Bigshot,Well hallelulia! That's has got to be one of the best all time expenditures of $210.00 I've ever spent! FS2004 runs like it's on steroids now with practically nonexistent pauses and stutters. Switching views is now instantaneous at any time during a flight as well as hopping out to spot view. Taxiing is smooth at all times no matter how many AI are in the area! This is like having a brand new PC! I could'nt be happier!The addition of 512MB of RAM to bring me to a total of 1GB was the trick!Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions!DougDell 8250 (3.06GHz/533FSB)512 Rambus RAM120MB ATA 100 (7200 RPM)ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (Catalyst 4.3)Audigy 2 Sound (latest drivers)MS Force Feedback 2WindowsXP Pro (SP1)DirectX 9.0b

Ah-ha! Somehow this doesn't surprise me. ;) I'd be interested in hearing what your FS2004 settings are. There have been a few people that have said that going from 512 MB's to 1 GB of System RAM wouldn't make much difference in FS2004. I think whether or not it makes much difference may depend on how high of settings you set the sim at. In my 'FS2004 and WinXP Optimization Guide V2' I recommend that people use 1 GB of RAM if possible. It's just a recommendation is all. I have always had 1 GB of RAM for FS2004 and have never had much of a performance issue after 'tweaking' my Sytem and FS2004. Here's a summary of my settings and performance. And btw, I don't use the 'TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=0' tweak. I do use a modified 'default.xml' file though that helps a little with the known Autogen bug/performance issue. Now that you've got the extra RAM you might want to consider turning the Vector Objects back on and see how it is.-----------------------------------------------------------------My settings are 1600x1200 resolution, 4X AA, and 16X AF with Quality on. I use MyTraffic 2004 with AI Traffic at 100%. Everything in the sim is turned up and on, sliders full right except the following...Terrain Complexity(Mesh): 85%Scenery Complexity: Very DenseAutogen: Very Dense (I'm also using a file in the Avsim library named: fs9xml.zip)Not all my Weather sliders are full right...Sight distance: 100 mi.Cloud draw distance: 60 mi.3-D cloud percentage: 100Detailed Clouds checked.Cloud coverage density: Maximum(100%)My average FPS is usually 22. I have it locked at 24. If I lock it a little higher I get some more FPS but then the FPS jumps around more. I do not get an average of 22 FPS when I am around large cities with complex airports, but it is still not too bad even in those areas, certainly flyable for me. Simflyers airports and even FlyTampa's Miami(KMIA) are another story.-----------------------------------------------------------------Cheers,Jim3.06 GHz Intel P4 on Asus P4T533-C(533 MHz FSB), 1 GB PC1066 Samsung RDRAM, NEC MultiSync FE2111SB 22" Monitor, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Videocard w/ v4.2 Catalyst Drivers, DirectX 9.0b, Creative Audigy2 Soundcard, 120 GB w/8 MB Cache Western Digital HD

Good to hear. I don't really have any problem with 512mb PC1066; so long as I keep track of and manage my textures carefully. I'll keep watching the prices; but right now that stuff is just too expensive. It is on my list of things to buy.

Framerate stutter generally indicates that your application is outpacing the ability of your hard drive to deliver the data.You might find a cheap Raid 0 IDE controller and a second hard drive actually fixes you up better then anything else.Turns generate a much larger requirement for new data then flying straight forward.

