So, I am wondering in your honest opinions, what would be the "ultimate" machine to run FSX and PMDG planes. Tell me what would operate with all sliders to max, no stuttering in high density airports (KORD, KLGA, KLAX etc..) No memory shedding, real time weather, traffic at 100%. I am currently running the following: HP Xw 8600Intel Xeon x5450, 3 mhzQuad Core64 Bit Vista BusinessL2 Cache 12 MB8 GB RAM, DDR2-SDRAM667 MhzNvidia Quadro 5600, 1.5 GB I want to know how to kick the crap out of FSX and the 737NGX. I am not having any crashing problems but I get bad FPS in heavy density areas and I cannot run with all the sliders to max. Thanks John

I'll start it off by saying mine....but I am sure many others will differ. Mark.

Ryan has an excellent thread on this recommending what appears to be the best setup specifically for FSX+NGX. At least, it´s what´s been getting consistently good results with most hardcore fans. Something along the lines of an oc´ed i5 2500k Sandy Bridge with at least 8 GB DDR 1600 or more on a mobo based on the Intel p67 or z68 chipset. For GPU Nvidia GTX 570 0r 80 with at least 1 gb of RAM. Apparently for hard drives there´s no real benefit in going for super expensive SSDs, although I´d go for it if I had the extra cash. Windows 7 64 bits is a must, so they say. I´m probably going to get all this stuff by the end of the year. As long as I can fly the NGX in my add-on airports with sliders set at least 75% to the right and Activesky while flying online at VATSIM or IVAO I´ll be pretty darn happy. But from the looks of it apparently there´s no computer in the world capable of doing this.

I'll start it off by saying mine....but I am sure many others will differ. Mark.

OK, you asked, so here is my DREAM FSX.PMDG Windows computer. You can even connect 3 of them together to act as one !! Now, where is my AMERICAN EXPRESS Card ?? http://www.guardian....ndows.microsoft

Oh, and you can´t be cheap when choosing the PSU and cooling system, or else your overclocking days will end mighty fast.

I'm not sure how others feel, but whenever I feel my system is amazing in FSX, the sim (or a sim addon) finds a way to bring me back to earth. I use REX and imported some new cloud and water textures. I had forgotten to shrink the textures per cmpbellsjc 's thread. I was at Friday Harbor getting all types of stutters and frame rate reduction. (We're talikng 2 FPS with clouds and a lot of water) After I remember to compress the textures I was getting my 60 FPS again, but it was still humbling. So the point is: Get the best you can afford and adjust around that!

Can you please refer me to that thread?

Can you please refer me to that thread?

Yeah.. I'm interested too

I am getting pretty good performance.......Some sliders all the way to max, others about 75%. That said, I am NOT running any scenery add-ons, only the default. I only fly NGX and MD-11 or 747-400. If I make a computer change I would consider: i7 4.0 ghzNvidia GTX 5908 GB RAM (minimum, possibly 12)64 BIT Windows 7 I have NOT done any FSX "tweaks", any thoughts on if this avenue may help me ??

Intel i7-970 Gulftown PROC, EVGA 141-GT-E770-A1 MOBO, Corsair Vengeance 24BB DDR3 1600 RAM, ZALMAN CNPS9900ALED PROC Cooler, OCZ ZX Series 1000W Power Supply, Antec Lanboy or Twelve Hundred case (Plenty of ventilation), and 2 EVGA GeForce GTX-590’s (in SLI Surround video). Then add 3 identical monitors of your choice, mine are 19", but my system is quite lacking the dream system listed above.

A good quality hard drive which has been defragmented before and after FSX has been installed.

+1000 !!! ( and the massive improvement you get for doing the defragS is 100% FREE )

A real 737

When it comes to hardware a lot of people seem to forget that FSX is a 5 year old 32 bit application and only supports the now obsolete Shader 2.It does not support SLI or Crossfire and using those will actually cause FSX to run even slower.On a 64 bit system at least the OS can run above the 4 gig restriction imposed on FSX and leaves more ram available for FSX.FSX will still have to share the first 3.8 gigs of ram with your video card.CPU power and speed are more important than the GPU because that is the way FSX was built. So, the latest Intel processor + chipset and an Nvidia GTX 580 with 1 gig vram would be good. ( any higher specs will not do FSX any favours.)Windows 7 64 with 6 to 8 gigs of fast ram. A good quality hard drive which has been defragmented before and after FSX has been installed.

+1 Jason. No point building a Cray super computer if FSX won't utilise it. All and SSD will do is improve your loading times. Texture loading may be slightly improved but I'd be surprised. Better off with a Velociraptor or something similar. Defragging will make a world of difference!!

It does not support SLI or Crossfire and using those will actually cause FSX to run even slower.

My 3-monitor system is running fine in SLI Surround, even a bit better since I'm running a resolution of 4081 x 1024. FSX doesn't need to support SLI, it only needs to stay out of the SLI drivers way, which it does.FSX is processor intensive, and some tests have shown marginal use of multicore. My current system, is old and limited, running Athlon 64 X2 at 3.0GHz, 6GB DDR2 800 RAM (slow). My FSX settings are set up quite high and I have very little trouble.

My current system, is old and limited, running Athlon 64 X2 at 3.0GHz, 6GB DDR2 800 RAM (slow). My FSX settings are set up quite high and I have very little trouble.

Same here. There is is a lot of mileage to be had from a proper setup with FSX. Following NickN's FSX setup guide, running Win7 64-bit, having FSX on a dedicated drive and regular defragmenting will get you a long way without spending too much money. I run an i7 @ 3.8GHz, a GTX460 and a Raptor hard drive, with most of the sliders up high, and I get around 25-30fps everywhere. Which is pretty good really for 2nd generation hardware. I'm reluctant to upgrade for the sake of it as my FSX rig is running better than I could have hoped. As Jason commented, if you're ready to upgrade then go for a decent processor (i5) and a good MB and hardrive/SSD. The GTX570 can be had at good price too.