As others have, I have been plagued by the random FSX freeze, whereby all action on the screen stops, yet FSX does not CTD, and you can still hear the sounds of the engine cranking away. If you wait for about 10 to 15 minutes, all of a sudden you would get your animation back, and the flight continues. You might not get another freeze down the road, or you get one again at any time.Well...today I tried something. Winter is happening outside my Den, and so I decided to load up a flight that normally produces a hang about 15-20 minutes into the flight. That is from Golden, B.C. to KORS, all within ORBX domain. I shut the Den door, opened up the window wide, put on a coat, LOL, and started the flight. This is a flight of close to 300 nm's.The result of having the room at near 35-40 F ? Not once did the system hang...great FPS, very stable and I finally enjoyed a landing at KORS!So,...system heat and not necessarily FSX thread collisions might actually be the case in this well-documented FSX freeze up. I then flew with the room quite cold, for HOURS with not one complaint from FSX.I took flights that I KNOW I have had the in-flight freeze up, but with not one showing up with the low room temps keeping the system very cool.i7 computer systems are complex beasts. With any one chip on the Mother Board, heating up and becoming unstable, or a combination thereof... could be the true source of the FSX hang but not a total CTD. If you have been plagued by that random freeze that a lot of us have...and you live where Winter is outside the window...try it for yourself. Close the door to the computer room, put on a jacket, lol...and open that window right up. Take any and all flights, the ones that give your system 'gas'....and see if you also find that you get no freeze-ups no matter what scenery pack you are flying over. FSX heats those complex chips up (CPU, GPU, on-board system chips)....and this might be the 'hidden' cause, rather than the ones that have been put forth for opinion.Running your system with the room temperature near 40 F is not the obvious long-term solution to end the FSX animation freeze-ups. But...radical cooling of the ENTIRE system may be the ticket, and not merely the CPU and GPU! I'd be interested if anybody else would try this simple trick and see if they can run hang-up free for as long as they want.... If you decide to try this, PLEASE post your result in this thread. It might be a way (total system-wide super cooling) to end the hangs...as all the other 'solutions' have failed many people to date.Mitch

Hi Mitch,Yes, I have heard of heat causing FSX problems... I believe Nick Needham at Simforums posted something about this. And "we" had a thread discussing air condition cooling here at AVSIM a couple years ago... I thought you did that to your comp too... I reckon that was someone else.I took a small a/c unit and piped that 37°F air into my comp. Nick was not too enthusiastic about my (or others) solutions, but I understood why. However it is proving itself not a bad idea.I have since moved the a/c unit to the bathroom where it serves two other duties: keeps the humidity low (at least in spring/summer/fall) and the bathroom warm. The noise from the a/c was a bit too much for me, plus controlling the humidity level in the bathroom in the winter is much, much easier. I need a small humidifier when temps are like +20°F outside to keep the a/c's evaporator coils from icing up. It has been a pretty good solution these last 2 1/2 years.After the first year, the first unit gave up. I think it just needs a recharge. One thing I don't have in my garage is a refrigerant manifold kit, so I cannot do that. Plus, I would have needed to braze on a valve... so was just cheaper to buy another $125 unit. The price of having a small unit recharged will shock you.CPU: 22°C Idle / 35°C FSX (10min)GTX285 SSC: 26°C Idle / 37°C FSX (10min)FB-DIMMs: 26°C Idle / 42°C FSX (10min)I can run all day like that… 12 to 14 hour hauls in the PMDG 747 are no problem. Here’s my record I set last year (Duenna Verification, scroll down for graphic & txt file): http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=0X0pfHsoO65OAyX4ryUpa4Qgbc 17 hrs Sydney to JFK (8000+ nm) no cargo or pax... strictly a flying gas can. A couple pics of what it “used to” look like. Comp sits on the floor now that I have “remoted” the a/c unit.

Hi Mitch,Yes, I have heard of heat causing FSX problems... I believe Nick Needham at Simforums posted something about this. And "we" had a thread discussing air condition cooling here at AVSIM a couple years ago... I thought you did that to your comp too... I reckon that was someone else.I took a small a/c unit and piped that 37°F air into my comp. Nick was not too enthusiastic about my (or others) solutions, but I understood why. However it is proving itself not a bad idea.I have since moved the a/c unit to the bathroom where it serves two other duties: keeps the humidity low (at least in spring/summer/fall) and the bathroom warm. The noise from the a/c was a bit too much for me, plus controlling the humidity level in the bathroom in the winter is much, much easier. I need a small humidifier when temps are like +20°F outside to keep the a/c's evaporator coils from icing up. It has been a pretty good solution these last 2 1/2 years.After the first year, the first unit gave up. I think it just needs a recharge. One thing I don't have in my garage is a refrigerant manifold kit, so I cannot do that. Plus, I would have needed to braze on a valve... so was just cheaper to buy another $125 unit. The price of having a small unit recharged will shock you.CPU: 22°C Idle / 35°C FSX (10min)GTX285 SSC: 26°C Idle / 37°C FSX (10min)FB-DIMMs: 26°C Idle / 42°C FSX (10min)I can run all day like that… 12 to 14 hour hauls in the PMDG 747 are no problem. Here’s my record I set last year (Duenna Verification, scroll down for graphic & txt file): http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=0X0pfHsoO65OAyX4ryUpa4Qgbc 17 hrs Sydney to JFK (8000+ nm) no cargo or pax... strictly a flying gas can. A couple pics of what it “used to” look like. Comp sits on the floor now that I have “remoted” the a/c unit.

