Personally, I think people should spend their money as they wish. No need to tell them they don't know something when you don't even know them... Mmmmk?

Your kidding right? This whole post is about what this guy or girl SHOULD buy for fsx.Taylor OldhamI have currently a Dell XPS 420 (Not amazing) with aQ6600(Quad) 2.4Ghz3Gig 800 ram3870 HD Radeon 512mband it runs decently but wish I had a better graphics card and slightly better processor.

Just ordered my first PC upgrade in 5 years - this is what I gotIntel i7 920 - I went for the 1366 socket i7 instead of the new 1156 i7s because the new 6 core i9s coming out next year use 1366 sockets - wierd! Will get an i9 when they are out.Asus Rampage II Extreme Motherboard - serious overclocking mobo!12 Gig Corsair XMS 1600 - great for medium overclockingXFX 5870 - brand new cards from ATI released a few weeks back - these cards are amazing, search for some reviews and youll see it is a mega powerful card!WD Velociraptor HD - one of the fastest hard drives out there - 10000 rpmCorsair 750W PSU - a highly rated and stable power supplyGood luck with yer choices!

mine is not the oldest one- but the G.Card- who will be replaced soon :)Fsx works good, not best, tweaking the CFG is necersary by any System i

new 6 core i9s coming out next year

Thanks for that Armen. I have a one-year old Rampage with a Q9650 3MHz not OC'd. I think I will stick with it and maybe play with overclocking over the next year and catch the six core for my next build. Nice thing about homebuilt is I can keep the Corsair 750W, optics and the Velociraptor.. yes, it is fast. Six cores, sounds sexa.

FYI, I run a quad here (a 9650) and FSX runs noticeably smoother and quicker by only using two of the cores, not all four.

Well, at least we won't have to worry about playing all the newest titles! I mean, who here ONLY plays FSX? I for one am pumped for MW2 and will surely be able to max that baby out no problem.

Yeah exactly - I play a ton of games besides doing simming and it isn't just FSX that you need a good machine for. Yes, it has definitely shortcomings in how the engine is designed (all the CPU limited stuff etc) but if you're even remotely interested in more general gaming as well as simming, you also will need a system like this...

[snip] ... also if you get it they have an option somewhere if you buy Vista 64 you can upgrade it to Windows 7.

Yes Microsoft have always had a mechanism to upgrade. It's to preserve sales in the period leading up to a new release. Otherwise as time got closer and closer to a new release, no one would buy the old release. If you buy Vista now, you can upgrade to the equivalent version of Windows 7 for free once it's released. At least that's true in Australia. I dont know about other markets, but i assume it also applies elsewhere. It just makes good business sense. Whatever else you think of Microsoft, you can't accuse them of being poor businessmen.

At least that's true in Australia. I dont know about other markets, but i assume it also applies elsewhere. It just makes good business sense. Whatever else you think of Microsoft, you can't accuse them of being poor businessmen.

You can't in Europe. Due to some brain-dead EU law about IE there is no upgrade version of Windows 7 offered here and you have to do a full install. As a sweetener for a period they are selling full versions at an upgrade price but you will still have to start from scratch.

MM,You did not specify..or I didn't catch it if you are willing to build your own or pay someone to build one. I'll catch hell here but cheapskate bang for your buck is my system, with the following changes. Instead of an ancient E6420 CPU..it does kick serious &@($* OC'd at 3.2GHz, a Q9550 would do nicely. Buy two of my video cards and crossfire them. Lot's of bang, not bucks. BUT it is what 1.5 generations old? I say so what, I can run FSX on Windows 7...I had Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) and it is the best OS M$ has ever made (except OS/2 which no one remembers..a joint effort with IBM). The RC was the Ultimate edition which is overkill. I've ordered the Professional version. Think of it as XP Pro only for Windows 7. You may be content with Home Premium. You just have to look at the specs...M$ web site is a place to look and they have comparison tables of features for each flavor. Whatever flavor works for you, IMHO 64-bit is the ONLY way to go. I've not run across one piece of 32-bit software that has failed due to the 64-bit implementation and I've had Win 7 RC since it was released and it's been my daily use operating system. 64-bit is the future and it allows addressability to more than 4GB, i.e. 2 to the 32nd power is approx 4G. where 2 to the 64th power is a crazy big number..I'm not going to write it down, just know you're covered. So be state of the art with the systems mentioned with an I7 or new I5 processor and pay for the privilege or be a cheapskate and know that my system is good for years to come and will do the job...BTW I do intend to replace the E6420 as it is an old Conroe Core 2 Duo (it does run Win7 + FSX with NO problem...why? Overclocking AND 2 video cards...I borrowed a friends 4830 and the difference is something else as in wow.). I do want a bang for the buck quad processor, i.e. Q9550. Maybe Santa will be good to me. One last note...I used ASUS motherboards for years (have built some 25 or 30 systems). I just bought a new one and was very disappointed. I took a chance on a friends advice and tried the listed Gigabyte...I'll never look back. Another example of major bang for the buck...Look up the specs on the board and see the goodies that come as standard equipment. 12 USB ports, 2 LAN ports and 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots. Happy number crunching! Always has astounded me what a series of 0's and 1's will give you.