OK, my wife loves me this year......

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN 336]

and she approved funds for my new system ;-)Unfortunately as I grow older I'm not the system wiz I used to be. So please bear with me. This is a system I found on tigerdirect for ~$2,500.Networking: Dual Integrated Gigabit LAN Adapters Software: Windows XP Professional DSP CD/DVD Drives: 16X DVD+R/RW-R/RW Dual Layer Drive Input: Saitek Eclipse Blue Illuminated Gaming Keyboard CD/DVD Drives: 52X32X52/16x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive Hard Disk Drives: 500GB (2 X 250GB SATA 7.2K) RAID 0 Stripe Razer Copperhead High Precision Blue Gaming Mouse Memory: Corsair TWINX 2GB DDR2 PC5400 XMS2 Memory Desktop Computers: Systemax ATX Blue/Silver Gaming Case Removable Data Storage: 9-in-1 Card Reader Black Power Supplies: OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt SLI Power Supply Processors: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.67GHz 4M Processor Components: Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card Video / Graphics Cards: GeForce 7950GT 512MB PCI-Express (2 DVI) Desktop Computers: Systemax TigerShark Intel Dual Core Gaming PC Motherboards: Asus P5N32-SLI Premium nForce 590 SLI Motherboard After reading almost hundreds of post here I found that few mention the mobo to be the most important thing, but that the Intel D2 outperforms almost every AMD (not my view, just what I found on the forums). Will this system (also, I have no idea as to what type of RAM I should go for) handle FSX somewhat OK?If not, then I hope that at least it will run FS9 maxxed out (including maxxed AI) without stutters.Any help for 'former' computer specialist ;-) would be appreciated.Cheers,Petehttp://members.aol.com/pzsoulman/myhomepage/logo.gifAMD64-3400,1GB/3200DDRAM,WinXP(SP2),DirectX9.0c,Geforce6800(128MB)(Det.84.21), CH Yoke/Pedals

[miguelpp 25]

Really nice.FSX? With default planes and some little tweaks, yes. At least it does for me with an E6600 and an ATI X1900XTX.With the upcoming products from 3rd party developers... I am really scared.For now, enjoying FS9, with my new hardware (less powerful than yours) and the most demanding add-ons, it

[Guest baksteen33]

Frankly, Pete, as things stand, I would say: "Honey, I'm going to give you a nice Christmas present and buy my new gear later, sometime next year." :-) What you might not say, with the economy you could probably finance her nice present AND an identical upgrade? ;-) I say so because you have a decent CPU. OTOH, 2GB seems a FSX must-have. Parallely, almost any >/= 256MB GPU provides a variety of options. So, my shopping list would be: - Nice present for wifey :-) - 1GB of RAM - 256-512MB GPU for ca 250-300$ max (might require new PSU) - Un petit peu de patience... :-) FWIW, my 512MB GPU is still standing by as I want to see what can be done with 256MBs. A very powerful - 'memory related' - slider which isn't mentioned too often, is the 'Global texture quality'. Maxxed (1024x), it easily sends 300MB+ to the GPU. One notch below (512x), ca 100MB less. Etc. With a 128MB card, I wouldn't try to use texture > 256x256. Maybe even 128x128? FWIW-2, MemStatus is a nifty little utility to monitor RAM consumption. Pls note; on single monitor setups as it 'only' monitors the primary display. It can for example help to adjust given systems within certain thresholds. FWIW-3 and IMHO, gaming is all about 'the final result', the image one sees. It's funny this is seldomly mentioned. ;-) I'ld bet there are much more threads without this information than with. It makes a BIG difference whether one intends to render 1024x, 1920x or on multiple monitors... When thinking FlyTendo, this is my central thought and probably the one with the greatest long-term impact. For example, I started saving for my projector ages ago. This was 'my answer' to getting a BIG screen AND still being within 'renderable thresholds'. Result, I have no need for 3 monitors and multiple GPUs rendering ca. 3800x1000. No, right now, the 'baby' is 2.2m(!) on the wall @ 1280x720... Best of all, I even gain a little performance compared to 1280x1024 on the 19" TFT... :-) Did I mention the word 'immersion'? :-) Anyway, personal conclusion: FlyTendos ideally build around what one wants to achieve visually. 512MB GPUs are great, but only really helpful or necessary if you render > 1024x... With twin monitors at high resolutions and assuming a GPU needs to render textures for each display independantly, one might want to consider 1GB GPU-RAM? Etc. Hope this adds to thoughts, Pete, kind regards Jaap

