I am in the process of collecting data on building my next computer. I will start this project next week. I am planning on haveing a 3.0C p4. 1 GB of KINGSTON HYPER X PC3200 ram. Existing TI-4600. Possible new video card, it all depends on your feedback. I was wondering if you guys can post some specs and if anyone gets a sustained frame rate of 30 fps with everything maxed out. Please state your specs.ThanksAbe

Dell P4 3GHz512Mb RamHercules 3D Phrophet 9800 ProAudigy 2 SoundSet at FPS of 30. Almost never drops below that but I have seen it drop to 25, just for a moment, when approaching large airport. Very smooth with graphics that are incredible - almost no shimmer at all.Ray Keattch

P4 3.0 GhzP875 ChipsetASUS PC8400-E Deluxe Mobo (800 Mhz FSB)1Gb DDR RamRadeon Sapphire 9800XT GraphicsFPS locked at 30 and stays there for 99% of the time even in thick cloud and traffic. I've seen it dip momentarily to 29.4 but hey I'm just Nit picking now. Totally maxed settings.This mobo has a good arrangement for Overclocking, as does the Graphics card, but I don't really need to just at the moment.RegardsSteve Brown

So two users with simular set ups stating that a P4 3gig rig allows for max setting including 3d clouds, auto gen, ai, and airport scenery but does that also include UT? I've been waiting for the next pentium to be released thinking that the best on the market right now is still not able to give a smooth flight with CoF. Heck Im just looking for 18fps locked.NP

>So two users with simular set ups stating that a P4 3gig rig>allows for max setting including 3d clouds, auto gen, ai, and>airport scenery but does that also include UT? I've been>waiting for the next pentium to be released thinking that the>best on the market right now is still not able to give a>smooth flight with CoF. Heck Im just looking for 18fps>locked.>>NPI think its the combination of 1 GB of ram and a fast CPU. On top of that the best video card money can buy and you get around 30 fps. I agree with you the next generation of P4 processors will make this game perfect.Abe

Nobody gets 30fps in FS9 all the time, its nonsense, i have a Dell xps and sometimes the fps drops to 10fps when in large airports with lots of ai.All this talk about fps doesnt make any sense unless you have the same system, with FS9 set up exactly the same way and with same addons. It is possible to stay over 30fps most of the time, but always, not a chance.OHN

I myself and seeking a smooth flight and believe that it all depends on speed of aircraft to the FPS which allow for the visualable smooth flight. Example would be while taxing at lets say KDFW with UT everything maxed you get 12FPS as your low point would be acceptable because you are moving very slowly. If you are getting 16+ frames during short final and roll out your are still at an acceptable FPS since you are only flying straight. Once airbourne you would want a steady 20+ FPS during turns to allow a smooth flight. Im believe is that AI works the CPU hard and the wx and auto gen will work best with a great video card relief. Ram is going to benefit you equally but thats a low cost upgrade. I find it stupid to fly in FS9 with out full auto-gen and airport details both maxed and boring with out some AI. I went back to the flat clouds since I never fly IFR being ATC cant provide safe seperation. To fly the sim with out all the great scenery, which is also a means for navigation, to me makes me ask why did I upgrade from 2002? Wx, GPS, and some AI,ATC improvements are nice but when I fly into a city and only have the auto gen set to normal or lower I'm not getting the full benefit of the sim. So my compormise is to change settings in flight. Example is flying into the new Boston scenery having sliders max except the cloud which are 2d. Once I start getting an unsmooth flight I turn off auto gen. That gets me about 2-3 extra frames. Once cleared to land I then turn off AI which gets me another 2-3 frames and keeps my flight smooth. Land clear the active and turn ai and auto gen. No eye candy missed since was looking mostly at the runway and my gauges. During departure all sliders maxed. Cleared for take off I turn off airport scenery and auto gen leaving AI maxed. Once I've got airbourne and feel I can turn the auto gen and airport scenery back on for a smooth flight I do. Nothing lost but a lot more hoops to jump thru.BTW my system is a P4 2 gig 512ram DDR and the golden FX5600 ultra 256ram card.NP

I have a Dell 3.2 XPS system with 1 gb of ram and a 9800 pro ATI card. I find the system very smooth with a lot of scenery add ons and lots of AI. However, I keep my system locked at 22 or 24 frames. Anything above that doesn't really mean anything to the eye. It's better to let the computer use most of that extra processing power to do everything else. I use Chris Willis' replacement clouds and I remove the Autogen HTML as recommended on the forums here by many users. I use FSUIPC visibility limits and other tweaks. These all make a big difference.FS9 is still glitchy in certain areas and there's nothing you can do about that. It's just the way its programmed. I still get occasional shut downs of FS9 in flight. I've tried every fix known to man, but there are just some problem patches in this game that no computer can get around.Still it's a great game and the new add ons coming out are amazing!Lee

Tough question Abe. The short answer is that nobody gets 30+ FPS in all conditions. Given even the fastest of machines, the FPS will drop well below that in situations with very high-density scenery. An example would be KLAX with SimFlyers scenery and 100% UT traffic - single digit framerates are very common. The best you can do is to buy the fastest CPU and memory and the best video card the budget will allow and take whatever comes. And, yes, the older Ti4600 is going to hurt the overall performance of the new rig a little. There won't be much of a framerate loss on the ground scenery but the weather isn't going to be all it could be if a faster card were installed. And the overall appearance of the graphics will be better with any of the newer video cards. I'm able to easily exceed 30 FPS most of the time with all the sliders to the right and the 9800 Pro just laughs at the clouds, hardly a framerate hit at all. But...crank up the AI traffic (I use UT) at someplace like EGLL and all bets are off :-).DougNorthwood 2.2a at 2.508Ghz (Intel HSF)Abit TH7II-R512MB Samsung 40ns PC800Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB)Cat. 3.9's DX9b WinXP Pro5 WD HDD's (20GB, 60GB, 120GB, 120GB, 120GB)Inwin case / Enermax 431W PSU

I can get mid to upper 20's with:XP1900Ti3 200512 RAMWin98SEActive Sky 2004 with radar running.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support