Hey guys, first I'd like to introduce myself.My Name is Patrick living in germany.Well about my Problem....I'm running FS9 with all my AC-Addons (PMDG,LDS etc.) on a AMD 2800+ Machine with 1gig of Ram (400MHZ) and a ATI X850Pro and WinXP Pro.Actually, it does fine when flying in 2d cockpit offline with the settings set to medium. But online with other traffic around and in 3d Cokpit i ususally won't reach more thean 15fps. Flying the PMDG 747 is even more complicated....7fps! About 15fps offline with all settings low.Everyting without any scenery add-on!!!As this situation is unpleasent for me, I'm about to create a new system! Basic needs: WinXP Prof no VISTA!! Frames, with scenery (e.g. Mega Airport Frankfurt) and Aircraft more than 20 even online with track ir! Money? 800

Will it be enough?Yes.As you're not intending going Vista (&DX10) I would seriously consider nVidia 7950 Graphics card instead of the 8600GTSRegardsJim

You mean because it would be cheaper or because the 8600GTS would just be overpowered for that?

Each card, if I'm not mistaken, is good in its own enviroment. The Geforce 8 series cards have better performance in Vista because they support DirectX 10. Putting an 8600 GTS in a DirectX 9 OS is like holding back the power it's itching to show, as it supports DirectX 10, but the OS is DirectX 9.The Geforce 7950 is not going to do well in Vista as it is DirectX 9.0c, but from what I've heard, Geforce 7950 is faster in DirectX 9.0c gaming than the 8600 GTS. And XP is DX9, the 7950 is DX9, so it will give you better performance.

You mean because it would be cheaper or because the 8600GTS would just be overpowered for that?Geforce 7950 is faster in DirectX 9.0c gaming than the 8600 GTS.Nicely put Boeing Guy!!Also the 7950GT will probably cost the same as a 8600GTSThe 7950GT has a bandwidth of 44.8 GB/secThe 8600GTS has a bandwidth of 32 GB/secAlso the 7950GT has a Fill Rate of 13.2 Billion Pixels/secWhilst the 8600 has a Texture Fill rate of 8.6 Billion/secIf DX10 is out of the equation the 7950 is a 'better' cardRegardsJim

You might want to have a look here.. and re-think that recommendation..http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_200...=1057&chart=291

>You might want to have a look here.. and re-think that>recommendation..>>http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_200...=1057&chart=291You highlighted the wrong card!!So I took your advice, looked there, re-thought and recommendation stands!!7950GT vs 8600GTS (at toughest settings)http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_200...2=710&chart=293And the 7950 Wins!! Even in FSX (according to Tom)If you run the comparison with 1280x1024 The cards are equal (less than 1fps) difference. This shows that the limiting factor is now the CPU (i.e. the cards are not being pushed to their limit) Crank the resolution up to 1920x1200 and the 8600 starts to drop off.So if you intend to stick with FS9 but may get a bigger monitor in the future then the 7950 is better.If you decide you'll need DX10 sometime in the future then the 8600 is worth considering.regardsJim