I just received email on 2 specials from 3bTech in South Bend.Do either of these look good fro FSX?I currenty have older unit. P4 2.4,Invidea 6600 256 video,1.5 ram.Thanks for any advice.Ron Athlon 64 3500+ SLI Gamer System w/ 2GB, 250GB SATA, DVDRW AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU MSI K8N-SLI motherboard Two nVidia geForce 7600GS 256MB PCI-E video cards in SLI mode 2GB PC3200 DDR RAM 250GB SATA hard drive Dual layer 16x DVD burner 7.1 channel audio and gigabit LAN 52 format flash card reader 549.00Intel Dual Core SLI Gamer System w/ 2GB, 250GB SATA, DVDRW Intel Pentium D 3.0GHZ CPU MSI P4N-SLI motherboard Two nVidia geForce 7600GS 256MB PCI-E video cards in SLI mode 2GB PC5300 DDR2 RAM 250GB SATA hard drive Dual layer 16x DVD burner 7.1 channel audio and gigabit LAN 52 format flash card reader 649.00

Neither of the specs listed are suitable for a current FSX system.The general consensus is that FSX runs best with Core 2 duo CPUs. They are the fastest and most energy efficient. FSX also does not benefit significantly from SLI, so don't go there either, particularly with the driver issues people are experiencing. Generic specs (specifics depend on how much you want to spend):Core 2 duo CPUCompatible motherboard450 Watt or higher PSUCPU cooler2 GB DDR 2 RAM SATA drive512 MB or higher graphics cardCreative sound cardCase with nice big and slow fansDVD burner, etcIf you buy a low cost core 2 duo CPU, you can screw reasonable performance out of it by overclocking. But to do that you will need to spend a little more on a good CPU cooling solution.The specs you have listed say nothing about the power supply or case and these components are critical to noise levels. I have no idea why anyone would want to buy two 7600 256 MB video cards in SLI. Much simpler and better performance with a single high end card. The best available options for games are now 8800GTS or 8800GTX. Checks my sig for my preferred specific options.Cheers,Noel.

Noel.Thanks for the info.I'll keep monitoring the forums and when I'm ready to go on a new one I'll run my computer guy's recs thru here.Ron

>I just received email on 2 specials from 3bTech in South>Bend.Do either of these look good fro FSX?I currenty have>older unit. P4 2.4,Invidea 6600 256 video,1.5 ram.Thanks for>any advice.Ron >>Athlon 64 3500+ SLI Gamer System w/ 2GB, 250GB SATA, DVDRW >AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU >MSI K8N-SLI motherboard >Two nVidia geForce 7600GS 256MB PCI-E video cards in SLI mode>>2GB PC3200 DDR RAM >250GB SATA hard drive >Dual layer 16x DVD burner >7.1 channel audio and gigabit LAN >52 format flash card reader > 549.00>>Intel Dual Core SLI Gamer System w/ 2GB, 250GB SATA, DVDRW >Intel Pentium D 3.0GHZ CPU >MSI P4N-SLI motherboard >Two nVidia geForce 7600GS 256MB PCI-E video cards in SLI mode>>2GB PC5300 DDR2 RAM >250GB SATA hard drive >Dual layer 16x DVD burner >7.1 channel audio and gigabit LAN >52 format flash card reader 649.00>Both systems are somewhat weak to run FSX efficiently.

I agree with what was said, don't waste your money on either system listed. Those were good about 1.5 years ago but no more. The SLI is of little concern to us as FS users. They do have 2 gb of mem which is nice, but they are out-of-balance as their cpu's are not that great considering they have 2gb ram.I've owned both and between the two the 3500+ is the better rig for FS but then again it won't really cut it for FSX either.I don't know what your budget is, but the hard fact is that for a cpu-intensive app like FS, you are going to have to spend more than $600 on a system. You may have seen threads here on AVSIM about people spending $5000 and $6000 on computers for FS, but that is the opposite extreme and is a waste of money.With all of these price drops, $1000-$1500 today, can get you a decent FSX rig. And $1500-$2000 can get you a darn good FSX rig. But $500-$600 will not really buy enough computer for our demanding sim.With either of those systesm you would have to pull sliders quite far left and it really would not be that great of an experience unless you have low expectations to begin with.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian