Well, I've seen about a million posts on all kinds of websites including this one.. More RAM or not? To SLI or not to SLI? To X-Fire or not to X-Fire? Vista or no Vista?Well.. I am in the process of deciding what new PC to buy, and like many others I've spent some time trying to figure out what to do.. This system will be built to last for about 3 years.. Just like this one was:AMD64 3500+1024MB DDR2 (can't remember the speed sorry, but was fast at the time)ATI X800 XT PE 256MB600GB HD Spaceetc..SO.. I'm looking at upgrading, and I was thinking about this setup...1 - Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache2 - 4GB(4x1GB) Corsair QuadX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC2-8500, 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-153 - Asus P5N-T, NF780i SLI, 3-Way SLi, 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2, 667/800/1066, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX4 - 2 x 512MB Asus 8800GTS, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Mem 1940MHz, GDDR3, GPU 650MHz, Dual DVI/HDTV (x 2 for SLI)5 - 1x 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ - For OS and Software6 - 850W Coolermaster Real Power M850 Modular PSU Quad PCI-E, 6x12V Rails, >85% Efficiency, 135mm fanAll this running Windows Vista x64 because the 64 bit is required to be able to take advantage of the RAM, as far as I understand it.ANYWAY.. I've not bought anything yet.. But this looks good to me, but there are so many questions that I just can't find clear answers to. Obviously I will use this for FSX mainly, but I am looking at running other software and games on it too, and I want to do some FRAPS video stuff later on.I have pretty much settled that to remain somewhat future proof (if that's even possible these days) 4GB really is required. Not so sure the HD is a complete waste of money, I hear some say it is, some say it's not.. I'm not bothered about loading times as such.. I'm more interested in performance gain DURING running of FSX etc.. I usually start it and get a coffee anyway.. So input there would be great..Do I scratch the extra card, buy a bigger more power one and improve the CPU performance?What on earth is the difference between the processor I selected at

I would scratch the second video card and invest in a second (7200 RPM is fine) harddrive. You should be able to overclock your 6600 to get you as good performance as the 6700..I've got the Raptor drive for FSX.. it is fast, but also somewhat noisy.. and costly.. but at least you know that it does not get much faster. Frankly, you are probably going to be just as happy with a good WD or seagate 7200 RPM drive.

I would probably not want a modular power supply, unless case cleanliness was a priority for me over perf.Agree with Bert, if it was for FS only, I would probably only want one video card and put that money towards some other component.Two hard drives are nice (one for FS, one for the OS/pagefile). I would put the OS on the slower drive, if FS is your showcase app. On the other hand if OS is your showcase, then by all means put it on the fastest. But if you are here, FS *has* to be your prime app. :)An increasing number of people here and elsewhere are using Vista64 and they seem to report pretty decent running (Geof A. for one). Unless something changes, I too am planning on going to V64 when I get around to upgrading. I think if one is to run 4gb of ram, a 32-bit OS is not the best...even though the 64-bit is still a bit immature at this point. It will grow into maturity, as all things have done in computing world over the last 15+ years.I think the pro's outweigh the con's when one has 4+ gigs of system memory.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

Do you live in America? Cause if you do go on www.jetlinesystems.comthey make awesome PC's for really really cheap prices.

Unfortunately I don't come from the states.. I'm looking at getting two other drives as I use a lot of space for storage.. Keep most of my programs on a drive etc.. rather than CD/DVD...So you can take two more Caviar WD 500GB drives on top of that as a given..What I'm really interested in.. is the CPU.. Memory.. GFX Card.. Mobo.. the rest isn't so much of a problem.. I'd quite like a modular PSU because they are more tidy, and lend themselves to better cooling.. I'm not sure I want to invest heavily in cooling though because for an extra 300 quid cooling.. I might as well buy an extreme cpu and not bother.. see what I mean? Not a big over clocker at all..So general view is that SLI is not worth the extra money.. so where should I put my extra

I just built a new system. I used a 6750 because, it is only used for FSX and the 6750 was a better value to me. Your specs look to be rock solid. I agree with the others that a separate FS drive is the way to go. 4GB of quality memory is good for Vista. One card should be fine. You can always add another later.

I'd say save it for a new monitor or dinner out with your wife / friend to make up for lost time :-)Don't know what kind of monitor you've got, but the current generation of 22 inch 1680x1050 monitors (LG or Samsung) are great looking and not too expensive..

Thanks for more input.. I already have a 22" widescreen LCD LG monitor.. was thinking of getting a new one too!I might just go for the 1 card then.. bump up some other components.. I could always increase power later on..CheersCraig

The 6750 is a dual core.. not quad core isn't it? Is it a better bet to get a faster dual core than quad core?CheersCraig

Benchmarks are inconclusive on that one, but FSX will use all four cores.

>What I'm really interested in.. is the CPU.. Memory.. GFX>Card.. Mobo.. the rest isn't so much of a problem.. I'd quite>like a modular PSU because they are more tidy, and lend>themselves to better cooling.. I'm not sure I want to invest>heavily in cooling though because for an extra 300 quid>cooling.. I might as well buy an extreme cpu and not bother..>see what I mean? Not a big over clocker at all..>>So general view is that SLI is not worth the extra money.. so>where should I put my extra