Hi guysLike many others I'm attempting to finalise the specs for a new system for FSX and I am having difficulty in choosing between a E8600 duo and a Q9550 quad based system or simply waiting until the new Nehalem processors become readily available in Australia which could be 4 months after US release. I have read most of the the threads and it seems to be a matter of trading off higher FPS and better overclocking with the duo for faster texture loading with the quad - particularly when running other apps concurrently with FSX (which I will be). In terms of price there is not much in it. The difficulty I am having is trying to visualise the in-game benefit of faster texture loading that you purportedly get with quads compared with duos. Is this faster texture loading worth sacrificing FPS for - particularly when flying high end PMDG/LDS class aircraft into complex airports (which is a large part of my FS interest)?Waiting another five months for Nehalem might be the answer (if my current system with its leaky capacitors lasts that long). If Nehalem was clearly going to be FSX Nirvana I would wait but that seems unlikely. Furthermore, for a system based on even the cheapest of the three foreshadowed Nehalem processors (the only affordable one) I will get a probable modest performance gain (albeit a quad) but with a substantial price hike after you throw in a fancy new motherboard, three sticks of DDR3 ram and a premium of 200-300 Aussie dollars for the Nehalem processor over the E8600/Q9550 CPUs (based on leaked US pricing per 1000). The Nehalem is next generation stuff and is more future proof - it would see me through to FS11 but by that stage I would have a nearly two year old system and would be starting to consider another upgrade anyway.Any observations appreciated.Bruceb

Why would you say its unlikely?Because some bozo posted it won

Nick, i am in the same position as the OP, well except i live in the US. i was about to buy a Q9550 OC to 3.4 Ghz from an online builder but thought about Nehalem as well. If i wait, and that seems to be the direction I am leaning towards, can you give me an idea of what i would need to go along with it to take that next step. i cant imagine it will be as simple as buying the first PC that comes along with the new chip in it. I do have to say that money IS an object to keep in mind in today's economy though.thanks

Money to burn is definitely a factor in any new platformBe aware, they are not releasing the budget products till next year and the first release products will be the extreme line. That

Sorry if in ignorance I unjustifiably impuned what Nehalem is going to bring to the FSX table but Nirvana for me would be say 50-100% above what can be achieved with current generation gear. Are these the sort of numbers we are looking at? Unfortunately recent economic events are forcing my hand on this one. A month or two back the Aussie Dollar was almost at parity with the US Dollar. Today it is down to 65% - a 15% drop in the last day! Nehalem is starting to look as if it will be a very expensive option compared with cobbling a system together from components that are on Aussie IT retailer's shelves today.Bruceb

Hey BruceDon

Hi BruceI agree entirely with NickN's observations on FSX Hardware he is definitely the guru in this area.However, another POV is to look at Value For Money. I am just building a simple sytem with an E8600 core 2 duo (9800 card, 4GB DDR2 (PC800),E45 mobo) and that will cost me around $1000 (AUD) to $1200AUD (including VISTA OS) and will keep me going until I need to upgrade to Nehalem or whatever. I believe that this system will run FSX reasonably well. Now if I built a top of the line system with say a quadcore something like Q9650, used a DDR3 capable mother board, DDR3 ram 4GB (top of the line) it could cost me around $4500AUD to build myself. (I don't believe that any system stays "top of the line" for more than 2 years and these days "upgradeable" means very little.)So the vfm question is would the expensive system give me 4 times the speed and say four times the quality as the cheaper system in FSX? I could even ditch the cheaper system after a year and still have up to say $3000AUD to spend on an upgrade. NOTE:In my budget system if I used a Q9550 quadcore it would cost an extra $250AUD, but would it give me any notciceable performance increase?Whatever option one chooses it just means that you will end up spending money whatever system that you choose. Perhaps its time for Tom Hanks to make a new movie called "The Computer PIT"Just another POVRegardsPeter Hayes

Thanks but I think I am actually going to go with the E8600 as I understand it would run cooler than a Q9550 - heat is an issue in the situation where I have my PC - and as yet no one has spelt out what the faster texture loading of a quad actually looks like in-game and whether it is worth sacrificing about 20% FPS to achieve in high demand situations such as the PMDG 747, a bit of weather, traffic and a complex airport. Furthermore if I get into some limited overclocking I want it to be as hassle free as possible which it would seem I can achieve with the E86 compared with the Q95.Bruceb

Hi Peter I replied to Nick before seeing your post but you have summarised my own feelings on this issue very well indeed.Bruceb

Hey no problem Bruce :) The 8600 is a good little clocker and you are correct about less heat. I do not know the economy down there so you guys would be a much better judge on the value vs. perf. The costs Peter mentions are quite high which I did not realize how expensive till Peter posted numbers. OUCH!

You may want to look at the OCZ Vendetta2 for the heatsink if temps are a problem... its outperforming the 120 Extreme for less cost and comes with a fan which the 120 doesn't

Hi NickN & BruceUPDATEI did a bit of shopping around and by using different suppliers and some "cheaper" components I managed to reduce the cost of the top of the line computer to around $3600AUD built. It still means that you have a lot of room for manouvering by buying the cheaper system.RegardsPeter Hayes

Thanks, i was planning on getting the Zalman 9700 LED. The OCZ one seems to be available in Australia at a similar price point, would it be a better choice than the Zalman? Motherboards I am looking at are the ASUS P5Q-E, P5Q-Deluxe, or the Maximus II Formula. There is a wide price range with these boards. I would like to get a 8800 series video card but these seem to be unavailable in Australia so I will have to go with a 9800 series one. I would also be interested in the ATI 4780 but have been put off by reports that it runs very hot.Bruceb

BruceThe 8800 (GT/GTS) series video card is available in Oz. Try EYO ($200AUD), MWAVE, etc and any other computer company in Oz.RegardsPeter Hayes

Thanks Peter, it's just that my local system builder says he can't get the 8800 series cards and as it would seem that the 9800GT is largely a re-badged 8800GT I may go with that. I am keen to get stuff through my local system builder just in case there are any hassles. In the past I have built my own systems but these days I live in Merimbula on the NSW far south coast and returning stuff bought online for a warranty claim can have difficulties.Bruceb