Ok, I've narrowed my choices. I'm looking to very cheaply upgrade my Soltek Athlon XP 1700+ computer. My graphics card will probably be an FX5200 128 MB (or a GeForce3 128 MB), at least for the time being. I just don't have much cash, but I need to upgrade this computer for FS9. After searching ebay for a couple of weeks and comparing to Pricewatch and the TomsHardware.com Athlon Benchmark, it appears my best buys will be a MB/CPU combo from Compu-Terra. My pricepoint is about $150 for the package, and these are the best choices I could find for what I was looking for:- Abit NF7-S2 with Athlon XP 2600+ 333 FSB - $139.74- Abit NF7-S2 w/Athlon XP 2800+ 333 FSB - $162.90- ASUS A7N8X-X w/Athlon XP 2600+ 333 FSB - $151.88- ASUS A7V400-MX w/Athlon XP 3000+ 333 FSB - $152.95- ASUS A7N8X-E (Deluxe) with Athlon XP 2600+ 333 FSB - $160.72- Gigabyte GA-K8NS 754 w/Athlon 64 2800+ - $162.98All these choices come with a fan. My basic assumptions are, based on reviews at TomsHardware and elsewhere, that I'm partial to nVidia nForce mainboards, and at this pricepoint, Athlon XP is the way to go - I should stay away from Sempron (true?).The best buy seems to be the Gigabyte 754 Athlon 64. Am I correct in this assumption? It's too bad it's not a GA-K8NS Pro, but at this price, I'll live with it. I already have a linksys 802.11g card, which is how our house is networked at the moment.Also, anybody know where to get a good price on 1GB PC3200 400 MHz sticks?Thanks,Thomas

Hi Thomas, IMHO, the best choice would be the last one you listed. However, ideally, for future upgradeabililty, it would be better if you invested another ~40 bucks and got a 3000-AMD64 s939 CPU with a similar board (w/ nForce chipset). I fully agree with your assumption that Nvidia makes very good mainboard chipsets. Hope this adds to thoughts, good luck and kind regards Jaap

Thomas,I am in the process of upgrading my computer and have an AMD XP 2500+ Barton with the ASUS A7N8X-X for sale. If you want, I will also throw in my Radeon 9800, which would be a huge improvement over the FX5200. This setup has proved to work very well with FS9 and is rock-stable. I get an average of 20-40 FPS in 2D view and 9-20 in VC with most display settings maxed.Email me at ptreptau at gmail.com, if interested.Any AMD64 system will set you back a lot more than $200, excluding the graphic board, which at that CPU should be at least a GeForce 6600GT for yet another $150. I have been an active flight simmer for 10 years and if your CPU and graphic board is not tuned to work together, then you most likely will be disappointed.Pat

>- Gigabyte GA-K8NS 754 w/Athlon 64 2800+ - $162.98<>>Any AMD64 system will set you back a lot more than $200...<< AFAIK, the 2800 is an AMD64 system... And for ~40-50 bucks more one will get something identical in s939 including a nForce3 mainboard with AGP. Frankly, I don't see the 'a lot' more than 200$... The display adapter can be tailored to the resolution required. Case one has a 5200, I'ld only suggest to not go beyond 800x600 or perhaps 1024x max. Good luck and kind regards Jaap