hello, i have a P4 3.0, 1GIG RAM, ATI X550 256 MB RAM. if i am planning to make upgrades, will it really be worthed to switch the graphic card for something better, or add more ram, or totaly upgrade to a newer processor.Help and Answers will greatly be appreciated. Best Regards Adib Afraj

FSX is CPU limited. You will need a fast processor. The graphics card is not nearly as important. Go for an Intel Core 2 Duo, E6600 or E6700. If they are too steep pricewise, you could get an E6400 and overclock it, if you are willing to learn enough to do it safely. Cheers,Noel.

I agree with the point that FSX is CPU limited, and getting a fast CPU is very important. But, I don't agree that the graphics card is not nearly as important. FSX will be getting a DX10 patch later this year, so if you want to run FSX at it's greatest, you will need a DX10 graphics card. Nvidia and ATI both have DX10 cards available. You can buy one anywhere from $400 - $900, with the best being a regular (non-overclocked) Nvidia 8800GTX for around $600.Load up on as much processor as you can get, one of these DX10 cards, and as much memory as you can afford (at least 2 Gigs), and you should be running about as good as you can. The bad news is that this will still not run FSX like you would expect it to.

Personally, and this is just me, I would put off buying a DX10 graphics card until Christmas, when there will a) be a better selection of cards, :( a service pack release for Vista, and c) the Adrenaline pack for FSX/the FSX DX10 upgrade.Getting a new processor may mean getting a new motherboard, which for me is always a big deal. A new motherboard means a new power source, maybe a new hard drive, almost certainly a new box for me. If you're going to get a better processor, you can always spring for more RAM, as RAM is still quite cheap, and the newer motherboards will hold an awful lot of it. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff Reviewer, Avsim

I agree with Jeff. Put off buying the DX10 card until there are concrete examples of an improvement in FSX performance or graphics quality that justifies the investment. ExtremeTech tested Company of Heroes, which Relic Entertainment has just patched for compatibility with DX10.http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2143672,00.aspGiven the massive benefits claimed for DX10, surely we could expect SOME INDICATION of a significant improvement in graphics quality or frame rates? But the actual results were:1. Despite a shopping list of claimed graphics improvements, to the eye the difference was barely discernible to non-existent.2. Frame rates of the DX10 version were ONE THIRD of the DX9 version.Now this is a patch, not a game designed from the ground up for DX10. Which is exactly the situation with FSX! ACES are not planning to totally re-write FSX, they're just going to release a patch.I think it's time to re-assess what can be achieved with a DX10 patch of FSX. At present there is no evidence whatever that the promised step change in performance/quality will be realized.Cheers,Noel.