Simviation Forums

Okay, folks - I am impatient.  I admit it.  And failure does not sit well with me.  I must be alone...at least I feel like I am.
I do not consider myself an idiot.  At least, I did not until I started fooling around with computers.
Like many, (and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone who believes they are a weekend warrior closet computer guru like myself) I 'upgraded' my PC to [what I thought would] accomodate FSX; i.e. I spent over $1100 on an Intel C2D E6400, 2GB Corsair DDR2 RAM, Intel (oops - not ASUS) motherboard with 1066Mhz FSB, SATA2 160GB HD, Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT (yes, I realize there are video cards out there that blow that away, but give me a frickin' break!).  Looking at the understated "system requirements" printed on the back of the box, I was convinced that my new [non-alienware] rig was still going to blow me (and FSX) away.  Okay - so I was not aware of the imminent release of Vista and DX10, which, supposedly, will be the magic formula for making FSX work like most reasonable people expect.  Sadly, (at least as far as my pocketbook is concerned) my new video card does not support DX10.
Down to the crux of the matter...
FSX will no longer successfully load on my PC.
And I am pissed.

For the first week after installing FSX on my brand-new 'powerhouse' bank-breaking machine (don't mock me...) the program ran 'fine' - albeit disappointingly as far as frame rates with scenery and autogen sliders set slightly above minimum.  All of the sudden, my attempts to run the program fail.. The splash-screen appears and hangs.  Task Manager reveals that one of my cores is pegged at 100% and the other at 0, while the memory allocation is approx. 140 MB (even though I have 2GB of DDR2 dual-channel physical RAM available).  What the h*ll is happening?  Do I have a hardware issue for which I need to seek warranty replacement or are these 'growing pains' for those of us who rushed out to buy FSX without waiting for enough end-user feedback and the inevitable patches that mayfix some of our issues?

Dont feel bad i just spent $1200 on a new system. Had all kinds of pains putting it togeather but hang in there. after the bad PSU and a Stick of memory. i could not get any games to run on it with out all kinds of errors so i up the Memory Voltage by 0.100 Volts. now it works like a swiss watch. the 140mb page memory is something else. look at your boot up screen to see your memory test(right before you go into bios setup) the 7600 was probly a good choice if your going to wait for DX-10 cards to come out and drop a little in price. also there was a link to a good memory monitor on the FSX fourum some were but im looking for it to lol

Do not be so hard on yourself M$ has never stated system requirements correctly what they put on the box is the absolute minmum needed to run FSX but no where does it or will say that it will run like a fast sports car. And in fairness to M$ a lot of other manufacturers do not state minmum system requirements correct either and it can and is missleading.
As for DX10 goes when it does come out it might be possable to down load a new driver that might support it for your video card.
And as for windows Vista I plan on waiting till they work most of the bugs out

Gary, I'm sorry but I have to take issue with you over this.

Too many people are excusing Microsoft over the min spec shown on the box. What they are doing is IMO totally wrong. It is misleading and designed to encourage people who are not 'in the know' to buy the product under totally false pretences.

We have a Trade Description Act and other legislation here in the UK to protect consumers against misleading and false claims. IMO this falls exactly into this category and hopefully one day a Trading Standards Officer somewhere in the UK will take the appropriate action.

Tell you what, they've done so over far less than this. About time too IMO.

PS

Sorry I can't shed any light on the original problem. The system quoted should have no problem in running FSX IMO even with sliders well up off the bottom. My guess is there's a hardware problem but tracing it is another matter. How does it perform with other software?

Guys the Min Specks are right the freaking game run 15 20 frames no matter what comp its on

Guys the Min Specks are right the freaking game run 15 20 frames no matter what comp its on

im buying myself the nvidia7950dx2 and it does (will) work with dx10 if you think im lying click here[ftp]http://www.nvidia.com/page/technology_vista_gpu.html[/ftp],and yes fsx is kinda forcing us to buy vista.

7950GX2 is not DirectX 10 compatible. You will need a 8800 GTX or GTS if you want DirectX 10 compatability.

im buying myself the nvidia7950dx2 and it does (will) work with dx10 if you think im lying click here[ftp]http://www.nvidia.com/page/technology_vista_gpu.html[/ftp],and yes fsx is kinda forcing us to buy vista.

All that tells me that the 7950GX2 works with a new Direct X: Direct X 9.0L. L is for Longhorn, and as such will only work on Vista. THe whole point of 9.0L is for the aero interface, no other improvments.

[quote] Okay, folks - I am impatient.

So, is it really an issue of the video card?  I mean, is the rest of the hardware I now have ample?  If so, I may be willing to spend a bit more money on a better video card as long as that will do it.  I cannot afford to have this pursuit of reasonable performance from FSX continue much beyond that...

[quote]So, is it really an issue of the video card?

Nick N - you mentioned 3DMark 03/05.  What about 3DMark06?  Any particular reason you suggested 03 or 05?  As it turns out, I completely uninstalled and re-installed FSX (for the third time, actually) and finally got it to run - for now, anyway.  I downloaded and installed 3DMark06 and ran the (limited) free tests.  The score came up around 3400.  I have come to learn that scores in the 6000 range are respectable, and many of those came from running two video cards.  Good grief...I may be able to trade up the FX7600GT, but it appears I may have to sink another $250 to get a decent card.  As long as it stops there...
Anyway, all thoughts and input is appreciated.  I realize there are many new posts, so perhaps some answers lie there as well...

[quote]Nick N - you mentioned 3DMark 03/05.