Moderate system works fine - you don't need a megasystem!

**DSteckler** · 08-02-2003, 05:04 PM

I have a Dell P4 1.7; Ti4200 w/64 MB of VRAM; and 512 KB of RAM on the MOB. The sliders are set for 50% AI, very heavy or dense as appropriate on the scenery. Cloud cover is set around 65%. Frames are locked at 10 fps and sometimes drop as low as 7 at airports with lots of eye candy . AA is off on the software and on on the card. A few jaggies but not bad at all. The sim runs smooth with no jitters (much better than 2002 in that regard)and I have Norton running in the background.

Would I like a 3 GHz machine w/1GB RAM and a Radaeon 9800 Pro? Sure...if someone was giving it to me. But I flew from KLAX to KLAS with real-time weather updating every 15 minutes and the airport scenes were awesome. Once I landed at KLAS I changed the time to night and my jaw dropped when I saw how gorgeous and realistic the Strip looked.

My point is, you don't need a megasystem to get darn good performance from FSACOF. Maybe it wouldn't have run as smooth if I was flying in a thunderstorm (I'll try that next) but I'm happy as a pig in cool mud with the software.

**shwncplnd** · 08-02-2003, 05:45 PM

I'll second that one. I've got a 1.5GHz system, and it suits my needs with FS9. Sure I don't have 20 FPS while @ KLAX with everything maxed out, but I'm sure with my settings, it would still be flyable. If you're a perfectionist, I guess you would want to spend the money, but I don't have a money tree out back, so I'll just stick with what I have for now. If I can get another year or two outta this one, I'll definitely have gotten my money's worth out of the system I have now.

ponyboy · 08-02-2003, 05:48 PM

Funny, I have just about the two systems you mentioned. A 3gig with all the bells & whistles (of course it's in the shop), and a P4 1.8, Ti4600 (4x) and a bit o ram that I am using in the meantime.

I am having a great time with it. I'm sort of using the 1.8 as a proving ground. I don't really care if I screw things up on it. But I can max out sliders while cruising as get 13-19 (locked at 20). And I have added some California texture scenery (even designed for FS2000)that is just looking superb.

When i make an approach I slide things back midway for a smooth landing. Sure a few jaggies, a stutter at major airports every now and then, missing "The Bridges of Madison County" but hey, I am having a blast experiementing.

It's all good...

**someone** · 08-02-2003, 09:41 PM

You call 10 FPS fine!!! 10 FPS might be ok for all you autopilot fliers out there, but for those of us that actually fly the aircraft that won't do.

**DSteckler** · 08-03-2003, 05:52 AM

I get 10 fps mostly while taxiing around airports with lots of eye candy. Once airborne, fps rises to 14 - 15 and there's no stutters while handflying.

**VFR_Steve** · 08-03-2003, 06:06 AM

I get a steady 20fps and thats good enough for me. I really hate all the bitching on these forums moaning about FS2004, microsoft has clearly made the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' attitude and generally FS2004 runs very well on a range of systems.

I have a aging 1.2 athlon, 768 ram and a super fast Ti4800, I have most things close to max and find things very acceptable

Steve

**stusue** · 08-03-2003, 12:46 PM

I have a Pentium 4 1.5 gig with 512 mg ram and a geforce 4 128 meg system and I must say with most sliders set to half fs2004 seems to struggle where as fs2002 flies and looks stuning. Am I the only crazy one out there ????

Cheers all.

**Capholland** · 08-03-2003, 03:08 PM

You whiners ;-) - I'm running FS2004 on an Athlon 800, NVIDIA TNT2 card, and 296MB RAM. Sure, I can't turn all the sliders up, but I have full AI traffic, a comfortable average of 10 fps on the ground, and up to 15 (locked) in flight, which is sufficient for my needs.

My big comfort is that I'm happy enough with this version of flight simulator that it will probably last me several computers, and even better is that this version will upgrade itself (as in, look better and fly smoother) whenever I decide to upgrade my specs.

So just because I can't squeeze every drop of effects, reflections, beauty, and frame-rate out of it right now, someday I will. In the meantime, I'm enjoying what my system CAN give me. Woohoohoo!

- Capholland
http://caphollands.fsgateway.com

**Zevious Zoquis** · 08-03-2003, 03:23 PM

P4-1.8/512ram/128 meg geforce4 Ti4200 here and I'm getting great performance out of FS9. I've got mesh @ 90%, high detail 3d clouds at 50% and 40km distance, using real (static) weather, normal scenery density and autogen, ground shadows, full aircraft detail (seems to stick to the HIGH setting even though I change it to ultra but it looks fine), 1152x864x32, high quality sounds - in other words, I've got some eye and ear candy running. I keep the AI down at 25% though and I don't run any AA or AF. Flew around NYC this morning and was getting anywhere from about 14 to 25 fps (locked at 25) but mostly stuck around 18-22 and looked very smooth.