I'm looking at building a PC that can handle anything in FS9 ex: Your using Active Sky with overcast skies and rain using Fly Tampa scenery with 100% traffic.This is what I have so far, I'm just looking for inputIntel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHzSpire Socket 775 Intel FanAsRock 4 core 1600 Motherboard4GB RAM 6400 DDR2500 GB Hitachi 7200RPM 8m cacheGeForce 9500GT 1GB PCI Express Video Card

I'm looking at building a PC that can handle anything in FS9 ex: Your using Active Sky with overcast skies and rain using Fly Tampa scenery with 100% traffic.This is what I have so far, I'm just looking for inputIntel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHzSpire Socket 775 Intel FanAsRock 4 core 1600 Motherboard4GB RAM 6400 DDR2500 GB Hitachi 7200RPM 8m cacheGeForce 9500GT 1GB PCI Express Video Card

Change that graphics card. The 1GB RAM is a gimmick as it does *nothing* for performance except at extreme resolutions with lots of AA, resolutions & AA levels which that card's GPU isn't fast enough to handle in the first place. You may want to look at a 9600 GT for a similar price, which will deliver much better performance in FS and any other title you may wish to run. Everything else looks fine unless you want to overclock, in which case it would be wise to get faster RAM and you'll definitely want a better heatsink/fan.

Change that graphics card. The 1GB RAM is a gimmick as it does *nothing* for performance except at extreme resolutions with lots of AA, resolutions & AA levels which that card's GPU isn't fast enough to handle in the first place. You may want to look at a 9600 GT for a similar price, which will deliver much better performance in FS and any other title you may wish to run. Everything else looks fine unless you want to overclock, in which case it would be wise to get faster RAM and you'll definitely want a better heatsink/fan.

Well, with that kind of system...what kind of peformance increase will I see with an overclock? I don't like the idea of overclocking because I will be using the computer for other things, like work.

Well, with that kind of system...what kind of peformance increase will I see with an overclock? I don't like the idea of overclocking because I will be using the computer for other things, like work.

The performance increase observed from overclocking is dependent upon multiple factors. In other words: it's tough to say. You really won't know how much extra performance is gained until you're done overclocking. I have the same CPU you're planning on buying, and I run it at 1GHz higher than stock (4GHz). That's a 33% increase. Also, I have overclocked my FrontSide Bus by 50%. In purely CPU-limited scenarios I see performance gains in excess of 30%. In memory-bound scenarios I see even greater gains. On average I'd say it's about a 20% performance increase though.As for concerns about using the system for work, the point of overclocking is to find a combination of settings which deliver a tangible performance increase without sacrificing stability. My system is pretty well overclocked, but I do not experience application crashes, system restarts, nor data degradation. Anyway, my point was not to convince you to overclock, but rather to suggest that there's no reason to buy DDR2-800 anymore since you can buy faster memory for the same price. I use this memory which even if left at stock settings will outperform DDR2-800. Regards,Max

What kind of budget should I be looking at to have a good sysetm?

What kind of budget should I be looking at to have a good sysetm?

If you're going to build it yourself and you're only talking about components (no peripherals like keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers) then you can get by with under a grand, no problem.As I said earlier, your component choices basically look fine, except were I in your shoes I would buy the faster memory for little to no price increase. Also, get a better video card such as a 9600 GT or 9800 GT. Don't be suckered in by larger memory sizes, as they're not needed. A 512MB card will handle your simming needs just fine. These changes shouldn't increase your build cost by more than $100, and I wouldn't be surprised if the difference were far less than that.The only other item of note would be the lack of a case and power supply. Do you have these parts already? What are you planning on using? Regards,Max

If you're going to build it yourself and you're only talking about components (no peripherals like keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers) then you can get by with under a grand, no problem.As I said earlier, your component choices basically look fine, except were I in your shoes I would buy the faster memory for little to no price increase. Also, get a better video card such as a 9600 GT or 9800 GT. Don't be suckered in by larger memory sizes, as they're not needed. A 512MB card will handle your simming needs just fine. These changes shouldn't increase your build cost by more than $100, and I wouldn't be surprised if the difference were far less than that.The only other item of note would be the lack of a case and power supply. Do you have these parts already? What are you planning on using? Regards,Max

Hey Max,I am personally not building it. I am looking on e-bay where you can piece together your own computer.http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Dual-Core-2-Duo-...93%3A1|294%3A50

Hey Max,I am personally not building it. I am looking on e-bay where you can piece together your own computer.http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Dual-Core-2-Duo-...93%3A1|294%3A50

Thanks for providing a link. Do not buy that computer as configured. That motherboard is of extremely low quality and with poor upgrade options. The power supply is not fit for any sort of heavy load. The cooler has a high speed fan that will be extremely annoying under heavy load. The memory and graphics card are under-spec'd also, as previously mentioned. Try this configuration instead. Hopefully that's still within your desired budget. Regards,Max

What about this computer...CPU: Intel

Sorry for not responding sooner, I've just begun a new job and quite literally haven't had time to visit the forum.The system specs you listed will suffice, presuming you do indeed swap out the 9500 GT for a 9600 GT.Good luck!-Max