FU-3 Running Super Under Vista at 3.7 ghz ...

[pastorpilot 0]

My FU-3 Friends...I FINALLLLLLLLY got my new computer going and enjoying FU-3 immensely again. I built it to run FSX... but my never ending passion with FU-3 has been rewarded greatly. I am seeing frame rates in 50's with Chris' San Fran Pack... that's downtown... didn't check beside the bridge. With my old AMD 1800+ chip it would only run in the low teens, if that good, with all of Chris' great models in around San Fran. Obviously, you don't need this power for FU-3... but for FSX it is mandatory for a decent experience.Also, Agtim, if you are reading... my favorite experience of all is your work... and it is simply amazing on a widescreen monitor with these frame rates.I wasn't trying to blow any horn here, but Chris asked me to report back with how FU-3 ran under Vista. Thanks much for all you developers do. What a blessing!!Steve

[Christopher Low 5,353]

That's very good news, Steve. I am considering buying a new PC in the near future, and that would include Windows Vista.Thank you very much for the kind words about the SanFran 2006 pack, but I should mention that the vast majority of those "great models" were built by Jon Point. I was responsible for the preliminary research regarding the locations of hundreds of landmarks, using Jon's models to create a truly awesome collection of scenery packages, and then taking all the credit :-lol

[pastorpilot 0]

Great to hear from you Chris...Well... of course... thanks to Jon as well!!! I really didn't know how you guys worked together and who did what. When the time comes you may want to consider a custom build, depending on your needs. I had a brilliant young builder do mine (because I am pilot savvy, but NOT computer savvy! ;^). He lives locally and sells his creations on E-Bay. Take care!Steve

[Christopher Low 5,353]

I never buy an "off the shelf" PC. I prefer to select each component separately. At the moment, I'm looking at one of those Intel Quadcore CPUs (with fancy Zalman cooler), a GeForce 8800GTS, 2GB 800Mhz DDR2 RAM, and a 700W PSU.By the way, what CPU do you have that runs at 3.7Ghz ?

[pastorpilot 0]

The CPU is an E6700 Core Duo. Native speed is 2.66. It will run faster... but because of the ambient temperature in my upstairs room, I am limited in the summer. Can't wait for cooler weather to accelerate toward 4 ghz. It is liquid cooled with a Koolance Exos-2 system. Very very pleased. Video is an EVGA 8800GTX card. MB is an EVGA 680i board. EXTREMELY easy to overclock. But I understand that the controlers on the MSI 680i board are faster... and one may be able to get more bus speed for less voltage... hence a faster final product. As I'm sure you know... At this moment (who knows about next week ?!? ;^) Intel is king of the hill... maybe AMD wins again in the future. I'm not smart enough to know or interpret all the tech stuff. But I CAN read the forums ;^)By all means go quad core. They are getting cheaper all the time. I couldn't afford it when I started (end of March) The ONLY problem is that FU-3 is not written for multi-threading. So only one core will work. FSX was not written for it either, but they released Service Pack 1 and now both cores or 4 or 8 (if you have them) work great. Don't know if any of your race sims are written for multi threading or not?

[Christopher Low 5,353]

I would be buying a quadcore CPU for the FUTURE, not the past ;-) Since FU3 appears to work with Windows Vista, I am unlikely to suffer any problems. After all, just ONE of those four cores would easily be powerful enough to run FU3 smoothly.With respect to your new PC....a 2.66Ghz CPU running at 3.7Ghz ?!! :-eek

[pastorpilot 0]

Yes... you would be future proofing yourself some with a quad. Not too many games are written yet to take full advantage of it... and even FEWER to take advantage of DX-10 which will be released on FSX this fall. I'm hoping not to change from the bottom up for a long time. The 680i will accept up to the fastest quad now available. Say in a couple of years when the $1000 Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 is less than half, I can add that plus put another 8800GTX in SLI mode (the 680i board is set up for SLI). It would be like a a new computer in performance for maybe 30-40% of what this one cost to build. So you really ARE future proofing yourself (more than possible in past years)with a 680i MB from one of the manufacturers, with an extra PCI express slot for another video card in the future.Thanks for your concern for the computer. Actually I am running only 1.4 volts on the FSB (1.5 allowed) and I am undervoltage on my core. Also the max temperature of the core should probably be around 65 deg C. At 3.7 Ghz with liquid cooling, I have NEVER seen the temperature peak above 60 and usually run about 53-56. So there is still some room left. These Core 2 Duo's are amazing in their overclocking space. So much so, that NVidia (the mb chipset manufacturer)has a wonderful official manual they publish to explain how to effectively overclock the Core 2 safely with their chipset and BIOS. Complete with photos of the BIOS. When the time comes, you are in for lots of fun, Chris. I have surely enjoyed it.Its amazing, what with all of the beauty of FSX, incredible weather, awesome scenery, and mediocre flight models... how the lure and romance of FU-3 never goes away. IN fact, I am sitting here typing with my FU-3 T-Shirt that LookingGlass sent me when I was a beta tester. The Beechjet still looks good on my back after many washings. ;^) And by the way, my MOST relaxing flying of all is done in Agtim's homeland scenery... NOTHING bar none beats that for pristine beauty the way God created it, in my opinion.Have a great day!Steve