hi guys... there we go, iam gonna invest some bucks in here:Case - Antec 1200 [For Extremely Efficient Cooling]PSU - Corsair 750TX 750WMotherboard - ASUS P5Q-ECPU - Intel Core2Duo E8600 [LGA775]RAM - Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096 [4GB 2x2GB Kit]GPU - [Diamond Radeon HD 4870 X2 750Mhz M/C 2GB GDDR5]????or[Diamond Radeon HD 4870 750Mhz S/C 1GB GDDR5]?????HDD - 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 250GB SATA2 [8.5ms response, 16MB Cache]SB audigy2 sound cardOS VISTA business 64what do you guys think of it? any suggestions? henry

hi guys... there we go, iam gonna invest some bucks in here:Case - Antec 1200 [For Extremely Efficient Cooling]PSU - Corsair 750TX 750WMotherboard - ASUS P5Q-ECPU - Intel Core2Duo E8600 [LGA775]

Hi Henry. All excellent choices, though I prefer Gigabyte to Asus but that's just a personal choice.

RAM - Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096 [4GB 2x2GB Kit]

What speed? Will you be overclocking your processor and FSB?

GPU - [Diamond Radeon HD 4870 X2 750Mhz M/C 2GB GDDR5]????or[Diamond Radeon HD 4870 750Mhz S/C 1GB GDDR5]?????

Don't get either. They're both great graphics cards (and I stress *great*), they just don't handle FS9/FSX as well as even $100 Nvidia cards do. It's sad but true. This appears to have been addressed somewhat by more recent Catalyst drivers, but there still remains a disparity in performance between ATi cards and Nvidia cards for MSFS.

HDD - 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 250GB SATA2 [8.5ms response, 16MB Cache]

Fine, but why so small? Hard drives are incredibly cheap now. I don't think I'd buy anything less than 500GB if I were in the market. I've got two 250GB drives in my current machine, and these are hold-overs from a previous rig (read: didn't have the cash to buy new drives).

SB audigy2 sound card

I don't believe MSFS uses EAX so onboard sound should do just as well.

OS VISTA business 64

You may want to consider Home Premium or Ultimate instead. Business trades features with Home Premium and Ultimate has the best of both worlds. Hope this helps!Regards,Max

Hi Henry. All excellent choices, though I prefer Gigabyte to Asus but that's just a personal choice.What speed? Will you be overclocking your processor and FSB?(it would be 1066)...iam not an overclocker...Don't get either. They're both great graphics cards (and I stress *great*), they just don't handle FS9/FSX as well as even $100 Nvidia cards do. It's sad but true. This appears to have been addressed somewhat by more recent Catalyst drivers, but there still remains a disparity in performance between ATi cards and Nvidia cards for MSFS. (which NVIDIA card would be good?) iam so used to ATI...LOLFine, but why so small? Hard drives are incredibly cheap now. I don't think I'd buy anything less than 500GB if I were in the market. I've got two 250GB drives in my current machine, and these are hold-overs from a previous rig (read: didn't have the cash to buy new drives). ( would go for a 600G and a second one at 250G)I don't believe MSFS uses EAX so onboard sound should do just as well. can i run FS on one hard drive and my OS on the other one? You may want to consider Home Premium or Ultimate instead. Business trades features with Home Premium and Ultimate has the best of both worlds. Hope this helps!Regards,Max

(which NVIDIA card would be good?) iam so used to ATI...LOLGo with a 9800GTX+ or GTX260 Core 216. If I was buying today the GTX260 would be my choice.Konrad

Henry, looks good now! By 600GB do you mean 500GB? There are 640GB drives available from other manufacturers (Western Digital, namely) so not sure if you're planning on mixing and matching. You can indeed run the OS on one drive and FSX from another, but I've not personally seen any benefit in doing this (other than due to space constraints), at least not in Vista.

(which NVIDIA card would be good?) iam so used to ATI...LOLGo with a 9800GTX+ or GTX260 Core 216. If I was buying today the GTX260 would be my choice.Konrad

I'll second these recommendations. The 9800 GTX/GTX+ is the cheaper of the two and will deliver the best performance in FS outside of insanely high resolution and AA settings, but the GTX 260 Core 216 would be a better card at these settings and in other games. With street prices for o/c'd 9800 GTXs starting at $150 and those of GTX 260 Core 216s starting at $240, it all depends on your budget.