX. GaryGB

Martin,Don't do it! The 460 GTX card you have is a great deal better in FSX than the ATI cards. Whoever told you to switch fron Nvidia is most likely sincerely trying to help you but is in serious error. The 400 series cards work very well with Nvidia inspector at very high settings in your OS without crashes, black or blue screens. That is not the problem.Kind regards,

Martin,Don't do it! The 460 GTX card you have is a great deal better in FSX than the ATI cards. Whoever told you to switch fron Nvidia is most likely sincerely trying to help you but is in serious error. The 400 series cards work very well with Nvidia inspector at very high settings without crashes, black or blue screens. That is not the problem.Kind regards,

I second this. Could I also suggest putting the money you would have sunk into an ATI card into a pair of Nvidia 3d Vision glasses and a 120 HZ monitor? They'll completely change your simming experience.

I second this. Could I also suggest putting the money you would have sunk into an ATI card into a pair of Nvidia 3d Vision glasses and a 120 HZ monitor? They'll completely change your simming experience.

Yes, 3D is the way ahead. My 3D surround set-up is incredible for FSX.

Thanks for the replies. No, I still have a day or two to decide. The problem is that the nVidia GTX 4 series apparently have known issues with certain a/c in FS9 & FSX. The problem is described here:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/301437-cannot-change-from-window-mode-to-full-screen/This from PMDG support:"I think it's actually a Windows Driver Model (WDM) problem (which is what's used in Vista and Win7) more than it is an Nvidia problem. I've seen the black screen driver timeout thing happen to FS with an ATI card too. A lot of times it happens when you try to run a program that creates a UAC prompt like Active Sky while FS is running too.I'm not really sure what to tell you though unfortunately because there's documented problems in XP64 with the GTX 4xx series of cards and FS that probably won't be fixed... FS is just getting too old at this point and MS and the hardware makers don't generally tend to fix problems with old legacy software".... which suggests that that I am not going to be 100% happy whatever I do! Horrible dilemma now - it's not a performance issue but a compatibility one (FS9/FSX with Win7 64-bit and whatever video card/drivers). No idea what to do. I KNOW the nVidia cards have huge probles when flying Level-D & PMDG. The ATI are an unknown quantity as far as I am concerned..Martin

Martin,I have no issues with any PMDG aircraft, Level-D 767, or any aircraft for that matter and my NVIDIA card. I run Win 7 x64.When I purchased my GTX480, I was running XP x64 and the card simply would not work in XP x64. So, I upgraded my OS to Win 7 x64.I'm not sure where you are getting the info that there are documented problems with Win 7 and the 400 series cards but if there are they are few and far between. I have none. None at all.I would recommend that you get away from the legacy OS known as XP x64 and go with Win 7 x64 on your new build.Regards,Bob

Bob,Hi. I am running Windows 7 64-bit too. In common with apparently hundreds of others (I can post some links if you like) I have a number of serious problems with payware a/c that I didn't have in XP. I got the information that there are 'documented problems' with Win7 x64, nVidia GPUs and FS from PMDG themselves, as I said - the quote in italics above is from an email they sent me.If you start up the PMDG 747 (is that FS9, or FSX? So far I haven't even reinstalled FSX onto my system - this is FS9) and go to the FS menu bar and choose PMDG then one of the options - say load panel state or fuel, do you not get any errors at all? If not, I am really pleased for you, but would just love to know why you don't and I do! (Are you flying full screen? In windowed mode things are OK).Martin

Bob,Hi. I am running Windows 7 64-bit too. In common with apparently hundreds of others (I can post some links if you like) I have a number of serious problems with payware a/c that I didn't have in XP. I got the information that there are 'documented problems' with Win7 x64, nVidia GPUs and FS from PMDG themselves, as I said - the quote in italics above is from an email they sent me.If you start up the PMDG 747 (is that FS9, or FSX? So far I haven't even reinstalled FSX onto my system - this is FS9) and go to the FS menu bar and choose PMDG then one of the options - say load panel state or fuel, do you not get any errors at all? If not, I am really pleased for you, but would just love to know why you don't and I do! (Are you flying full screen? In windowed mode things are OK).Martin

Martin,I read parts of the threads here and in your link provided. I am curious about something: Did you remember to place (manually copy) the VISTA version of UIAUTOMATIONCORE.DLL file into your ROOT FSX folder? This is a MUST to avoid crashes to desktop, screen going black with FSX giving error that it has encountered a problem and needs close ... I had recently re-installed my FSX and forgot to add this file and was getting CTDs. After finding the correct VISTA version (not the windows 7 version), all is OK. This CTD is a known issue in Windows 7/64-bit if this uiautomationcore.dll for Vista is not placed in the FSX folder.Here is the link to the correct version from a thread in the avsim forums:http://www.search-dll.com/dll-files/download/uiautomationcore.dll.htmlThis file also exists in the Windows 7 SYSWOW64 folder. Do NOT delete it as Windows 7 needs it. Just ADD this version from the link above to the root of the FSX folder as FSX will see it and use it automatically, without searching for the Windows 7 version.Hope this helps.John

I read parts of the threads here and in your link provided. I am curious about something: Did you remember to place (manually copy) the VISTA version of UIAUTOMATIONCORE.DLL file into your ROOT FSX folder? This is a MUST to avoid crashes to desktop, screen going black with FSX giving error that it has encountered a problem and needs close ... I had recently re-installed my FSX and forgot to add this file and was getting CTDs. After finding the correct VISTA version (not the windows 7 version), all is OK. This CTD is a known issue in Windows 7/64-bit if this uiautomationcore.dll for Vista is not placed in the FSX folder.

I do not have this file in my FSX root directory, and everything works fine. Is this possibly an issue if FSX is not installed in it's default location, Program Files (x86)?

I run an XFX ATi HD5770 graphics card+Win7 Pro 64-bit and FSX all driven by a Q6600,and fly all the high level aircraft such as Level-D and PMDG,and to date have had no issues other than occasional glitches caused by other items but definitley not with the hardware.

Martin,I run in full screen mode and switch between full screen mode and windowed mode numerous times during a session of FSX. I can fire up the PMDG 747 (I have no problems with any aircraft BTW) load a panel state, fuel, or change options without any error. When I run FSX, I am also usually running Air Hauler, ASE or REX, AI Smooth, EZCA, Multi Crew Experience, and FS Flight Keeper hence all the switching between full screen and windowed mode. My flight sessions will usually last anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours without error.Regards,Bob

I do not have this file in my FSX root directory, and everything works fine. Is this possibly an issue if FSX is not installed in it's default location, Program Files (x86)?

It's one of those, if you don't have the problem, don't bother fixing it things. Mainly resolves crashes when accessing the file menu's. For anything else, it's useless.

I can also add that complex payware aircraft will cause a hit in performance (even on top of the line systems). Make sure your install is optimized using nickn's tuning guide. His tips truly work.

Install FSX to another directory, program files has so much security it's hard for every addon to install correctly into it.