jamiee

You pretty much have to validate it. If you don't, after the grace period Windows will cease to function.

Have you tried re-scanning in Windows SAFE MODE ?Sometimes virus scanners can't properly get rid of everything while running in regular Windows.

The weak link in your system looks to indeed be that X600.Ati makes great cards but the X600 series is a more budget minded solution that probably doesn't have the performance your looking for.If you have the $$, look more towards the X800 or X850 line.I have an X800XT & it handles very well in FS9.Just keep in mind that even the best PC's out there right now can still be brought to their knees w/ flight sim if you have the right combination of scenery, AI, weather, & aircraft all @ the same time.

A good quality LCD should be fine for most needs.I have a Samsung 213T 21" (1600x1200 native res.) & it's lovely.Theirs also the 243T 24" version out that has a higher native resolution.BTW, FS9 looks stellar w/ the 213T :)

Yeah I have a 213T as well. It really is a beautiful screen.I've found many other LCD's to have a "washed out" apperance to them whereas the 213T has very vivid warm colours. FS9 looks stunning on it!

What's your system setup?The reason I ask is because some motherboard/Audigy combinations have been known to cause audio issues.Have you tried your Audigy in another PCI slot, or tried adjusting your latency timings?If none of the above work's & your keen on sticking w/ Creative cards then you might try out one of the Audigy 2 series. There's been alot less reports of crackling & general audio issues w/ them. Just make sure you do a good cleanout of the current drivers/software you have installed for your Audigy Gamer before you install any new card.If your not a hardcore gamer & really enjoy music & movie watching on your PC there's other soundcard options out there you might consider trying out. "Audiotrack" has some nice cards out on the market as does "M-Audio" w/ their Revolution 5.1 & 7.1 products. All are reasonably priced & are nicer sounding cards than the Audigy's, but keep in mind they don't have hardware acceleration which means in games your CPU will have to work a little harder. If you have a fast system I doubt you'll really notice, but on a slower one you might.I personally have an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 & it work's great. I've owned Audigy's in the past and never had any real problems w/ them but the Revolution seem's to cater to my needs better in that it's a more musical card & also handles the occasional game I throw @ it without issue.I have my PC hooked up to a surround sound receiver which I'll post a pic below.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/102416.jpg

Yeah the new clip design for the Ath64's is much like that of the ones for the P4's. (In otherwords, very simple).I still have nightmares about trying to clip on HSF's onto the AthlonXP's. There's just something about having to use a screwdriver & that much force that never seem'd quite right to me :)

Yup, snaping the HSF on the Athlon64's is a very easy process.Just read the instruction sheet (included w/ retail box CPU's) before you do it & you'll have it on in no time. Some 3rd party HSF's may be a little more complicated to attatch due to a few more steps being required, but they too should still be fairly easy to attach.

You can get the X800XT in either AGP or PCI-E :)

"The PCI-e 6800U blows the 5950 away, especially with SLI."Not in FS9 it won't. From everything I've been reading FS2004 isn't compatible w/ SLI & as a result you'll actually lose alot of performance when running in SLI mode. Now that said, a single 6800 Ultra should easily run over a 5950 providing the rest of the system is strong enough to back it up.I personally went the X800XT route for it's better D3D performance & this does give it a slight edge over the 6800 series in FS2004. If I played more Open GL games, I may have looked @ the 6800 Ultra instead.Cheers.

I can add another testiment to the 213T as I bought one about 3 weeks ago. It really is quite a beauty & handles Flight Sim far better than I had expected. Infact I feel it has a better image quality than my Samsung 900NF CRT (& that's a good quality CRT).I was hesitent making the move to LCD, but now that I have the 213T I don't regret it one bit :)

"An LCD monitor at 60 Hz produces a rock stable image with absolutely no flicker."I'll 2nd that :)My Samsung 213T 21.3"(Just got it last weekend) has a native res of 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. It's flicker free & look's beautiful.

The Athlon XP & 64 are not the same processor clock for clock.The 64 is an all around improved part & the 939 pin socket should be sticking around for a while which lends to some future upgradeability.As for gaming performance...well let's just say its common knowledge that the Athlon 64 run's all over the equivelent speed Intel P4. This can't be said for the Athlon XP.I had an Athlon XP 2800+ (overclocked to 3400+ speed) & I can honestly say that my new Athlon 64 3500+ @ stock setting's is a faster more robust beast. W/ FS9 it isn't that I notice improved framerates so much as the sim just runs alot smooter for that given framerate. Now that I've added a new video card, some high quality PC3700 RAM & cranked up the settings a little, this system just flies!

UPDATE.................Thanx for the suggestions guys :)I'm still in limbo w/ respect to which gfx card to get tho I'm almost sure I'll end up w/ an ATI. Tho the 6800's do look good to, spite the new found hardware video acceleration flaw w/ them I have however bought a new case & DVD/RW !The case is the Cooler Master CAV-T01 w/ side panel window:http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=e...01+Cavalier%201& the DVD/RW is none other than the Pioneer DVR-108.Cheers.

Another thing to try is changing which drive is master & the other slave. Make sure the jumpers on the drive are set properly.BTW, I just got a DVR-108 on the weekend & it installed without a hitch.I have it setup as slave & my other (faster) 16x DVD ROM drive as master on the secondary IDE channel.

