Simviation Forums

Just got FSX, and am a new member. first post!
Anyway, my computer exceeds the minimum requirements, and still FSX does not run well at all.
I am not a super-hacker so I don't really know a great deal about sims, but i have used FS2004 and 2000 with great success.
We have a NVIDIA geforce FX5600 card, 512 MB of RAM Pentuim (R) 4CPU, 23.8 GB of space.
I have tried emailing Microsoft, and they gave me a number of suggestions, none of which work. I have uninstalled it now, and will re-install soon.
The game takes about 5 minutes to launch from teh desktop, and is jerky and slow on the menu. It then takes about 8 minutes to load a flight. The performance is terrible, with huge hangs and jerks. Performce improves somewhat when the graphics settings are lowered, but I don't want to play with bad graphics, I want the best, FSX graphics.
I have run out of things to try.
HELP!

A trip to Newegg with about $2500 to spend will help a lot.
Seriously, your system is not going to allow you very much in the GFX department. You will need to lower nearly everything.

There are a number of tweaks you can try. Just look at the stickies here and/or search for fsx tweak guides. But I feel you are expecting too much from your machine. However, it is possible to find a reasonable mix of gfx vs performance.

The least you can do is buying a Gigabyte of Ram, but that won't help you much.

As Formula1 said, you won't get around buying a new PC.

So you think my system is not really the best for FSX... what kind of system are you running? What aspects of my PC do you think are lacking?
Also, could I expect better graphics than 2004(with high settings) with FSX on my computer if I try some of teh tweaks?
I think there might have been a hiccup in the install process, too. I'm going to reinstall it and see how it works.
Thanks

Hi again

I meant no offense. I speak from experience. My system is only a little better than yours.
nForce 2 ultra 400
Athlon at 2200MHz
2 gigs pc3200 cas2.0
6800GT
I too have to set most everything in the medium and lower range. Autogen very low or none at all. Traffic = nearly none, etc. I get 14-20 (locked at 20) most places other than big cities/airports. I can't really go any higher on my settings and hold the frame rates.
The only thing we can really do is face facts and begin planning our next build. So far FSX is the only game that has slowed my system down so much. Even Oblivion runs beautifully using HDR and everything maxed. I also have GFX updates in it. But I know it is time for a new system if I want to continue to play games with full settings. First FSX, but more games will be coming soon that will also be pushing it beyond its limits.

I did increase my ram from 512MB to 2GB and that helped a good bit when panning the view and loading times are a little quicker now. Still, it was no magic fix. I was pleased with the results, but I am still a long ways from running the sim maxed out. In my case, that is impossible and have more than 6 or 7 fps.

And Etaylor.. there's not much you can do with that computer anyway. By the amount of RAM you're running and the type of video-card you've got, it's saffe to assume it's an older computer. No PCI-Express support, and no DDR2 RAM support.... So it's best to just save any money you'd spend on upgrades and use it on a new build..

Welcome to my world, and I have at least twice the disk space you have. It's a huge game, and the best things to do are:

Adjust the visual (usually the main problem) settings to more basic, low detail. You have to realize, it's loading the world. This isn't some $5 simulator you pick up at a garage sale.

Delete old programs off of your computer that you don't want or need, also try to defragment it. This will not only benefit flight simulator, but other programs. Your internet will load faster, etc.

Hope I helped!

So you think my system is not really the best for FSX...

Welcome the SimV. Sadly you seem to have found out the hard way that the minimum system requirements listed on products really are the minimum they can get away with, and are hardly ever realistic. The only way to get really decent performance is to invest in a new system - so you're probably best saving and waiting until Vista and DX10 are on the market...

People seem to automatically assume that the minimum requirements are the bare minimum to "enjoy" the sim. But the fact of the matter is that the minimum requirements are the bare minimum to even "operate" the sim with all settings set to absolute minimum. There's a distinct difference between "operating" the sim and "enjoying" the sim.

For many of us seasoned simmers, we automatically assume that the "recommended requirements" are the minimum and go beyond that instead.

From people has gathered over the months since FSX's release, some of us have determined that having 1 GB of Ram isn't gonna cut it since the windows operating system alone will take about 512MB to operate. On top of that, FSX takes up nearly an additional 512MB [nearly a GB in total] to operate. Therefore, we determined that having 2 GB is the way to go now.

Minimum specs for any program or game are actualy all that it takes to run on its lowest setting.

This is especialy treu for the FS series, since it evoled a lot over time.

As everyone else has said, dont expect it to be better then FS9 graphics wise, since your computer cant handle the new techniques in its current state, so best would be to get a new rig and upgrade it.

...and don't forget your cake. [smiley=birthdays.gif]

running disk defragmenter should help cut down on load times. . .just a little tip.

I've tried defraggin. No luck. I'm getting track IR soon, to use with 2004. I'm  gonna let FSX sit for a while then come back and try re-installing it.
It's so frustrating!

It's so frustrating!

Honestly, what do you expect with that system of yours?

A bigger, better, more beautiful FS2004, for sure.
I guarantee you, all you would have got with your PC would have been a slightly better looking FS 2002 imitation.

So my advice: Sell FSX, buy a FS9 add-on for the money or save the bucks for a new pc.


I wouldn't recommend FSX to anyone who doesn't have anything below a Core2Duo/4200+, 2 Gb Memory and a Radeon 9800Pro/GeForce 5900.

It's so frustrating!

Honestly, what do you expect with that system of yours?

A bigger, better, more beautiful FS2004, for sure.
I guarantee you, all you would have got with your PC would have been a slightly better looking FS 2002 imitation.

So my advice: Sell FSX, buy a FS9 add-on for the money or save the bucks for a new pc.


I wouldn't recommend FSX to anyone who doesn't have anything below a Core2Duo/4200+, 2 Gb Memory and a Radeon 9800Pro/GeForce 5900.

I would have said the same thing but my 3gig hyper, 1gig ram ddr. and ATI Radeon 9600 do the job beautifully... But I did go through all the tweaks and the process of shutting down my unwanted Windows services..