I like to check the Dell site every few days to keep a pulse on what is happening and being offered in hardware and prices as well. I have noticed a trend over the last month whereas GTX285, GTX 275's have been deleted from the option list, being replaced by lower GTX260 cards. You can still find the odd GTX285 offered, but not across the Dell line, as before. You might find these two articles an interesting read/take on nVidia's 'shortage' being shipped out to O.E.M.'s.Before somebody types that they are phasing out in favor of the 300 series, there was always a ample pipeline of older offerings from nVidia, when new series were being introduced. Dell would use them (current series) to cut the cost of a pre-build. This is not happening at this time. This might bear out what is being stated in the following two articles....http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/10/06/nvi...75-prices-soon/http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/10/06/nvi...igh-end-market/ Post Edit:....am I EVER GLAD that I decided to purchase my 730x system when I did, that being the first week of this past July!!!! Two months later, Dell went E.O.L. on the XPS 730 line, so as to focus and push Alienware at would-have-been 730x purchasers. I got my wanted GTX285 card in that specified system. It just goes to show, that the 'waiting game' can turn on you, these days. Not only would I have been out the card (a chance...) that I wanted, but the very system I had my eyes on for over a year...waiting for the price to drop (of which I say, it did by over a thousand dollars), but...in hindsight, I took a chance that it might not be there for sale, tomorrow. A sign of the consumer times, I guess....

NV would be wise not to sell GT200-based cards at a huge loss and continue to manufacture and sell GTX 275 and 285 parts right up until the release of their next-gen parts, and that's really all we can gather they are doing at the moment.

All I know is it is getting increasingly hard to find GTX285. I just bought one last week from Microcenter. For a month prior, I had a number of them on my wish list at Newegg waiting for a deal. Rather than deals showing up, cards kept going out of stock or becoming "no longer available". Did I fall in to their trap? Maybe. Regardless, if you want something, you need to buy it. I you keep waiting around for the next big thing or the price to drop, you'll never end up with a new system. For FSX, it seems like the jury is still out on the 5870's and I didn't want to get a GTX275. Maybe more will be available in a month or so? Possibly, but I wanted a new system now.