Hi Edwin, I noted your system discussion with Dutton in a previous thread, and I too am contemplating building a nearly identtical system.My question is this....FS2004 will be the driving force for this rig...will 2 7800GTs running in SLI mode be an improvment enough to justify the cost of the 2nd card or will 1 be sufficient?Stan

Hi Stan,In fact, I don't use SLI so any comments I give on this matter shouldn't be in any way "authoritative". Having said that, please take a look at this thread:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...11534&mode=fullAnother poster, kjb, on this forum had run some tests and demonstrated what has been mentioned by many others around the FS9 world - that FS9 is not able to take advantage of SLI. In other words, adding a second video card will not result in any increase in FPS. Another user has added that although FPS may not improve, adding a second card would allow higher levels of AA and AF (and thus, better image quality) without sacrificing frame rates. That claim I have not heard before so I cannot comment either way on whether it is true. However, even if it were true, personally, I don't believe higher AA and AF levels would justify the cost of a second card.Hope this helps.Edwin

That is correct. Coolbits does enable higher levels (16x) of AA & AF, but that is the only advantage of SLI with FS9.

I am running SLI and I do see improvement with AA & AF. However, I also use UbiSoft Lock On which takes full advantage of SLI. I originally had dual 7800gtx 256mb and I had a problem with the system when I got it so I sent it back for warranty work and they let me upgrade to dual 7800gtx 512mb as a new configuration vs. an upgrade price so I made out like a bandit. Turns out the heatsink on the CPU or liquid cooler went bad and I only had the system two days.

I know I'm not Edwin... and I'm not an expert by any means... but to be honest with you, at the cost you seem to be willing to spend, I would look into getting a 7800GTX 512 if you can. 7800GT's are around $300-$400 apiece... and a single 7800GTX 512, if you can manage to get one, will outperform SLI'ed GT's at the same cost (about $750) Thats what I would do, myself... actually thats exactly what I'm planning. Hope I could have been a bit of help :)

Stan,If you have the $$$ to spend on a 2nd card I'd dump the money into a better processor instead.Im currently running the following and I get pretty much whatever target framerate I set with the sliders maxed.AMD64 3500Nvidia 6600GT 128mb PCi express1 Gb RamASUS A8N SLI MOBOI got the SLI MOBO for the future in case eith FS becomes SLI friendly or I decide to upgrade for a different flightsim.Craig