Bought a top spec computer and FSX runs...

[Guest SanH]

My old computerXp3200+1.5GB DDR2 800 RAM512MB Geforce 7600Windows XPAll settings half way, AA 2X, AF 2X, no traffic, 12FPS at Heathrow.My new computerQ6600 (quad core)2GB DDR2 800 RAM512MB Geforce 8800GTVistaThe first thing i noticed with the new computer is that FSX loads quicker and the menu's are not slow and sluggish to move through. I selected the 737 and moved to Heathrow. I maxed out all settings (come on, we all do that first, dont we?). 10FPS. Mmmmmmm. I guess that was to be expected. So i set traffic to halfway and reduced mesh to 70%, switched off bloom, DirectX10 preview and set texture resolution to 1m. All other settings were maxed out. Heathrow in the virtual cockpit of the 737 was now 15FPS. I started taking off and noticed that even at this frame rate the sim was very very smooth, almost liquid smooth. No stuttering and very smooth. As the airport buildings moved out of view the FPS hit 18FPS. Dont forgot, i have autogen, scenery, clouds and most of the "visuals" maxed out. I have AF at 8x, AA at 4x and 1280x1024 resolution. After take off the sim remained smooth and fluid. The 2nd thing i noticed was the improvement in graphics. The sim looked considerably better than on my previous computer. All textures are sharp and clear. No blurries anywhere and the autogen looks crystal sharp. The best way i can describe it is that it looks like the pictures Microsoft posted when the sim was coming out, rather than how the sim looked when we ran it on our computers . No jaggies, no blurries, just ultra sharp textures/autogen. Very impressive.I only played around for a little while. I tried a couple of other airports i.e. Miami and the frame rates were better than Heathrow with the same clarity and smoothness.So overall i am quite happy. You might argue that after spending all this money on a new computer i should be seeing alot more. I think i am seeing alot. Much better graphics, more scenery details i.e. autogen set higher and better frame rates with more smoothness. I cant run the sim maxed out but i never expected to. Even then i am not sure its necessary. I was flying past a highway in Miami and there were lots of cars on the freeway (about the same number you would expect on a freeway) and i had road traffic set to only 30%.I have done no tweaking yet and i am sure i can move around the sliders, settings on the GC card etc. to improve things further. Plus i had some stuff running on the computer i.e. net connection, that windows sidebar etc.I will do some more tests. I remember that when i set FPS to unlimited the FPS would shoot up by about 50%. I will try that and see what happens and report on this thread.

[Guest thx1137]

Drop your traffic further then check your framerate!Steven.

[Guest]

AA 2X, AF 2X, vsAF at 8x, AA at 4x that's your improvements in appearance right there, nothing else. sometimes there is a color profile change that could cause visual appearances to shift.:)

[Guest SanH]

HiHave some further updatesI set FPS to unlimited and the frame rate at Heathrow shot up to 19FPS. Dont forget this is with everything (apart from texture res 1m, mesh 70, water 2 medium, traffic 50%) maxed out. The sim is very smooth and looks gorgeous. No blurries. I added some weather (clouds, rain etc.) and it didnt impact frame rates. Held around 18-22FPS on takeoff. This is in the 737 VC mode. If i looked at the buildings during take off the FPS dropped to 16 but still very smooth.I went to my ASUS AISuite program and did a mild overclock and Heathrow on the runway FPS shot up to 25FPS.So getting great frame rates with most scenery settings maxed out. Very happy with that!Also i note with AI SUITE it shows how much load my 4 cores are under. When flying in FSX all 4 cores are at 100% suggesting FSX is using all 4 cores fully even if its not efficently?

[McCrash 3]

Turning the Autogen down should make a big difference.

[rpowers 5]

I just bought almost the identical system except I have WinXP and I am getting pretty much the same results.Very happy.Everything is clear and very smooth except in heavy ares like KSEA with settings high.I have several setting save to use in ddifferent ares but the main differences are in the autogen setting.I go from sparse to very dense.I just added a Hannas-G 28" monitor from BestBuy and so far it is awesome.Ron

[DadJokeCinema 145]

I love hearing about good experiences with it.Amazingly, I took some time out from working on SB4 yesterday and just flew some laps around DC. No particular reason, I was just giving myself some mental rest, but I left FSX in the "dev" setup I have, windowed, no traffic or weather, no autogen, AA turned off, no glitz or anything, and of course it was smooth as silk, even with about a dozen programs running in the background.Of course, it was nowhere near the graphical fidelity that the sim can achieve, but it reminded me something very important that I had forgotten: Flying in FS is fun. Just cruising around can be incredibly rewarding, and I had to force myself to end the flight and get back to work.

[G7USL 117]

These settings http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_fsx_techtips.html have made my 'Nvidea 8800GT' scream along.They make the card do what it's supposed to do.Settings for other cards there too.

[MatthewS 761]

>>I went to my ASUS AISuite program and did a mild overclock and>Heathrow on the runway FPS shot up to 25FPS.>How much did you overclock? Do you stock cooler or did you buy a new one? What are safe temperatures for the cores?

[Guest SanH]

i went from 2.4ghz to 2.53ghz. A very mild overclock i know but when you consider all 4 cores go up in speed then it makes a bigger difference. Ram was over clocked from 800mhz to 838mhz.I am using Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro 7. Its a low price cooler but works very well. I get 32c CPU temp when idle. Around 41c at full load. I believe anywhere below 60c is safe for the dual/quads.