I finally got myself a new PC. Now I am debating on whether to buy FSX and try it out or just stick with FS2004. See specs below.I never even bothered with FSX on my old PC. I was looking now and FSX gold is only $40. I usually just fly GA planes anymore, and the RealAir Duke is very tempting. The big problem is the basic add-ons I will want. I have a few addons from FS2004 that will work in FSX (ActiveSky), but I will at minimum want a traffic program and FSUIPC. That's $80 right there, and that is just a start. That doesn't even include things like Ultimate Terrain which I will be tempted to buy. Part of me says move forward and try FSX, while another part of me says just re-install FS2004 on the new rig. I'm picky when it comes to performance, which is why FSX worries me. I tried to download the FSX demo and the download stopped on me. I know the demo was an earlier version as well so it may not be a good performance indicator. I'm sure others have been in the same boat. Any opinions are welcome.

I say go for it. With your specs you should be able to run FSX fine. Especially if you like flying GA planes. There are lots of great addons for FSX that cater to GA flying. I'm not in favor of either since I have both, FSX for that low and slow, and FS9 for heavy metal. Works out great that way.

Absolutely, go forward and move ahead. Your HW is very similar what to I run except I'm still on an old 8800GT. Visually it's much more pleasing, the biggest obstacle you'll have to come to terms with is the addon's. It is like starting over in many respects and a bitter pill to swallow for sure but worth it in the long run IMHO.

Oh for goodness sake! Just do it. There are far greater things to agonise over. :( If you don't get on with it, flog it on Ebay, or donate to a charity shop.Nothing ventured nothing gained, as they say.. IanPS. Bet you end up loving it!

You just have to get over the mental-block.. and you will, when you realize that a "slider-downed" FSX on your computer, will be a FAR better simming experience than FS9.Your computer is pretty strong, but it's still well below what's needed to "max out" FSX. And really, reasonable desktop hardware for the common user; that will tame FSX, does not exist yet.If you're an avid simmer.. you gotta take the leap. The only reason to stay with FS9; is if your simming experience weighs heavy on traffic. I have to admit, that on the rare occasion I venture into a big airport; I do miss having all the gates occupied.. a swarm of traffic to get through, and jets lined up for takeoff. But since 95% of my simming is small GA, at remote airports.. FS9 is long forgotten

I have the same CPU. I run it with 4.05 GHz. Run yours with > 3.8 GHz. That's very easy to accomplish. And then FSX will run like a charm! :(

Thanks for all the opinions. I think I will pick up the gold edition today. I'm not worried about where my sliders are set, as long as I can get smooth flight with GA aircraft. My worry is now I am going to want to buy mesh, ground textures, and UTX. Plus I need a traffic program. That's a few hundred bucks right there...Which ones are "must-haves" and which can I pass on?-Mesh - I understand that default FSX is 38m, which is what my payware mesh in FS9 was. -Ultimate Terrain X - this is probably a must have for me. The version for FS9 was great for low and slow. -GEX - I'll probably hold off on this for awhile. The default textures combined with UTX should be nice. -FSUIPC - I assume I'll need this as well. Too many useful features. (I already have the latest ActiveSky version which works in FSX).

My five musts for FSX.FEX or REXGEXUTXASA - Active Sky AdvancedUT2 - Ultimate Traffic 2If I could only get 5 things thats what it would be. I have all the mesh from FS Genesis, but I would easily skip that in favor of the other stuff I listed. If I could only get four things I would skip ASA, but for me GEX, FEX and UTX are must haves even though the default textures look ok, GEX is much better.

The only thing I would add is - don't discard FS9 - if you have the disc space then have both. I wish I had kept FS9 with all the addons I can't really afford to replace (some of them don't even exist anymore). I stupidly threw away quite a few CD's when I bought this PC and moved up to FSX and still wonder what the Cloud9 Phantom would be like on this computer and these monitors! I loved that aircraft but just couldn't run it on my old junk PC.

The only thing I would add is - don't discard FS9 - if you have the disc space then have both.

For sure. I'm getting a free upgrade to Win7 in a few months anyway, so I am going to be reformatting. I'm pretty much holding off on installing FS9 and all the add-ons until then. I want to see how FSX is, plus I might as well wait for a clean format rather than go through all that time to install. I am installing FSX Gold now. We'll see how it goes.