Hi all,I

Hi GemmaI buy from Dabs on line although I have used a few others. They are all probably okay as long as nothing goes wrong. The pain is in waiting in for deliveries although some offer specified delivery times at extra cost.OverclockersUK were pretty good when I sent back a dodgy graphics card.I usually try to buy in a shop although it costs slightly more.Overclockers have a shop in the Midlands. There is a lot more choice in London. I use YoYotech.

Gemma,I use either DABS (www.dabs.com)or Ebuyer (www.ebuyer.co.uk)Never had a problem with either and both handle returns well.My advice only order items that eare IN STOCK...even though they say in stock 2-3 days sometimes its more like 2-3 weeks.If you let us know your budget then we can recommend some componentsregardsJim

Hi Gemma,I second the recommendations from Howard and Jim. I've dealt with Dabs for years but living close to Manchester I've also bought from MicroDirect. More recently, I bought my Dell 24" TFT from OverClockers who are very competitive price-wise.Just make sure with any of them that they do have stock in when you order.Happy building!

Firstly thanks to everyone for the input, that is really helpful, I stumbled across DABS in the wee hours this morning so very useful to know I should be OK with them and the other recommendations.OK, budget, lets say the sky is the limit! Well within reason. I deserve to treat myself so lets set the budget around the point of a bleeding edge ready build such as Alineware at around 3K+ but without the compromises. This is just for the rig as I already have keyboard mouse, joysticks, pedals etc.Objectives: OK this Rig should be the best possible for FSX with what is available now. It needs to be future proof too. So components need to be Vista and DX10 compatible. However intially it will be an XP based platform, I never buy an OS until it has been out for at least 12 months or more. The rig should be able to evolve along with FSX into the next couple of years at least.OK so far I have the graphics card on the way, Sapphire Radeon XT1950 XTX, why didn't I buy a DX10 ready card? I'm an ATI fangirl so it will suffice until ATI release their DX10 cards and the prices drop and ACES give us the DX10 patch (then I'll consider Vista and not before). This is the only compromise I'm going to make, knowing the card will be updated in the near future.CPU I'm looking at Intel Duo or Quad - now that I have a problem with, will Quad give me any real advantage in FSX over Duo? Has anyone seen FSX running on a Quad or seen any reviews?MOBO, not sure here at all, need to do a lot more research.Drives, these I got a shock with, wow have the prices come down in the last few years. I fancy a RAID configuration, one for the OS and one for FSX so that is going to be four utlra fast drives and RAID 0 (I think). I could do with some guidance on capacity and manufacturer here and set-up. I'm not going to be storing vast amounts of multi media on the main drives, these will be dedicated to FSX and the OS, so what would you suggest including room for various future add-ons? I'm looking at having the page cache on a specific device, ignorant about this so any help appreciated. OH I'll need some room also for some 3D work too. (OH yes I feel the need to build a plane!)So maybe drive number 5 (not RAID) for file storage to keep the OS and FSX installations uncluttered?Sound, totally undecided, this isn't really an area I've looked into as yet. I mostly use headphones as my current system makes the whole house rumble with aircraft noises, heaven for me, #### for the family! (Can't wait for the RealAir FSX update for the spitty, Griffon sounds... magic!)PCU, I guess one with all the necessary bits and around 100-150+ Watts in hand for the future. Case the same, all the bits, looks good, but is easy to use - can be big, not a problem.Sorry for the long post, I'm excited at the prospects but very new to all this. Any help would be really appreciated. I'm hoping to be able to put up a few web pages detailing the build and evolution of this rig. So hopefully if I get lots of advice now, I'll be able to give something back to the community regarding real world FSX performance with the latest hardware.Many thanks,Gemma

GemmaMy recommendations are:MB: ASUS P5N32-ECPU: Intel Core2 Duo E6600RAM: 2GB DDR2-8500HDD: 500GB Western Digital 16MB Databurst CacheI've also got a QX6700 quad core but its no faster than the E6600 at running FSX.Stick with XP for the moment so no need for any more than 2GB RAM.That RAM will cost a fortune but its the same FSB speed as the E6600(1067MHz).Make sure you get a decent PSU (700W) and CPU Heatsink/Fan like a Zalman CNPS9500RegardsJimPS: Looking at what's currently in stock: Sony 18x DVD+/-RW 12X RAM blk drive quicklinx:48J2WS Mfr#:AW-G170AB2 In stock now

Many thanks for that Jim, looks like I'm in for another late night checking out all those goodies and wow, well below my budget, have to get myself one of those pilot seats to go with the new rig now!Can I just clarify one point? I read on here so often that FSX/FS9 are best on their own drive(s). I therefore had thought that two raid configurations one for the OS and one for the FS installation might be the way to go for ultra fast drives. Is this possible and/or useful?Really appreciate the help and if anyone else has some alternative suggestions to keep me busy researching tonight, I'm all ears.All the best,Gemma

>Many thanks for that Jim, looks like I'm in for another late>night checking out all those goodies and wow, well below my>budget, have to get myself one of those pilot seats to go with>the new rig now!>>Can I just clarify one point? I read on here so often that>FSX/FS9 are best on their own drive(s). I therefore had>thought that two raid configurations one for the OS and one>for the FS installation might be the way to go for ultra fast>drives. Is this possible and/or useful?>>Really appreciate the help and if anyone else has some>alternative suggestions to keep me busy researching tonight,>I'm all ears.>>All the best,>>GemmaYou could go for 4 SATA hard-drives and have a dual boot machine. Probably wouldn't need 500GB drives but the difference in price between 500s and smaller drives is not appreciable. You could then keep one boot system purely for FSX and all the add-ons (The UK VFR mesh and scenery is over 70GB).If you've got

If you are going to go dx10 eventually and also SLI or crossfire it may pay to get the 1kW Enermax Galaxy PSU. Beware of the size of it and ensure it fits in the case.I think the fastest drives are the Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm 150 Gb.Also make sure your Mb can take 2 PCIe16 cards.Its great fun spending someone elses money.:)Edited for speeling.

Gemma,as DABS don't have the ASUS board in stock you can get it from Novatech...another good UK companyhttp://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-P5N32Phttp://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?IL-E6600http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ZAL-9500LLooks like the decent CPU Coolers are out of stock everywhere!This is a good alternativehttp://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CM-MARSregardsJim

Do you really need that memory? why not the 6500 instead of the 8500 memory? Even with OC my E6600 to run at 3.4 the 6400 is more than sufficient.Manny