Using FSX. Will I benefit by upgrading my computer? With present computer I am still getting a few 'stutters', and it takes a fairly long time to load FSX (with UK photographic scenery).Present Computer - Dell Vostro 220 MT. Intel duo core 2.93 GHz. 3GB DR RAM.Graphics Card NVidia PCI Express with 1 GB RAM. Windows XP.New Computer suggested - Dell XPS 8100. Intel core i7 870 Processor.Windows 7, 64 bit. 6GB Memory. Graphics Card NVidia Geforce GTS 240 1 GB memory.So, with this specification, will I not get any 'stutters' and will the loading be faster?Thank you very much,Bravo.

The specs would be good and improve performance considerably. However, I would recommend getting a PC built to these specs rather than getting one from Dell.Reason being is that to get the best out of FSX, you will need to overclock it to 4 GHz plus.The slow loading is normal I'm afraid with large areas of photoscenery and threfore loading times may not be a lot quicker.IAN

Hi,You are missing the key factor for FSX: CPU frequency!!!

The spec´s of the suggested system look pritty good, but you might replace the GTS 240 with a GTX 460, it will give you a bit more performance. And please hear to what the one above me said. Don´t buy it at Dell, cause the don´t allow the pc to overclock, so it won´t give you a big advantage. You better go to your computer store and question them what fits best together with the CPU and the grafic crad and let them build it.

You will get stutters. Even with 17's running at 4.2 - a poorly configured FSX will have stutters - and even if properly configured, we still can't run 'everything to the right' or 'max' - New York; Seattle; London; Los Angeles - most of the large cities with big airports and lots of sprawling suburbs can bring the pc to its knees.The gpu certainly is not good enough, and probably the power supply won't support a better one: Can you overclock the proc? Dell makes their own BIOS (I think) and inhibits the ability to get better than 'Turbo'.IAN has it right when he suggests that you build it yourself, with parts based on the sigs you see from many of the members here. If you can't do it - get a friend or one the store guys to build it for you - and that's a small store that specializes in computers - not the "Future Shop" - style operation. Look at their product mix; do they sell six types of motherboard; the latest AMD and Intel procs; the top graphics cards, both ATI and Nvidia; cooling supplies; memory. If they do that - they're in the business.

Using FSX. Will I benefit by upgrading my computer? With present computer I am still getting a few 'stutters', and it takes a fairly long time to load FSX (with UK photographic scenery).Present Computer - Dell Vostro 220 MT. Intel duo core 2.93 GHz. 3GB DR RAM.Graphics Card NVidia PCI Express with 1 GB RAM. Windows XP.New Computer suggested - Dell XPS 8100. Intel core i7 870 Processor.Windows 7, 64 bit. 6GB Memory. Graphics Card NVidia Geforce GTS 240 1 GB memory.So, with this specification, will I not get any 'stutters' and will the loading be faster?Thank you very much,Bravo.

So, before you go spending your money and end up disappoined, let's level set what you are expecting.1 - You are buying a brand new PC with last years CPU in it. For the price of the i-870 you could purchase a SandyBridge CPU which beats up on the i7's. The fastest SandyBridge CPU is only $100 retail more than your i7-870 which is only a mid-range CPU. Since FSX is CPU hungry I have a feeling you're not going to be doing cartwheels with joy with this decision.2 - The GTS 240 is a low end Nvidia card selling retail for $80.00. While FSX is not GPU Bound, a faster GPU will drag FSX kicking and screaming to higher FPS.3 - FSX will NOT load any faster because the photo-real scenery is being sent from the hard-drive therefore that bus is your bottleneck. Unless you are purchasing fast SATA 6.0GB drives (Velociraptors, etc) or Solid State drives you are not going to see much increase in data transfer rate or FSX load time.4 - The best FSX framerates and performance are coming from high end GPU's that have been overclocked to achieve raw power with higher slider settings. If you purchase a Dell pc you are severely limited on the amount of overclocking and tweaking you can do. Also, you are severely limited on the upgradeability of the computer. Also because you are moving from a Dell to a Dell there is probably no chance that you can canibalize some of the old parts to save money on the new system - which would have given you more money to spend on higher end components.So. No, not everyone can afford a $4000 super-system..but you can optimize your budget dollars. I think that you will gain "some" FPS on the new system, but to be honest its not a huge step up for FSX because it is so bound to the CPU. Search around the forums and you will see plenty of i7-980X owners wondering what to do about performance - that tells you a lot! So there probably will be a level of disappointment with your new system based on what you outlined in your post.To meet the goals outlined in your post...do the following.- Buy a computer with a Sandybridge based CPU (the highest end is dirt cheap!)- Bump up your video card from a low range to at least a mid-range class card.- Don't buy a system with budget DRAM.- Buy the fastest hard-drives you can afford @ no less than 6Gbps (Solid State will give fastest load times). if you can afford 2 drives in RAID 0 get it.- Don't neglect the motherboard! The motherboard is the foundation of your system - crappy foundations make for crappy systems regardless of the other parts. - Don't neglect the power supply! Clean stable power is a necessity. You also want to make sure it can support future CPU and GPU upgrades. Dell will only give you a powersupply built exactly for your system which is a very bad thing.- DON'T buy a Dell - build your own computer (or have it built for you)

I agree with Mike T's conclusions. However, don't make a RAID0 array for FSX. :Loser: There is no benefit at all. But you will get stutters.

Thank you everybody.Bravo.