TIME TO DECIDE FSX OR NOT WITH UPDATED HW

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

No less a person than Pete Dowson said it to me so who am I to contradict? He's reporting a boost of 40-50% in DX10 mode with Vista-64.

[John_Mc 8]

I left the FS Hobby for about a year and returned with a new rig with the following specs:Dell XPS 710Windows Media Centre 32 bit SP3Intel E6600 Quad Core 2.53GHZ (unsure of FSB)2GB RAM500GB HDNvidia 8800 GTX 768mbI decided to install FS X rather than FS9 and don't regret it except for the fact that the PMDG 737NG is no longer available to me.I have only run the LDS 767, Wilco A320 Series 1 and more recently, the PMDG MD11.Other Addons complimenting this are Activesky X, Squawkbox 4 and FS2CREW LDS 767.Performance for me has been more than satisfactory, albeit with mostly default scenery. This is ok for me given that the default scenery is actually pretty useable. I do own London Heathrow addon scenery and never really notice that much of an impact with it.I fly mostly from the Virtual Cockpit and the improvements in graphics & effects make for a much more enjoyable experience than FS9.I'd recommend you try FS X out. I'm happy that I have.

[virtualstuff 758]

>First time I've heard of a "substantial fps boost" with>DX10..>>;-)On my current rig DX10 is faster as DX9 ;-)Cheers,http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

FS9 for IFR flying and the big cities and FSX for VFR flying in the boonies for me.Gary

[tfm 169]

I have a similar agenda to yours. I've really blitzed this over the last few weeks so I'll try to pull together a few tips based on my experience.It is absolutley critical to get your hardware fine-tuned. It is not just about de-fragging your HD, though of course this sort of thing is important. Do not assume - as I did initially - that things like RAM timings and speeds are of little importance. Try the hardware forum here on Avsim, but there are also other good places around. Nick_N knows his stuff and is generous with his time. Here are a couple of links to show you what you might be in for:http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1224240402http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1224509329http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=28244http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1223693603Provided you can get your kit to work with the CPU at 4GHz+ AND singing along nicely with the other components in your PC, especially the RAM, then the goodies that can bring lesser PCs to their knees should be within your grasp, including:1) Anything for FSX from the Level-D and PMDG stables (A quick run-down: the Level-D 767X is absolutely first class and gives good performance but is just beginning to show its age (it was not re-written from the ground-up for FSX so some parts of the VC look a bit flat). The PMDG 747X is also absolutely first class but it is a real performance hog and it has fewer nice touches IMHO than the 767X (for example, no nice speed or flap call-outs from the 1st officer). The PMDG MD-11 gives the best of both worlds, IMHO, as well as taking things to a new level in some respects; and it has just stolen top-spot for me from the Level-D 767. However, the MD-11 has quite a big problem with the legibility of the fonts in the VC at the moment which PMDG have promised to fix in a service update, so if this one tickles your fancy you might wait a while to see what happens);2) Activesky X for good weather and, in particular, good skies (set it up to deliver 15+ layers of clouds and you'll see what I mean - but don't try this unless you've got the hardware right first, or you'll get a slideshow in weather of any complexity);3) Flight Environment X (needed for best results from Activeskey X - though there's no need, IMHO, to bother with the enormous textures they've started to promote. Personally I think they're heading in the wrong direction with that idea and they seem to have ground to a halt with their promise of a weather engine, but nevertheless the basic product makes a huge improvement to the skies);4) Ground Environment X (USA version is already out; European version is under development. This product gives a much more plausible and pleasing simulation of the ground than the default scenery, including by using some clever techniques to give a 3-D look to the textures. What's more, this product seems to be less dependent than others on fine-tuning the PC);5) Ultimate Terrain X for Europe (don't know about the USA version, but with the European version you get much better use of the ground textures and, most significantly IMHO, incredible dawn/dusk/night lighting - although the lighting inflicts a big performance hit and is strictly for fast PCs: this is one of those areas where I've found that every extra cycle of CPU speed counts);6) The Megascenery airports (I have Heathrow 2008X and Frankfurt 2008X: both are really eye-popping but, again, for reasonable framerates in all weather conditions they are really the preserve of well-balanced, top-end PCs);7) FlyTampa's Hong Kong scenery (this, IMHO, is the definitive local scenery add-on for a well-balanced, top-end PC; and it is well enough written to be quite forgiving of more modest machines as well. You have the option to install using "strict" compliance with the latest FSX SDK - for incredible detail and framerates; or with looser compliance, which is identical but cripples performance in exchange for slightly more tyre marks etc on the ground textures at the airport. It's a no-brainer for me: use the strict compliance mode and you've got another eye-popper);8) MyTraffic X (version 5.1b has given me pretty good results. Version 5.2 has just been released and the product now seems to be reaching maturity. Again, though, for best results you'll have to get your PC nicely tuned up);9) The RIGHT VERSIONS of FSInn and FSCopilot (for flying with Vatsim. I know this one is contentious; but if you read the FAQs first and install it properly, you should have little trouble with it. IMHO this is one of the most under-rated applications around, partly no doubt because the manual is not very well written and sometimes online support is - how shall I put it? - idiosyncratic. But then it's FREE and when you've got it working, it's great. Others like the new Squawkbox 4.0 beta - but personally I don't see the attraction: you need separate software just to get it to assign a joystick button to work the microphone: bizarre, IMHO).TimPS: Now that SP1 is available and drivers and more mature, Vista 64 is definitely the right way to go IMHO, particularly as you have 4Gb of RAM. Two tips, though: (1) install FSX into a directory OUTSIDE the default Program Files folder: this will minimise UAC problems; and (2) run FSX itself and all other FSX-related add-ons and applications as an Administrator.