RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Retail GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - RetailAMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX - Retail ZOTAC ZT-20201-10L GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3K2/4GR - RetailRosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB 500W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail Grand Total: $553.41 (includes tax and shipping from newegg.com)The electric company recently fried Kermit (so named after the hideous green ATX case the previous owner chose!), my desktop PC. Since the mobo is blown, I'm declaring Kermit officially dead and have filed a claim against said electric company. Wish me luck. This proposed build seems reasonable and cost-effective for FS9 use. I'm trying to balance price and performance. I fly mostly Cat A/B aircraft, but I do like to fly in weather and am definitely hooked on tileproxy. I'm salvaging the hdd and optical drives from my current system.Any suggestions or caveats regarding this proposed build welcomed. I'll be making a buying decision in about two weeks.

That GT220 isn't much of an upgrade over your current card. You need to go with a GT 240 or higher to get a real upgrade. Everything else looks ok, though I'm not a fan of that case nor that PSU, but as long as they work...

That GT220 isn't much of an upgrade over your current card. You need to go with a GT 240 or higher to get a real upgrade. Everything else looks ok, though I'm not a fan of that case nor that PSU, but as long as they work...

Hi, Techguy. Thanks for your response. I did a little more research, both here at avsim as well as other sites, consensus being that the GeForce 250-series in a decent build will handle just about anything fs9 can throw at it. I'm not a gamer, so with the exception of FS9, all this fancy hardware is just going to be loafing along 90% of the time. I plan on using this system for at least 2-3 years, so I might as well spend a little bit more and be happy when virtually airborne. I've decided on the Palit NE3TS25EFHD02 GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card.You mentioned you're not a fan of the case I selected. Is this from personal experience? It seems to be quite a well-received item and, in concept anyway, I really like many of the features this case offers.

I'm not a fan based on past experience with Raidmax "quality" or complete lack thereof. It's cheap for a reason. I also don't like the case's aesthetics. The GTS 250 is a great card for FS9, and a good card for FSX.

I know you want to keep it cheap but some of the nicer FS9 add-ons will make toast out of the 250 (though it is certainly better than what you first had in mind in the 220):in the most basic terms a 8800 GTS 512mb is a 9800 GTX which is also a Geforce GTS 250The 9800GTX+ version and GTS250 are both made on a smaller die and can reach higher clocks but they are all built around the same G92 architecture.The 512 versions of these boards are almost identical, the 250 1 gig board is a new layout, but in esense the 250's are just rebadged 9800GTX. I would reach for a 260 core 16 at minimum if you can.

One thing nobody has asked that has a bearing on how much video card you need is the maximum resolution your monitor is running at, and do you plan on upgrading at a later time.Let us know.The one thing that frustrates me to no end on these forums is people don

Thanks for the responses, everybody! Very much appreciated.To reiterate, most of my flying is going to be Cat A/B aircraft, with mostly piston single operations under VFR. I'll file IFR if local conditions warrant. My priorities are aerial visual accuracy (photoscenery/tileproxy), high-resolution terrain mesh and fluid flight dynamics in all weather conditions. I have far less interest in high-fidelity commercial/corporate aircraft models or complex ground scenery packages.My current screen resolution (alright, everybody gasp at once! :( ) is 1024x768. I know I won't be satisfied with this once I'm up and running, so I'm planning on 22-24" in 1920x1080 at some point in the near future.Current add-ons include ASv6.5, UT-USA, GE, FE and TPv8 and various custom, non-commercial photoscenery areas. Tileproxy, for me, makes obsolete the value of UT and I feel this title has lived out its useful life for my purposes. I will continue to use GE since the night lighting effects work with my photoscenery and TP, neither of which provide night textures.Given the above criteria/itinerary and bearing in mind that cost is very much a factor, would anybody care to revise their original advice?Thanks!

At the resolution of your existing display, the original card you were looking at would work. But for the future display you would need a card in the GTx 240 to 260 range to get best possible performance.

Thanks for the responses, everybody! Very much appreciated.To reiterate, most of my flying is going to be Cat A/B aircraft, with mostly piston single operations under VFR. I'll file IFR if local conditions warrant. My priorities are aerial visual accuracy (photoscenery/tileproxy), high-resolution terrain mesh and fluid flight dynamics in all weather conditions. I have far less interest in high-fidelity commercial/corporate aircraft models or complex ground scenery packages.My current screen resolution (alright, everybody gasp at once! :( ) is 1024x768. I know I won't be satisfied with this once I'm up and running, so I'm planning on 22-24" in 1920x1080 at some point in the near future.Current add-ons include ASv6.5, UT-USA, GE, FE and TPv8 and various custom, non-commercial photoscenery areas. Tileproxy, for me, makes obsolete the value of UT and I feel this title has lived out its useful life for my purposes. I will continue to use GE since the night lighting effects work with my photoscenery and TP, neither of which provide night textures.Given the above criteria/itinerary and bearing in mind that cost is very much a factor, would anybody care to revise their original advice?Thanks!

Just from personal experience, having upgraded to a 1920x1080 recently....I was not satisfied with my old 8800gts 512, pretty satisfied with a 260, and extremely satisfied for my current 275. This is for fs9, running all 'main' addons, 8xS, 16xAF, running locked at 50fps.

My original proposed system:RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - RetailGIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - RetailAMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX - RetailZOTAC ZT-20201-10L GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - RetailKingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3K2/4GR - RetailRosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB 500W ATX12V Power Supply - RetaiAbove line through items replaced by,Video Card: Gigabyte GTX 260 896MB GDDR3RAM: Corsair 2GBx2 DDR3 1333Power Supply: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750wAnd added,Monitor: ASUS 22" VW224U 2msHDD: Hitachi HD31000 1TBThe build was very straight forward with virtually no major glitches. There was a missing baggy of screws that were to have come with the case, but not really a problem since I have tons 'o spare parts. I was really impressed with the quality of the PC P&C power supply. And I love, love, love my Smilodon mid-tower case. The clamshell design really made assembly a breeze. After a 72-hour burn in, everything seems to be functioning fine.After installing WinXP Pro SP3, I installed fs9.1 and tileproxy 8 along with all my homemade photoscenery. I hopped in the default 182 and went for a cruise over my scenery, some in very high resolution. OMG! All I can say is that I am thrilled with this system. I'm seeing detail that I've never seen before, probably as a result of the new monitor and perhaps the texture rendering with the GTX 260. Texture loading is virtually seamless. I haven't installed FE2004 or ASv6.5 yet, but I expect the impact to be minimal. (And yes, I do have an eye on REX2) I had equally satisfying, if underwhelming, results using tileproxy, the only bottleneck being my pathetic, underspeced so-called broadband connection (DSL 1.0, seriously). But, I'm moving soon to an area with FiOS coverage, hooray!All in all, for the mission I proposed in my initial post, "I'm trying to balance price and performance. I fly mostly Cat A/B aircraft, but I do like to fly in weather and am definitely hooked on tileproxy", I think I'm going to be very happy with this build.Thanks to all who responded for your hints, tips and opinions. You helped me reach an informed decision and a good result.Check six!

Ahh good to know, roughly how much did it set you back?

A smidge over a g-note (including tax, shipping and after rebates)