Vista Tutorial - Flight Sim X on Inspiron 1705

I am trying to use flight sim X deluxe edition as a study aid for real world
flying. I just bought this computer about 6 weeks ago and not knowing much
about computers and not totally trusting the Dell sales rep I decided to get
this laptop without any upgrades.

The Dell guy warned that with laptops I cannot upgrade the video card and I
told him I'll take my chances. Now I regret it!

Flight Sim 2004 works OK, (as in "acceptable") but with X I can barely get
10 frames per second with all performance options set at minimum. I get very
jerky screens which makes things hard to control.

What options do I have? If I could get 20 Frames per second I would be
happy. Any suggestions?

Here are the specs for my laptop.

Dell Inspiron 1705 (same as Inspiron 9400)

Windows Vista home premium

CPU Intel T2250 @1.73GHz

RAM 1014MB

32-bit operating system

Graphics Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset Family

>I am trying to use flight sim X deluxe edition as a study aid for real world
>flying. I just bought this computer about 6 weeks ago and not knowing much
>about computers and not totally trusting the Dell sales rep I decided to get
>this laptop without any upgrades.
>
>The Dell guy warned that with laptops I cannot upgrade the video card and I
>told him I'll take my chances. Now I regret it!
>
>Flight Sim 2004 works OK, (as in "acceptable") but with X I can barely get
>10 frames per second with all performance options set at minimum. I get very
>jerky screens which makes things hard to control.
>
>What options do I have? If I could get 20 Frames per second I would be
>happy. Any suggestions?

>Graphics Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset Family

It's even surprising that FSX runs at all, better use FS9 if this is
your only machine, there is a service pack for FSX coming soon that
should help with general performance so you could try again...

===
All the Best
Katy Pluta, G4W MVP

Visit Project Magenta!
www.simpm.com

>
> It's even surprising that FSX runs at all, better use FS9 if this is
> your only machine, there is a service pack for FSX coming soon that
> should help with general performance so you could try again...
>
> ===
> All the Best
> Katy Pluta, G4W MVP
>

Thanks for your reply,

So would it be safe to say there isn't much I can do with my computer
itself?

And is this service pack something I should look for on the shelf of the
local Best Buy or do I have to look for it online?

Sincerely

Tom


> Visit Project Magenta!
> www.simpm.com
>

"Grammarcheck" <Grammarcheck@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8FC7CC81-9ED9-431F-9429-D07F0B2EBC78@microsoft.com...
>
>>
>> It's even surprising that FSX runs at all, better use FS9 if this is
>> your only machine, there is a service pack for FSX coming soon that
>> should help with general performance so you could try again...
>>
>> ===
>> All the Best
>> Katy Pluta, G4W MVP
>>
>
> Thanks for your reply,
>
> So would it be safe to say there isn't much I can do with my computer
> itself?
>
> And is this service pack something I should look for on the shelf of the
> local Best Buy or do I have to look for it online?
>
> Sincerely
>
> Tom
>

It would be a free update. You should have a dual core 2.8 or faster CPU.
2Gb ram at the very least for FSX. Even then all sliders to max aren't
really going to do it. Also a patch is due for DirectX 10 which requires a
DX10 card. Nvidia right now is the only one out with such a video card...
8800 series. Not available on a laptop. It draws a significant amount of
power... need a 600 watt power supply and a good one. 26 amps or so on a 12
volt rail.

FSX is not for a laptop.

This is overstating the case about what you need to perform with FSX. It
will fly on laptops nicely just not yours. The update should be available
in about 2-3 weeks from Microsoft at no charge. I didn't look at your specs
but you will need even with the service pack to fly General Aviation
aircraft from smaller airfields and not large airports in big cities. Given
that, you should be able to fly FSX with your laptop although it will not be
as good as a gaming machine. FS9 is a safer bet.

Wait for the Service Pack, do the tweaks that will come down the line and
see how it goes. Check out www.avsim.com for ideas on how to tweak FSX but
do wait for the service pack.

