Well, after reading the many posts about FSX good, FSX bad, and struggling myself with long FSX load times and blurries, I bit the bullet and had the local computer store build me an Intel quad Q6600 based system.The net of it: All problems gone.FSX now behaves like FS9 used to on my PIV 2.8, (or better): Framerates around 50 over Seattle and, when locked at 24, everything smooth and no blurries.My system:Asus P5K motherboard, Q6600, 2 Gig PC800 memory, 8600GTS video card.About $800 in parts.Only real question is whether FS9 is going to get much playing time..

>>Only real question is whether FS9 is going to get much playing>time..Welcome aboard Bert ;), and I kinda doubt it regarding FS9....but everyones milage varies.

I have a similar system to yours, again FSX is as good and I'm sure better than FS9 was at this stage in FSX's career in the normal PC hardware upgrade scheme of things, did run both of them for a while but found myself using FS9 less and less ... there are a few third party add ons I miss from FS9, but with Capt Sims C-130 joining the FSX hanger, that's one less!I actually uninstalled FS9 a few months ago, found I just never used her anymore, she had a good life though, just like the other old versions before her, may she RIP :)Hope you enjoy FSX as much as i do!

Congratulations! That is sounding pretty cheap-I may have to replace my 4 year old system at those prices!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

Yes, that is pretty much what I did. Four years, almost to the day.The Q6600 is priced very aggressively and runs FSX really well. I followed advice from the hardware forum and set the affinity to 14 which uses only cores 1-3 for FSX and leaves core 0 for the OS... not sure it makes a difference, but makes logical sense.Only regret is that I bought a memory and video card upgrade for my old system (to run FSX) which is now wasted, since the new motherboard has different memory and video card connectors.For that, I should have another four good years ahead of me !

Me too. However, still use FS9 and X-Plane860. It is a pleasure to fly them all in when everything is smooth.New PC is : E6850 stock at 3.0ghz, 2gig 800 ram, eVGA 8800GTS640meg.This kind of hwd is a plus even for FS9 or Xplane: I can set the clouds settings to max with ground shadows in FS9 and increase everything in Xplane too and still get rock steady 60+fps even in heavy forested area or in urban areas.Pierre

Welcome aboard!>I actually uninstalled FS9 a few months ago, found I just>never used her anymore, she had a good life though, just like>the other old versions before her, may she RIP :)>:-wave to FS9 :)

Congrats on the new system upgrade. Several months ago I swapped out my rig for a P5K E6700 @3.51Ghz 2GB/800Mhz DDR2 on XP. Generally I found adequate performance....however not so much in the big cites with LVL D 767, ASX/ASG, and UTX. So I

Glad to hear that you upgraded. You should have much enjoyment from your new rig and FSX. I did not upgrade during the FS9 cycle and continued to use my rig for FS2002, and now that I have a new system set up, flying in FSX is a ton of fun. I think with SP1 and the upcoming SP2, that more people should trust that it is time to upgrade thier system and get on board with FSX. To me, stock FS9 was a marginal update to FS2002, but FSX is so much better, especially now that it runs well (thanks to SP1 and SP2) on most decently built modern systems.

I've been flying FS since FS1 on the PCJr and over these 30 years, I've gone through at least six systems that I can remember.My wife keeps reminding me that this is what always happens when a new FS release comes along.. :-)I do find that marginal upgrades (slightly faster card, slightly more memory, slightly faster disk drive) are questionable investments..A lot of money for not much payback. A whole new system after 4 years or so on the other hand, is like night and day.