Garfieldthecat

MSI Lightning (and the Lightning XE if you want 3Gb VRAM) and ASUS Matrix Platinum are two more great 580's with 16 phase power and custom cooling that can hit/break 1000MHz if you get a good chip. More choices is always a good thing!

I can only comment on the warthog, but that gets my vote. Just got one, and love it. Seem to be different styke sticks you picked though, isn't the logitech FF? And the Saitek the "no movement" force sensing? The WH is more of a conventional joystick (at least for movement) All three are very different i would guess, but again, I've only used the Warthog.

Well, it arrived early! My first impression, is wow, this thing is big and heavy! Certainly heavier then my cougar. The throttle is HUGE, but the travel is so smooth, much better then my Cougar. Joystick handle is similar, feels good. I think it is even smoother then my (Evenstrain modded) Cougar. There is a detent at the center of the joystick which my cougar doesn't really have, but while my evenstrain cougar increased it resistance as you moved further away, the Warthog has a nice consistent smooth resistance. The WH resistance is firmer the the evenstrain around the center, but at the extreme limits, the WH feels like it is lower resistance then my cougar. Hope I explained that well enough. Certainly it feels great, have to play around with the sensitivity settings to see what works best. Hap a real problem at first, i plugged in the warthog and my new saitek pedals, and started up a flight, and promptly went in circles on the ground! Turns out all the axes were set wrong, so my throttle was mapped as my rudder (??!!??). Had to delete and reassign all control axes, then everything worked fine. Haven't even tried the TARGET software to program yet, just wanted to see how ti felt!

Well, if no one else replies, I just ordered one, and it should be here by Friday for me to use over Labor day weekend. I can post about what i think when I get it.

I have not been able to get it to work, but plenty of others have it working without problems, so I don't know if I am doing something wrong, or my motherboard's USB ports are quirky. You need to d/l the latest 64-bit Vista driver from Thrustmaster (it includes foxy in the d/l), and then run it in compatibility mode as Vista SP2 and then run it as administrator. Also, don't use the default file location in "Program Files", install it to another directory like Games\HOTAS or something. I've done all of this, and can sometimes get it working for a short period, then it won't be recogninzed. But plugging it into my XP box, CCP always sees and can calibrate and d/l settings without a problem. I am leaning to a weird motherboard problem, but can't prove that.

Hehehe....I know, I'd still be using my Cougar if I could get it to work, and that lasted 6 or 7 years I think (can't remember when I got it). Just got to get it past the wife!

Well, I splurged and ordered the Warthog and Saitek combat pedals, since my old pedals are not USB. I have no willpower, sigh!

Thanks for detailed response! I have a modded Cougar, but since my upgrade to Win7-64bit I can't get it working. Runs fine on a WinXP box, so I know it isn't the Cougar that is the problem. So I was thinking of getting the Warthog, but wanted to make sure it was OK for GA flying. And I am like you, realism isn't as important as control and ability to map function to all the buttons. My Cougar is great (it's an evenstrain mod), but I never flew a F-16 in FSX!

If I may ask Alan_A and Virtualwombat, what do you fly with the Warthog? Light GA, combat jets, big iron boeings? Thinking of getting one, but wanted to make sure it would be good with small/light singles and twins in FSX. I know it will be great for DCS A-10

Yup, you're right. I found this page that explains the differences. Didn't know the differences with 64-bit OS's. My 64-bit knowledge is pretty thin. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx#memory_limits Well, that is the windows limit, but not the physical limit. A 64-bit OS could be done that could address all 2^64 (is that like 2000 terabytes or something?). Microsoft artificially reduces the amount so people have to pay more money for the more expensive windows versions

To go a little further to explain the numbers, a 32-bit OS can only access 2^32 bytes, which comes out to the 4Gig max RAM value. Without some sneaky hacks, that is the limit of RAM that you can use. But the top 1Gig of that 4Gig range is reserved for system use, such as I/O registers and video card mapping. That is why if you have 4 gig of physical RAM in a motherboard, the OS will only recognize 3Gig of it, since the top 1Gig is reserved. All 32-bit programs (such as FSX, IE, Office, etc....) also can only use 3Gig RAM. Without the /3gig switch, actually each 32-bit program can only use 2Gig of RAM. Only programs compiled with the /3gig option have access to 3Gig of RAM. EDIT: Looks like I was a bit wrong. In a 64-bit OS, 32-bit programs can use 4Gig RAM with the /3gig switch set. In a 32-bit OS, they can only use 3Gig. Learn something new everyday! But a 64-bit OS can access 2^64 bytes, which is a really large number I can't remember :) . But at the top of that range, there is a reserved section for I/O and Video memory, it is just that we cannot stack enough RAM to hit that limit. So if you put in 4 or 8gig of physical RAM, a 64-bit OS will see all of it, and can use it. And that is why a 64-bit OS is so great, since with an 8gig RAM system, you can have two 32-bit programs running in Windows, each with a full 3Gig of physical RAM allocated to it, and still have 2gig of RAM for the OS itself, without having to swap to disk or anything. Note that this is from memory, and for x86 CPU's running Windows. Server OS's can use PAE (sneaky hack) to access more RAM, and I think OSX and Linux can, but I don't know much about them. But for running XP or Win7, this is pretty accurate.

@ironmaiden Thanks for the Carenado options. So Carenado has pretty good flight models for their planes? I thought (and could be wrong, or things could have changed in the past 5 years) that Carenado's overall reputation was a little lower then Dreamfleet, FSD, Flight1, and some others back then. (and I don't mean to start a flame war or anything). Without opening a huge can of worms, since everyone has different opinions, but what are the top-level companies now? I would guess at least Realair, Flight1, Easglesoft, FSD? So Carenado is up there now too? Thx. Their PNW scenery does look great, but they don't have the Southeast US yet, bummer. Do you think it is better then FSGenesis, or pretty close? I have heard about REX (and GEX too!) and probably will get them sooner or later.

So that detent isn't that bothersome? That is probably the only worry I have about it.

Coming back to FSX flying after a fwe years off, and am looking to get a yoke for flying. I used to use my Thrustmaster Cougar for both military and FS200/2004 back when I used FS, but would like to move to a yoke for flying in FSX, and keep the Cougar for military sims/games. Looks like the only two options are the Saitek pro flight system and the CH Eclipse.Both seem to get generally good reviews, with some problems. Saitek seems to have that detent that some people hate, is it really that bad? I'll look at stores locally, but I probably won't be able to do a "hands on" test at a store. CH can be a little grabby, but fixed with a light lubricant. Any strong feeling about which one to get? Any other options (PFC is a bit expensive, so they are out)? One question about the throttles, I take it if you either use the integrated throttle on the CH, or the one throttle quadrant with saitek, you can just use the one lever for both/all engines when flying multi-engine planes, right? Adding multiple throttles or just lets you give each engine it's own lever right? Is that really a big deal? Was I missing out when I had my single-throttle Cougar? If it helps, I'll probably be flying mostly GA light singles up to a twin turboprop, I'm really not that into the big iron, at least not yet. That seems to be more FMC programming instead of real flying. (don't mean to start a flame war)

After a several year break from virtual flying in FS-land, I'm coming back Last I flew was in the FS2004 days, so I am not up to speed on all the new FSX addons and new payware planes. When I last flew, I had the original Ultimate traffic, some FSgenesis meshes, and various FSD, dreamfleet, flight1 and other planes, etc, etc, etc. But things have obviously changed over the years, so would like some advice on a few new planes for FSX. For a basic single engine, I used to fly the dreamfleet archer or the flight1 C172. What is a good equivalent for FSX now? For a slightly faster single, I loved the FSD commander in FS2000, what is the best Commander nowadays? The updated FSD or Carenado? Or is there another plane with similar specs that is great? I have read about the lancair, that certainly seems like it would be a fast single engine GA plane! And lastly, a light twin? I had the FSD Seneca, is that still good, or something else? I have seen all the glowing reviews on the Duke (normal and turbine), that seems a step up from a seneca. I'll probably eventually be adding UT2, new meshes, and other scenery addons, but the planes come first! Thanks!