Hey all!

Since there are contradicting oppinions about the various operating systems (for fsx) I would appreciate some help on it.
I am about to buy a new computer, so which os runs smoother fsx with highest fps?

1) Does vista 64 bit run well?
2) What about windows 7? Any concrete news?
3) Or just use again win xp? 32x or 64x?

Thanks,
Christos

Hi,

There is no advantage to running FSX on a 64-bit OS, other than it more reliably allowing FSX SP2 to access memory over 2Gb.

Even a 32-bit OS can access memory up to 4Gb, but the standard process memory is limited to 2Gb.

In XP, the hack to allow a 32-bit process access to more than 2Gb of memory is to use the /3Gb switch, but you must know what you are doing to continue reliable operation of the system with this enabled. FSX SP2 has been modified to incorporate the /LARGEMEMORYAWARE flag in its executable.

There is much rubbish spoken about memory, and I'm annoyed to say I was mis-led on this issue as well until recently (specifically the memory addressable under 32-bit OS).

32-bit permits addressing 4,294,967,296 bytes (4 Gb) of memory, but I figured that because some of those address lines were taken for hardware access, that this reduced. I was wrong, as there is a seperate line that is switched to tell the system it wants memory access, as opposed to hardware access, so all 32-bit lines are available for addressing memory.

FSX can use any 2Gb of memory under XP WITHOUT the /3Gb switch, and 3Gb of memory with the /3Gb switch.

Vista by default allows this under 32-bit and 64-bit.

64-bit permits more memory to be accessed in total, but does not alter the behavior of the 32-bit process.

Finally, Windows 7 RC1 32-bit is so far, absolutely fantastic. It is quicker than Vista (I have the 64-bit version of Vista Ultimate). I'm not sure what the 64-bit version is like though (I haven't tried it yet).

I would also wait until more people try the RTM build of Windows 7, as I heard a few things were broken in the release build that were working in the RC1.

Note also that Windows 7 version is 6.1, whilst Vista is 6.0.

FSX runs quicker under Windows 7 than under Vista or XP. This is not heresay - it's fact. I've seen it for myself.

I would wait a bit longer, and read reviews on Windows 7 RTM. You might very well be best to pre-order Windows 7, rather than getting Vista.

Best regards,
Robin.

Hi Robin,

I appreciate very much your detailed reply to me.
You are actually confirming what my tendency was. To go for w7 after its RTM release. I would prefer although the 64 bit, not quite sure why.
I would be very much interested to hear your comments on the 64 bit if you later do it.

Thanks,
Christos

OK - I'm a bit busy at the moment but if I try it before release, I shall let you know.

Best regards,
Robin.