You know I have a 9800PRO & I get that same FSAA problem as you. It's been annoying the heck out of me for the past year or so. I've gone throught two different system setups since it started & two graphic cards (both ATI) yet the problem persistes. It seems to me like certain panel vs. sounds vs. aircraft models cause the problem. Sometime I find just switching from 2D cockpit view to an external view triggers the issue.I'm dissapointed to hear it's happening w/ the 6800 Ultra too as this may be my next card. If not, it'll be the X800XT PE.BTW, what's your system specs?The reason I ask is because you need a strong backbone to support the 6800 Ultra. If you have a slower processor & memory subsystem the 6800 simply won't run to it's fullest potential & may not perform all that much better than your 9800 PRO. Flight Sim has alway's been more of a CPU hog.

Hey folks,Well I just finished (almost anyway) giving my system a bit of an upgrade over the last week & there's only a couple of thing's left on my list that I need to completly finish this machine off. 1st is a new case, 2nd a DVD-RW & most importantly a new video card.Here's my system to date:OS =..........WinXP PROMotherboard =.ASUS A8V Deluxe Rev. 2.0Processor =...AMD Athlon64 3500+ (939 pin)Memory =......OCZ PC3700 (DDR466Mhz) 512MB x 2 Rev. 2 "EL Gold Edition"Video Card =..ATI AIW-Radeon 9800 Pro (To be replaced)SATA HD =.....Maxtor 80Gb x 2 (160Gb Total)IDE HD =......Maxtor 160Gb x2 (320Gb Total)DVD ROM =.....Pioneer 16xCD/RW =.......LiteOn 48x12x48x (To be replaced w/ DVD-RW)Floppy =......Fujitsu 1.44 floppy/6-in-1 media card readerSound Card =..M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Monitor =.....Samsung SyncMaster 900NF 19"Case =........Antec 1080 (To be replaced)-----------Audio Setup-----------Receiver =.......Yamaha RX-V1400 (110W/ch) 7.1 w/ YPAOFront Speak =....Dahlquist QX8 TowersCtr Speak =......Dahlquist QX50C Center ChannelSurr Speak =.....Dahlquist QX6 BookshelfsCtr Surr Speak =.Dhalquist QX5 BookshelfsSubwoofer =......Infinity PS12 12"Now seeing my system, what do you guy's recommend for the video card?I've narrowed it down between ATI's X800XT(PE) & nVidia's 6800 Ultra.I know some people in ATI & if they ever release their own branded X800XT, I can get a heavy discount on it. (40%-50% likely). However, that being said; I've been waiting quite a while & there's still no word if ATI will release their own. I'm getting a little antsy as my 9800 Pro isn't quite cutting it anymore. So I may just go out & pay full ball on one of these cards. The problem is which one?From what I've been reading the X800XT is a better D3D card while the 6800 Ultra handles OGL games better. But what about image quality? Especially in FS9. Does the X800XT have the same problem w/ FSAA on aircraft textures that the 98xx series had?Both are excellent fast cards & I know I can't really loose getting either one, but I would certainly like to spend my money wisely & get the card that is going to give me the best overall experience. Thanx all :)

There's little doubt that the Athlon 64 is the way to go right now. & the good part is that the 939 pin core will be sticking around for a bit which will allow for future processor upgrades on that platform. The Athlon 64 has also proven itself to me a gaming monster outpacing Intel's best by a good margin in most gaming tests. The Intel's tho are still somewhat better @ pure number crunching, video editiong,& audio compression. Well atleast in 32bit Windows anyway. In 64bit the Athlon seems to improve quite a bit & gives Intel an even greater challenge.

Yeah I always go to the point of purchace. Sometimes you luck out on daily deals & such.As for stability, Yeah I usually run Prime for a bit & just check the system out overall. Get all the drivers installed along w/ any programs the client may want on the system.

I do, but not as a job per say.Sometimes a neighbor or family friend will call up needing tech help w/ their system & they sometimes pay but in most cases I don't ask for it.I've also built several systems for people in which I consult w/ them & design a system around their needs & budget. We then go out shopping for the components & I put the system togther & perform initial stability testing.Ofcourse I also build my own personal systems :)

Considering the distortion doesn't cover the whole screen that pretty much rules out a hardware issue.Since you said this only started happening after a driver upgrade, I'd go back to the ones you used before or try the newer 4.7 beta that's floating around. Or as suggested above; give Omegadriver a shot. His ATI drivers are generally pretty good.

Great scenery guy's :)You've done my hometown proud.How far north is the scenery supposed to go? From what I'm getting it fall's just south of the 401 @ the 404/DVP (which means my house is missing by a few km's). Oh well :)

Lol, that's funny :)I think it might just be your problem as CYYZ is placed properly in FS2004 for me.

I concur that the 4.3 drivers are visually better. many people say they don't see a difference from the drivers before, but I do find that odd because I've noticed quite an improvement particularly in the shimmering of ground textures. Especially trees; they no longer shimmer @ all.A little tweaking in the FS9 CFG does the rest to sharpen things up.

I've done many CPU upgrades & have never had to re-install windows afterwards.Now a new motherboard is usually another story.....