Stripping the Task Manager of Programs Running

[WARMAN]

Can anyone tell me what all I need to leave running when I strip the Task Manager. I am attempting to make my sim run easier and I read some time ago that it helps to close all non essential programs.
Thanks.

[TheFlightMan]

There have been many discussions about this and I can tell you right now, BAD IDEA! No need to disable any programs running to make FS2004 run smoother. The things you can disable is your Anti-Virus program but make sure it is enabled once you connect to the Internet or if you are running DSL, don't bother it needs to be running. So to make a long story short, don't disable any services or end any processes if you don't want to left with a half-working system or unstable one.

TheFlightMan

[zoynyne]

Agreed.

Unless we're talking about win98 or winME.

Then kill everything but systray and explorer.

With XP the "unnecessary services" do nothing but hog up around 20 megs of RAM and essentially zero processor.

Not worth messing with unless you're stuck running XP on 128megs of RAM.

Even then I'd still say just get more RAM.

128 is a pretty bad number to be running XP with.

[TheFlightMan]

I got involved in a real long posting regarding this subject, do a search for me as the Author and follow the post to see what others say on this subject. If your system is not performing as you think it is, you might be looking at hardware restrictions more than anything else. Verify your OS and everything running is behaving correctly, if that is the case, it is time to look at an upgrade in order to improve performance. I have a P4 1.8 wit PC133 Ram and I can tell you that it falls behind when using FS2004. If I play Call of Duty, it runs smooth without any issues.

TheFlightMan

[zoynyne]

Yeah I was in that thread lol.

And I agree, better to just get more RAM.

I'm running 1.25 gigs of it, 128meg videocard, and an Athlon XP 2400 processor, so FS9 is doing pretty well over here. Running approximately 70% quality overall and pulling 40 to 70 FPS in most conditions.

Of course if I want to really start cranking every single possible parameter I can bring this machine to it's knees too...

I even came close to doing that with my friends P4 overclocked to 3.8ghz, gig of really expensive PC4000 RAM, and heavily overclocked 9700Pro.

FS2004 completely maxed out, and I mean EVERY single parameter in the program, and AA/AF on the videocard too, almost defeated that machine.

Got down to low teens with the FPS. Still ran pretty smooth though, and wow did it look good...

[WARMAN]

Thanks for all the info. Flightman, I'm running the same machine you are and Call of Duty is great. FS9 is just a hog.

Warman

[TheFlightMan]

What holds you back with the kind of system I have is the FSB and Ram speeds. FS2004 will not start running smooth until you hit at least a P4 2.4Ghz with either 533 or 800 FSB. Your video card will make a difference but the processor is the deciding factor. I've started to upgrade my system, just purchased a new Video Card 5900XT from MSI and I plan on ordering a Case and a new Sound Card next week. Little by little, I am beginning to ramp up to a 2.8 or 3.0 P4 with HT.

TheFlightMan

[kc10]

nevermind

[aloft]

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