Hi Any advice - I have a system that is a 2.6 Intel processor with 1gig ddr ram and 128mb 4x agp video card and 30gb 7200 hard drive.When using FS9 I can never get any frame rates higher then 15 to 20 with all FS settings turned down and 10-12 fps with everything turned up and some weather. - however every few seconds the frame rate jumps to 30/40 momentarily and then drops again - I have no anti-virus software running, just the WIN xp services. My system also suffers a bit of a stutter - slight but noticeable, especially in turns - I was just wondering if anyone thinks I have something happenning to slow this system down or is this as good I can expect. I have tried turning off the vitual memory and setting processor priority but no difference.I was hoping my system would perform on FS9 a little better than this, but maybe this is as good as it gets for me.Be glad to get any comments or suggestions - PS. I have read all the tips and suggestions at the start of this forum and have already tried or am using most of them.My simple question is should I in general be getting better performance or not than 10-15 fps ?

What GPU?

Hi KostaMy video card is Nvidia mx440 - 128mb - 8 x agp [4 x on MB]Thanks for replying

Roger, I have a similar system except the video card and I have the slider pegged at 20fps. I get that most of the time except when I'm at a busy airport or flying low and can see the airport, then it drops to 10 sometimes. If I change my spot view so I can't see the airport I'm back up to 20. I have most of my sliders maxed except Mesh Complexity (90), and Autogen and Dynamic Scenery, which are both very dense. So yes, I would think you should be getting better performance, but argh, wouldn't know where to start to help you. I usually fly with few clouds, but even if I add more it seems ok with the new cloud textures that are out. Maybe run some benchmarks and see if you can spot a system or OS problem?billg

My system was close to yours... P4 2.53, asus p4s8x, 512meg pc2700 ram. I was using an old ATI all in wonder card, one of the first radeons to come out, 32 meg, 4x agp. I was running 15 to 20 with most of the sliders half way or a little less. No ground shadows and scenery complex and autogen scenery both on sparse. Also had the virtual cockpit options turned down or off.It did dip to 10 - 15 at some of the larger airports, etc. I replaced with an ATI 9600 at 8x and moved all the sliders up some, biggest hit was scenery complex and autogen scenery, I moved both of them up one notch to normal and I'm at a pretty consistent 18-25. I think 20 is acceptable, so I played with sliders to get as much eye candy as I can and stay around 20fps.There were several posts on compressing the fightsim folder a while back. Doing that pretty much removed the stutters in turns on mine, but it looks like different results on diff systems.

Short answer is yes you should be doing better.My system(somewhat inferior to yours(see below) runs averagely at 20-30 fps (locked at 30) dipping to about 15 for complex scenery situations.Mostly it is running at or very near the 30.Even when flying online - with all the extra load that creates I still find no difficulty in keeping up close to 30 fps.My settings are mostly at or near(75%) maximum .However I am using most of the recently released "fixes" for textures(Water,Clouds,Autogen) that make the .bmp sizes smaller(and better looking ) and aid performanceHave you any other processes running(check startup ).What is your screen resolution set at?DaveSystem:AMD Athlon 2000XP (@133/133)ECS K7S5A Mobo 3.1 :04/29/02 Rev BiosSiS 735 Chipset Rev 12 x 256mb DDR RAMGeforce4 Ti-4200-8x 128mb DDR AGP(not overclocked)AGP 1.17 WHQL .NVidia 5303 Detonator XP Drivers2 x Maxtor 40GB HDD (7200rpm)LG 8x4x32 CDRWLG 52x CDRDirect X 9.0 Windows ME/ Windows XP dual boot(FS on the XP drive)BIOS Settings- DRAM Timing Ultra. CAS Latency 3T,RAS ACtive 6T,RAS Precharge 3TL1 Cache Enabled.L2 Cache Enabled.Sys BIOS Cache Disabled.DRAM Drive Slew Rating - Fast

In my opinion, GPU is a bit slow. And it's slowing down the rest. I have Intel 2.53 and I'm getting muuuuuuuch more (read: >60fps in non-complex, or about 40fps (locked) at a bit complex scenery - heathrow and surroundings - take cessna, it won't even stutter there).Word Not Allowed

Thanks for your input guys it is much appreciated.I now think that the video card only running at 8xagp may be causing a bottleneck. Because I would need a new motherboard to access 8x and am not sure it would even gain me that much for the hassle and cost incurred I think I may have to just accept what I have for the time being.If I run with weather turned off then the sim is pretty fluid at around 20fps.Think this highlights just how important it is to have a balanced system and not just rely on a single improved area such as processor or ram upgrades, sure they help a bit, but it seems to me that it is only gonna go as fast as the weakest link in your system.'nearly finished that light speed dual processor install - now for that 8mb video card - where is that screwdriver - won't be long dear'The search goes on - Thanks again

Don't expect miracles by going to a mobo with 8x using the same video card.This mobo only supports 4x tho the card is capable of 8x and my performance is way up on yours. IMHO I think you should be looking at software issues first- something is slowing your system down.I have read elsewhere that the benefits of 8x are minimal anyway.Dave

I have 8x AGP mobo and 8x AGP card. Switching to 4x AGP does NOT slow down the game, not a bit even. For sure, you won't get anything with 8x mobo.Word Not Allowed