Great Graphics . . . for a fast computer, that is

I have the following computer specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 at 2.13 GHz (4MB L2 Cache, 1066 FSB)
3 GB Corsair XMS 2 DDR2 memory at 800 MHz
1 GB DDR2 EVGA NVidia Geforce 9400 GT
Windows Vista Home Premium

I used to only have 2GB of memory and a 256 MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card, and the game ran at about 7fps in a big city, and 15-20 fps in a rural area, and slighty more at high altitudes with all the preset sliders at Ultra High, and Anti-Aliasing turned on. Any kind of weather besides "Clear skies" bogged the game down way too much.

However, recently, I upgraded to 4GB of memory (although only 3GB is recognized with my 32-bit version of Windows Vista), and an NVidia GeForce 9400 GT graphics card. Now, with all the preset sliders set at Ultra High, the game usually runs at 40 fps, but can sometimes go down to 20 fps. By the way, these are with DirectX 9 - I would not advise using DirectX 10 (It is way too slow.)

The missions are excellent, although some are difficult and time-consuming. I especially like the missions in the add-on Acceleration pack.

There is not a very big selection of planes, and does not include most of the vintage planes in FS2004, although the Acceleration pack adds 4 more planes, and you can import planes from FS2004 (using instructions found at fsinsider.com).

You can learn to fly using the Tutorial Missions, or even better, with virtual flying lessons with the real-life flying instructor Rod Machado.

I recommend a joystick because it is very hard to fly using the keyboard. A joystick also includes shortcut buttons for throttle, brake, camera view, flaps, trim, landing gear, etc. Most these day are force-feedback joysticks, which vibrate and give a more realistic feel to the game.

FSX also includes air traffic control (which isn't as realistic as it could be), and GPS navigation.

Real-world weather can be downloaded from the Internet into the game.