Ok now I'm putting together some sort of super computer, and I'm thinking $500-$600 for graphics would be pretty nice... and pretty much all I can pay.My motherboard is also SLI capable with 2 PCI express slots.Now do you geeks think its better for me to go with 2 6600s using SLI?ORSpend it all on a 7800 and maybe later in a year or two think about adding a sister 7800 one to my system?:-smile12 Would appreciate all the responds :)ValaPS. is 7800 even worth $550?

A 7800 will do you much better than 6600's in a SLI.

Thank you Randy,now anybody else?

>Now do you geeks think its better for me to go with 2 6600s>using SLI?SLI has **zero** effect on MSFS. So it will only be a boost for other games.Michael J.

Yes SLI isn't very noticable anyway, go with 7800 gtx which will get you amazing fps and icandy for fs2004 im sure :).

Also keep in mind that SLI is not capable of using two displays for your desktop. And I'd bet you want some extra space for those upcoming B744 and MD11 overhead panels :)Regards,Markus

That is absolutely true, FS cannot take advantage of SLI and neither can it of Dual Core CPU's...

Cool, thanks everyone for the answers.Also, now disregarding that FS does not support SLI, is a 7800 still better even with the games that do support SLI?

FS is a DirectX 8 application and as of this it takes advantage of every DirectX compliant hardware.Now for the graphic part it uses Direct3D which is supported by every video card and is at a higher (computer-wise) level then the video card drivers.Now if you change these drivers with another D3D compliant one capable of driving 2 or more video cards together, why shouldn't this affect performance?Process threading is not handled by DirectX and so an application must be coded in order to take advantage from multi-threading or multi-core environments and with FS9 this is not the case.But as long as you give it a more powerfull platform compatible with the libraries it uses, it will take advantage of it.So it shouldn't be true that SLI does not affect FS9.Maybe a single 7800 is more powerfull then two 6600 (i am not into that numbers) but two 6600 will surely be better then one.

Multiple monitors for MSFS is a nice thing to have assuming your video / computer has the processing power to drive them.It's not a power thing, it's a feature thing. SLI delivers more power, but on less monitors.One thing to keep in mind when it comes to MSFS, you are generally bound by your CPU's speed, not your video card. (assuming you have a half-way modern card already)(one thing I'll note from the lessons learned catagory ... DVI connected monitors do NOT display anything during your bios post sequence as they are a driver based interface. Only once the operating system gets the driver loaded do you see anything. Be careful of DVI only monitors/panels ... I have to use my poor TV to get into my bios now!)Ray

You may get a slight boost in SLI with FS, notably at higher resolutions, but I would go with a single 7800GT hands down for the kind of money.Of course, ATI's Crossfire is right around the corner, and unlike the SLI, they claim that their version of SLI has smarts to offload and coordinate work better and reach the 2x gain with any existing title, meaning that it can split pipelines over two chips or something along these lines.But since I havent seen it in action (the only survey I trust), it's a tough nut to crack.One more thing: PCMag just did a roundup of SLI gaming boxes. That should give you some idea of what to expect in general.

Ok now I sort or see what you guys are thinking.The computer I'm talking about has not been put together, and nor is purchased yet... its just sitting in the shopping card, while I'm making some changes to the parts...This is what it looks like:-ABIT Fatality AN8-SSLI with nforce 4-4GB Patriot PC3200 dual channel memory-AMD athlon 64 4000+ 939 -XFX GF 7800GTX SLI over clocked-ABIT audioMAX with 8 channels.So far I have not decided on the case, but the drives are pretty much chosen... I wont mention them since they wont have much effect on the speed... which is all I care about...any suggestions on changing, removing, or addition of hardware is appreciated...and by the way, I'm an avid Battlefield Vietnam/2 player, besides the FS.ValaPS. My current PC specs: SUCKKY!! :D

4 gb is overkill for RAM, don't need it probabaly end up slowing you down, go for 2 gb and save some money.

>-4GB Patriot PC3200 dual channel memoryYou sure 4gb of ram????That looks really overkill for a gaming platform.I have 1gig and can say that 1,5 or 2 is just enough high.>-ABIT audioMAX with 8 channels.May i suggest a Creative Audigy 2 ZS?Nowadays it comes at a fairly nice price and is (IMHO) the best audio card around for entertainment.I mean that obviously it's not really meant for music makeing, but for everything else including gaming and watching films it's just the best.

SLI is disabled for FS2004 by Nvidia in their drivers. You can check that with the "nHancer" app. So, SLI won't effect FS at all! Nvidia has to program a profile for every game in their drivers for it to take advantage of SLI!Go for a single 7800!Greetings, Steve