Hi guysHave been using FS2002 in the distant past on my old machine Intel P4 2.4 with 512Mb SDRAM, shared video on Gigabyte 8LS533 (Yeah, I know).Having recently retired, the grandkids have presented me with FSX to help fill in the days, and although it runs (sort of) at 5-8 FPS, it's obvious I need a new machine.A local store is currently offering a system which seems reasonable: C2 Duo 6600 or C2D6700 for $120 Australian more2G DDR2 800MHZ Ram256M 8600GT PCI Express or Gigabyte 8800 GTS for $250 Australian moreQuestion therefore is1 Will this machine run FSX at a reasonable FPS?2 Should I take the optional better processor and video card?Thanks for any offeringsJaje

HI Jaje, it looks good to me so far I would wait till the Intel July 22 price drops here's a link with a chart most people are getting the Intel Q6600 for 266 dollars usd. there's also the E6850 which is at 3ghz dual core for $266 dollars usd.As for the video cards, it always depends on your budget if you can get the 8800gts then go for it, if you want more info the video cards and how they preform with fsx then visit this link it has a really great chart with most of the videos cards in action with fsx and other games, good luck on your new system. :)http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_200...2=722&chart=293http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/80759.aspx

>1 Will this machine run FSX at a reasonable FPS?Yes>2 Should I take the optional better processor and video card?If you can afford both the go for both. If you can only afford one, go for the Graphics Card in preference to the CPU. The 8800 is much better than the 8600 but the difference between the E6600 and E6700 is not very much!8600GT = 22.4 GB/sec8800GTS = 64.0 GB/secRegardsJim

Thanks guysThink I'll wait until after July 22 and check if the price cuts are reflected here in Australia. I'm certainly going to go for the 8800GTSCan't wait to get the new system - will keep you informed of my reactions!Jaje

Go for fastest CPU you can afford it will make the biggest difference, and with video get at least 512 meg, the 8800 has 640, any more is an overkill and isnt used. I went from 7900 256meg GT to 8800GTS 320 meg and got no FPS increase, going from AMD 64 X2 4600 to AMD X2 64 6000 gained me 6 FPS, and memory from 2 gig 667 meg cas 5 to 2 gig 800 mhz cas 4 gained me 3, hope that sheds some light.

>with video get at least 512 meg, the 8800 has 640, any more is an overkill and isnt used.Really??? What if you're running 2x30"W monitors at 2560x1600 pixels each???Perhaps you meant to say that 640MB is sufficient for a single monitor setup.RegardsJim

>Really??? What if you're running 2x30"W monitors at>2560x1600 pixels each???Resolutions like that are the exception rather than the rule. The OP didn't mention such high resolution requirements, so the advice given is still sound IMO.Gary

Just picked up the new hardware and I love itCore Duo E6750 2.66 GHz 4 MbGigabyte GA-P35-S32Gb Kingston 667Mhz DDR2 RAMNvidia Ge-Force NX86S256H 320Gb Seagate SATA2 Hard Drive 7200RPMFSX really flies - I consistently get a minimum of 35FPS with sliders hard to the right. Now I can see the virtues of the program without waiting for frames to load!Thanks for the suggestionsJaje

Good job! A nice balanced system :-)Gary