My current system specs are in my signature. What do you think. Is this a screaming deal that I should jump on? Will a unit like this take me to 25-30FPS in the Duke or Mustang over an area like Salt Lake City? My choices are to spend the $1,000 now or wait until March when I will have ~$1,500 to spend. My system is OK now (~15FPS but fairly smooth). Here are the system specs and a link to the sale if anyone is interested.....I likely need to order today or tomorrow to get the deal.Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHZ, 6GB DDR3, 1TB, DVDRW, GTX260, 2x Gigabit LAN, Vista Home Premium 64http://www.compusa.com/applications/search...COMEM379_-emailOoops, I did not mention the price...system cost is $999 and includes a logitech gaming keyboard.

That is an excellent system at an excellent price. Even has a 750W PSU. My only concerns would be overclockability and expandability. Chances are the BIOS won't allow you to overclock and the case won't allow you to use a larger card. Not that cards get much bigger than the GTX 260...

That is an excellent system at an excellent price. Even has a 750W PSU. My only concerns would be overclockability and expandability. Chances are the BIOS won't allow you to overclock and the case won't allow you to use a larger card. Not that cards get much bigger than the GTX 260...

Thanks for the reply. I looked at the user reviews and it looks like the i940 is watercooled. Can someone help me understand the CPU, the GPU and the PSU....here are my questions.i940 -- where does this fall on the i7 line. Is it close to the fastest or more mid-rangeGTX260 - same question. Is this one of the faster modern cards or midline. It has 2 DVI ports. Could I drive 2 monitors with this one card?750W PSU - Is this about the max power I will need for next ~ 2 years or is it likely to need upgrade in the future.Thanks so much for your help. Yeah, $999 seemed like a really nice price to get much nicer performance. I was considering upgrading some components in my system but even that was $500 and likely the improvement would be much less.

Hello, I come from something similar, HP e9180f with an I7 920, 250GTS, 9gb DDR3, Blue Ray DVD, LightScribe DVD burner, 1 tb Hd, etc...not bad, 30-40% better than my HP m8120n Quad @ 2.66 ghz with a 8800GTXCheck before buying if you can overclock in the bios; if not, spend a little more money and assemble yourself one that can, i just did it so i am now with 2 brand new PC !!!! Oh well, my wife will inherit the HP i guess LOLI am running now at 3.61 ghz and i can tell you it is much faster and smoother than at +/- 3.0 ghz...Hope it helps !Alain from Montreal

Hello, I come from something similar, HP e9180f with an I7 920, 250GTS, 9gb DDR3, Blue Ray DVD, LightScribe DVD burner, 1 tb Hd, etc...not bad, 30-40% better than my HP m8120n Quad @ 2.66 ghz with a 8800GTXCheck before buying if you can overclock in the bios; if not, spend a little more money and assemble yourself one that can, i just did it so i am now with 2 brand new PC !!!! Oh well, my wife will inherit the HP i guess LOLI am running now at 3.61 ghz and i can tell you it is much faster and smoother than at +/- 3.0 ghz...Hope it helps !Alain from Montreal

Great suggestion on overclocking. Where would I find whether it can be overclocked or not? Would you suggest asking the vendor or is this something I could find from the specs. Thanks

Doug, you will not find it out in the specs, unless i am wrong, every pre-built system from dell, HP Acer and Gateway will not overclock, the bios is locked....Then again, ask the vendor but i would be very surprise !Alain from Montreal

Thank you Alain.Sounds like I cannot overclock. So, what do folks think? I am happy to build my own system so that I can overclock. Should I purchase this off the shelf Acer unit at $999 or should I build it myself so I can overclock. What do you think the build cost would be for a system like this? My gut tells me about the same at ~ $1,000. My choices are...= Buy this unit at $1,000= Build a similar one (likely ~$1,000...right?)or= Wait until March and spend about $1500 for the latest/greatest at that time...?Your thoughts on these choices would be very helpful. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. I looked at the user reviews and it looks like the i940 is watercooled.

I doubt this. There are very few factory water-cooled systems out there and I've never heard of Acer ever taking this route.

Can someone help me understand the CPU, the GPU and the PSU....here are my questions.

Sure!

i940 -- where does this fall on the i7 line. Is it close to the fastest or more mid-range

The i7 9 series is in and of itself high-end so there's not really any mid-range parts in it. The 940's stock 2.93GHz speed falls 400MHz short of the top-of-the-line 975 model, and this could translate to a 10-20% difference in FPS in FSX but it's also about a $600 price difference for the processor alone.

GTX260 - same question. Is this one of the faster modern cards or midline.

Same situation here as with the i7 9 series. The GTX 200 series is the high-end product family from Nvidia at the moment, although the 260 is the least of these parts. Still an excellent card for FSX. Definitely allow you to run high settings with AA.

It has 2 DVI ports. Could I drive 2 monitors with this one card?

Yes.

750W PSU - Is this about the max power I will need for next ~ 2 years or is it likely to need upgrade in the future.

This will be all you need from a power delivery standpoint. The only way you'd need a different PSU is if this one doesn't have enough connectors to allow for future devices.

Thanks so much for your help. Yeah, $999 seemed like a really nice price to get much nicer performance. I was considering upgrading some components in my system but even that was $500 and likely the improvement would be much less.

You're welcome. It is a nice PC and if you decide to buy it I'm sure you'll be happy. You could build your own and overclock but it would certainly cost more and not have an OEM warranty. Your call as to what's more important.

Extremely helpful. Thank you very much to everyone. Have a nice weekend simming!