Hi everyone!I'm going to be buying, a new PC shortly (well, my parents will be :-roll), after a nice 7-year wait. I've been asked to hunt out a system, and I'm going to be running FSX on it.Here is a config I was shown today and was wondering if anyone has any experience running FSX on something similar. Seems quite powerful to me! But I hear FSX is....mindbogglingly hard to satisfy.Here goes:Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz3 GB RAM DDR800500 GB HDASUS Extreme N8800 GTS 640 MBWindows XP (our old SP2 version, will probably switch to Vista when other people have done the testing for us }( )The guy in the shop said it was a system very close to current top notch machines. It's very reasonably priced, I saw another computer with the same CPU, the same RAM, the same HD but the N8800 GTX. It was more than twice as much (but it came with a fancy casing so...:( )Thanks in advance for any opinons!Matti

That looks pretty good there.I would worry a little about the "3 gb ram" though. Perhaps it has 4 gigs but they are accounting for the 3 gig limit of 32-bit Windows (who knows). I would want my memory to be in MATCHED PAIRS, unless there is something new that I don't know about here.I would want 2 single gig sticks, or 2 2-gig sticks. When I see 3gb, I see 1 1-gig stick and two 512mb sticks. Or 3 single gig sticks. Not good. I would want matched pairs with ram sticks (dual channel).That Core2 Quad Q6600 can be overclocked for ideal FSX results...and that's ANOTHER reason why I mentioned the importance of having good quality ram in matched pairs. Oddball mem configuration = bad overclocker.And even if you don't overclock, oddball mem configuration = less performance. And that should be important to anyone. Still, take 3 gig over 2 gig any day, irregardless of the negative consequences.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

>When I see 3gb, I see 1 1-gig stick and two 512mb sticks. That equals 2GB!!!3GB could be made up of 2x1GB and 2x512MB...so could be 2 lots of matched pairs>Or 3 single gig sticks. Not good. Agreed>I would want matched pairs with ram sticks (dual channel). AgreedAs long as your 3GB is made up of 2 lots of matched pairs then it should be OK...as long as the matched pairs are in the correct slots!! I'd also want to know the make/model of the MB and RAMRegardsJim

>>When I see 3gb, I see 1 1-gig stick and>two 512mb sticks. >That equals 2GB!!!aw geez. I'm bad. I can't do math, you know that jimRhettAMD 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

Hey guys!Thanks for the great tips :D :D, I wouldn't have thought the 3GB RAM would be problematic. It's just that IFAIK windows will only support up to 3GB, 4 is not recongnised. I've heard stories of people getting 4 and not having one of them recognised. But would 3 run worse than 2? Or worse than 4? What about using XP? Thanks again! Much appreciated, I'm going like this :-jumpy right now ;)MattiP.S. About the RAM make, I think its Kingston PC2-4200 533MHz : 2 1GB sticks and one 1 1GB. Not sure, though, haven't got the paper with me.

On one of my machines I have 2x512MB and 2x1024MB sticks and FSX runs well under XP.My other machine has 4x1024MB sticks and dual boot Vista64 and XP. XP sees only 2GB and Vista sees only 3.5GB. FSX runs well on Vista but not so well on XP.George

>Hey guys!>Thanks for the great tips :D :D, I wouldn't have thought the>3GB RAM would be problematic. It's just that IFAIK windows>will only support up to 3GB, 4 is not recongnised. I've heard>stories of people getting 4 and not having one of them>recognised. But would 3 run worse than 2? Or worse than 4?>What about using XP? >Thanks again! Much appreciated, I'm going like this :-jumpy>right now ;)>Matti>>P.S. About the RAM make, I think its Kingston PC2-4200 533MHz>: 2 1GB sticks and one 1 1GB. Not sure, though, haven't got>the paper with me.It's not that the sticks are not recognised..it's that they cannot be used as a 32-bit operating system has a maximum of 2^32 (2 to the power 32) possible addresses (which is 4gigs of address space). As the operating system will need to allocate address space to all the import/output devices including the Video card it will immediately grab 1GB of address space leaving only 3GB left for RAM..so effectively only 3GB can be used. However if you put in 4x1GB sticks it may use all 4 sticks but not every bit of every stick.So 4 sticks, in theory, will be faster than 3 but there's no point going beyond 3GB (unless you're going to upgrade to 64-bit). So your system-builder probably knows what he's doing!!RegardsJimPS Still interested in the Mobo..to see if it will handle RAM faster than 533MHz