John


"Slap" <slap@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:CyVUh.84513$6m4.27861@pd7urf1no...
>
> "Grammarcheck" <Grammarcheck@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:8FC7CC81-9ED9-431F-9429-D07F0B2EBC78@microsoft.com...
>>
>>>
>>> It's even surprising that FSX runs at all, better use FS9 if this is
>>> your only machine, there is a service pack for FSX coming soon that
>>> should help with general performance so you could try again...
>>>
>>> ===
>>> All the Best
>>> Katy Pluta, G4W MVP
>>>
>>
>> Thanks for your reply,
>>
>> So would it be safe to say there isn't much I can do with my computer
>> itself?
>>
>> And is this service pack something I should look for on the shelf of the
>> local Best Buy or do I have to look for it online?
>>
>> Sincerely
>>
>> Tom
>>
>
> It would be a free update. You should have a dual core 2.8 or faster CPU.
> 2Gb ram at the very least for FSX. Even then all sliders to max aren't
> really going to do it. Also a patch is due for DirectX 10 which requires
> a DX10 card. Nvidia right now is the only one out with such a video
> card... 8800 series. Not available on a laptop. It draws a significant
> amount of power... need a 600 watt power supply and a good one. 26 amps
> or so on a 12 volt rail.
>
> FSX is not for a laptop.
>
>
>

"Grammarcheck" <Grammarcheck@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FB2319BA-7B83-4D8A-B4E4-9F127EADA99F@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to use flight sim X deluxe edition as a study aid for real
>world
> flying. I just bought this computer about 6 weeks ago and not knowing much
> about computers and not totally trusting the Dell sales rep I decided to
> get
> this laptop without any upgrades.
>
> The Dell guy warned that with laptops I cannot upgrade the video card and
> I
> told him I'll take my chances. Now I regret it!
>
> Flight Sim 2004 works OK, (as in "acceptable") but with X I can barely get
> 10 frames per second with all performance options set at minimum. I get
> very
> jerky screens which makes things hard to control.
>
> What options do I have? If I could get 20 Frames per second I would be
> happy. Any suggestions?
>
> Here are the specs for my laptop.
>
> Dell Inspiron 1705 (same as Inspiron 9400)
>
> Windows Vista home premium
>
> CPU Intel T2250 @1.73GHz
>
> RAM 1014MB
>
> 32-bit operating system
>
> Graphics Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset Family
>
>
>
>
>

Autogen and traffic are the big frame rate killers in FSX. While your
laptop is not an ideal FSX platform, by backing off some of the settings you
should be able to get up to 15 FPS which looks a lot better in FSX than FS9.

See if you can add another Gig of ram that will help. Go to www.avsim.com
and follow the tweaking advice there.


FYI flightsims (double for study sims) need very powerfull computers to run.
Sims have a lot under the hood and what ever the median system listed on the
box is that is actually the min required system. Always ignore the min
system requirments.


"Grammarcheck" <Grammarcheck@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FB2319BA-7B83-4D8A-B4E4-9F127EADA99F@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to use flight sim X deluxe edition as a study aid for real
>world
> flying. I just bought this computer about 6 weeks ago and not knowing much
> about computers and not totally trusting the Dell sales rep I decided to
> get
> this laptop without any upgrades.
>
> The Dell guy warned that with laptops I cannot upgrade the video card and
> I
> told him I'll take my chances. Now I regret it!
>
> Flight Sim 2004 works OK, (as in "acceptable") but with X I can barely get
> 10 frames per second with all performance options set at minimum. I get
> very
> jerky screens which makes things hard to control.
>
> What options do I have? If I could get 20 Frames per second I would be
> happy. Any suggestions?
>
> Here are the specs for my laptop.
>
> Dell Inspiron 1705 (same as Inspiron 9400)
>
> Windows Vista home premium
>
> CPU Intel T2250 @1.73GHz
>
> RAM 1014MB
>
> 32-bit operating system
>
> Graphics Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset Family
>
>
>
>
>