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN 336]

Thanks Miquel and Jaap.I'm really more worried not to create any bottlenecks in my new system and just don't know to much about hardware. I believe the mobo is good, but how will it all interact with the HD's, ram etc.?I'm not to worried about FSX and won't mind updating to Vista/DX10 with a new video card in 6-12 months, but for now, I'd be more than happy to run FS9 without any problems on this system until Vista/DX10/FSX is sorted out.Cheers,Petehttp://members.aol.com/pzsoulman/myhomepage/logo.gifAMD64-3400,1GB/3200DDRAM,WinXP(SP2),DirectX9.0c,Geforce6800(128MB)(Det.84.21), CH Yoke/Pedals

[Guest baksteen33]

>>I'm really more worried not to create any bottlenecks in my new system...<< Hi Pete, if FS9 is the main concern, max you could do IMHO, is add another GB of memory and maybe a 256MB GPU. Display/resolution indications pending. Bottlenecks... In all the years I've been involved with 'this', this likely is the worst time to purchase ever. Little is known about FSX/DX10, Vista and DX10 itself. It could very well be that you think you should have bought 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB. I wouldn't have a clue about a bottleneck-free system for the coming 12 months. All I can say, is, if I was to build a box today which is supposed to last at least a year and potentially be Vista/FSX/DX10-capable (only necessitating a GPU-exchange), I'ld go for 4GBs of RAM... and maybe winXP64 (so I could upgrade to a 64-bit Vista version). Buuuttt, RAM prices are astronomic and by March next year they'll likely be much lower. That is, if the analysts I trust are right. ;-) Other analysts predict the opposite. I hope the industry follows the latter of course..! ;-) --> massive overproduction = lower prices... Well, we'll see. :-) AIM, if FS9 is the main concern, you'll be fine with what you have plus an extra bit of juice. Out of curiousity, is your current FlyTendo AGP or PCI-e? Cheers and kind regards Jaap

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN 336]

Jaap,good points indeed. I reached my budget limit and will go for another 2 GB Ram in the spring 2007. Ram I can explain to my wife, a more expensive video card or mobo not ;-)This is what I'm going for. I made changes to the mobo, video, cooling and PPU. I dediced to not go for a RAID config. as flightsim wouldn't really benefit from it and that's the only game I run.Here's the config:NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel MotherboardGeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU ATX12V/ EPS12V 750W Power Supply Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 1066MHz FSB 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s SONY Black 16X IDE DVD-ROM Drive (Item#ABS27101131) 1 Standard SAMSUNG 18 X SuperMulti Dual Layer DVD Burner with LightScribeCreative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCIGIGABYTE 120mm Blue LED Light 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling Cheers and thanks again.Petehttp://members.aol.com/pzsoulman/myhomepage/logo.gifAMD64-3400,1GB/3200DDRAM,WinXP(SP2),DirectX9.0c,Geforce6800(128MB)(Det.84.21), CH Yoke/Pedals

[Guest baksteen33]

I wish you heaps of fun, Pete. If you like to multitask, you'll quickly fall in love with the cores. ;-) In retrospect, this thread made me giggle. You came here looking for advise on hardware and a guy tells you buy a present for your wife! :-) Come on! :-) Well, I did my best to make your wife an even happier person! And failed gloriously! My apologies to her. :-) If you like, please report back about your findings. It's always nice to hear feedback, impressions and be able to learn something. Cheers and kind regards Jaap