Not to be a pain, but Just wondering how far off this is. I am nowhere close to getting a machine to run it on FX as it seems you need an expensive machine to run it, so Fs9 is my only hope to run the MD-11 until I save up for a 3 to $5000 gaming rig to run it well.I can't help but envy all the happy MD-11 owners and watching you tube videos of fast machines running it flawlessly.Michael Pare.

I can't help you with the decision on when to buy, but you don't need $3000 for a FSX machine... depends on what your definition of sufficent is. Some need a Sun workstation, others are happy with an old Pentium 4 single core (I was until it failed). Before it failed, I was beta testing the MD11 in FSX at settings I was comfortable with and I thought it was a lot more fluid than the 747X.When my 'puter (Dell XPS Gen 4) did die, I discovered from fellow simmers that I could put one together for much less than half the market price. I did that and I'm happy. I then helped a fellow engineer in the office select parts for a good (not great) system for less than $1,000 (excluding OS and Office). My system is a great (not super) $2,000 system that I really enjoy; from newegg.com: ASUS Rampage Formula mobo (maybe overkill here because I don't plan to OC but I will play with it), Intel Q9650 quad core 3.0Mhz, Corsair 2x2Gb 1066Mhz memory, Visiontek ATI 4870 video (really nice), VelceioRaptor 10,000rpm 300Gb and a 1Tb second drive, two optical drives, a Corsair 750W power supply and a nice Antec case for everything... add your choice of OS and Office suite software (mine is Vista64 and Office Sm Bus from tigerdirect for $500). The only glitch was a wait for a replacement mobo, but stuff like that only happens once in awhile.Meanwhile, PMDG won't make any assurances of when the FS9 MD11 will be available other than as soon as they are done with it, and they are working on it with all the resources that they have available.

>I can't help you with the decision on when to buy, but you>don't need $3000 for a FSX machine... depends on what your>definition of sufficent is. Some need a Sun workstation,>others are happy with an old Pentium 4 single core (I was>until it failed). Before it failed, I was beta testing the>MD11 in FSX at settings I was comfortable with and I thought>it was a lot more fluid than the 747X.>>When my 'puter (Dell XPS Gen 4) did die, I discovered from>fellow simmers that I could put one together for much less>than half the market price. I did that and I'm happy. I then>helped a fellow engineer in the office select parts for a good>(not great) system for less than $1,000 (excluding OS and>Office). My system is a great (not super) $2,000 system that I>really enjoy; from newegg.com: ASUS Rampage Formula mobo>(maybe overkill here because I don't plan to OC but I will>play with it), Intel Q9650 quad core 3.0Mhz, Corsair 2x2Gb>1066Mhz memory, Visiontek ATI 4870 video (really nice),>VelceioRaptor 10,000rpm 300Gb and a 1Tb second drive, two>optical drives, a Corsair 750W power supply and a nice Antec>case for everything... add your choice of OS and Office suite>software (mine is Vista64 and Office Sm Bus from tigerdirect>for $500). The only glitch was a wait for a replacement mobo,>but stuff like that only happens once in awhile.>>Meanwhile, PMDG won't make any assurances of when the FS9 MD11>will be available other than as soon as they are done with it,>and they are working on it with all the resources that they>have available.>I have become a #1 fan of PMDG and to hear the frame rates are better than the 747 is outstanding! I have a p4 Dell Inspiron I've been running the PMDG fleet in FS9. I plant to start with the FS9/MD-11 and save up for a faster machine and run the FSX version of the MD-11.i admit I do like moving jet ways and eye candy so ultimately I want a performance system and hopefully in a year or so prices will drop on these systems.I was also wondering if there is a big performance difference between the FS9 and XP using Vista or XP which is fastest?I really appreciate the input and putting up with pesky customers like me who are huge PMDG/MD-11 fans.Michael Pare.

>I have become a #1 fan of PMDG and to hear the frame rates are>better than the 747 is outstanding! I have a p4 Dell Inspiron>I've been running the PMDG fleet in FS9. I plant to start with>the FS9/MD-11 and save up for a faster machine and run the FSX>version of the MD-11.>i admit I do like moving jet ways and eye candy so ultimately>I want a performance system and hopefully in a year or so>prices will drop on these systems.>I was also wondering if there is a big performance difference>between the FS9 and XP using Vista or XP which is fastest?>I really appreciate the input and putting up with pesky>customers like me who are huge PMDG/MD-11 fans.>HI there, all I will say is IF you use Vista it REALLY pays to install FS9/FSX on a second drive or partition as it removes all sorts of issues regarding overwriting of files, etc.As far as FS9 I run it on Vista and get up to 60fps on unlimited and FSX up to about 40 but it is graphically better imho..And NO my pc spec isn't brilliant either... 3Ghz dual core and Nvidia 9800/512Mb and 2Gb ram...As for XP.. yes it is faster running than Vista nut only slightly but, of course you aren't hassled by M$ UAC then.John Ellison... 1st post so don't shout at me lol.

>>I have become a #1 fan of PMDG and to hear the frame rates>are>>better than the 747 is outstanding! I have a p4 Dell>Inspiron>>I've been running the PMDG fleet in FS9. I plant to start>with>>the FS9/MD-11 and save up for a faster machine and run the>FSX>>version of the MD-11.>>i admit I do like moving jet ways and eye candy so>ultimately>>I want a performance system and hopefully in a year or so>>prices will drop on these systems.>>I was also wondering if there is a big performance>difference>>between the FS9 and XP using Vista or XP which is fastest?>>I really appreciate the input and putting up with pesky>>customers like me who are huge PMDG/MD-11 fans.>>>>>HI there, all I will say is IF you use Vista it REALLY pays to>install FS9/FSX on a second drive or partition as it removes>all sorts of issues regarding overwriting of files, etc.>As far as FS9 I run it on Vista and get up to 60fps on>unlimited and FSX up to about 40 but it is graphically better>imho..>And NO my pc spec isn't brilliant either... 3Ghz dual core and>Nvidia 9800/512Mb and 2Gb ram...>As for XP.. yes it is faster running than Vista nut only>slightly but, of course you aren't hassled by M$ UAC then.>>John Ellison... 1st post so don't shout at me lol.I would expect XP performance to be far better as it isn't bogged down by Vista's bloatware.Michael Pare.

What "bloatware" would that be? If you know what you're doing Vista x64 can be set up to run and look almost exactly like XP...

>What "bloatware" would that be? If you know what you're>doing Vista x64 can be set up to run and look almost exactly>like XP...The fact is the extra stuff in Vista slows it down and needs more resources to run where XP is better for gaming.Michael pare.

As said before, you may get Vista running quite smoothly... Sure it use a bit more RAM but not that much is you stop right services not needed and add some new interesting stuff.Regards.