Ah the CM Stacker. You guessed it, the Stacker 830 Evo is a finalist in my search.Also this Silverstone TJ09 is, too:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811163075I actually like the old Stackers better, but they are hard to find.The problem with the Stacker 830 is, the top isn't very flat. I want to mount a Saitek X52 stick on top of the case, to simulate an Airbus sidestick. Not sure if I can do that with a Stacker 830. 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

Hey Rhett,That mid case fan is going to cause issues with the monster 8800 GTX card... Also, and this is just me but with the amount of heat a Power supply lets off and the fact that hot air rises I don't think I would want a 1k Power supply UNDER my mobo and components.Just my .02-PPrimary RigLiquid CooledIntel C2D E8500 445X9.5 @ 4.25Asus Maximus Extreme2 gigs OCZ Reaper DDR 1333Dual OC'd XFX 8800GTX @ 2 gigs24 inch Widescreen LCD 16XAA/16XAFDual 19 inch LCD'sRaid-0+1PCPower and Cooling 1k Quad SLIhttp://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.htmlBackup RigAMD 4000 San Diego @ 2.72 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2XFX 7900 GTX Raid-0

PaulVery interesting posts. You have convinced me to follow the same path. The one part I was not looking froward to is the reinstall. Please would you explain how Acronis would work in my case. I have multiple partitions with Vista on the C drive, FSX on E and FS9 on I.I assume that I need to take an image of C onto an external hard drive. I replace my MB, memory and processor. What happens next?Many thanks,

Hey paul, u said before that ur vcore was only 1.4? With Liquid Cooling the recommended maximum is 1.58 vcore. I think it is a great overclock to 4.25GHz but i think you could pull of 4.5GHz or even 4.7GHz with this motherboard. Have u fiddled with the north and southbridge voltages? up them a little and thatll give u some extra room. also it might help if you up the FSB voltage. with water the CPU can handle 1.58Vcore and i think you should try to go for 4.7Ghz. It would make a world of difference in a game like this. Its ok if u dont want to but i think u should try cause it will make quite a performance improvement over 4.25.Jourdog

Read about this mobo http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/01/11/mo...onn_black_ops/1

>Hey Rhett,>That mid case fan is going to cause issues with the monster>8800 GTX card... Well I have seen pictures of 8800GTX's installed in the Silverstone TJ09 and there is plenty of room there. At [H]ardOCP that case is listed as one of the cases that will fit an 8800GTX with room to spare.I got the 8800GTX card yesterday; it will just fit in my Coolermaster Praetorian case. I would have to move my Raptor a little but it would fit. I'm building in a new case though.>Also, and this is just me but with the>amount of heat a Power supply lets off and the fact that hot>air rises I don't think I would want a 1k Power supply UNDER>my mobo and components.That is a good point and it is something that I have thought about, too. It seems illogical to have the p/s heat rising up, right to where your video card is. And there seems to be no heat shield or anything to stop heat from rising.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

>Hey Rhett,>That mid case fan is going to cause issues with the monster>8800 GTX card... Also, and this is just me but with the>amount of heat a Power supply lets off and the fact that hot>air rises I don't think I would want a 1k Power supply UNDER>my mobo and components.>Just my .02>-P>I was also looking at this Enermax Uber Chakra, which is probably not half the case of the Silverstone TJ09 or CoolerMaster Stacker, but still it has the p/s on top, and I/O ports at top front (which I like):http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811124121So paul what case do you have your primary rig in?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

>Jourdog>QX9650 overclocked to 5.7GHz, 4GB Corsair XMS3DHX DDR3 RAM, Asus >Maximus Extreme Motherboard, 500GB Hitachi Deskstar Hard Drive, >Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 PC Case, Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra (Soon >Upgrading to 9800GTX),>$3000 Cooler built by Chilly1 of www.xtremesystems.org, Logitech Z4 >Speakers, CH Yoke, Pedals, Throttle Quadrant, Logitech Dinovo Edge >Keyboard.I am extremely curious about your system. What kind of performance are you seeing on it in terms of FSX? Was this system built by you or by someone else? Lastly, when you say $3000, are you referring to the price of just the cooling system alone? Thank you for any info.

