Being that I am not quite ready to spend two to three thousand $$ to upgrade ONLY for FSX, I have done the following as a somewhat poor man's upgrade:I installed a NVAIDA 6800XT, 256 Bit,512 MB AGP video card in place of a Radeon 9800 Pro, 128 Bit, 128 MB card. I also added a third party cooler for my video card which so far has controlled the GPU @ mid to high 40's C normally, and 50 degrees C max temperature, even with pretty high overclocking and all pipes open.I increased my 1 GB/400 Memory to 3 GB.I have a third party CPU cooler which should arrive tomorrow that I shall also implement, good for either my present, or future considered CPU.An additional consideration I would appreciate a little help with is as follows:I am speculating upon replacing my ASUS P4C800 Deluxe Motherboard and P4 3.2 Processor with an ASUS P5VDC-X Motherboard and a Core 2 duo Processor, assuming that this board is still available and I can find one (or equal).This Motherboard has both AGP and PCI-E X16 video card provisions along with an LGA775 CPU socket. Being that the consensus opinion seems to be that the processor is still the major bottle neck compared to the video card, I felt that this might give me the option of upgrading to a much better CPU, but retain my present AGP video card for the time being. In addition, this would offer me the option of adding a newer PCI-E X16 video card at a later date after school is out relative to Vista and DX10.The catch to this card is that the PCI-E X16 provisions offer only a "max X4 mode". Does anyone have a feel for how significant this limitation would be compared to "a max X8 mode" offered with other motherboards (obviously half the multiplier, but how much effect will this have real world in FS?)?Any input on this subect, and/or experience with such a senario sure would be appreciated. Thanks:RTH

I was thinking of something similar earlier. And I am glad I did not do the creepy crawler upgrade path. Nibling upgrades are very expensive at the end and very unsatisifying.I would advce a Core 2 Duo + a $130 MB from Gigabyte or something. Also get a $120 PCI-E express Video card and jump out of that AGP hold. (Sell that AGP Card on e-bay or something)Manny

This sounds similar to my recent quest for better performance in FSX.I think you are on the right track with upgrading, but you may be limited with the x4 mode and in case you do run across a few extra dollars, making your system no SLI support.Hear are a couple of facts; DUO Core and FSX;FSX does not currently take advantage of the newer dual core processors full potential. Not to say a faster processor would hurt but I was disapointed by the fact the new flight sim FSX from MS lacks native Duo Core support. The fsx dev team made a lot of excuses about why it does not, just google fsx duo core.SLI and FSX;Nvidia at least does have and offer custom config files for SLI mode for FSX. However, I have 8800 SLI system and only see a couple of frames increase from my previous single 8800 setup.Some have speculated that FSX does not fully support SLI, while I beleive that both the sli cards and FSX are restricted by the Processor for the most part its really not worth the extra cash unless you play other games that take full advantage. FSX, DX10 and VISTA;Once again I felt let down. I have the new Enterprise Edition of VISTA. Guess what ? Nvidia does not have drivers for my brand new 8800 GTX cards, so they run in VGA Mode. When all along they are being marketed as VISTA READY. Maybe One day from what I hear end of Jan 2007. I wait, for the unknown.I also hear that FSX does not support DX10, and if this is true, I give up on Microsoft Flight Simulators.So, what did I get with my 3k investment ? 7 extra frames for FSX. This is truly a shame. Since FSX is being marketed as a "New Platform". What platform ?. It doesn't support New Duo Core Processors, DX10, Dual Processors, and shows only a few extra frames when running in SLI. I have no idea what platform they are speaking of.To help answer your question;My old system (I still have it) runs a nvidia 6800xt agp8 with 2gb system ram and a Intel Processor Pen 4 FSB800 3.4GHZ and sata drive, it is a Gigabyte MB.I was getting 7~14 frames daytime with microsofts suggested installed settings (medium). In large cities airports nighttime, that would crawl around 5~7 frames. Not to mention, add-ons like Capt Sim 757 or My Traffix X. Both cause the frames to drop to 3.If I was going to do it all again;e6700, 4gb ram and a single 8800. This will give you around 14 frames with custom settings to your liking, I perfer higher scenery with high aircraft settings and 15% AI traffic. To see some screen captures visit http://www.dmbproducts.com/fsx (i will have them posted later today.It is an uphill battle to fully enjoy the product when its developed not to support the latest tech.regards

Thanks for the reply:I see pretty well just what you describe on your old system.Your interpretation seems pretty accurate from all that I can find out concerning Dual Core and SLI implementation. Possibly there is some question concerning DX10. My understanding is that both Vista and DX10 are FSX implemented, but the results are still in question. Some posts have even implied that performance is reduced, but you are already traveling down that road and are making your own evaluation which may well be far more valid than what I have read.The driver bit for the 8800GTX sounds like the pits to me, but surely that will be soon corrected. I fear your recommendation may remain valid regardless of hardware concerning the "single 8800". I like to run more than two monitors, but the hit on secondary displays is expotential compared to FS9 on my system.Some turkey shoot huh!I am doing my best to be patient and take this slowly to see what developes in future weeks (well probably that should be future months). I fully agree that it is an uphill battle but hopefully a tractor will soon be available with enough power to climb it.Thanks again:RTH