You have to keep in mind that the air coming off the evaporator coil or the A/C unit is 100% saturated with with water vapor. Only the heat given off by your computer hardware will raise that level of humidity. Bob G.

Hi Mitch,Yes, I have heard of heat causing FSX problems... I believe Nick Needham at Simforums posted something about this. And "we" had a thread discussing air condition cooling here at AVSIM a couple years ago... I thought you did that to your comp too... I reckon that was someone else.I took a small a/c unit and piped that 37°F air into my comp. Nick was not too enthusiastic about my (or others) solutions, but I understood why. However it is proving itself not a bad idea.I have since moved the a/c unit to the bathroom where it serves two other duties: keeps the humidity low (at least in spring/summer/fall) and the bathroom warm. The noise from the a/c was a bit too much for me, plus controlling the humidity level in the bathroom in the winter is much, much easier. I need a small humidifier when temps are like +20°F outside to keep the a/c's evaporator coils from icing up. It has been a pretty good solution these last 2 1/2 years.After the first year, the first unit gave up. I think it just needs a recharge. One thing I don't have in my garage is a refrigerant manifold kit, so I cannot do that. Plus, I would have needed to braze on a valve... so was just cheaper to buy another $125 unit. The price of having a small unit recharged will shock you.CPU: 22°C Idle / 35°C FSX (10min)GTX285 SSC: 26°C Idle / 37°C FSX (10min)FB-DIMMs: 26°C Idle / 42°C FSX (10min)I can run all day like that… 12 to 14 hour hauls in the PMDG 747 are no problem. Here’s my record I set last year (Duenna Verification, scroll down for graphic & txt file): http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=0X0pfHsoO65OAyX4ryUpa4Qgbc 17 hrs Sydney to JFK (8000+ nm) no cargo or pax... strictly a flying gas can. A couple pics of what it “used to” look like. Comp sits on the floor now that I have “remoted” the a/c unit.

C'mon, seriously? :Hypnotized:

Hi Mitch,Yes, I have heard of heat causing FSX problems... I believe Nick Needham at Simforums posted something about this. And "we" had a thread discussing air condition cooling here at AVSIM a couple years ago... I thought you did that to your comp too... I reckon that was someone else.I took a small a/c unit and piped that 37°F air into my comp. Nick was not too enthusiastic about my (or others) solutions, but I understood why. However it is proving itself not a bad idea.I have since moved the a/c unit to the bathroom where it serves two other duties: keeps the humidity low (at least in spring/summer/fall) and the bathroom warm. The noise from the a/c was a bit too much for me, plus controlling the humidity level in the bathroom in the winter is much, much easier. I need a small humidifier when temps are like +20°F outside to keep the a/c's evaporator coils from icing up. It has been a pretty good solution these last 2 1/2 years.After the first year, the first unit gave up. I think it just needs a recharge. One thing I don't have in my garage is a refrigerant manifold kit, so I cannot do that. Plus, I would have needed to braze on a valve... so was just cheaper to buy another $125 unit. The price of having a small unit recharged will shock you.CPU: 22°C Idle / 35°C FSX (10min)GTX285 SSC: 26°C Idle / 37°C FSX (10min)FB-DIMMs: 26°C Idle / 42°C FSX (10min)I can run all day like that… 12 to 14 hour hauls in the PMDG 747 are no problem. Here’s my record I set last year (Duenna Verification, scroll down for graphic & txt file): http://www.fsrtwrace...OAyX4ryUpa4Qgbc 17 hrs Sydney to JFK (8000+ nm) no cargo or pax... strictly a flying gas can. A couple pics of what it “used to” look like. Comp sits on the floor now that I have “remoted” the a/c unit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hi Rob,I had HOURS of flight with no hang-ups, CTD's...no gremlins of any kind. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!! The only thing different between a random FSX animation freeze-up and hours of nothing but flight bliss-----was a 35-40 F computer environment via Winter coming in through the wide-open window. Nothing placebo about that test, LOL! Your set-up with also no animation hangs pretty much duplicates my observations. I might try your solution, as I do have a 12,000 BTU window air-conditioner not being used at present. It's certainly too bad that one would have to go to this route to insure total program/system stability...whew... :)Thanks for your post. Again, it duplicates my results, by another 35-40 F computer environment 'solution', and one truly usable in the long term.Again, thanks for posting and the pics!Mitch

