Dear All,(I hope I am doing the right thing by posting this here and not in the main FSX thread!)I have to confess that whilst I know alot about flying, computers have moved foward far faster than I can cope with and I really do know nothing about them! I got a top of the range Novatech PC a few years a go which has so far been able to run everything i have thrown at it on full settings. Now the real flying has died down I thought it would be good to install FSX to relive the good old days.And it just runs horribly. I either get constant 15 frames a second (if frame rate limited to 30) or 25fps which every 30 seconds or so goes to 1fps with an accompyning white noise sound from the speakers (if fps set to unlimited)Is my PC just out of date? Is it going wrong? I have tried to post some of my PC's stats which are probably all the wrong things you want but if you need me to provide you with something else I will of course oblidge!Thanks for the help I really look foward to your replies4x Intel Core Quad Q9300 @ 2.50ghz2x Nvidia 8800GT graphics cards (512mb I thig)Windows Vista 32 bit4GB RAMSaitek AV8R joystickMy Traffic

A new computer is certainly one correct answer to this problem. However, did you install FSX Service Pack 1 and 2?

Yes. For starters, trying removing one of those 8800GT's. FSX has some serious issues with SLI.I used to run a similar rig to what you have. You'll have to work pretty hard to get acceptable performance. Try this guide:http://www.simforums.com/forums/setting-up-fsx-and-how-to-tune-it_topic29041.html

Well, a bit out dated but you can make the best out of it. You have the same CPU I had before I moved to my current one. How about overclocking this CPU? I reached 3 GHZ stable and together with my GTX 260 I got decent percormance. Your grafic crads are a bit more out. It´s GDDR is a bit too small for FSX. A GTX 460 or 560ti will definitely help your performance.Next would be that you could think about using a 64 bit system. This allows that the sstem uses more than 3,25 GB RAM. This will also speed up your performance. OR if you want to start FS more regularly, just get a new system.

Not to mention; Is there a possibility of overclocking this rig? That would give you a little more performance before an upgrade (though I'd say you deserve one by now).Edit: Great minds thing alike Steffen. :Secret:

Dear All,Thankyou for your really quick and helpful replies. I have installed sp2 :)ryanbatcund I will take a look at that forum thank you.Buying a new system is a bit out of question at the moment but I will explore some of your options!How sad it is to hear my computer is 'a bit outdated' how things move on!

Would be any better of with X-plane?

Right I have done the changes explained in the link suggested by ryanbatcund My frame rate has increased by about 50% which is absolutely fantastic thank you!I am still plagued by it dropping to 0.3fps every 30 seconds or so added with horrible white noise sound from the speakers

Right I have done the changes explained in the link suggested by ryanbatcund My frame rate has increased by about 50% which is absolutely fantastic thank you!I am still plagued by it dropping to 0.3fps every 30 seconds or so added with horrible white noise sound from the speakers

Do you have anything else running in the background? Turn off whatever AV program, or other programs as a test.

Do you have anything else running in the background? Turn off whatever AV program, or other programs as a test.

Hey Bert,Thanks for the reply, I have Norton Antivirus running. I will try clicking 'disable auto protect' to see what happensThanks again for your reply

Do you have anything else running in the background? Turn off whatever AV program, or other programs as a test.

Also, try taking out one of the video cards...

Also, try taking out one of the video cards...

I think that would be a bit too complicated for me! Wouldn't want to break anything!

I think that would be a bit too complicated for me! Wouldn't want to break anything!

Can you figure out Legos? It takes the same bit of cognitive skill and a little bit of research. :Just Kidding: Seriously though, it's mostly a confidence issue and that I understand!Getting FSX to run satisfactorily takes more work than it should, that's why this forum is a busy place! I'm curious as to what tweaks you're using in the FSX.CFG file. The stutter you're experiencing reminds me of something I witnessed with my old Core 2 system; I finally ironed it out.

Actually I imagine it was the guide using nvidia inspector that probably sped up my performance the most! Is overclocking a hardware or software thing? There is an overclocking tab in nvidia inspector.The annoying thing is i'm now getting 30fps with everything turned up (I can even mange light bloom!) it's just this irritating drop to 0.6 every 30 seconds.

Is there anything out of the ordinary running in the background? A java updater? anti virus program? Windows update? Many possibilities...I still wonder about SLI - I realize some have it working perfectly but a lot have had similar stutter issues.