Thanks Nick.

Hi Andreas!

20 bucks is a DEAL!

Thanks!

Hi Nick.

This is a great guide you've made here, just about finishing it now, and I'm already noticing an increase in PC performance; so thanks! I was just wondering which security software you recommend, as I use AVG free 8.5, Comodo firewall, Ad-aware and Windows Defender at the moment, and they are probably using quite a few resources! I've seen you recommend NOD32 as AV, how about firewalls, etc.? Thanks for any help.

NickN wrote on Aug 18^th, 2009 at 12:32am:


Right OK, thanks. I'm trying out NOD32; I really like it, its a good piece of software. I'll take it disabling tea timer keeps it off startup? I used to have it but I felt it was ruining system performance. Thanks Nick.  ;

Nick, have you seen O&O defrag 12 yet? they're offering a special on it here for $25: http://www.oo-software.com/defrag-offer/

I have 11, and it's great, but I'm wondering if it's worth getting 12.

Thx!

I've read this post over and over and been thru 2 installs already. My FSX got to the point today where it was crashing on different .dll modules after 2 minutes, no matter what plane I was flying or what scenery I was using. I have an overclocked system which I built strictly to run FSX on (E8500@4.2, 8800 ultra, Vista 64, 1066 ddr2). I finally figured that so many random dll crashes were obviously not those dll issues, but more likely a hardware failure. I'm not a firm believer in memtest or benchmarking; I think FSX is more a challenge to a system than any of that.  At one point, I threw my hands up in the air, and said **** it. I went into my bios, and raised the dram voltage by .1 volt, to 2.1 (which is the max warranty voltage for my RAM). Amazing. FSX runs perfectly now. I mean perfect at 20 FPS locked, settings as per NickN, stutter and crash free, with anything I throw at it. I've been trying to get it to crash again, and I cant even get it to slow down. It was like something woke up, or God just came down and fixed everything. It finally runs the way I have wished it will run. Stupid little things like this can obviously make or break things.

KEY LESSON:

Make sure your hardware is right before you go wasting time tweaking the software. Hardware limitations will be evident by low frame rates and poor graphics, and will change by adjustment. Improper hardware settings will be evident by crashes, and no adjustment to FSX settings will help nor change this. 

Thank you, Nick. Your tweaks are working great. I initially thought much of what you described as your system was bragging, but now I see you speak the truth. You are a very selfless dude with some good advice.

Hello Nick,

In the initial setup you recommend that with O&O you name defrag twice, space once and offline once.  For the once a month you just say to run a name once and an offline once.

I was wondering if once a month it is worth the effort to go though 2 names, 1 space and 1 offline.  Time is not really an issue since on C drive I just let this run at night or while I am at work and on G drive (FSX) after the first name everthing else only takes a couple of minutes to run.

I am using O&O v11 so running a space defrag is not an issue.

Regards,

Rod