I've had good results with CompUSA rebates. Does require patience though.scott s..

All Right placed the order. Went back and forth and finally this is what I have ordered from newegg.ORDER 1: 1 LIAN LI PC-61 USB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - RetailItem #: N82E16811112025 $94.99 1 ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - RetailItem #: N82E16813131025 $269.99 1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - RetailItem #: N82E16819115003 $329.00 1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - RetailItem #: N82E16820145590 $294.00 2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEMItem #: N82E16822144701 $155.98 1 BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - RetailItem #: N82E16814143049 $143.99Subtotal: $1,303.43What's this? Tax: $0.00Shipping: $34.22Printer-friendly Version Total: $1,337.65I AM NOT SURE OF THE MEMORY THAT I HAVE ORDERD, IF THAT IS OK OR NOT.ORDER 2---------1 CPU THERMPASTE|ARCTIC SILVER5 3.5G% - OEMItem #: N82E16835100007 $5.99 $5.991 CPU FAN ZALMAN|CNPS9500 AT RTL - RetailItem #: N82E16835118003 $47.99 $47.99---------------------------------------------------------------Keyboard and other stuff in Order 1: 1 i-rocks IR-7900 2-Tone 3 Buttons 1x Wheel PS/2 Optical Mouse - RetailItem #: N82E16826227008 $2.50 1 LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - RetailItem #: N82E16823107120 $4.99 1 SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEMItem #: N82E16821103116 $7.99----------------------------------------------------------------Never built a PC before. Hope this goes well. I didn't get a sound card. Plan to use what I have from my current PC. I have a DVD Read only drive - Retail unopened that is almost 2 years old.I could have gotten the HD from CompUSA and saved $40 via rebate... Oh well... Manny :)Intially I placed an order with the $50 MB that used AGP and Core 2 Duo. That totalled $670. Where I could have used my old AGP FX5900 Ultra 256MB and 512 X 2 = 1Gig of 5200 Memory. Then in the last minute changed my mind. :)So it went from $670 to $1400 cause of the new Memory $300 + New Video card $150 + MBoard increase of $200 + Cooler$70 = + $820

Newegg sells the OEM version of this drive for about $65 with no rebate to worrry about.Gary

Mace.."If that was run on your FX57, it will be interesting to see if your faster cpu affects the throughput any as reported by HD Tach."No..That was on my 4800x2 system...I only have a single Cavier in that system...Gonna check the FX out in a bit...Just putting it back together after some mods...Hopefully it will be up and running tonight...Manny!!Awesome!!That RAM is good...There is another version...Very similar except it's CL4(Timing's 4-4-4-12) for $317(337-$20 Rebate)...Not that big of a deal...The 5-5-5-12 stuff will be good too(and you'll get a $40 mail in rebate..so it will wind up being $254)...Saving $63 over the CL4 stuff...That's a Mighty Nice Motherboard!!"Intially I placed an order with the $50 MB that used AGP and Core 2 Duo. That totalled $670. Where I could have used my old AGP FX5900 Ultra 256MB and 512 X 2 = 1Gig of 5200 Memory."I think you would have been spinning your wheels...You would have wound up placing this order in a week or two anyway...Just a hunch...But I really don't think you would have been very happy...Your doing it right...So you can Really enjoy FS9 for a bit...Get acquanted with FSX...And later on..We'll all be contemplating which new DX-10 videocard to getNice Job!!P.S. I alway's use one of these...you may wish to consider it...Cheep insurance: (Should be able to get one at CompUSA or similar local place)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16899888207Also have you been doing any reading...There are some pretty decent..How to build tutorials out there on the net...I have some bookmarked(if I can find them)...If you can...Go to Asus website and download the motherboard manual...It will probably be the most useful tool you can get...You may be a little to advanced for the online tutorial's?? I think you have a handel on this stuff pretty well...Link??:http://support.asus.com/download/download....SLanguage=en-us(Select your mb)Reading through the mb manual a couple of times will be very benificial...And if you have any questions..You'll have some time to reserch them...Have Fun!!

Hm that's interesting I will remember that. I think that blurries are still more largely a factor of vid and cpu rather than hd but every little tweak can surely help.I wonder how many of today's defragger programs allow for alphabet sorts. Way back, I had Norton Speedisk, and it could do that, but that was for DOS and FAT in about 1993.RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

haha ha. The good ol anti-static wrist strap.He also needs one of those headband-mounted LED-conversion Mag Lites...those are NICE during assembly.4800x2 running the single 250 gig cav is fine, I just wanted something to compare it to. of course, I could run my 3700+ at stock speed and do the HD Tach test, then o/c it and run same test again, to see if cpu affects HD Tach's bench.Now you got me instrested, I have HD Tach and will test (again) tonight. I tested it in Jan when I built my current rig but can't remember what I benched at.RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

