The best tweak ever for IL2FB+AEP+PF

[Toxicworrier]

Guys and girls, I have been trying for years to get these sims running like they should.
Upgrades to my CPU, and Graphic cards, 2 gigs of memory, faster memory,You name it, ....All of these things helped but only to a small degree. A couple of weeks ago, I did this upgrade to an A64 4000+, a 7800GTCO, and some very good OCZ gold gamers extreme pc3500 memory, along with an OCZ Modstream 520w PSU.
This upgrade defenitely made a big difference, but PF and the latest and greatest patch, and LOMAC still had some lagg, and a stutter or two here and there. Well, I was frustrated, but didn't give up.
I went and did something I have been wanting to do for a while but didn't think it was all that much of a big deal. I bought a new Hard drive. a WD Raptor 74gb. Man I can't believe it. Not only is everything I do faster, but every game I have is running like never before. This is an extreme difference I'm speaking of here. Major League !
I haven't had time to run many benches yet, mainly because I'm too busy flying Jets in Flaming Cliffs, or my favorite planes in FB+PF..
I posted this, hoping everyone will read it and hopefully gain something positive. Going to this SATA 10,000 rpm Raptor drive has proven to me that the hdd Is indeed the heart of the whole system, and makes more of an impact on total system performance, than anything else. I don't have a RAID setup yet, but Holey Moley gentlemen, a RAID 0 setup is supposed to add some extreme transfer rates. like one third more than the drive all by itself. If you want to get these flight sims running right. or literally flying right. Do yourself a favor, and buy a Raptor, not more memory. You will be blown away. If you run out and buy one..you should post your feedback. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif Good luck Brohiems !

[JSG72]

Have also got this Piece of kit.
Check out the ASUS A8N-SLI thread to check it out.

[PF_Coastie]

Me thinks the new format and install of windows and games from scratch probably had a lot to do with it. http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

If you had 2 gigs of ram, the hard drive would never be used while in game except to load new missions.

[HelSqnProtos]

S~!

10,000 rpm drives ARE nice, but they are not a panacea. Coastie was 100% correct in his comments. A fresh load probably had a lot more to do with your new performance. Either way. Enjoy http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[billboyoung]

When flying Luftwaffe in Battle over Europe and a formation of 20+ B17s are spawned some time into the mission you can hear the noisy Raptor at work loading them. The delay is halved when compared to a 7,500 rpm drive. So I would say although they are noisy and pricey they do improve gameplay, I would recommend one.

[PF_Coastie]

Originally posted by billboyoung:
When flying Luftwaffe in Battle over Europe and a formation of 20+ B17s are spawned some time into the mission you can hear the noisy Raptor at work loading them. The delay is halved when compared to a 7,500 rpm drive. So I would say although they are noisy and pricey they do improve gameplay, I would recommend one.

Yes, this is the one exception. However, 90% of the missions you fly, even 95%, will not have these huge repawns. In this case, you are correct that you will only have a small freeze versus a couple second freeze while the bomber formation spawns.

[MaxBruder]

I just got a Western Digital 250gig HD with a 16meg buffer and it made a big difference.

[georgeo76]

I've got two of the 36gb raptors on a RAID. Don't notice much difference w/ my games, but it sure is swift in the boot and opening programs. Especially OpenOffice and Fire Fox, which are notoriously slow to load.

[fly_zo]

Did any of you guys try making dual boot system?
I mean two xp instalations on different partitions so you can have clean install of xp and pf on one system and all the other stuff and games on the other. Imagine, all your rig power just for PF and no unnecesary processes active in the background.

It is the best tweak ever.