Just posted this on FlightSim in another thread, and wanted to share it over here too.Monday my old computer video card died, Tuesday agonized on whether or not to update the card and decided to go for a complete new replace. Wednesday afternoon used my wife's computer to order my new one (see below) and to my shock and amagement UPS delivered it to me this morning, Saturday, at 9:30 AM.From order to in my house, 54 hours.Spent the entire day gettin all my software including FSX and SP1 installed. Scenery and autogen at one below max, native resolution of the 22" wide screen flat panel is 1680 X 1050. FPS locked at 23 and it's solid. Flew around Houston and am really pleased and excited. It just blows away my 5 year old machine. That was a P4 2.8 GHz with 1 GB ram.Now to get my SF260 up and running and then some serious cross country flights!PhillDell XPS 410Intel duo core E6700(2.66ghz)2 gigs RAMNvidea 8600GTS 256mb350 gb h/dWindows XP Home SP2

>Dell XPS 410>Intel duo core E6700(2.66ghz)>2 gigs RAM>Nvidea 8600GTS 256mb>350 gb h/d>Windows XP Home SP2Sounds great, and I'm suitably jealous, but I have to ask...Any reason why you didn't get Vista? FSX DX10 is only a few months away, and you've got a DX10 capable card.Colin

>Just posted this on FlightSim in another thread, and wanted>to share it over here too.>>Monday my old computer video card died, Tuesday agonized on>whether or not to update the card and decided to go for a>complete new replace. Wednesday afternoon used my wife's>computer to order my new one (see below) and to my shock and>amagement UPS delivered it to me this morning, Saturday, at>9:30 AM.>>From order to in my house, 54 hours.>>Spent the entire day gettin all my software including FSX and>SP1 installed. Scenery and autogen at one below max, native>resolution of the 22" wide screen flat panel is 1680 X 1050. >FPS locked at 23 and it's solid. Flew around Houston and am>really pleased and excited. It just blows away my 5 year old>machine. That was a P4 2.8 GHz with 1 GB ram.>>Now to get my SF260 up and running and then some serious cross>country flights!>>Phill>>Dell XPS 410>Intel duo core E6700(2.66ghz)>2 gigs RAM>Nvidea 8600GTS 256mb>350 gb h/d>Windows XP Home SP2If Dell will let you change your video card, get an 8800 GTX.

I don't mean to speak for Phill, but, for me, I have too many programs that I regularly use that still don't work in Vista. I don't see an upgrade coming in the near future, nor do I feel like I will really miss anything in DX10 at the moment.If DX10 made major improvements to flight dynamics (i.e. spins, stalls, sideslips, one-engine-out performance), I might consider it, but, really, at the moment, I don't see the point. For me.I am, however, waiting with bated breath to hear from you Vista users to see if there actually are some earth shattering improvements. My machine is ready for it. I'm not.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

If I noticed neglible performance boost in FSX upgrading from a 7900 GTO 512M to a 8800 GTS 640M, then what good would upgrading to an 8800 GTX from an 8800 GTS do? Rhetorical question - the answer is an emphatic "nothing much".But as an earlier poster mentioned, getting Vista in the first place would have been timely for the imminent DX10 FSX patch.Gary

I have the same computer except mine is a "scratch and dent" I purchased from the Dell factory outlet at a ridiculously low price...and I still haven't found a scratch or dent! :D I have 3 GB of ram instead of 2 and a 8600GT and this computer runs rings around my old P4-3.2 GHz. I also use to suffer from a bad case of the blurries and slow loading times while using UTX-USA which I'm glad to say is now a thing of the past.

>If I noticed neglible performance boost in FSX upgrading from>a 7900 GTO 512M to a 8800 GTS 640M, then what good would>upgrading to an 8800 GTX from an 8800 GTS do? Unless I've misunderstood this, I think he is suggesting that upgrading from an 8600 GTS with 256MB VRAM to an 8800 GTX with 512MB of VRAM might actually be useful since the 8800 is faster and has twice the VRAM. Going from 512 MB to 640MB VRAM is less likely to make that much of a difference. RegardsDavid

My bad - I saw 8800 where I 8600 was. Still, an 8600 is not too shabby a card on the FSX front (I have one in my notebook and it runs FSX as good graphics-wise as my desktop 8800). While an 8800 may prove better when the DX10 patch, FS history has shown that having the best card on the block (GTX) yeilds neglible performance gains over slower versions of the same family, and often even a generation back too.Gary

The dual core is probably making the most difference.I upgraded my motherboard, cpu, and ram with the same video card and it completely changed FSX for me.I went from a 4 gig athlon chip to a Q6600 quad core and every core makes FSX that much smoother and faster.Still need to update my sig. :)

Been busy, so just now getting back to this. No real reason except I really like XP and it keeps it the same as my wife's machine. Might change my mind later, but heard of lot's of driver updates and all and just wanted what I was used to.Just call it personal preference. Something old guys do. :-lol Just this moment finished a cross country KDWH to KBPT at night with real weather. Am so happy right now.Phill

In terms of performance, it might make sense to upgrade from a 8600GTS to a 8800GTX, but I think that the 8600GTS card is at a decent "sweet spot" in terms of price right now. I might wait a few months to upgrade this card.- Martin

My last machine was ATI9800 128MB so this was a nice step up. The SF260 gauges are so crisp and clear and there does not seem to be any bluries at all. There are still sliders to the left and I will probably go too far before I back off, but there is a huge leap in graphics and in performance.Flight sim is a joy again! For me, YMMV. Oh year, like you said, it loads so much faster.Phill

>The dual core is probably making the most difference.>>I upgraded my motherboard, cpu, and ram with the same video>card and it completely changed FSX for me.>>I went from a 4 gig athlon chip to a Q6600 quad core and every>core makes FSX that much smoother and faster.>>Still need to update my sig. :)>>I did the exact same upgrade, and it really transformed the whole experience. I can finally use all my add ons at the same time. I say upgrade, but I really just built a whole new computer - kept it under $1400 anyway. Couldn't be happier with the results though.

or wait till November for the DirectX 10.1 cards.

>>I am, however, waiting with bated breath to hear from you>Vista users to see if there actually are some earth shattering>improvements. My machine is ready for it. I'm not.That's BAITED breath.... :)You bring up a good point. I am still thinking about it, but I may run Vista and XP in a dual boot here in a few months when I upgrade.I am not sure yet.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian