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?

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 8)

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

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

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a 7600GT is considered a medium-low grade card... that means you get to run FSX at medium-low settings, at best for overall smooth performance, and that's the bottom line.

Buy Adobe Premiere in the USA or UK or anywhere else on this planet and run it on the 'minimum recommended hardware" or even hardware that is rated 50-75% better than minimum.

the computer will drop to its knees

but it does sound like you are having a hardware or software problem with your new system.

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I am not sure why you are having problems with the FSX software running and the description you give about the CPU useage suggests something is very wrong.

Can you install and run 3DMark 03 and/or 05 and see if any issues occur?

If not and the tests complete without problems there is something wrong with FSX, possible a bad disk?

Also, Windows XP needs a little help with dual core processors be it Intel or AMD


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NOTE: FOR DUAL CORE PROCESSORS…
AMD: Install the latest AMD Dual Core Processor Driver, reboot… Install the latest Dual Core Optimizer, reboot…

INTEL: Check with the Intel website to confirm there is/ is not a processor driver for your CPU however for newer Intels there probably is none to deal with.

BOTH INTEL AND AMD:
Install the Microsoft Dual Core Hotfix for WindowsXP and make the following registry edit. If the THROTTLE key is not present, create it and in the right pane create the dword value: PerfEnablePackageIdle

Set it to 1

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Throttle]
"PerfEnablePackageIdle"=dword:00000001


Close Regedit and reboot.

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I suggested 03/05 because the scores are better known for the hardware you are running. 06 is fine however it was designed for the faster cards, crossfire and SLI.

The score you posted seems to be in line with the system and card. 5000-6000 would be about right for a 7900GTX and good supporting system.

I am glad you finally got FSX to install and run. There are a few threads posted about some starting issues. Perhaps a browse through those may shed some light.

Your card is fine for FS9 but for FSX it is lacking. It will run but the eye candy will need to be reduced significantly for smooth flight.

With the introduction of the DX10 cards, after the holidays I suspect the price of what is now considered the better cards will drop. If you are really after a FSX sim, a DX10 card would be better however they are new and it may be at least 3-4 months before it is known if they will have issues.

a 7900GTX or a x1900xt would be good but with FSX, remember the faster, the better. The newer x1950 or 7950 would be good but when you compare their cost to the DX10 cards it does not make sense to spend the money and to wait.