The Possible truth about FSX

I started out with a pentium four and upgraded through a quad processor to an i7 processor. From Windows XP to Vista, to Windows 7 64 bit. Through each upgrade the problems changed.:( My XP, with a pentium four processor, ran FSX just fine along with software used to connect to Vatsim. It was, however, very slow and I wanted to speed things up. And, I should add, XP and FSX were the only programs running on the machine. I never could wrap my mind around the Vista machine, purchased from HP, enough to work through the problems that I experienced. I then purchased my current machine, also from HP, and became determined to make it work. I have, since purchasing this machine, modified the machines configuration. I started with adding memory to boost it from 6 gig ram to 8 gig of ram. Very little improvment but there was some. Recently I installed a GTX 460 video card which made for better graphices but did not improve performance. I then used my old pentium machine, with XP installed, as a file server and started running the Vatsim, weather engine, and Acars program on it. I realized some improvment. I then weeded through all the extra programs and processes that were starting when I booted up. I did not delete them but just stopped them from starting each time I started my machine. I now have acceptable performance from FSX. This is not to say I am getting great performance by any stretch of the imagination. I am still getting hiccups from Vatsim and ICAO but the graphics are pretty good.

Wow I have been on the same machine since 1/14/2008 and have exquisite performance by all measures. I made one final Bejote tweak recently and it's insane the thing runs better than ever. Oh, it ran wonderfully before with excellent IQ & texture update rate, smoothness and frames using the main Bejote tweaks, save one. When I put together my current machines I had hoped that overclocked Penryn quad would tie me through at least two full processor iterations, and there is no question, it has. There is truly no need to upgrade still, even today. I run the most complex FTX scenery, PMDG birds, and now w/ full right sliders throughout, even full density clouds out to 110m. I have it all running on Vista 64, 4GB of fast memory, and the GTX 280 is doing a job fine. The key Bejote performance tweaks were the foundation stable high end performance, on a tuned platform of adequate resources, and the final touch came from losing nHancer's 8XS antialiasing, and going w/ application-controlled AA & AI. The final lubricant comes from FPS Limiter.exe, a utility I recognized as useful some time ago, and introduced it as a utility to control surges while limiting frames in a way that allows FSX's internal limiter to run unlimited. All this has optimized performance to for all practical purposes, perfection, and this on an aging platform. The OS is moderately lean, though w/ internet & Avast!, Excel, and a few other minor programs. I use GameBoost or whatever it is called to shutdown unneeded processes during boot up of FSX. I use lots of smaller addons as well such as FSLive, FSPassengersX, REX2 weather, and more. No CTD's either.You're right, there alot of variability machine to machine. But I think my experience is hope if not proof you don't need the highest end to get high end perf w/ FSX.Noel