Dear all,If I had a way to sticky this post to the top of the forum, I would. Lately, there's been a lot of posts from people looking to buy new systems or upgrading old ones, asking about what to get etc. (I'm guessing people are more willing to splurge a bit now that Xmas is coming up.) As with any forum, please do run some searches first and read some of the previous posts. You'll find that your question has probably been asked and answered before already.Now to the point of the post. Two leading technology hardware Web sites have given suggestions about what to get. Please see the following links:http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MHGSBG...0707_3567566__8http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTAwLDc=Sharky Extreme's is for a US$2,500 machine and HardOCP's is for a US$2,000 machine. Nevertheless, you'll see that the two recommended systems are essentially the same. (The most important specs being some AMD Athlon64 CPU, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT, Antec 550W power supply and Samsung 19" LCD.) Sharky Extreme includes the price of the OS, keyboard, mouse and has a more expensive CPU, which explains the price differential.So, if you're contemplating a system purchase or upgrade these few months, please use the above as your baseline. If you have a bigger or smaller budget, change the CPU (the CPU is the variable easiest to change since there are so many different speeds and therefore, price points). The other change to contemplate is video card (e.g. 7800GTX instead of 7800GT on the high end). But regardless, the baseline systems suggested above can be used as a reference.I'm hoping that this post will answer most people's questions. Obviously, if you have other questions, you are most welcome to post here but I'm hoping this post can act as some kind of one-stop solution for at least the next 2-3 months.Regards,Edwin

Hi Edwin, hope you're doing well in HK. :-) FWIW, in addition to the suggested systems, it might also be worthwhile to consider an Ati display adapter? As far as I can judge (and i.e. looking at the driver related troubles some Geforce 7800 users currently face), Radeons are a great alternative for FS. Specially since there's a possibility to 'implant' a shimmer fix. This is - of course - provided, somebody doesn't use 3D Glasses or other 'non-go with Radeon' software/hardware. Edwin, if this one doesn't become stickied, we'll just keep bumpin' it for a while... BTW, I admire your patience. :-) Good luck and season greetings Jaap

Hi Jaap,Yes, I too have been plagued by the texture corruption problems of the latest NVIDIA drivers, so much that I've given up on FS temporarily. (Well, I have two other reasons: 1) I've been addicted to Need for Speed Most Wanted lately; and 2) I was/am still waiting for the service updates for the PMDG 747-400 and the PSS 777, while PMDG's is out already, PSS's still isn't.) So I agree with your view that ATI's Radeon is a great alternative. The only question is which card? The X1800XT is not widely available (I've been told you can find it if you look hard enough) so I suppose the X1800XL? The other quirk I don't like about ATI is its Crossfire solution - this whole Master and Slave card issue is just too cumbersome. You know I've been a big fan of ATI previously (9800 Pro!!!!) but lately, its products have been too little too late. Let's hope ATI gets its act together again with the next generation of cards.As for my patience, yes, I'm quite amazed myself too. Frankly, I've been repeating myself a lot and I would be lying if I told you I am not annoyed by it. That's why I did my original post - so that if/when people do ask questions, they can ask more specific ones and not just general questions like, "what system should I get?"Anyway, thanks for your kind words!Later,Edwin

Hi Jaap and Edwin,"BTW, I admire your patience."As do I. I peruse this forum often and always read Edwin's friendly and helpful posts. You're a great asset to this site.Press on!Greg

Bumpin' :-) Hi fellas Since we posted almost 2 weeks ago, the X1800XT also seems to have become widely available. Obviously with a certain price tag... And it looks like Ati was able to deliver within a reasonable amount of time after their announcement. :-) Having said that (and as far as I could judge), @ 1280x, a Radeon X800 or X850 should also be good enough. As long as they have 256MBs of memory and aren't SEs or any other 'cut-in-half' editions. AFAIK, the 'shimmer fix' is a standard driver option with the X1800 series and there's no need to manipulate the registry any longer. Besides, with 'implanting', I didn't mean dropping those two DX override files. That didn't work with all configs on my end. The registry fix did the trick. Sorry to hear about your troubles, Edwin. I dearly hope PMDG releases the SP and that Nvidia takes care of the drivers soon! :-) Good luck to you gentlemen, kind regards Jaap