$500 and finally I can play FS9 with everything max'd.

[Guest jscharpf]

I'm just hoping to help out anyone who is considering upgrading. I have come to the conclusion that I was spending too much time trying all the "fixes" adjusting the cfg file, tweaking this, installing different clouds, blah blah.. I just spent $500 at Newegg and I'm very happy. I can run whatever settings I want and have no problems, and I didn't buy a super system.Here's my old system:AMD Athlon XP 1800 (1.677 GHZ)1G of generic RAMEpox 8KHA+ MBGeforce FX5200 128MB AGP (4X)This sytem worked fine but I couldn't use 3D clouds, and I had to limit AI traffic.Here's what I bought to upgrade keeping my monitor/keyboard/case.I also kept my old hard drive (Seagate 80G)..MSI K8N NEo4 Nvidia Nforce4 MB socket 939($88.50)XFX Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI Express video card ($149)AMD Athlon 64 3200 Venice socket 939 (2 ghz) ($152)Corsair Value select 1G RAM set (2 512s) ($78.12)Thermaltake TR2 430W power supply ($39.99)I kept all my remaining hardware. Now I can play with as much AI traffic (I bought MYTRAFFIC) as I want, settings maxed, beautiful clouds, no replacement textures or config settings.. Obviously if you have good RAM and a good PS you could keep those. I hope this helps for anyone looking to upgrade.Here's a link to my setup at NewEgg.com (best place to buy any computer items)https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishLi...under+%24500%3F

[jagabom 21]

That's like me. I bought my system just for FS to have everything as high as I can. Mine is something like yours.JimCYWG

[Guest ponyboy]

I hear ya. After upgrading my system I haven't had to tweak anything. I used to use FSAutstart but not now. Plus I'll have several things running in the background without so much as a hickup. For me that was money well spent as now I can concentrate on flying rather than tweaking (but I admit, I still like to tweak when I want too ;))