This is one heck of a powerful PC for FS9. It is transforming FS9 into the sim it was supposed to be and was vaunted to be by MS almost 2 years ago. At this point, I still have 100% default everything and have not yet applied the official MS patch 9.1. I have a dual LCD monitor (20" and 19") setup and get an average of 45 fps with most sliders set all-right or one notch below extreme for autogen and clouds, and visibility ranges of 100nm and 60nm for clouds. Average frames fall to 35 if all sliders are maxed right.On the ground in default Cessna or 777, spot view yields 55-65 fps just sitting still, viewing west of KSEA 34R and frames fall to roughly half of this when panning right to the terminal area with 50% default AI traffic. So the fps range is very large depending on what you're viewing and your viewpoint.I was getting a steady 120-140 fps in the default Cessna at dawn over the pyramids outside Cairo and something over 200 fps (it changed many times per second) when spot viewing from about 20-30 deg below the Cessna horizon toward the sky and sand. This may seem unbelievable, but it is true. I can pan smoothly although when there is a lot of dense cumulus outside, there is a fractional "smearing" effect from inside the cockpit looking out that lasts a brief moment, like the blink of an eye. There is no visible ghosting at all (the primary monitor is 1600x1200x32 bit).Most impressive is the ability to pentrate dense cumulus and t-storms with raging rains and still get 35 to 45 fps in spot view and about 30-35 in the VCs. The Ti-4600 card on my DELL 8200 2.53Ghz would typically fall to 12-15 fps in such weather and about 10-11 in the VC.The visual quality is quite incredible. It's like having new retinas and new lenses on my real eyes. The sense of 3-D is much more profound as well and the sense of wide open space in this virtual world of 1600x1200 that is rendered with crystal clarity is quite stunning. The colors at dawn and dusk are amazingly lifelike and exciting and the effect of aircraft and terrain lights is super. The rendering is flawless with the default ATI drivers.I cannot really see any difference between 35 fps and 55 fps or 70 fps. But I can see a difference between 22 fps and 33 fps. So I might set the slider cap to 35 fps and just set all sliders full right and keep them there--even though I cannot see any visible diff between VERY DENSE and EXTREMELY DENSE scenery (unless you have add ons that do require an EXTREME setting). In the circumstances, I don't feel inclined to get a new sun, moon, cloud collection or whatever. Of course, I imagine frames will degrade incrementally as I pile on the add-ons like PMDG, UT, PSS, and so on. Although then again, this card seems very robust and perhaps I shall be pleasantly surprised. I can only say that the amount of h.p. required to run FS2004 with total smoothness and visual clarity is simply beyond reason. You really do need a super-hefty rig (my processor is 3.8Ghz). It's hard to explain in words how different things look with this hi-end PC and video card and how much better it all seems to the senses. You see things you just don't see with lower end or mid-end PCs and video cards.For now I am enjoying a simpler, less cluttered fleet and the fact that FS2004 starts up in moments rather than minutes (that alone is a minor miracle and feels great). I'll post again down the road after more testing and installations.JSP.S. I got this rig at the DELL Outlet for roughly 50% off and it is immaculate. I bought a 3 yr warranty for $129 extra. So far, this looks like the best PC deal of my long simming life.

So what's happening now that you have your addons loaded on?billg

Well, great timing here!I just installed my three Fly Tampa airports--OMDB, KSFO, KMIA. Each is sensational and stunning and yields frames of around 35 to 55 in the default Cessna by day or night. I am currently touring KSFO at night and it is mind-blowingly detailed, clear, colorful, and remarkable. I wish folks could stand here or sit here with me and see this, it is incredible.The PMDG NG flies well and yields frames of 35 to 50 in SPOT view with heavy cumulus around. It far exceeds my expectations.Takeoff in the VC of the NG is also pretty decent. Frames drop to their lowest here, about 22-27 on takeoff roll.The HJG 707 series also looks dazzling and the views of KIAD on approach at dusk with Chris Alevritis panel are....make me breathless. Well, frankly even the default 747 looks amazing, displaying colors and shades and reflections I never even knew existed!Flying into a dense KLAX by day, with Fair Weather in Fs9, in the default 747 or a POSKY 744 yields frames of 25 to 35 on approach.Flying over the Pacific in the default 744 with Fair Weather lifts frames in SPOT view to about 120 (yes, that is 120).All in all, this is so far an A+ experience and it is exciting to test and marvel over.I am probably going to lock frames at 35 to 40 because this provides full motion viewing and the picture is even sharper (if that is possible, over an already incredible clarity and acuity), with some spare h.p. for anything else.Last, FS starts up in moments. This is a novelty for me. It takes moments to instal things and 10 to 15 seconds to boot up FS9 to get to the initial menu. I have booted Fs up 50 times or more in the past 5 days to instal, test, review, check, etc., and it is amazingly fast with this giant 3.8 Prescott processor.I am impressed. This is the best $1,600 I ever spent (yeah, beat that price for this rig.)Superlatives? You bet! It's all I'd hoped for--and even more.JS

Nice! Thx for the update. BTW, any more of them at that price? :-)billg

Depends. DELL's inventory turns over in massive quantities daily and they price differently every day to move it out. The system I got sells for $2,950 new. I saw an identical one 4 days earlier for $1,985 and nearly bought it. The afternoon I saw my system at the price, I went in immediately and bought it.So you need to check daily and know in advance exactly what configuration you want. Price it out first, check around and then review the daily inventory.I am not sure how many 3.8 systems there will be in the near future since DELL seemed to have ceased producing them and they then racked up the price of the 3.6 system to the same as the 3.8. Processors and the Radeon 850 cards seem to be heading upward in price for now.JS

Buying a prebuilt computer IMO is total waste of money. What I wanna say is, you will get a great performance, but at SO MUCH HIGHER PRICE! Build yourself a system or for Gods sake, get some friend to do it for you... It's like building LEGO cubes.What you see in my signature, I got for about EUR 2300 (including one 19" TFT and all extras).

Come on Word Not Allowed, we are not all technicians and engineers! This is a hobby, for heaven's sake, and I am a hobbyist who likes to sim, not build PCs. I know that some of the folks around here think we ordinary lay persons must be idiots, gladly throwing our money away to PC companies. It's not so easy to build a PC yourself when you have mostly an amateur knowledge or experience of parts and systems. It takes a lot of surplus time, energy, focus, and will to amass that knowledge and experience.I paid approximately Euros 1200 for my DELL XPS Gen 4 and Euros 425 for the 20.1" LCD monitor. The performance is superb (to my untrained eyes). Now why would I want to spend 50 to 100 hours learning how to build a PC and probably get it wrong when I can do that ?JS

Well, you got it right at this point JS.But still, lots of money nevertheless.