HelloI'm sure this has been asked before...I have a Dell XPS 400 and have gone over to Win Vista Home Basic 32 bit.I currently have a GeForce 6800 256mb PCI Express x16 card and 2gigs DDR2 SDRAM at 533mhz.Intel Pentium D 820 at 2.8ghz w/duel core 4-socket-t with hyper-threading or duel core supportDual-channel 533- and 667-mhz DDR2I do have my motherboard specs if anybody wanted to see them.I use this system primarly to run fsx deluxe (hoping Santa gives me accelation).Slider settings are as follows:detail radius....medmesh complexity...65mesh resolution...10mtexture resolution...60cmwater...high 1.xscenery complexity...very denseautogen...very densespecial exfects...highglobal texture resolution...very highI fly using 1920x1200x32my traffic settings are mid range to low 70's.I kept a/c shadows off.Frame rates are set to unlimited.Depending on where I fly and what I fly, my fps range from 15 to what ever the system will render.I don't have any addons as of yet. I am a home pc with no network hookup.Now as far as XP over Vista goes, I did see some increase in fps.Considering I did a complete hard drive format and a clean install, it's no wonder I got an increase. Dumped all the bundled software that comes with a store (Dell direct) pc. I use avg antivirus and have the normal window firewall. I had Norton with XP and would have to shut it down to really get a good sim play. In short, my system is for FSX only.What I looking into is this.With DirectX 10 up and coming, I am looking into Vista 64bit and would like to hear about any and all pros and cons from those who have it.Second is hardward. From what I've been reading from the many forums I've gone thru, people seem to like the 8800 GT card for the bang for the buck. Is there any diff between who makes the card? From what I can see, all the cards have the same configuration.Third is duel core or quad core. Any thoughts?Motherboard...I am looking at getting a Nvidia motherboard with thoughts of going SLI (looking towards the future). Pros/cons?I know that I may have to upgrade the power supply as well as cooling and I do plan on going up to 4gigs memory. Having looked at at the really pricey gameing systems out there, doing an upgrade on my system is the least costly way to go (despite the dirty looks I get from my wife). At least she knows where I'm at.Sorry this is a bit long, but once the money is spent...well, you know.Anyway, any and all thoughts, comments etc are most welcomed.Thank you.Ernest

Runnin' those big resolutions, better get some room. I'm at 19x10 and decided it was time to bite the bullet and go with a 64 bit op system. Nvidia will provide the 8800GTX re-incarnate in the form of a dual GPU part in Feb. It will likely have 1 gig-O-ram. That 2 (or 3) gig limit in the 32 bit op systems will be coming under imminent assault with the gig cards . . . but these big resolutions need that memory. Bite the bullet. So far, it's fine. Ram's so cheap. If you are gonna buy ram, buy it now. That said, now that you have 8 terabytes of ram headroom, go for 8 gigs. I have 4 and (with this 64 bit op system?) am constantly well into the 3rd. I made a mistake filling all 4 slots. Wish I'd bought 2, 2s instead of 4, 1s. If you feed it, it will eat. How much? No one knows. We're all still stuck at 2-4 gigs. Lead the way. This new card might allow one to avoid SLI and the 6X0 chipset. The chip set was never really ready for prime time and SLI precludes multiple monitors (sans THTG).Go with a P35. My P5K-e "just works" at a 400mhz FSB. No rocket science needed. The X38/48's all hype. PCIe-2.0 is hype too (for the next several gens of Vcards). Go for the quad and O/C it. They'll argue the dual will get you 10% more FPS right now. That's true 'nuff. But you'll have to rebuild sooner to pickup the performance once the software guys get multi-core sw down pat. I'll give up < 10% to save > $1000 + next year, anyday. It's the cost effective choice. Show her the $7000 Falcon NW rig you're gonna build for a thousand buck, and enjoy a nice treat. PS? Get a name brand 600 watter. That'll be plenty. The component trend is toward Less power consumption, not more.Let's seeee, what else?

Thank you for your imput.Once I get this rig done (hopefully this month) I'll post the results.Thanks again.Ernest