Well Folks: I fear I may have had a mute idea from the get go. Looks like I owe you an applolgy for wasting your time.I was interpreting the LGA775 slot on the motherboard in question to allow implementation of a core duo installation, but in reading the specs it really does not say that. So much for that idea (with this motherboard at least). The following is the ASUS link to the board in question.http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=...126&modelmenu=2Respectfully:RTH

I was kinda wondering how you found an ultra-modern Core2 Mobo with AGP and PCI-X support!?! Me +1 on the advice - if it's time to jump, jump. Don't stumble. There is really no alternative to crossing the stream from AGP to PCI-X, other than staying put with the mobo you have now. Anything esle would need replacing again in six months to a year, or whenever you upgrade next.For me, given the confusion around FSX, Vista, DX10 and patches and drivers, I cannot see that now is the time to switch to the new OS, but if I were switching hardware now, in anticipation of making the change later on, I would definitely go all-out for the right hardware and run Win XP on it for now. If nothing else, FS9 will fly! :)Allcott

As per replies on another forum, there is a strong possibility that with updated BIOS, the ASUS board in question DOES support Duo Core 2. I am sending an an email to ASUS to confirm or snuff this possibility.It has the same chip as an ASRock Motherboard which specifically specifies that it is duo core 2 ready. I just don't know anything about ASRock. This card does have a mess of old PCI slots as well which has some appeal to me personally (SCSI Controller, Sound Card, Modem, etc.) I do not know if it has 4X or 8X capability (4X assumed). If 8X, the spec would beat the ASUS card in this catagory. (Another email to the manufacturer may be in order).http://www.asrock.com/product/775Dual-VSTA.htmhttp://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=...126&modelmenu=2There may or may not be other boards that offer this option, I haven't searched far enough to confirm this possibility.Everything you say is logical and certainly worthy of consideration, and probably will be what I end up doing, but I still think there is another side of the story that may not be totally bogus.I see the possibility that a $400-$500 upgrade now might be nearly as acceptable as the high priced option with the emphesis purely on the CPU, and that a year from now when all of the chickens come home to roost, additional upgrades combined with this might cost no more (or even be less expensive) with superior hardware to that available right now. A little competition from AMD and on video cards hopefully will bring favorable results for all of us. The only Sow in the pen makes her look awfully good (and expensive) IMHO. With both AGP and the more modern video slots provided, this scenario would allow me to implement one of the best of the CPU's availableat the present time, see the results, and then go to the best Video card available now or wait until a later date when competition developes. In addition, I would also be able to retain my present AGP card for multiple monitor operation (and retire my PCI card presently used for this purpose.) I realize this would not be equal to Dual 8800gtx's or the like, but I would think a 6800XT/256Bit/512MB would be more than good enough for a third and possibly fourth monitor running things like FSNav.Your "If its time to jump, jump" recommendation makes a lot of sense. For me personally, I am going to take a wait and see approach as to exactly when that "time" is. I want to see what evolves realtive to what is available a few months after Vista and DX10 arrive before I spend the big bucks. Whether I try a temporary patch in between is a turkey shoot and I have not decided yet. After my third party CPU cooler arrives today and I try a little overclocking, I probably will forget the whole thing for the present time. This provision for my video card worked great. I have severe video overclocking now with all pipes open and only run in the mid to high 40's C for my GPU (did see 50C once).Sure appreciate your input and will certainly give it careful consideration.Happy New Year:RTH

If you do decide to stay with AGP for the time being, this may be of interest:http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/powerc...pro_agp_review/They don't test with FSX, but the proof of the pudding is that AGP is not dead yet - at least as far as DX9 and XP is concerned. So IF the decision is to stay away from DX10/Vista for a good while, this might be an effective upgrade path. It appears that the paper pipeline advantage of PCI-X is not actually that great in reality, which leaves yet another Big Question Mark over the cost-effectiveness of expensive upgrades at this point.Allcott

Hello again Allcott:Links recommended on another forum back up what you mention pretty accurately.As it turns out, due to the "4X" limitation on the motherboards in question, the AGP8X virtually beats out the "4X" limitation placed on the newer video cards. I think I will continue my wait and see approach and see what is available over the coming months. (Wish I had a crystal ball).I got delivery on a CPU cooler today. Maybe a little overclocking will help. I got dandy results by doing this on my video card. Extensive overclocking with low temperatures.Have a Happy New Year and many thanks for your interest and help:RTH