OK, after various posts here, thinking of ditching the old system and investing in a new kit for FS.I like Dell (had excellent customer support from them amongst other stuff), so thought of a Dell Studio XPS 8100. Anyone else simming on this machine?Specs as chosen:Intel Core i7 Processor 880 (3.06GHz, 8MB)Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit23in Dell ST2320L monitor8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory1 x 1TB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 Graphics CardSuppose this would run FSX OK too, though I prefer to fly FS9 on the whole..Any thoughts on this setup people? (Not sure where I can find the money yet - but where there's a will, there's a way!!)Thanks in advance,Martin S.

Hi Martin,I just ordered a new pc for FSX myself, after A LOT of reading and research.I don't know how familiar you are with building your own system, and more importantly overclocking, but it really is worth the effort. The rig I ordered, and why I ordered it:CPU: Intel i7 950 -> the price of this 3.06 Ghz cpu just recently dropped by almost 50%. A fast chip by itself (intel's top-of-the-line €1000,- 980X is 3.33 Ghz), it now is great value for money. Particularly if you are planning to overclock it. GPU: ZOTAC 480GTX AMP! -> The 480GTX, the best card for FSX + the AMP! edition which enables me to overclock the card.MEM: OCZ Platinum XTC 6GB DDR3-1600 CL6 -> tripple channel, 6GB with low latency. Why? Read NickN's post here: http://www.simforums.com/forums/topic29041.htmlunder ABOUT ADDING MEMORY TO A SYSTEM and SAMPLES OF MEMORY SPEED/TIMINGCPU-cooler: Noctua NH D14 Perhaps the best cpu-cooler on air availableCase: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Widely regarded as best value for money, lots of features, great cooling possibilities, just Google it.Power supply: Seasonic M12D-850 The thing came out great in a couple of reviews. And has plenty of power (850W). Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366 and Intel X58 chipset to support the core i7 cpu, SATA 600 for future SSD's 2x USB 3.0 and, again, a great overclocker.I already own a WD raptor @ 10.000 rpm and a Samsung SyncMaster 2253LW, so I don't need a HDD or a monitor.The big idea behind my purchase is, as I said before, overclocking. I spent about €1500,- on this system, and I expect (with a little luck)to reach 4.2, perhaps 4.4 Ghz.Combined with an overclocked GPU and the BP=0 tweak I expect to run FSX really well. FS9 will run like a dream on the Dell system you posted, I strongly believe. But to be able to run FSX with all the bells and whistles, you really need to build your own system, and overclock.Hope this helps,Regards,Hugo - The Netherlands

Hi,Many thanks for the reply Hugo. Yes, I could build my own system (have A+ cert) but I got fed up of parts going under after a while and then not being covered by long-term guarantees - can be a real hassle. I pay £1800 sterling for this Dell system and get 4 years next day hardware service included - I've always found Dell's support excellent (once they agree to take you seriously and acknowledge you have a real problem - I don't mean this "Reinstall Windows" rubbish you get as a cure-all over the phone). I'm also a bit too timid to overclock, I have to admit!!! At least so far..Also, not sure about some of your conclusions. For instance, if you compare these reviews, you'll see the GTX 460 scores well ahead of the 480:http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/07/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-460-graphics-card-review/12http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2010/03/27/nvidia-geforce-gtx-480-1-5gb-review/12The i7 950 isn't an option on this PC, or I'd have gone for it. Have to choose what's on offer of course.I doubt that a new PC is going to win me over to FSX, as I say. I'll install it (probably on a dual boot system, one for FS9, one for FSX) but will continue to use FS9 (and all the hundreds, if not thousands of addons and tweaks I've made over the past 7 years) as my preferred sim, I am sure.Martin

OK, after various posts here, thinking of ditching the old system and investing in a new kit for FS.I like Dell (had excellent customer support from them amongst other stuff), so thought of a Dell Studio XPS 8100. Anyone else simming on this machine?Specs as chosen:Intel Core i7 Processor 880 (3.06GHz, 8MB)Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit23in Dell ST2320L monitor8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory1 x 1TB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 Graphics CardSuppose this would run FSX OK too, though I prefer to fly FS9 on the whole..Any thoughts on this setup people? (Not sure where I can find the money yet - but where there's a will, there's a way!!)Thanks in advance,Martin S.

How about 2 disks

Only an option if you take RAID 0, which I don't want - mirrored would be OK. But 1TB is enough, and I have accumulated so many external hard drives to back up to!Martin

Hugo,Wondering about the 17-950 in a different system. Can you let me know how you get on with the overclocking?Thanks,Martin

Hugo - one other question. Why the Zotac XT460 in particular?M. :-)