Hi Guys,I'm back to FS and restarting from scratch. I'm not a computer wizard. This is the proposition from my retailer:INTEL Quad Core QX6600 2.4 GHZ 8 MBIntel X975XBX2KR Intel X9754 GB DDR II 800 RAM PC2-6400 Dual ChannelNVIDIA eVGA 8800GTS 512 MBWD 750 GB AAKS 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache SATA IIDVD Pioneer 18X Dual Layer Int. GB Lan 10/100/100 SATA RAID et FirewireIntel High Definition AudioAntec Solo w/ PPC 610 Watts PSLogitech X230 2.1 PC SPK w/ Sub Woofer Logitech Scroll Mouse OpticalKeyboard HP Carbonite USBQuestions:1) With this confiuration, can I expect a solid and fluid performance for FSX?2) QX6600 is $300. Is $1000 for a QX6800 2.93 GHZ or a QX6850 3.0 GHZ is really worth the spending?3) Should I look for a more powerful graphic card? Retailer says more expensive cards (like 8800 Ultra 768 MB - $300 more) will provide only a very slight performance increase.4) I hesitate between 3 HP 19" monitors with Matrox TripleHead2Go OR a single Samsung 24". What do you think?5) Windows XP Pro OR Vista (Home OR Pemium?) ?Thank you for your comments and advices.Paul

Greetings Paul,I sent you a PM. I have a lot of exp with the components you are looking at.

Here ya go. Same ol list, but it just works. http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=7162186A Q6600 at 3.6ghz is still a reasonable choice. The GTS/512 is all there is. O/C it to 800mhz/Gcore and enjoy your $300 Ultra.Vista 64. The flavor doesn't matter. It's time.Now take all this money you just saved and go get yourself a 42" LCD. Forgo the trauma of trying to choosing between this tiddly bit or that. Frankly those THtG setups sound like a real pain. Want immersion? Stick your nose 6" from that 42" LCD and hang on. When you are done simmin', hit the TV button and watch Globe Trekker in HD.With this system, you'll get full right sliders, except Autogen and AI stay totally Off. How do you get more? The rest is entirely CPU dependent. Going to 4ghz will cost an extra $800. Going to 5ghz will cost another $3000. Remember, FPS performance increases occur on the basis of the O/C of a Single core. The other 3 are just along for the ride. That's just where we are right now.

I did a lot of research this weekend. Indeed the initial plan needed serious ajustments. Without being definitive yet and trying to reach for the best, here's what my next FS machine should look like:- Asus Maximus Extreme X38 Socket 775 motherboard (with Crossfire technology)- ATI Radeon

>>As for the CPU, I have now to decide between an affordable>Q6600 2.4GHz Quad Core OR to reach deep in my pockets for a>QX9650 3.0GHz Quad-Core...>Or wait about two weeks to six weeks (wild guess) for the affordable Penryns to come out.Honestly I don't know when the mainstream Penryn cpu's will be released to market (they might be already?) but my point is, they WILL be released some time in the next month or so I would think, and when they are, you'll be able to get a mainstream Pen for the same price as that Q6600 is today.Granted the mainstream Pen's will be multiplier locked, whereas if you got the QX9650, you could have some REAL FUN...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