Gents,My system specs are posted below.I am planning an upgrade to be up to date with current hardware available on the market.I do not really have any spending limit (would stay out of Cray though if possible) but would like to replace my key components with the ones allowing me to enjoy the FS to its fullest.I will be truly grateful for hints on what to look for to do a comprehensive upgrade of my system.Thanks a lot in advance,Dom

Hi Dom,You said you have no limit so here goes. I just bought some of these components myself last weekend and have spent much of my free time after work these past few days just installing everything. I haven't even had much time to "fly" with this rig yet!AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ dual-core processorDFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR motherboard (I got the ASUS A8N-SLI instead since the DFI isn't readily available in Hong Kong and I wasn't in the mood to wait... ;)Thermalright XP-120 heatsink with Delta EFB1212L 12cm fanOCZ 1GB PC3200 Platinum Edition Rev. 2 DDR RAM (again, OCZ isn't readily available in HK so I stuck with my "old" Corsair TWINX1024-4000PRO)2x Western Digital Raptor WD360GD (I have heard good things about the new Maxtor drives with 16MB buffer but I have no intention to upgrade my hard drives yet)Leadtek Winfast PX 7800GTXCreative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZSLite-On DVD-ROM driveLite-On CD-RW driveMicrosoft Wireless Optical Desktop ProViewsonic VP201b 20.1" LCD screenOptiquest V75 17" CRT screenAntec TruePower 2.0 550W power supplyCooler Master ATC-110 caseKlipsch Promedia 5.1 UltraFYI, I got the CPU, video card, motherboard, power supply and heatsink last weekend and together, they cost just under US$2,000.Hope this helps.Edwin

Thank you Edwin,I'm not quite ready to go for the dual processor chip yet.Something more traditional really.BTW, how is HK nowadays? I spent quality 2 years there back in 1999-2000.ThanksDom

Hi Dom,Glad to hear you've lived in HK! Things haven't really changed all that much since then. Sure, there may be some new buildings and some shops may have moved around but by and large, it's still the same city. The weather's been really hot these days though (up to 35 degrees Celsius or 90+ degrees Fahrenheit) and the air pollution has only gone worse. Anyhow, back to the computer hardware.For both AMD and Intel, dual-core chips are the way forward. The best example of this is Intel, who are pricing the dual-core chips at essentially the same level as single-core chips. Granted, the clock speed of the dual-core chips is (slightly) slower, but the pricing reflects Intel's determination to make dual-core mainstream. Having said all that about Intel, it is AMD's implementation of dual-core that is more impressive. Anyhow, if you do indeed want to stay with single-core (which makes sense since games and FS9 make very little, if any, use of dual-core right now), you may want to consider the AMD Athlon64 FX-57 (if you are in the mood to splurge) or the much more reasonalbe AMD Athlon64 4000+. The rest of the system can stay as I suggested.Hope this helps.Edwin

Edwin,Thank you very much indeed.I will follow your recommendation then.All the best to you,Dom