From what I have heard there will be a new CPU available later this year and it will require new motherboards. Also these motherboards will be designed in a completely new way. Correct?Does this not mean that the current penryn platforms will soon be obsolate and not possible to upgrade further?Also I would expect FS11 to come out next year and I guess the penryn will not be adequate for it.Otherwise I have heard that penryn significantly improves FSX compared to the previous core2duo. Is it so?But on the other hand what do you think about paying a lot of money now on penryn platform in order to use FSX and then fairly soon find yourself in the same situation again i.e my system is hopeless for the current FS version?BTW what is penryn? I havn't seen that word in any CPU description over CPUs for sale. Is a CPU manufactured with 45 nm a penryn?

Yes penryn does help massively in FSX but only because of its room for overclocking. Penryns can hit 5GHz on water. I think building a penryn system is a great idea. But if you plan to get a 4GHz+ machine you will have a better chance getting an extreme series penryn because the multiplier is unlocked. And on the point of FS11 i really dont think itll come out for another 2 years or so. Partly because of the fact that FSX will need another year to run at max for everyone. (Apart from a small group including me hehe) and also because of the fact that FSX is so realistic that it will take time for Microsoft to create better graphics. I think that FS11 will have more of an improvement in gameplay like atc and missions etc. and not much different graphics so whatever you have before FS11 should run it quite decently.Jourdog.

"BTW what is penryn?"Don't blink but there's a newer processor that will replace the Penryn later this year. It's called the Nehalem processor (it will have 1 to 8 plus cores) and here's where you can find more info and also info on the Penryn.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_%28microarchitecture%29Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to move all FSX sliders to max with this CPU....Jim

>From what I have heard there will be a new CPU available>later this year This is all conjecture of course... :)My personal opin is that Nehalem (the next Intel cpu line) will not come to us as fast as some people say. Some say late 08. I think at best, only the Extreme Edition Nehalem will be out then. Maybe I will be wrong, which would be nice.I say that because Intel is not being pushed right now by AMD. Look at the mainstream Penryns. They were supposed to be released in January. Nothing is pushing Intel. The situation will likely be the same later this year...Intel has no need to launch Nehalem that fast. They have just spent $$$$ ramping up Penryn fabs. Intel is going to want to sell the ___ out of the Penryns this year.>Also I would expect FS11 to come out next year and I guess the>penryn will not be adequate for it.We're probably almost two years away from FS11Who knows what will be adequate for it? It's all conjecture at this point. But I can say there are some encouraging signs:1) signs point to ACES knowing that performance is job#1 in the next version, and this is being built into FS11 from Day One.2) the "Perfect Storm" will not hit us this time (the Perfect Storm was: new OS, new DX, and fundamental shift in cpu's from single-core to multiple core) The Perfect Storm is over, things have stabilized for ACES and for us.Having said that, I would be very surprised if a quad-core Penryn would not run FS11 well. I bet if you have a quad-core Pen rig with 8 gigs ram and a top-end vid card you'll be all right with FS11.>Otherwise I have heard that penryn significantly improves FSX>compared to the previous core2duo. Is it so?>But on the other hand what do you think about paying a lot of>money now on penryn platform in order to use FSX and then>fairly soon find yourself in the same situation again i.e my>system is hopeless for the current FS version?I don't think that is going to be the case this time around. >BTW what is penryn? I havn't seen that word in any CPU>description over CPUs for sale. Is a CPU manufactured with 45>nm a penryn?The codename Penryn was taken from a town in Cornwall ,England (I think...). It's been a while since I checked, but I think the first edition Nehalems will be 45nm also, then later they will switch to 32nm for the "tock" (2nd gen).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

..so to tie me down, what I would say is, if you have a Core2 already, you can probably skip Penryn....but if you have a netburst P4 or older A64, then the time might be right to get a Penryn.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

>Who knows what will be adequate for it? It's all conjecture>at this point. But I can say there are some encouraging>signs:>1) signs point to ACES knowing that performance is job#1 in>the next version, and this is being built into FS11 from Day>One.>2) the "Perfect Storm" will not hit us this time (the Perfect>Storm was: new OS, new DX, and fundamental shift in cpu's>from single-core to multiple core) The Perfect Storm is over,>things have stabilized for ACES and for us.>>Having said that, I would be very surprised if a quad-core>Penryn would not run FS11 well. I bet if you have a quad-core>Pen rig with 8 gigs ram and a top-end vid card you'll be all>right with FS11.>I doubt that. Has it happened before that a two year old system has been able to run the latest FS version well? Well I might also point out that assume complex addon planes and sceneries.And I do agree that the performence issue has been unusual big for FSX and propably won't be to the same extent for FS11.

