Ok, i am finaly sick of FSX only getting 4 FPS on my pc... so i am in the middle of upgrading...So far, this is what i desided i am getting:- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Dual Core)- GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX Motherboard.Now i was wondering, what speed of RAM would you recomend me getting to work with FSX decently? all i want is like 15 FPS on Ultra High quality on FSX...My motherboard can support upto DDR2 800... But i was wondering, seeing i am on a very tight budget, if i got DDR2 667, how much of a difference would it make when trying to get FSX to work on ultra high quality?Thanks in advanced for your help :)

If you got DDR 667 (which is slower), Memory wont really boost your frames, it will help cut loading times. (more ram less windows have to read/write the pagingfile)..., but thats about it.. The only way still to increase fps, is to use raw cpu power, meaning get the fastest cpu you can afford

What about a video card? what video card would you recomend using with FSX?

That all depends what you want, are you upgrading to Vista? if so get a DX10 card to use fsx to its full potential, if sticking to XP then the fastest DX9 would suffice since XP wont support any DX10 (remember when sticking to xp you wont get as nice eyecandy as seen in many MS screenies).., getting a DX10 card on XP would be waste imho if not any upgrade in mind. Note though, FSX performance depends on several options, for example what resolution you running on what display etc..

>Note though, FSX performance depends on several options,>for example what resolution you running on what display etc..Could you give me a little more detail on the above? resolution... what one is the best *performance wise* for fsx?

Well what size is your monitor? At what resolution do you have/are you intending to use FSX 1024x768, 1280x1024 etc...? The higher you set everything, resolution, Texture quality, the more is demanded from you CPU/GPU, also you will see Lesser FPS the higher you go, if your CPU/GPU setup isn't powerful enough..Remember, that with upgrading GPU, in some cases a PSU upgrade is also necessary (depending of what you currently have that is)

I have a 17" CRT Monitor (Old School lol)I have it set to 1024x768 for now, untill i upgrade my monitor lol.I am looking to upgrade to a DirectX 10 GFX Card...

If you want DX10 and using Vista, the only option you have now is to get the 8800GT, GTS or GTX. Or wait and see what ATI brings out in June if im not mistaken....Again, the most FPS advance you will get with a faster CPU,this GPU will help, but don't expect miracles e.a major increase of FPS.Keep in mind, that the 8800 sucks ALOT of juice, so have a powerful enough PSU atleast 650watt+ and at least 34A on the 12v rails. Remember that if you have alot of HD's or other perips. the more juice overall is needed by the system, so keep that in mind, just dont fall for the sales pitch "the more watts the better" because thats another story...

Okay...idk if this is the right place for this, but i'm gonna post some links to the hardware im going to be getting... if you dont mind, please look over my decision, and tell me if it all looks good... and how well it will do on FSXHere is my GFX card:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130071Here is the power supply:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817152026(Note: it has exactly 34 Amps on the 2 12v rails combined.)Here is my CPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103747Here is my motherboard:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813128321Here is the RAM:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820134045(Note: i'm getting 2 of those sticks to make 2GB and dual channel.)Do you think that is a good setup for FSX?About how well do you think FSX would perform on that?

To be honest, its an "OK" system, i assume you aren't into overclocking, so id say the components you have will do OK except for that CPU, really do not expect alot from it for FSX it simply isnt a very powerful cpu for X. IHO, save up for a Core2duo (youll need other mobo) to really start enjoying X, with the release of the QuadFather, those Core2's should drop somewhat in price. Some other personal thing is that, i wouldnt go for RAIDMAX, in the past they brought out some dubious PSU's, for that price id rather opt for some more well known brands, like Enermax, OCZ etc...So in all, it will run FSX, but it wont do great when X becomes saturated with heavy add-ons like PMDG etc.. those must-have add-ons.

Hmm...Well, im personaly not a intel fan, so i'd reather stick with AMD... Second, i dont realy use pay-ware addons for FS, i just stick with the free ones.Now... would that CPU be able to run FSX (without any addons) on Ultra High quality (except for the road traffic) with about 15 FPS?If i overclocked the CPU, would it be able to handle some addons?All i want, is to be able to run FSX on Ultra High quality, with about 15 FPS.

Currently NO cpu will run FSX everything on UH settings, not even the latest greatest Quadfather, FSX is just too demanding for current HW. 15FPS you can get with that X2 4200 CPU with custom low/medium settings.. And no even with overclocking it will still be a very modest CPU so demanding add-ons would be a disaster at this time.