Atomic Systems

Sorry to post this in here...

I was just wondering. I'm planning on getting a new PC around January time with all the latest gadgets ect as I've been saving up for a long time now.

I will most likely be getting Windows Vista as well.

Will FS2004 run on Vista without any problems do you think?

Kind regards,
-Alex.

I split this post off from the thread it was in since it is a useful question on it's own.

I was a Vista beta tester and am still bound by the NDA. However, I can say I had both MSTS & FS2002 working OK under Vista but with no sound since the sound card on the laptop I used for testing had driver issues. I don't have FS2004 so I can't answer the question directly.

I only blew the Vista machine away this morning since we now have our RTM Vista (being a large corporate) otherwise I would have borrowed my brother's FS2004 to give it a whirl.

Kindest regards

John

Hi John

Thank you for making a seperate thread, I guess it is quite a useul question!

I'm going to be getting FS-X for Christmas but when I buy my new PC in January, it will be a very up-to-date computer but probably not enough to run FS-X to it's full potential I feel.

I have read that FS-X will work much better once it is running on Vista, but if it doesn't work for me, then I have FS2004 to fall back on which is why I wanted to know if it will work on Vista or not...

Kind regards,
-Alex.

Make sure that the graphics card in your new machine is DirectX 10 compatible, as FSX and Vista both make plenty of use of it.

So far I know of only one card that runs DX10, and that one definitely ain't cheap at the mo.

Well Currently there is only one Direct X 10 Graphics card out and that is the Geforce 8800 GTS or GTX prices varying from £293.61 to £469.69, Prices from http://www.scan.co.uk The next DX10 card's arn't due out until jan i think.

I think the biggest hurdle buying new PC's at the moment is not so much what O/S one will get but the emergence of the Core 2 Duo chip as standard CPU on most machines. Most current titles will not use both cores which means - particularly on a mid price machine - you will be down to one core only which is probably less powerful than the single chip (in my case P4 2.4Ghz) on the machine being replaced.

I'm almost certain FS2004 cannot utilise Dual Core technology?

It can't - though it will run better as other programs can be 'shunted' to a second core - FS2004 runs perfectly on my laptop, which is a Core Duo 2.00Ghz - FS2006 is acceptable, though I don't think it will be too great with addons.

That's good to hear as I will also be getting a Core 2 Duo CPU and I was worried it might not work on this as well as not working on Vista also.

Hopefully the 8880GTS DX10 graphics card will be cheaper in a few months time... Cant wait to finally get my new PC and to get either FS-X or FS2004 up and running. I've been saving up for almost a year so I want to make sure I get the best of the best!

Slightly off topic I know, but what about MSTS on Vista? I have read somewhere that it probably won't run...

Thank you for all the comments so far by the way

Kind regards,
-Alex

He only said OK, so I don't know if this means it worked perfectly without any problems or that it only worked 'OK'...

That was really helpfull though, thank you

-Alex.

kilkus wrote:He only said OK, so I don't know if this means it worked perfectly without any problems or that it only worked 'OK'...

That was really helpfull though, thank you

-Alex.

Well MSTS was average performance on my Dell D610 laptop. Dorset Coast got something near the normal frame rates I get on the other Dell D610 under XP Professional. As previously stated the sound did not work at all due to lack of suitable drivers. The strange thing is the the system thought the sounds were playing and if you made repeated horn soundings the frame rates stuttered a bit so the system was going through the motions.

Vista is going to be a fairly steep learning curve for a lot of people - any hardware more than about 18 months old will really struggle. My first attempt to install on an 4 year old IBM Netvista was a total disaster. Only when I got into the newer hardware in our collection did things go smoothly from a driver and hardware perspective.

Cheers

John

How do i know if my Graphic card is DirectX10 compatible as i Have DX 9c at the moment and i will be Upgrading to Vista when it becomes available i already have internet Explorer 7 and thats causing a few problems on its own

Unless you have an Nvidia G80 (8800GTS or 8800GTX) you do not have a DirectX 10 compatible GPU. So far these are the only two video cards that are DirectX 10 ready.

Although the availability dates are questionable the latest information says that ATI should have a DirectX 10 GPU in late February or March.