Pushing the edge of technology

[ceechow]

We all know that when a new micsoft flight or combat sim comes out,that the sim pushes the edge of technology and we usualy all upgrade our machines.We want all the goodies to be turned on and have good FPS. I built my new SLi rig with this in mind. Now I am wondering if maybe my computer will be at the low end to use this sim. Is a new(4 months old) with,two,6800GTand 2GB of duel channel DDR RAM going to be enough?I am really having my doubts after seeing this. Let me know what you all think.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28569.html

[dandee]

That should be a good set up. I have a 3.6Ghz Intel 660 processor, ATI X1800XT video card and 2 Gb of DDR ram and I don't plan on updating anytime soon.

[hey_moe]

Well I might be wrong here but MS wants to sell there product and if they make it so advance that most puters need to be updated or replaced to operate there program there sales won't be what they expected. It's to soon to guess or even wonder what ya need. As we add programs to our FS9 now it gets slower and slower. My bet is they will put what specs ya have to have which is usally bear min. and from there the faster and better ya want the program ya just add on. I don't think you can ever build a puter fast enough in this day and time. A month later something faster comes out:isadizzy:

[ceechow]

I flew FS98 and CFS1 on an AMD 500Mhz PIII and flew FS2002 on it for a while(with all the settings on low)then I upgraded to a PIV 1.3 and an ATI Vid card with 128MB of ram. I had no problem with fs2002 and CFS2.Then I got CSF3 and later,FS2004. I could fly both of these on my computer but with settings low to medium. I now have this SLI rig and both CFS3 and 2004 can be flown at max settings with AA runing and vid card set to quality. So,IMHO,if the trend to "push the edge"continues,I think those of us who just upgraded will be able to fly the new sim with what we have...However,we will be using "Low to medium setting". And for those of you who havn't upgraded all of their equipment you may well be left in dust,the way the PIII users were,when CFS3 came out. All in all I do not think this is a bad thing.Upgrade your computer to sim. and everything you do on and off line is better.Applications run better...etc. Case in point,I got USB2 so my joystick would work a little faster in CFS3 to give me a little edge.(Didn't notice any difference..lol)The added benefit was that my scanner and cameras loaded faster and just worked better. So upgrading to fly the latest and greatest from Microsoft will be a positive event...The negitive side is:Most of us don't have bank accounts like Bill Gates:costumes:

[Azagoth]

I have :-

Athlon64 3200+ 'Venice' @ 2.1GHz
ASUS A8N-SLi nForce4
2GB PC3200 (running in dual channel)
ASUS 'Extreme' 6600GT 256MB DDR3 PCI-e

That rig plays Battlefield 2 and Special Forces without a skip at 1280x960x32 and with most settings at maximum. I believe I have dynamic lights at medium, but I haven't tried pushing them to full yet. Hopefully, it'll also be able to run FSX with some sense of graphical delight.

I always say, if you can run BF2 at high settings then you'll be able to run everything fine. Well, except F.E.A.R. that is. Mainly because of it's poor coding.

However, I'm toying with dropping in either a BFG 7800GTX OC 512MB or 2 x XFX 6800GS Extreme 256MB cards. I just haven't decided yet.

[Wulf190]

Well I am curreently running

AMD 64 3200+ at 2.0 GHS at 1.40v
ASUS A8N-E MoBo with current bios version 1010
Windows XP pro 32 bit with all current updates
1GB PC3200 Corsair Ram dual channel running 2.5 3 3 8 timings
nVidia Gigabyte 6600GT 128 PCI-e video card running 81.98 drivers with AA set to 2X and AF set to 4X.

Over all I get excelent performance. The only drop I have seen is when every I fly around New York New York usally taking off from KJFK. Then my rate will usally drop down to about 26 FPS sometimes, and thats when I am flying the FDG2 P-40 from the VC with it set to about .31. I also have FS9 set to high on all settings and frames locked at 35 FPS. My rig runs CFS2 flawlessly with about 167FPS in the VC of my aircraft I fly, and it runs IL2 FB+AEP+PF with out a glitch. Reason I have AA and AF set to where I do is because I really don't notice a huge difference visually with anything else above those levels, except for the fact that it chews up my frame rates. So why use higher settings when I don't have to.

In about 6 months I will probibly end up adding another gig to my current set up, and possibly upgrading my video card, not the a 6600GT is a slouch.

Now AZ, I'd say got for the 7800GTX 512MB. I haven't seen one avalible, but i can tell you that you will get better performance out fo that one card then you would two 6800GS in SLI. I also have to say your lucky to get 2.1GHS with your processor right outa the box!

[ceechow]

I have my BF2 and Special forces with everything set on max with AA but I stoped playing it because of the hacks. FS2004,I have everything maxed out.My FPS drops off around NY and LA too but only to around 26FPS. which is very good in my book. I can also run CFS3 and OFF at max with very playable FPS. BTW both of my EVGA 6800GT's have 256 MBs of DDR3.

[Azagoth]

Now AZ, I'd say got for the 7800GTX 512MB. I haven't seen one avalible, but i can tell you that you will get better performance out fo that one card then you would two 6800GS in SLI. I also have to say your lucky to get 2.1GHS with your processor right outa the box!

Wulf,

Here's the 7800 I was thinking about, the third one down.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7800__Series.html

That place is only 5 minutes up the road from me, so I could just drive up and get it after pre-ordering it. Although that one card alone is £100 more expensive than geting the two 6800GS ones

As for the CPU, yep it was a surprise to me too, ah well I guess I'll have to live with and suffer it:costumes:

[Roger]

"Pushing the edge of"...my wallet:kilroy:

[Henry]

"Pushing the edge of"...my wallet:kilroy:
ah youre a cheepscate:wiggle: :wiggle:
that version of fs2:costumes: will work a lot better
if ya upgraded
fs10 may be a good one also
LOL
H
how do ya get fs9 to work in windows 1.1:d