Hi Jim,The mobo is a Gigabyte, I think a 965 (which one precisely I'm not sure, maybe a 965QM), Intel socket 775 of course. And to correct myself, I think the RAM is actually 800Mhz. To sum up your ideas on the memory, you recommend getting not more than 3 GB but getting it 1x2GB and 2x512MB instead of the 1x1GB. Should be doable.I'll get back to you with more precise info on the mobo :)Matti

>Hi Jim,>The mobo is a Gigabyte, I think a 965 (which one precisely I'm>not sure, maybe a 965QM), Intel socket 775 of course. And to>correct myself, I think the RAM is actually 800Mhz. >>To sum up your ideas on the memory, you recommend getting not>more than 3 GB but getting it 1x2GB and 2x512MB instead of the>1x1GB. Should be doable.>>I'll get back to you with more precise info on the mobo :)>Matti No... I recommend 2x1GB + 2x512Mb....matched pairs..4 sticks not 3Jim

Yeah, sorry I got confused as to how the 2GB came.Matti

Hi again, got the mobo details : Gigabyte P31-DS3L 1333 FSB!The RAM is 800Mhz as I thoughtMatti

>Hi again, got the mobo details : Gigabyte P31-DS3L 1333 FSB!>The RAM is 800Mhz as I thought>MattiMatti,In which case it all sounds good and FSX will run pretty well.Good luckJim

Thanks again for all the tips! I'll PM you whenever I get round to installing it to let you know what it's like. I'll probably see about overclocking the CPU, doesn't seem too hard to do.See ya! :D:DMatti

>Thanks again for all the tips! I'll PM you whenever I get>round to installing it to let you know what it's like. I'll>probably see about overclocking the CPU, doesn't seem too hard>to do.>See ya! :D:D>MattiMatti, Not to add more confusion into the mix, but if you want to overclock a q6600 you should insist on a top-quality heatsink and fan because those quad-core CPUs get HOT when overclocked! Good CPU cooling is important because it will enable you to overclock higher without exceeding the temperature limits of your CPU. The best (air) cooler on the market right now is the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, which you can find for around $55 plus shipping if you're in the US. (Just make sure it's the EXTREME version.) It beats all of the competition in every review I've seen. There are other good heatsinks (Tuniq Tower, Scythe Ninja) that come within a few degrees Celsius of the Thermalright, but none that beats it. I don't know what type of case you'll be getting, but I recommend that you find out and then check some reviews to make sure the case is capable of plenty of heat dissipation. (Does it have two or more 120mm fans? Is there a top fan as well? Those would all be good signs.) Keep in mind that your video card will be hot, your CPU will be hot (when overclocked), and you'll be pushing everything hard with FSX! It's important for your case to be able to get rid of all that heat quickly (and quietly).As for your motherboard, Gigabyte has a pretty good reputation. If it were me, I'd go with the newer P35 chipset which is in the GA-P35-DS3R motherboard. (The P35 chipset has the advantage of being compatible with the new Intel "Penryn" CPUs that will be hitting the market soon, so it would give you a better upgrade path -- if that's important to you in the future.) Hope I'm not muddying the waters for you, but your new computer should do a good job of running FSX to the limits of currently-available hardware. Good luck, and let us know how it all works out! - Lee

Hmm, interesting points, but I read on Speed-geek.com that the guy running the site OCed a Q6600 leaving it on the casing cooling. Maybe I misread it or something. Would you recommend extra cooling even for a small OC? Say to 3 or 3.2 GHZ?Thanks!Matti