FSX SP" out now...

[DaveB]

Hi Paul,

I have to confess that it ran better than I'd expected too but it was dire without SP1.. especially with GenX. SP1 changed quite a few things which meant more visuals to see but GenX was still very much a no-no and the hideous Vsync poo was a little worse if anything. SP2 has, in one go, binned the GenX issue (though how god and M$ only know) which means I no longer have to suffer Tuscany scenery over the UK As mentioned before.. the little vSync 'shudder' is still there but less pronounced.

System spec..
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe (nforce2)
AMD Athlon XP3200+ (non 64-bit)
2 x sata drives (1x160 sata1, 1x500 sata2 pinned back to sata1 speed)
3gig DDR333 (crucial recommended slower ram on this board for the sake of stability though it will run DDR400)
6800GT 256mb
onboard sound (nvidia)
19" Hansol CRT + 17" Neovo F-417 TFT
WinXP SP2

I think that's about it mate I honestly couldn't say if 3gig is better than 2gig (one would presume so but that's not always a good thing to do.. crucial recommended 3gig btw). FS9 still takes 4 days and a walk around the block before it fires up.. FSX is noticably faster :o I'd be wrong to advise you to go out and buy it only for you to be disappointed but for me at least, FSX SP2 seems to have crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's that were previously left uncrossed and dotted. Don't be put off by framerates as these were meaningless between FS2002 and FS2004 and nothing has changed between FS9 and FSX. A steady 29-30 in FSX is very much equal to double that in FS9 and as long as you don't get the dreaded stutters that have afflicted so many (me included in the past) you'll find it'll run as well as FS9 even on poo-end-spec pc's like ours ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Chris Sykes]

Well as an already existing SP2 Acceleration user, welcome to the Dark Side my friends! I definatly saw an improvement when i put the Acceleration pack on.

[Paul K]

Thanks Dave, it seems the crucial difference between us is the RAM; your 3 gig against my paltry 1. No matter, I shall revert to plan A, which is to get FSX at the same time I upgrade my entire system, around next summer. Cheers matey!

[DaveB]

You're very welcome ;-)

I'm no expert in the field but I get a distinct feeling that 2gig is good for FSX. Now, whether that's 2gig and WinXP or 2gig and Vista (odd's on fave 2gig and Vista - which'll eat 1gig with little help on its own) so if you're running an XP/FS9 combination and no problemo's, can you justify however much it'd cost to put the extra gig AND buy FSX :think: If you're gonna update the entire system in the not too distant.. I'd tend to do as you've already suggested.. that is to wait ;-) This said.. if you're reluctant (like me) to update what is to all intents a perfectly good system, then my setup proves that acceptible performance can be had in FSX with all the patches installed and sufficient RAM.

Funny you know.. I was keen to get my hands on Call of Duty4 recently and very nearly added to basket. Just prior to hitting the 'Gotcha' button, I decided to check system requirements. Oh dear :-( Our systems don't even hit 'minimum spec' mate :o :o

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Paul K]

Call of Duty, eh ? I never had you pegged as an FPS player Dave...but then again you probably never thought I owned MOH:AA, the original Call of Duty and Operation Flashpoint ! They are fun, I must say, particularly online multiplayer.

Yep, I'll stick with my original system upgrade plans, because in addition to FSX, there's Oleg Maddox's new combat flight sim in the pipeline. Cant really justify spending money on this box, faithful old thing that it is. ;-)

[DaveB]

Yes.. it's true. I find a completely different alternative to FS very refreshing at times and the CoD series have filled the bill in recent years. I have MOH.PA and wasn't very impressed on one mission where the rear gunner has to crawl into the front of the aircraft and do a bombing sortie against the Imp Japanese Fleet (vice pilot who has mysteriously been killed/disappeared). It was fine up to that point and reasonably ok after but that one, single mission was a complete load of doo :roll:

Every now and again.. you've just gotta go and shoot the sh1t out of something and oddly enough, Combat sims don't do it for me. FPS definately does ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Chris Sykes]

Im using 4x 512 RAM on my system and seems good enough for FSX (XP with FSX-SP2) Well then, im not the only one who finds running around on multiplayer FSP entertaining then! My cup of tea is either BF2, SWAT 4 TSS and Counter Strike Source.

[perob]

perob. are all of you on xp or vista.

[TSR2]

Vista x64 here

[Sl4yer]

I had that tearing problem but fixed it by setting my frame lock to a clean division of my screen refresh rate.

My TFT is running 1920x1200 @ 60hz so i locked it at 30 fps and it's fine now.

hope this is of use.

Hi Rick.

I've tried that, and no joy. I've tried pretty much everything come to think of it. The only thing I haven't tried is putting Vista in the dustbin, and I think that time is getting pretty close now!

Thanks for trying to help.

James