Before I invest time and money, I wanted to ask for your help.Here are my specs:Intel E6700Asus Striker2 Gigs of Dominator RAM2 XFX 7800 GTX in SLI (93.71 Driver)Creative Audigy 2 Sound Card2 Raptors (Raid 0)Windows XP ProfessionalI want your opinions with the following:1: After installing FS X, I tried opening the program and it stopped responding during initial loading. I disabled AA and the program opened successfully. This problem also has happened with FS 9. This never happened with my prior system so I think it could be my Asus Striker or E6700. I don't think it's the logbook. This has occurred with SP1 and without it. Just bought accelerator. I will not install it until I hear from the forum members. Any ideas?2: FS X, in low setting looks great and average 30 in less dense areas. In NYC it drops to 15 fps. To me, it's a slideshow. I want to average 30 FPS. Is anyone getting 30 FPS with decent settings? Please tell me what hardware are you using? Use my specs and operating system, and please tell me how FSX performs on your system. Thank you in advance.3: Lastly, any tips to improve visuals and performance would be appreciated. CFG teaks etc.Thanks for your help.Jose OteroCFI, CFII

Please post your what vid driver you are using. Also are you using a sound card and if so what type. also what specific "low settings are you using?

I updated the info.Settings are low to medium. Clouds are high, but draw is low.AA is set from FS X.I would prefer that you tell me what settings are working well for you.Even in low settings FS X just looks so much better than FS 9. If I need an 8800 GT, they should be available soon. I can easily add 2gigs of ram for about $125. I just need to know how to set up Win XP so that it shows up as 4 gig and not 2. Should I get Vista?I know that the members here, know their sims. Thanks again.

>I updated the info.>>Settings are low to medium. Clouds are high, but draw is>low.>>AA is set from FS X.>>I would prefer that you tell me what settings are working well>for you.>>Even in low settings FS X just looks so much better than FS 9.> >>If I need an 8800 GT, they should be available soon. >>I can easily add 2gigs of ram for about $125. I just need to>know how to set up Win XP so that it shows up as 4 gig and not>2. Should I get Vista?>>I know that the members here, know their sims. >>Thanks again.>>If you're prepared to accept the low settings does that mean no autogen as well or low autogen? Forget Vista it will not help performance in the least. You could use a better video card but your processor may be the issue as well. 2 gigs should be more than enough with XP. I tend to want to crank my settings up so it's reasonable to assume you'll need more horsepower.Before I bought my new rig I had a 3.6 GHz HT system, XP, with 2 gigs ram and X800XT 256mb PCIe card. FSX struggled with that system. So I bought a new computer - Core 2 Quad Q6600, Vista home premium, 3 gigs ram, 8400GS 256mb PCIe. Interestingly, this system did not perform as well as my previous system on Crysis! I knew there was a video card issue. So I just went out yesterday and bought the 8800 GT OC 512mb card. This card burns on Crysis. Fantastic. On FSX, it definitely gives an improvement, but since I run autogen full, water 2.x low, view area 1/2, every other scenery setting on full, in big cities like NYC the fps is roughly 10 + the BLURRIES have returned. AI traffic set to 10% (commercial and ga) and low sea and ground traffic.I'm running Acceleration. I tried the DX10 settings and some nice effects but then I had CTDs, rather full crashes with resets. This happened every time. I have the latest beta drivers from Nvidia. I then removed Acceleration and it began running fine but then I had the dreaded OOM, this is even with the Vista patch.Bottom line is you will find FSX to be a frustrating experience so adjust your expectations on fps. Your processor is a big factor and secondly your video card. I had virtually no blurries with the 3.6 Ghz system but performance was wanting. I've now got more performace but with blurries, OOMs, and CTDs.

So if I pick up the Q6850, an 8800 GT and keep the 2 gigs of RAM and Windows XP, will the new chip and video card help me achieve the low 30s at a low to medium setting in NYC?I take that you don't recomend the acceleration pack.

I do not know anyone that gets 30 fps in NYC AND has the sliders up.