Thanks Chuck for the suggestions. I shall get that thingi.Yeah.. I have been reading some.. Its only after I kind of felt that I could do it with the help of good folks such as yourself here and Google in general, I thought I'll venture. Even if I mess this one up, I'd chalk 1 for "education". I have spent more money for graduate school paying out of state tution that has not helped me much. :)And yes.. I have downloaded the Manual from ASUS and leafed through it.I am really excited. More excited about building this thing than owning a good machine. The only issue I have is... I feel bad about having three other machines at home... A Dell XPS 600 Gen2 and Dell Dim... They are both good for FS9 but not sure, If I can even manage to run FSX on them. If somehow I can jazz up the Dell XPS Gen2 3.2G machine, I can use Wideview for a left view. I shall post here my progress.:)Manny

>haha ha. The good ol anti-static wrist strap.>>He also needs one of those headband-mounted LED-conversion Mag>Lites...those are NICE during assembly.>>>Rhett>>Come to think of. I have one of thise LED lights that I can clip on my shirt. Don't know if that would work. Thats my LED lights on my flight bag for night flying.Manny

>Kewl..I looked up HD Tach...I ran on my single WD Cavier>250gb SataII 3gb/s 16mb cache...Here are my results:>>Burst speed.....165.0 Mb/sec>Random access.....13.3 ms>CPU utilization.....2%>Average read.......52.8 Mb/sec>Ok, here's what I got with a the same hard drive:Burst Speed........204.7 mb/secrandom accesss.....13.2 msCPU Utilization....2%Avg read...........55.6 mb/sDon't know why the burst speed was so much higher on mine. It is even higher than scott's RAIDed Raptors!!???! He is NForce3, but still that makes no sense to me. I have NForce4 chipset, I think you do too. So that can't account for the burst being higher.RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

I will be anxiously awaiting the results you get with your system.

"I will be anxiously awaiting the results you get with your system."Me Too!! I'm excited.. :( Thanks for keeping us posted Manny...Mace:>Kewl..I looked up HD Tach...I ran on my single WD Cavier>250gb SataII 3gb/s 16mb cache...Here are my results:>>Burst speed.....165.0 Mb/sec>Random access.....13.3 ms>CPU utilization.....2%>Average read.......52.8 Mb/sec>>Ok, here's what I got with a the same hard drive:>>Burst Speed........204.7 mb/sec>random accesss.....13.2 ms>CPU Utilization....2%>Avg read...........55.6 mb/sWow..Check that out...I'm using the 4800x2 on an Asus A8R-MVP Deluxe mb...It's not a nForce4 mb...It runs a ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire northbridge...I was trying out a crossfire set up...(Which I abandoned)...Soo I had the mb sitting around...I don't know *How* this HD Tach program works...I'm pretty sure it would be technically Over My Head...But obviously the chipset and SATA controller are going to "Influence" the results..huh...Darn..I was kinda hoping to get a Head to Head comparison of the WD Cavier vs Single Raptor...Then vs single Raptor150...Then Raptor's in Raid0...Well...I can just use your #'s as baseline...Duuhhh...I just thought of that..Oh well...So what *Influence* do you think the processor may have on these benches??Oh yeah...I have my mom's system too...I built her a 3700+..I'm sure I used a Cavier in that one too...And it has a nForce4 mb...OK..Soooo..Now..that's the plan...Bench her system and compare the results to your's...If those results are comprable...call that baseline single Cavier...What do you think??Fun Fun!!

Kewl..I looked up HD Tach...I ran on my single WD Cavier>250gb SataII 3gb/s 16mb cache...Here are my results:>>Burst speed.....165.0 Mb/sec>Random access.....13.3 ms>CPU utilization.....2%>Average read.......52.8 Mb/sec>Ok, here's what I got with a the same hard drive:Burst Speed........204.7 mb/secrandom accesss.....13.2 msCPU Utilization....2%Avg read...........55.6 mb/sI'm not sure why the burst speed results are so different.???? Your thoughts??RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

Can you go up a post and read that one...You type quicker than me..he heI wonder if it may be the chipset?? I dunno...I typed more above..I think this is interesting...Kind of impressive performance out of a $70 HD don't ya think...

All right... According to this threadhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=18148&page=It looks like RAID 0 doesn't do much for flightsim.Hmmm,... What Greg says makes sense. IT would be great if there is a way to test flight sim between a single SATA drive and a RAID 0 SATA Drive. 1. Provided both (single SATA vs RAID 0) is both 7200 or 10,000 RPM2. another test required is.. Single SATA 10,000 RPM vs a 7200 RPM x 2 RAID 0.1. and 2. both tested within Flight sim. Not by loading large files that has nothing to do with Flight sim or video files or any such things.Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................Manny

While setting up RAID, you can set strip size. anywhere between 4KB to 128KB.The recommendation is to choose high 128KB for media files and small 4KB for database.The Q is..where would FSim be? 64?Manny