Jim:I've embedded my comments in with your original post.>Ah-ha! Somehow this doesn't surprise me. ;) I'd be interested>in hearing what your FS2004 settings are. There have been a>few people that have said that going from 512 MB's to 1 GB of>System RAM wouldn't make much difference in FS2004. I think>whether or not it makes much difference may depend on how high>of settings you set the sim at. In my 'FS2004 and WinXP>Optimization Guide V2' I recommend that people use 1 GB of RAM>if possible. It's just a recommendation is all. I have always>had 1 GB of RAM for FS2004 and have never had much of a>performance issue after 'tweaking' my Sytem and FS2004. Here's>a summary of my settings and performance. And btw, I don't use>the 'TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=0' tweak. I do use a modified>'default.xml' file though that helps a little with the known>Autogen bug/performance issue. Now that you've got the extra>RAM you might want to consider turning the Vector Objects back>on and see how it is. I will switch the vector objects tweak as you suggest and see how it looks. >>----------------------------------------------------------------->>My settings are 1600x1200 resolution, 4X AA, and 16X AF with>Quality on. I use MyTraffic 2004 with AI Traffic at 100%.I use all the above but I use Ultimate Traffic at 50%.>Everything in the sim is turned up and on, sliders full right>except the following...>>Terrain Complexity(Mesh): 85% I have it at 100% >>Scenery Complexity: Very Dense Yes >>Autogen: Very Dense (I'm also using a file in the Avsim>library named: fs9xml.zip) Set as Sparse with tweak above. >>Not all my Weather sliders are full right...>>Sight distance: 100 mi. I use 150 >>Cloud draw distance: 60 mi. Yes >>3-D cloud percentage: 100 Yes >>Detailed Clouds checked. Yes >>Cloud coverage density: Maximum(100%) I use Medium Also I have Water Effects "off"Dawn/Dusk textures checkedExtended terrain textures checkedSun glare checkedLens flare NOT checkedAdd-on Dynamic scenery NOT checkedGround scenery shadows NOT checkedI have MipMaps set at 4HW Rendered Lights at 8Global max Texture Size at Massive>>>My average FPS is usually 22. I have it locked at 24. If I>lock it a little higher I get some more FPS but then the FPS>jumps around more. I do not get an average of 22 FPS when I am>around large cities with complex airports, but it is still not>too bad even in those areas, certainly flyable for me.>Simflyers airports and even FlyTampa's Miami(KMIA) are another>story. My FPS stay nearly pegged at 25 (where I have them locked) most of the time unless on final at Atlanta, Chicago, LAX, or any other large airport. In those cases the FPS hover in the 16-19 territory. Even when taxiing at large airports the FPS stay in the 22-25 range all the time. Judging by you specs we have essentially the same PC. It is encouraging that our performance is compatible as well.DougDell 8250 (3.06GHz/533FSB)512 Rambus RAM120MB ATA 100 (7200 RPM)ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (Catalyst 4.3)Audigy 2 Sound (latest drivers)MS Force Feedback 2WindowsXP Pro (SP1)DirectX 9.0b

My settings (specs. in sig.):Everything in-game maxed. 100% AI. (although recently I have been turning mip-maps to 4 in to get rid of that darn shimmering :-mad) fortunately I don't see any difference in asthetics whatsoever.1280x960 6xFSAA and 16xAF (Cat. 4.3)65-75 FPS in weather. Over 80 without weather.RAM does help, but also RAM timings are very improtant with regards to performance. You can have 2 sticks running at let us say DDR533 with 3-4-4-8 timings or you can have 2 sticks of DDR433 running at 2-2-2-5 and the DDR433 will WHOOP the DDR533 every single time. That is why high quality RAM is important. Every persons mileage may vary, that's why I NEVER go cheap on RAM. High quality RAM = VERY GOOD system performance.Of course I am lucky, I got a 1200mhz OC with only a 2 degree increse in temperature....putting my processor at a nice 28 degrees, 35 at heavy load for 24 hours.

:)

Bigshot, I do not have the 1400x1050x32 resolution available to me in FS9. I have forgotten how to add this. Can you help me??Thanks, Ron

Ron; what resolutions are available to you all depends on your monitor and driver version. Both have to be capable of displaying a particular resolution or you won't have the selection available. If you have looked in the flightsim settings/display/hardware page and don't see that particular resolution, you won't be able to use it.

Ok thanks. I thought I kinda remembered that you could add some of the resolutions. I have the ATI Radeon 9700PRO and a 19" Gateway(not sure of mfg).Anyway, thanks, Ron