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I used to be a freak when it came to FS. I even owned my own payware online retailer (one of the first) and sold it in 2004. I haven’t been around in a long time. But after flying in the cockpit of a private jet (Mex-NYC) a month ago, I realized my passion lies in the cockpit of a plane and not so much in the trading desk of a hedge fund. So I installed FSX in a lap top which I then hooked up to my 65in Panasonic plasma. It felt great, but as you could imagine, extremely limited performance to say the least. So I bought a desktop and hooked it up to the same TV but with different results. I will share with you my experience: Specss: CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3960X Extreme Edition Six-Core 3.30 GHz 15MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011 MOTHERBOARD: (4-Way SLI Support) ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 ATX w/ ROG Connect, UEFI BIOS, BT GO, OC Key, Subzero Sense & 7.1 HD Audio, Intel GbLAN, USB3.0, MEMORY: 16GB (2GBx8) DDR3/2000MHz Quad Channel Memory VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+31] (64-bit Edition) HDD1 (OS): 120GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III 6.0 Gb/s SSD - 555MB/s Read & 515MB/s Write HDD2 (FSX & addons): 120GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III 6.0 Gb/s SSD - 555MB/s Read & 515MB/s Write HDD3: 1TB Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache WD1000DHTZ FAN: CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 240MM w/ Dual Fan(CPU & GPU Liquid Cool Performance: I have never in my life experienced something like this. My 65inch screen with 1080P image and all settings maxed out (literally, maxed out), and Im lined up on JFK 31L with 737-900 @ 70 FPS….. the lowest I’ve seen was on my approach back to LGA 22 flying @ 3000 feet northbound over the Hudson at dusk, I get 50 FPS. I will report back when I do some other testing or if I need help with something. Another thing, I have the CPU working @ a speed of up to 4.9G without any sign of stress (i.e. temp remains normal). I also have the GTX 680 (only one of them). I was going to get 2 crossfire or the 690 but the reviews about the dual GPU were not good. Maybe I will upgrade in the future. Cost: a very steep $5,700. But I was considering the top of the line Alienware for a similar price. So looking back, I believe I got a bargain. Nico