>..so to tie me down, what I would say is, if you have a Core2>already, you can probably skip Penryn.>>...but if you have a netburst P4 or older A64, then the time>might be right to get a Penryn.>>Rhett>>AMD 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 PraetorianBest advice is given hereIf you already have a fairly modern system Penny is not going to give you a massve upgrade... wait for Nellie

I thought I read on guru3d.com the review for the 'Skultrail' platform/board. It's looks pretty cool if money's no object.I'm wondering why Alienware, at least, hasn't jumped on that yet.Dell just introduced their mid range XPS 630 on their web site and their 720's are way-way far behind now. They're still using DDR2 mem and using the 'old' quad processors.I think I'm going to stick with ATI also on G-cards. I really like the 1mb dual GPU thingy with crossfire ability.Just got a HD 2600 pro 512 mb card for 129.00 US, for a quicky upgrade on my old XPS but now getting masssive tearing in Medal Of Honor with low GPU temps and no overclocking, even at lower resolutions then my native 1600 X 1200.PS: can anyone explain why the 2 top PC gaming manufacturing companies are still selling 5.1 speakers -- ONLY -- when they've been selling 7.1 cards for over a year now...ROFL. Creative has had their 7.1 speakers out for quite some time.Just thought I'd lump all that food for thought in this one thread...hehe.

SkullTrail is limited with modern video adapters... next gen will allow access to the memory controller and hand off (trade) cycles between the CPU and Video card.. once that hits the market, then a platform such as Skulltrail is worth itEDIT: I use BOSE for my system... I send digital optical out to the BOSE and the rest is pure heaven so I dont worry about PC speakers.

>>>>Having said that, I would be very surprised if a quad-core>>Penryn would not run FS11 well. I bet if you have a>quad-core>>Pen rig with 8 gigs ram and a top-end vid card you'll be all>>right with FS11.>>>>I doubt that. Has it happened before that a two year old>system has been able to run the latest FS version well? Well...I see your point but I would say that my 2 year old rig gave a good account of itself in FSX.But I see your point. However I think this time around, FS11 has the potential to break the mold, for these reasons:1) based on what we hear out of ACES, performance of FS11 is at a very high priority.2) ACES has said that they are trying to not be over-ambitious with extra features in FS113) we have no new OS to deal with4) we have no new DirectX to deal with5) perhaps the biggest bonus, FS11 will not be burdened with a major shift in the cpu paradigm (single to multiple cores) right in the middle of it's development.So, you can doubt it, but I maintain to you, that #5 alone is reason enough to think that FS11 has at least the possibility to perform well on a top-end Penryn system.It's all right to dream anyway ;)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

Yeah, I was wondering about their new speakers. I haven't had Bose since the days of the 401's and 901 floor speakers with my old Carver stereo. I actually had my old AST 486 piped through the pre-amp then out the 401's a long time ago...ROFL. They really sounded cool.I'm assuming you're talking about the new 3.1's? was it? or whatever. I can't remember if on Bose, to have THX you still need the 'required' amount of speakers or whatever.

If you keep waiting for the "next new thing" you'll always be waiting.This time it's a rumoured new CPU architecture, next week a new memory module that's even faster, next month maybe a new video chipset, who knows?Development is rapid enough that you should just buy what fits your requirements and budget when you need it without worrying about such future developments.It's always been that way, probably will always be that way.If anything, it's currently going slower than it used to, and even now you can't always fit a new CPU on a year old motherboard despite the sockets being identical. A few years ago you'd have seen immediately it wouldn't fit as the sockets would be different, now you have to dig deep into product documentation on support websites to figure out why your attempt at an upgrade won't fire up.So just buy what you want now and have fun rather than worry about not having the latest and greatest next year.

I am running the Acoustimass 16 But I did sample their Companion 5 designed specifically for computers... good stuff. Even the C3 was decent but the 5 will blow you out of the room.

A 400% cost premium is simply too much for a 10% performance increase (Q6600 @ 3.6 for $250 vs Q9650 @ @4.0 for $1000). Remember, in FSX, FPS performance is based on the clock speed of a Single core.If you have a P4, the Q6600 will get you a 10X performane increase. To put it in perspective, that 400% cost premium for the Q9650 will take a builder from a 10.0X to a 10.1X performance increase. Things are just moving too fast to spend that kind of money for a relatively (and virtually) irrelevant hardware based performance increase. Eight hundred bucks for 5 FPS and an extra knotch of AG/AI slidebar? That's just gotta make no sense. The major performance increases over the next several year will be software based. The software guys will finally figure out how to fully utalize multiple core. A Q-Anything will provide access to the Major performances increases that will be occurring over the next several years. The smart bet is to get the cheapest quad available, now.(For instance, MicroCenter had the Q66 for $199. Normal pricing will go to $225 in April.)So then, what's the plan after a Q6600 build today? Shoot for a 10X with every build. Here it is . . . and it's only 2-3 years out.http://thunkdifferent.com/2008/02/27/intel...dmap-tick-tock/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_...architecture%29(Gesher = Sandy Bridge)What's the 10X? A Q6600 @ 3.6 to the Sandy Bridge with 32 cores @ 4.0 + some clock for clock optimizations + a FS that can finally use that horsepower. That's a 10X.

For you...maybe...LOL, but for someone like me going from a first gen Dell XPS P4 HT to the latest..let's just say...the latest alienware Area 51 ALX Crossfire with all the bells and whistles...and since Dell can't get their site updated since last year...then it's worth it.I've had my system now for what??? 5 years or more. I got my money's worth. If yours works, leave it.Everyone's gotta make and justify their own decisions...which granted...is ever increasingly hard in the PC market.Keeping up with the Jone's is a son-of-.....sometimes. :-)