Hello All, Well that is the same MB I have, (the ASUS Maximus) with a Core2 Quad extreme, the QX 9650 Intel, running a 1100 Watt power supply, 4 Gigs of G.Skill ram and dual Raptors. The vid card is GeForce 8800GTS, and I'll have to tell you, this puppy just screams on FS9, putting out some crazy FPS running from 150-170 . . it's just unreal. Haven't reinstalled FSX yet, as FS9 now has soooo much life in it and is much more interesting than my old P4 3.4 extreme wasI've overclocked it from 3 gigs to 4.2 with temps NEVER going over 54 C.........I couldn't be happier with the setup. Finally a computer which will run FS at its max, (FS9), and probably have no trouble with FSX either.Best to all, Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

Hey guys,Sorry for disappearing on everyone. Da*N real world... Thanks for all the responses.Rhett, I considered 4 gigs but until I move to a 64 bit O/S I just don't see the need. When we get a 64 bit version of FS I will jump to a 64 bit O/S and 8 gigs right away ;)As for the X38 and X48, you can't go worng. The rampage was even more$$$ than the Maximus Extreme and this board does everything. That was my deciding factor :) I don't mind paying the money but I want to know why ;)My case is just a simple tower with a fan and clear panel on the removable side. I have a 1kW PC Power which is pretty deep and it fits fine. I have customized it over the years for my liquid intakes/outtakes and it fits my dual 8800 GTX, PC Power 1k, 5 Hdd's, DVD, CD, 2 Case fans, 1 auxiliary m/b fan, dual hdd coolers and 2 internal fans. All this and I would say it is a mid-tower so it is not huge at all. It is some no-name but has always done me right.Jourdog, I would love to try and push it. Like I said, I was getting a bluescreen at 4.5 so a little more power would probably stabilize it. The question is do I want 4.5 with 7 7 7 20 2t timings or 4.25 with 6 6 6 18 1T which is what I am managing to pull right now...I would wager a guess that benchmarks would be very similar upping the cpu but going from 1t to 2t and relaxing the settings. What do you think?Hope everyone is well. I am off to fly with my new baby-Paul Primary RigLiquid CooledIntel C2D E8500 445X9.5 @ 4.25Asus Maximus Extreme2 gigs OCZ Reaper DDR 1333Dual OC'd XFX 8800GTX @ 2 gigs24 inch Widescreen LCD 16XAA/16XAFDual 19 inch LCD'sRaid-0+1 + Single SATA 3gb/s Swap drivePCPower and Cooling 1k Quad SLIhttp://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.htmlBackup RigAMD 4000 San Diego @ 2.72 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2XFX 7900 GTX Raid-0

I'd guess ('cause I don't know) that you'll be better off in FSX with 1T and 6 6 6 18 at 4.25 ghz.I know each platform is different--but on the A64's like my San Diego, moving from 2T to 1T command rate resulted in an 8% framerate gain across the board. I hear the Core platform behaves differently with command rate though...I can't wait for my new hardware to arrive. Should be here later this week.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

Hey Rhett,Let us all know how you make out...Jourdog, You got me thinking and you were right. With a little more voltage I am stable at 4.45 with temps not breaking 60C. I can't even describe the difference... I gained ~3k points in 3DM and in a simple 2M PI I gained 8 seconds! I am happy for now but I am sure I will try to break 4.5 ;)Thanks for the motivation!!!-PaulPrimary RigLiquid CooledIntel C2D E8500 468X9.5 @ 4.45Asus Maximus Extreme2 gigs OCZ Reaper DDR3 @1400Dual OC'd XFX 8800GTX @ 2 gigs24 inch Widescreen LCD 16XAA/16XAFDual 19 inch LCD'sRaid-0+1PCPower and Cooling 1k Quad SLIhttp://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.htmlBackup RigAMD 4000 San Diego @ 2.72 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2XFX 7900 GTX Raid-0