I’d imagine cooling is a factor for some folks.I built my previous computer and did have cooling issues...and my own jury rigged solutions ;)I used to monitor CPU temps very carefully (actually neurotically), always avoided pushing the system carelessly.BTW, I think most chips will slow their clock speed once they get too hot - it avoids damage.Danny

HDD's are the most sensitive to heat in my opinion. from what ive read, disks become increasingly innacurate as they get hotter, and can cause major problems at lower temps than a cpu, northbridge or video card will. Google about HDD temps to find out more, its quit surprising.I have three disks stacked close together and never considered heat until i was experiencing what i thought was just an unstable overclock, to cut a long story short, i bolted a large cpu fan in front of the disks so the air would pass through them all, and all was well.Just a thought.David.

The stock I7 cooling fan does little for cooling. An inexpensive heatsink and three 120mm case fans give me a very stable O/C. At stock speeds with stock cooling I was well over 80C at times in FSX.

You have to keep in mind that the air coming off the evaporator coil or the A/C unit is 100% saturated with with water vapor. Only the heat given off by your computer hardware will raise that level of humidity. Bob G.

Hi Bob,Maybe precisely behind the Evaporator the RH is 100%... but no way at the entry of the comp.There's a blower (loss), multiple bends (loss) and at least 20' of duct (more loss). And I think you meant "lower" instead of "raise" as RH is really (afaik) the only concern.

C'mon, seriously? :Hypnotized:

Seriously what???

Thanks for your post. Again, it duplicates my results, by another 35-40 F computer environment 'solution', and one truly usable in the long term.

Hi Mitch,Welcome,I think it usable for "long term". I think the first unit failed (i.e. needs a recharge) because it was running too hot. By keeping it in the bathroom, I can control the humidity better so that I can hear a bit of water being kicked up by the condenser coil fan.The reason I did this as opposed to water cooling is, I am cooling a D5400XS mb (skulltrail) with 2xQX9775s at 4.0. Anyone who has this board will tell you the FB-DIMMs run quite hot. The only way to keep everything cool is to "bath" all the parts in some sort of cool fluid (as you were thinking). That is what I decided to try shortly after I built the system. As I said, it has worked well for around 2 1/2 years. My first post on what I did (July08): http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?pid=75661;hl=samsungI've even thought for the next cooling project that would also use water cooling, use a 10-12,000btu unit and split the flow... half to the case, half through the radiator. Just an idea.Regards, :-)

Sesquashtoo,Did you OC your CPU and if you did do you have an aftermarket HSF or are you using the stock HSF?What kind of a computer case do you have, does it have lots of airflow?

Sesquashtoo,Did you OC your CPU and if you did do you have an aftermarket HSF or are you using the stock HSF?What kind of a computer case do you have, does it have lots of airflow?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yes, I'm O/C'd to 4.1 GHz. My computer case is humongous, with lots of room between sub-systems, 6 high-speed, large capacity fans controlled by a monitoring program (for auto-upspeed as well as manual control by myself) and airflow is good. But, having said that, with the ambient ROOM temperature at 35-40 F, there were no FSX freeze hangs as stated. With my room at normal (for myself) 68F, I do get the occasional animation freeze when running scenery packs such as what ORBX puts out. I also run everything max'ed out, as I love the look of the sim in that format. I do get a comfortable 30 FPS no matter what, so the 'performance; of my i7-975 is superb. Again, I believe that you need to cool the entire system down to whatever it gets to, with ambient temps at or near 32 F.

Again, I believe that you need to cool the entire system down to whatever it gets to, with ambient temps at or near 32 F.

Would be a good idea to download some free temperature monitoring programs like this one: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.htmlCrank up the heater in your room and identify exactly whats overheating, it'll save you getting too cold. :Straight Face:

I might have jumped the gun, it seems you have some good monitoring software.Would it be true to say that the temps of your cpu, northbridge, memory, video card and hard disks are all good, but you believe everything else on the system seems to be benefiting from the cool air?30 fps with everything maxed is awesome... coolness is cool

Do you know what your core temps are running? RealTemp is what I use.http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/Aida64 will give you the temps of your GPU, NB and SB.http://www.aida64.com/downloadsI agree that it is temperature related, but maybe it is just one compenent that is over heating.