Got a 8400GS as a second Vcard. The 8800GTs will be 800 Patriot low latency. That'll let me split 'em up later. The "old" 865/P4 is Still an entirely adequate rig and I expect I'll have it forever. I imaging this technology will be internet capable for someones grandkids. later on, 2 gigs each will run 2 core2 boxes fine for a normal person. This will be my last (and only) DDR2 buy. I don't care about the latency, it just means they stand a better chance of O/Cing . . . and this stuff was soooo cheap. ~ $90 for 4 gigs of ddr2-800 . . . and the good stuff to boot. Dang. This is just crazy. The Quad (9x) times a 400mhz fsb is 3.6ghz. That's right where we've been ending up, so ram rated at 800mhz ought to be perfect. Ya'll noted they don't provide down-clock ram dividers any more. True story. (Geee, wonder why?) So, if I want to play around above a 400mhz FSB, I gotta have ram that'll go there. That 1066 stuff is more expensive, but good DDR800 (Patriot/Crucial) will get Very close without the added expense. I need to be able to play above that 400mhz FSB without worrying about the ram topping out. This stuff will go to 900 easy. That means it'll handle a 450mhz FSB. Ahh 450X9 = 4 Ghz. I'm such an optimist. For $1200 I could get there today (Penryn's X9?50). But $800 for an additional 400Mhz? That's just silly. Even the $300 January penryns will only go the 3.6ghz. "What?! They are going to 4+" you say . . . True, but we normal folks are going to be FSB limited. 7 X 500 = 3.5ghz. Even 500mhz FSB for every day use is pushing it , a lot. But your want the rest? OK. So who's gonna ramp a FSB up to 550 and just leave it there 24x7? It'll get cha the rest of all that sweet penryn speed, but Woah. Then ya gotta have ram that'll go to DDR1100 for sure. The days of cheap, high multipliers are over. Intel final got our number. These $250 9X multipliers (like current Q6600 and the 6850s) really are the sweet spot until Intel's Hypertransport scheme comes along. Got the Thermalright 120 ultra, but only because their Super-Uber 90 couldn't be found (without tax, that is). The 90 would have been fine if it had been around. My Silverstone 560 PS will finally be put to the test. Got a colleague of PATA hardrives to mix and match, but the 3 seagates are gonna raid. I'm hoping to bang on SATA II's top end xfer rate of 300MB+/sec. We'll see. Already though, even as singles, they're quick. I have one drive with the 32 bit Vista installed and another with the 64 bit. Don't know which way to go. I want all my ram and that 'OOM / FS crash' stuff is just nonsense. 64 bit solves that. So far so good. My keyboard driver just complained, but Logitech is always whining about something. The 64 bit ver has 2 program file directories. I never let programs just blow on in, so I gotta pay attention about where things are going. It might feel a bit snappier. The Copy function hasn't hung (yet). That's good.It's all still so new . . . and I got wifi cards for everything. The 3rd box may just end up in a closet with all the router/modem plastic. The spaghetti factory is really starting crawl out from under the desk. Time to take action before I'm devoured by coax (Oh. That TV tuner card lets me keep a channel up in a window in the corner of the 42. Very trick, but that tech's not quite ready for prime time and BB may just get it back. I'm afraid to flash my bios. Don't tell Mwave, but I think that's what killed Mobo #1. Hey, 24 hours and Mobo #2's still doing its mobo thing Of course, I've had other things to play with, but it won't be long now. This is just too much fun.

Sounds good Sam. How's that quad core going on the OCing bench?I am about to install Vista 64 and am somewhat reluctant too. I believe that I can install it in trial mode, which gives me 30 days of freeplay before I lock in my activation on that machine (OEM version). I hope all my hardware plays nicely, but at least I have found drivers for everything.I am even thinking about going quad core, not so much for FS but for what I want to run while FS is going and for what future games may use. My motherboard, a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Rev 1.0, is one of the first gen C2D boards, so I hope it will let a quad overclock well (Gigabytes website says a Q6600 will at least run in my board). That's another reason why I don't want to activate my Vista 64 too soon, in case I need a new motherboard.All good fun!Gary

1st run with FSX/Accel with the quad on the 64 bit op system . . . Task Manager shows all 4 cores fully engaged. At this early point, it appears FSX can fully utilize 4 cores. Hummm? What's the deal?

The other cores could be counting sheep for all we know. :-lol See what happens if you turn two cores off.Gary