My systemCPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 GPU GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB4 Gigs of ramWindows XPDo I A update to VISTAB By a Quad Core CPUC Update to 8800 GTSI biggest issue with FSX is lag. I can run most of my setting on default but any time I am in KLAX on KMIA my FPM drop to 5. I am now also running 3 22

Vista won't improve your FPS, in fact it would most likely lower them slightly, so don't go there to solve this particular issue.A quad core of the same clock speed won't improve FPS any, although smoothness will improve slightly due to greater dynamic texture loading horsepower, so this is likely not a cost effective upgrade for you.But trying to run 3x22" monitors (at native res I assume) is probably choking up your 8600 GTS. If you FPS jumps up considerably if you run FSX on one screen instead of three, then your video card is being overworked and hence you will definately benefit from an upgrade to an 8800 GTS. Gary

Totally agree with Gary. For the cost of a fast quad, you could upgrade to an 8800GTS AND an E8x00 CPU, and still have cash in your pocket. A bit of an overclock and you'll be well out in front of the lesser quads, speedwise. If all you do is one upgrade then, yes, definitely the graphics. Best Regards,Jeff

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I had a look at newegg.com and it seems to me I can pickup an 8800 GTX or a 9600 GT for less that $150. As for over clocking I still need to find a good site like over clocking for dummies .com that will explains how to do it. >But trying to run 3x22" monitors (at native res I assume) is >probably choking up your 8600 GTS. If you FPS jumps up considerably >if you run FSX on one screen instead of three, then your video card >is being overworked and hence you will definitely benefit from an >upgrade to an 8800 GTS.That is exactly what is happening to me. So my last question is do I go with a 9600 or an 8800??

Don't waste your money or look any further than the 8800 GTX -- no doubt about it. Get the one with 750 mb on board mem.I'm running multi mon and having a blast. See my specs.

The other thing is that almost all of the 9 series us PCI Express 2.0 x16 and not just x16. I don

Chuck's right, an 8800 series card will serve you just fine.It's true that there are some boards that don't like a PCI-E 2 card in a PCI-E 1 slot. There are some that work fine with them. There's a good article on the PCI-E 2.0 bus here:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3192The 8800 GTX and the 512mb version of the 8800GTS perform pretty close to each other. The GTX is PCI-E 1.0 and the GTS is 2.0.If you'd like to see some solid info on overclocking and other such matters, I'd recommend the Xtreme Systems forum here:http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php?Regards,Jeff