So I just purchased this machine from ibuypower tonight:http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/espec.aspx?eid=118994What should I expect for FSX performance? What type of FPS should I reasonably expect with add-on scenery and vatsim use? Any tweaks, etc I should read up on before my new system arrives? Any advice or feedback? I've been a long time fs9 user who purchased FSX but couldn't install it because my system was too slow. Two years later I'm excited to install and give it a shot!

It depends on your expectations, but you'll run FSX decently on that. There are better options but you'll be fine

When you say I'll be fine what are you saying specifically? Will I be frustrated trying to run FSX with vatsim and an add-on aircraft/scenery? (not expecting 40 FPS but could I get 20?)

When you say I'll be fine what are you saying specifically? Will I be frustrated trying to run FSX with vatsim and an add-on aircraft/scenery? (not expecting 40 FPS but could I get 20?)

Not to bring you down but with addon scenery vatsim etc. Especially in bad weather it will bring that PC to around 17-15FP/S which isn't very smooth, maybe upgrade your GPU becasue it's really old. You might gain 10-15FP/s with a GTX460 for 230$

I mean that Intel works better with FSX than AMD, but just the fact that you'll be using no AI traffic because of VATSIM means that your frames will be good enough. 20+ in most airports probably. What would increase performance the most would be overclocking the CPUAnd Luckyman, you know I dont agree :) I don't think a better card will provide a 10 FPS boost anywhere , not even 5, not even 2, ...EDIT: wait, it's a GT 240 now I notice. Don't know why I thought it was a GTX 260. That card is not so good really. May bottleneck your system, yes. If you bought that system already just test it and let us know how you do

When you say I'll be fine what are you saying specifically? Will I be frustrated trying to run FSX with vatsim and an add-on aircraft/scenery? (not expecting 40 FPS but could I get 20?)

I mean that Intel works better with FSX than AMD, but just the fact that you'll be using no AI traffic because of VATSIM means that your frames will be good enough. 20+ in most airports probably. What would increase performance the most would be overclocking the CPUAnd Luckyman, you know I dont agree :) I don't think a better card will provide a 10 FPS boost anywhere , not even 5, not even 2, ...EDIT: wait, it's a GT 240 now I notice. Don't know why I thought it was a GTX 260. That card is not so good really. May bottleneck your system, yes. If you bought that system already just test it and let us know how you do

YES! Dazz didn't call me off this time, thank you.And I didn't read the part about no AI in that case yes 20FP/S seems reasonable!

Ha ha you guys are funny.I got 20fps going from 8800GTS to a GTX460 using generally high settings (good enough for me). The 8800GTS is not far off from performance on the GPU chart here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics-card-geforce-radeon,review-32014-7.htmlPLUS The GTX460 is so cool and quiet that in day to day browsing, word processing, youtube, etc my systems power draw has dropped to around 80W (from 90W) when not gaming. And I'll assume you use you PC for other games? Call of Duty 4 runs maxed out on everything including the FPS of my monitor.

What about overclocking the GT 240? Wouk that help at all and would you guys reccomend it? I'm new to overclocking and i've never tried it. Is it safe? Will I need to buy a new card in six months if I overclock the video card? Would that boost my fp/s 5-10? My last system ran fs9 with everything maxed out and add-ons and vatsim at around 10 fp/s which sucked but I somehow managed.

Overcloking won't damage the card if you do it properly but I isn't worth it in FSX you'd be lucky to see 1 more frame per second. When you get the rig and if you have the money why not take out that card and get yourself a GTX460.If not you'll just have to live with it, just don't put your AI traffic too high and you'll get by fine.

Thx all for the replies. Seeing as how I just spent a lot of money to purchase this system I'm going to have to live with it for awhile as I maxed out my budget. I am anxious to try it out though and see what I get with it. I'm not looking for anything super spectacular, just want to be able to function without worrying about FSX crashing while on approach in vatsim like I had happen with my old system. I'll keep you all updated once I get it and test it out.

Thx all for the replies. Seeing as how I just spent a lot of money to purchase this system I'm going to have to live with it for awhile as I maxed out my budget. I am anxious to try it out though and see what I get with it. I'm not looking for anything super spectacular, just want to be able to function without worrying about FSX crashing while on approach in vatsim like I had happen with my old system. I'll keep you all updated once I get it and test it out.

It should meet those needs, let us know!