I have a a system that I built myself. I'm never buying a pre-built system again in my life! It was very easy. Do you like building stuff and taking it apart? Then I suggest you build your own system. You have a lot more control as to what you put into it. Here is what I got;
- I bought a huge Cooler-Master case so that I can work on it without getting too cramped.
- The Mother board is a P5N32-E SLI from Asus.
- I've got 2 gigs of RAM, overclocked.
- Intel Core 2 CPU 6600 2.4Ghz, I've got it overclocked to 3.5Ghz.
- 2 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS cards in an SLI config (I know, FS9 don't use it, but you've gotta see my Call of Duty 4 running at 1920*1200, all maxed out. Sweet
)
- 2 150Gb SATA2 Hard drives, set up in a RAID config, so total of 300 Gigs.
- Custom cooling (Air only) config for the CPU and the South bridge.
- One DVD/CD burner/drive combo.
- One Floppy 1.4mb disc drive (Don't laugh, you need it for the RAID drivers. Kind of like putting a Loran-C box in a 787 though...
)
- I use an Apple 23 inch (still kick myself for not getting "the big one"
)
- Last but not least, I'm running a Cooler-Master RealPower Pro 1000W supply (I need at least 800 for the 2 Nvidia 8800 videocards)
That is all. And I'm running XP, will never go to Vista. No I haven't bought FSX and don't plan on it either. When MS comes out with a flight sim that takes advantage of SLI and Multi-core processors I will then buy it and upgrade my system. Until then, I'm enjoying FS9 with 39 FPS pegged most of the time. O-hare does bog down ocasionaly, especially with a complex add-on aircraft like the PMDG series or LDS 767. I run with traffic at 100% Airline and GA all the time.
Mariano