Hi I have just moved to Australia and looking to purchase a Desktop PC ideally for FS9,as im using the currency I left my country with I cant afford a great PCbut I found this okay the specs arent good Ideally FS9 to run smooth any suggestionsAMD Phenom 2 965 3.4GHZ Quad Core CPU4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 MemoryATi HD5770 1GB PCI-E Video CardAMD 790 Chipset Mainboardthanks

AMD has some very nice, affordable hardware on the market that's good for just about everything, except MSFS. This includes both FS9 and FSX. While it's certainly possible to have an enjoyable sim experience with AMD hardware, many users report various bugs. You may never experience any if you build an all-AMD PC as you propose, or you might have nothing but headaches. Typically the best MSFS machines run Intel processors and Nvidia graphics cards. See my signature for an example of a machine which runs both sims at their highest settings fluidly. You can get even more performance from a newer i7 processor as well.

AMD has some very nice, affordable hardware on the market that's good for just about everything, except MSFS. This includes both FS9 and FSX. While it's certainly possible to have an enjoyable sim experience with AMD hardware, many users report various bugs. You may never experience any if you build an all-AMD PC as you propose, or you might have nothing but headaches. Typically the best MSFS machines run Intel processors and Nvidia graphics cards. See my signature for an example of a machine which runs both sims at their highest settings fluidly. You can get even more performance from a newer i7 processor as well.

Thanks so much for the reply,what type of bugs are you referring to?I would really love to get the i7 or even the i5 with the Nvidia card but things are a bit expensive for here in Australia as im still using my South African Rand(very week currency at the moment) to buy the PCany idea what I could get thats "cheaper" but would still run FS9 smooth?would 4 gig of DDR2 be okay?with Geforce 512MB 210any advise?thanksD

Okay what about this?Intel Core i5 750 2.66 Ghz 8MB4GIG DDR3 1600MHZ2 x ATI HD5750 512MEGAntec NEO ECO 620W PSUSame price or so!

Two graphics cards are a pointless wast of money for FS9 & FSX.Ian.

The i5 750 is *the* sweet spot in CPUs right now. Great chip. Everything else looks good, but you'll want to grab an NV card, preferably in the GTX 200 series. The 260 is a good card, 275 a decent step up, and 285 the top chip in the product family (for FSX anyway).

Two graphics cards are a pointless wast of money for FS9 & FSX.Ian.

Ian;I respectfully disagree. I have two cards and run 4 monitors to have a front view and two lateral views and an overhead panel view for the 737NG I fly. It wouldn't even be close to the same "experience" with only one monitor.John

Ian;I respectfully disagree. I have two cards and run 4 monitors to have a front view and two lateral views and an overhead panel view for the 737NG I fly. It wouldn't even be close to the same "experience" with only one monitor.John

To be clear, 2 video cards are useful for your setup but they will not increase FSX performance with a normal, 1 display unit.

Ian;I respectfully disagree. I have two cards and run 4 monitors to have a front view and two lateral views and an overhead panel view for the 737NG I fly. It wouldn't even be close to the same "experience" with only one monitor.John

John, What frame rates do you get with your setup?Thanks, Dacid

The i5 750 is *the* sweet spot in CPUs right now. Great chip. Everything else looks good, but you'll want to grab an NV card, preferably in the GTX 200 series. The 260 is a good card, 275 a decent step up, and 285 the top chip in the product family (for FSX anyway).

Thanks very much for the replies,So ill stick with one Graphics card,I take it the ATI 5750 isnt to good?Rather go with the GTX200 series due to my budget is the 220 or 230 okay?is the bottom of the range i5 2.66 okay?thanks

Notice I said *GTX* not, GT, not GTS. The GT and GTS cards use entirely different GPUs from the GTX series. If you can't afford a GTX (why? the 5750 is about the same cost as a GTX 260) then you should get nothing less than a GTS 250. The GT cards are not powerful enough for FSX except at low-mid settings.

Notice I said *GTX* not, GT, not GTS. The GT and GTS cards use entirely different GPUs from the GTX series. If you can't afford a GTX (why? the 5750 is about the same cost as a GTX 260) then you should get nothing less than a GTS 250. The GT cards are not powerful enough for FSX except at low-mid settings.

Thanks for that info I looked at a local PC store they either have the :Inno3D GF GTX 260+ (216SP) Overclocked PCI-E 2.0 896MB DDR3 or theInno3D GF GTX 260+ (216SP) PCI-E 2.0 896MB DDR3 which one?are those okay? with the i5 750 2.66GHZ or should I pay in a bit more for the i7?

Ah yes I meant to ask will a 620W PSU be sufficient for the 260GTX card?What about getting the 9800 series

The i5 750 is *the* sweet spot in CPUs right now. Great chip. Everything else looks good, but you'll want to grab an NV card, preferably in the GTX 200 series. The 260 is a good card, 275 a decent step up, and 285 the top chip in the product family (for FSX anyway).

That was true with the ATI HD4000 series and earlier cards. From all reports that I have read including that of NickN the HD5000 series cards don't have the performance issues that the earlier ATI cards had.

Ah yes I meant to ask will a 620W PSU be sufficient for the 260GTX card?What about getting the 9800 series

One area hat you shouldn't scrimp on is the PSU. With the power requirements of today's hardware, I wouldn't go any less then a good quality 750w PSU. If you can afford it go for a 1000w one. While your system may not need all that power, it will put less strain on the system, last longer, and give you more stable power distribution.