I also have to buy now, I'm not even going to show you my specs but lets just say the demo looks terrible!I'm spending no more than

Looks like a nice system (Well, not so sure about the CPU but that's for lack of info about how the whole dual core thing works. I've got a plain old 3.4Ghz. The CPU is out of stock too.)The PSU's good, same as I've got in my system. Don't know anything about the videocard. The price could be cut a bit if you used some components you already have. (I'm using my old harddrives and CD/DVD drives, though that meant I had to buy a PCI IDE/PATA card for the CD drives. 2 harddrives + 2 CD/DVD drives. But I've got spots for 2 more IDE devices, plus 4 onboard SATA ports And the IDE card could do RAID if I wanted.)Spec wise, that system would probably out preform mine. (I have an Intel 915G series board, which along with the 945 was current back then.)"Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

Hey Edrick,Thanks for your feedback, which setup did you like best? MESH or EVESHAM?Nels

Actually I replied to the wrong post. :b Was looking at the $3000 "quick build" system. :)"Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

As far as your two systems, I like the MESH better. (500GB harddrive, and Logitech keyboard/mouse rather then Microsoft.) But I wouldn't buy an off the shelf system anymore, had some bad experiences with my Acer and Compaq computers. When building your own system you can totally choose the components, and don't have to buy something you already have so that cuts the price down quite a bit."Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

http://www.pcoption.co.uk/pcbaseunits/inde...600slip4con.htmThats what i'll be upgrading to....On a budget, and for less that

>Looks like a nice system (Well, not so sure about the CPU but>that's for lack of info about how the whole dual core thing>works. I've got a plain old 3.4Ghz. The CPU is out of stock>too.)>The PSU's good, same as I've got in my system. Don't know>anything about the videocard. The price could be cut a bit if>you used some components you already have. (I'm using my old>harddrives and CD/DVD drives, though that meant I had to buy a>PCI IDE/PATA card for the CD drives. 2 harddrives + 2 CD/DVD>drives. But I've got spots for 2 more IDE devices, plus 4>onboard SATA ports And the IDE card could do RAID if I>wanted.)>>Spec wise, that system would probably out preform mine. (I>have an Intel 915G series board, which along with the 945 was>current back then.)>>"Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can>to any runway you see."Yeah, I was just running wild with the concept of a $3000 computer. Realistically, it could be cut down to include multiple huge flat panels or whatever too.My build is only $1000 because I am only getting mobo, RAM, proc, video card and PSU. I love that Antec 550W.

>>Well, my machine is so awful now - I gotta do something. :)I would resist the temptation.You could build an "interim" system as suggested below, but really you would be spending your money TWICE if you did that.All you need to do is hang on about 2 months and ALL WILL BE REVEALED AND CLEAR!! :)Rhett

Forgive me for not looking it up and double checking, but is the Nvidia 7950 fully DX10 compatible? It's my understanding that nothing is yet, and that's a big gamble for a $540 card. That's kind of what I meant about not spending too much just yet and maybe get a 6600GT ($100) for now until the DX10 stuff comes out. Also I heard that the "non-extreme" core duo CPUs are a much better value (i.e. costing way less but almost as good performance). I do understand that you were just saying "if I had 3 grand to play with today" and was considering checking that out myself.I'm hoping $1000-$1500 next year will get me a great PSU (can't beat Antec), mobo, CPU, ram, and GPU. The rest of the stuff I have now I'm keeping.

The 7950 is a DX9 card and cannot be made DX10-compliant. If you are looking toward Vista and DX10 you'll need to wait until the DX10 cards are available. Waiting is sometimes a good thing.Doug

No, you're absolutely right. That's why I originally balked at the idea of spending $3000 on a computer right now. It was still fun to spec out.Here's what I'm actually buying for myself: -ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Intel P965 Motherboard -Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 -256MB Sapphire Radeon X850XT -2GB Corsair XMS DDR2 800 RAM -Antec 550W TruePower PSUI already have the other parts (HDD, soundcard, case). That comes out to just a touch over $1000. The only thing that really stands out is the 850XT, but even "just" being last year's enthusiast card is a metric ton better than the old mid-ranger I have in there now. It will do everything it needs to do until the DX10 cards mature and stabilize in price. Then I can spend a bundle on one. The 850XT is comparable to the 6800 Ultra that was so popular in gaming rigs until the 7800 came out. It's not even too far behind the base 7800's, but those 24 pixel pipelines do keep the GeForce well out ahead. So anyways, it's not the best, but it's decent, and the best part is that NewEgg is selling them for $119.00Everything else, save for more RAM down the road, is pretty much what I'd like to keep for a bit.

The top of the line (as of current) would be a system that supports the Core 2 Duo (conroe) proccessor and SLI. If you are into building your own rig, there are a few things to know:Motherboards:There arn't very many motherboards out there that support both the Conroe and SLI as of yet. Don't be fooled if someone tells you that a particular board supports both. Also it helps to be wary of the chipset on the motherboard. If the chipset is anything other than an nVidia chipset, you won't get SLI, period - even if the board has two PCI-E 16x sockets. One particular motherboard does stand out though and that is the Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe (Here's a link to that particular motherboard: http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2...80&modelmenu=1)This motherboard is not yet widely available so the true test of performance is still unknown but it should perform above and beyond anything that is commercially available right now.Video cards:The main thing to point out is that if you are going to do SLI, you must go with two identical nVidia GPUs. The current top-of-the-line video card is the nVidia Geforce 7950 (Here's a link to that particular video card: http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_7950.html) This card represents the best of what DirectX 9.0c is capable of delivering. Since DirectX 10 is around the corner, my suggestion is if you want SLI now, buy a less expensive GPU pair and wait for the DirectX 10 cards.Memory:A good rule of thumb is that more is better. And the better the memory, the faster the system performance. The best stuff I found out there on the market is OCZ Technologies. (Here's their website: http://www.ocztechnology.com) For a system that supports the Core 2 Duo (conroe) processor, you'll want fast memory otherwise you'll create what's called a "bottleneck" in your system where the memory can actually slow down performace of the system because the processor is waiting on the memory.Sound Card:The sound card should be just as important as the video card you put into your system. This is particularly true now because FSX is a 5.1 surround sound product. I've used nothing but Creative products for my sound card needs since the heyday of computers. The Sound Blaster X-Fi is their current top-of-the-line series of cards. It comes in several different versions depending on how you choose to use your card but all in the X-Fi series will give you fantastic performance within FSX. (Here is a link to their website: http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.a...bcategory=208&)With all the recommendations that I posted here, you will definately need a computer power supply capable of providing at least 600 Watts of power. This I have to tell you IS A MUST otherwise, your system will either not boot up or will be unstable.A final note: Once you've got your system built with the recommendations I provided above, run on over to Futuremark (http://www.futuremark.com) and download 3DMarks06. It'll test the graphics and CPU performance of your system (and it's really fun to watch).

FYI, it's been stated the FSX won't likely benefit all that much from SLI due to the way it works."Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

When are the first DX10-compatible video cards due to come out?

Probably next year when Vista comes out since (as far as I know) DX10 will be part of Vista and not available for XP."Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."