Hi guys, sorry for being naif, maybe ... but I am about to buy myself a new PC and I would like to know what should be my basic concerns about h/w performance. I am using FS2002 currently on a PIII-800 Mhz and maybe I'll move to FS2004.What's the best in terms of motherboard, processor, RAM, video card, HD ... anything else you could think of ?What would you ask Santa to bring you for Xmas if you could change your PC now ?:-DThanks for your time ... always three green and many happy landings !Eu (Imarookie)

It's an impossible question to answer for so many reasons. The best in each area doesn't always work well together. The best in all areas may not give you any benefit in FS (64 bit computing is completely irrelevant to FS at the present moment). The best in each area today will be superceded next week. The reasons go on.Best you can do is specify according to Santa's budget and do the best with what he drops down the chimney. :DEven two identical systems will never perform identically. That's the `beauty` of computers!Allcott

Wow, then I shouldn't expect to get that many answers ... but my question could be interpreted in a more realistic way when it comes to thinking of all single parts.Aside from the fact that I could hardly get home "the best in each area", I wanted to know - in each area - what has proven (in your personal experience or from actual reviews) to work greatly under FS, so that it's worth spending the money ...And I guess that there's always a priority in terms of choice: a super fast processor can do little without a decent video card, etc.What would be your priorities ?Processor speed ?Video card memory ?RAMHD speed ?Maybe this way I can have a "possible" answer ... ?:-zhelp

Intel P4 3.2GHz/800MHz,Asus P4C800E Deluxe motherboard,2x 512MB PC 3200 Ram,ATI 9800XT,2x (pick your size) SATA Hard drives (raid0 for speed),Proper Cooling, Power, etc.< $2000 Canadian, thats a Case of Beer in the states...A nice perfectly balanced system, produces 50+ FPS with FS9 all settings maxed, except for AI traffic. (AI traffic being random in nature will KILL ANY MACHINE)

"Intel P4 3.2GHz/800MHz,Asus P4C800E Deluxe motherboard,2x 512MB PC 3200 Ram,ATI 9800XT,2x (pick your size) SATA Hard drives (raid0 for speed),Proper Cooling, Power, etc.A nice perfectly balanced system, produces 50+ FPS with FS9all settings maxed, except for AI traffic. (AI traffic beingrandom in nature will KILL ANY MACHINE)"LOL, and NO weather!!!Seriously though, he is right, there are people, with the same specs as this that can't even get the sliders 1/2 way and terrible performance, there are so many variables. The Intel system he stated is a good choice. I almost went the Intel route, but like AMD and from all the problem posts, it seemed most had Intel.I put together an FS rig for FS9 and I am extremely happy with the performance - Athlon XP3200, ASUS A7N8X DX Raid mobo, 1 gig GEil high performance 3500 DDR (high performance making a huge difference over standard) XP pro and using my old G4 4600 until I get the ATI 9800XT when prices drop a bit, extra fans,etc. No tweaks other than the pan rate, AA at 4X and AF at 4X, AA on on the sim, no default commercial AI only GA and all the PAI official files and AFCADS. No extreme addon scenery (this kills peformance) other than my own, mostly payware aircraft (Eaglesoft, FSD and Dreamfleet) and a few high quailty freeware offerings, locked at 30 and it usually stays there, only when going into extremely heavy airports or extreme weather, almost never seen it under 20.Summary, a good mobo, high end CPU, (cost vs performance, will be an issue on the CPU, you can overclock to save money, but if it is something you don't know anything about, go stock) vid card, I would go with the 9800XT, or the Nvidia 5900 ultra (I prefer the ATI)Hope that helps and good luck!Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

Huh? Who said no weather? I run with weather absolutely cranked cause I like the storms.