Been trying to follow that link all day but it only loaded when you linked to it. Guess Google had the wrong URL :( Definitely not worth keeping. Replace ASAP!

Right ok! Will do.. it's pretty old now anyway any recomendations in PSU's in the UK? I will go for the GTS250.Other then that is everything else ok? IE CPU?Thank you very muchDan

Right ok! Will do.. it's pretty old now anyway any recomendations in PSU's in the UK? I will go for the GTS250.Other then that is everything else ok? IE CPU?Thank you very muchDan

The rest of your system looks good. Those X2 550's are nice dual cores, should do great in FS9. I live in the U.S. so I can't give specific advise as to where to purchase a new PSU in the U.K., other than to say that I've heard of people purchasing from Scan and Dabs. As for which PSU to buy, there are plenty of options available, depending on your price range. I personally run a Corsair 550W unit for my Q9550/GTX 285 system. Basically you just need to buy a quality unit from a trusted brand. Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, and Silverstone are my personal brands of choice when it comes to PSUs, but there are many other decent brands such as Antec, Thermaltake, and CoolerMaster that make PSUs worth buying.You'll probably want something in the 500-600W range from one of the aforementioned brands. Just make sure it has a combined Amperage of at least 30 on the +12V rail(s) and you'll do fine. Realistically you shouldn't see anything less than 36A in this range. I've got 3 machines running PSUs in this range, the least of which has 36A and the most 41A.

The rest of your system looks good. Those X2 550's are nice dual cores, should do great in FS9. I live in the U.S. so I can't give specific advise as to where to purchase a new PSU in the U.K., other than to say that I've heard of people purchasing from Scan and Dabs. As for which PSU to buy, there are plenty of options available, depending on your price range. I personally run a Corsair 550W unit for my Q9550/GTX 285 system. Basically you just need to buy a quality unit from a trusted brand. Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, and Silverstone are my personal brands of choice when it comes to PSUs, but there are many other decent brands such as Antec, Thermaltake, and CoolerMaster that make PSUs worth buying.You'll probably want something in the 500-600W range from one of the aforementioned brands. Just make sure it has a combined Amperage of at least 30 on the +12V rail(s) and you'll do fine. Realistically you shouldn't see anything less than 36A in this range. I've got 3 machines running PSUs in this range, the least of which has 36A and the most 41A.

Thanks very much for your advice it's really helped I've decided I will end up going for a Corsair TX 650W PSU & I'm torn between the GTS250 Zotac... OR maybe paying slightly more and going GTX260? Again thanks for all the advice given it's really been a help!Dan

The GTX 260 is also an excellent card. The decision depends on how much money you're willing to spend. You're unlikely to gain any more performance in FS9 moving beyond a GTS 250, but the GTX 260 is a superior card for other games. Do you play any other games?

The GTX 260 is also an excellent card. The decision depends on how much money you're willing to spend. You're unlikely to gain any more performance in FS9 moving beyond a GTS 250, but the GTX 260 is a superior card for other games. Do you play any other games?

No pretty much FS9 only but I do wish to really get the most of out of my FS9 Setup :( IE- Heathrow Xtreme, Active Sky 6 with HD clouds, PMDG/LEVEL D/EJETS, GE pro if I can get that running fluid with what I have I will be more then happy! I don't use AI to much maybe a bit of AI too! but that could be asking to much!I definatly won't be able to use FSX on the setup I will have it's not fast enough for that unfortunatly.. But I still love FS9.Not sure what frames I'll get with this new setup but I hope they are ok! ThanksDan

You absolutely can run FSX, with either card even. FS9 will be much more fluid though, particularly with add-ons.

You absolutely can run FSX, with either card even. FS9 will be much more fluid though, particularly with add-ons.

Thanks very much for the infomation given to me, I'm not sure FSX will run very well on my CPU? with the GTS250 or GTX260? Would it be wise into getting some Memory cooling fans as well?ThanksDan

FSX would run fine on your CPU. You wouldn't want to turn up traffic all the way and very complex add-on aircraft would push your framerates down, but it would still be flyable.I say this because one of my clients runs FSX on an E8400 with a very mild overclock (10%) @ 3.33GHz (4GB, 8800 GT) and his FPS stay in the 20's with UTX, GEX, REX, etc. etc. flying add-on GA aircraft. Most all FSX settings maxed out (water @ 1.x low and traffic 33%) 1080P, dual monitor, etc. Your system should be approximately equal to his. FS9 of course runs silky smooth with any add-on you can throw at it.

FSX would run fine on your CPU. You wouldn't want to turn up traffic all the way and very complex add-on aircraft would push your framerates down, but it would still be flyable.I say this because one of my clients runs FSX on an E8400 with a very mild overclock (10%) @ 3.33GHz (4GB, 8800 GT) and his FPS stay in the 20's with UTX, GEX, REX, etc. etc. flying add-on GA aircraft. Most all FSX settings maxed out (water @ 1.x low and traffic 33%) 1080P, dual monitor, etc. Your system should be approximately equal to his. FS9 of course runs silky smooth with any add-on you can throw at it.

Thanks! I'll have a look see how it performs soon as I've got everything set up. I've got 4Gb of ram is there any point of going up to 8gb? or would I see no benifit? I also can over clock this CPU as it's a black edition if needed but at 3.1 it runs nicely on air at 32C

Thanks! I'll have a look see how it performs soon as I've got everything set up. I've got 4Gb of ram is there any point of going up to 8gb? or would I see no benifit? I also can over clock this CPU as it's a black edition if needed but at 3.1 it runs nicely on air at 32C

More RAM won't increase performance for FS9 or FSX, and may actually decrease performance since the speed of your RAM is automatically set by your BIOS, and when you use all 4 DIMM slots it will automatically down-clock your RAM. Overclocking, however, will. The Black Edition processors are very easy to overclock. You don't even need to use the BIOS to do it, either. You can download AMD's Overdrive tool and simply adjust the CPU multiplier upwards to increase the clockspeed. Right now you should be running a 15.5x multiplier for that 3100MHz speed. Your chip could likely handle a 3300-3400 speed with stock voltage and cooling. If you're comfortable adjusting voltages you may be able to go much higher as well, but I don't recommend this unless you're willing to do some research on the subject and accept that the risk of running a higher CPU voltage.

More RAM won't increase performance for FS9 or FSX, and may actually decrease performance since the speed of your RAM is automatically set by your BIOS, and when you use all 4 DIMM slots it will automatically down-clock your RAM. Overclocking, however, will. The Black Edition processors are very easy to overclock. You don't even need to use the BIOS to do it, either. You can download AMD's Overdrive tool and simply adjust the CPU multiplier upwards to increase the clockspeed. Right now you should be running a 15.5x multiplier for that 3100MHz speed. Your chip could likely handle a 3300-3400 speed with stock voltage and cooling. If you're comfortable adjusting voltages you may be able to go much higher as well, but I don't recommend this unless you're willing to do some research on the subject and accept that the risk of running a higher CPU voltage.

Again great responseWill take all this into consideration for the final build I'll stick with the 4Gb of ram and get the most out of the setup I will have once complete.Thanks againDan