Running OK, and thermals question...

Sorry, cross-post from SimHQ...thought you guys might know the answers to my questions.I've finally got FSX to run at an acceptable rate. What did I do?EVERYTHINGAll the tweaks listed obviously, defragged, updated drivers, replaced files, sacrificed a chicken to the Flight-Sim gods. I also set my desktop res and FSX res to 1600 X 1200. It's my monitor's highest (it's an LCD). Strangely enough, it helped (or at least it didn't hurt and it looks better).I've got the FPS slider set to 17, and it stays there if I don't get near cities. It's tough since I like to slalom through buildings in the Jetranger, but I'll live with it. It still makes me mad, but I can accept it now.I HAVE found something cool, though. As I said I'm mainly a helicopter guy. But last night I tried something new. If you haven't done it yet, try the soaring missions. I had a BLAST! The new thermals are pretty darn cool.However, does anyone know if the "Natural" thermal indicators made into the game? There are supposed to be birds in the thermals, but I haven't seen any.Also, is thermal placement random? Or is it realistic (thermals over light colored ground, near mountains, etc)I must admit, I'm having fun now. Not what I expected, but there ARE some slight improvements in the FM it seems. Still some MAJOR problems for the sling-wings, but overall I think there's alot of potential.Still, if you want 30+ frames out of the box, and have a mid-level system...be warned.