hardware advice

[MrRooney]

Hi all,
Been pondering building a new p.c for fs2004/fsx lately, and i'm wondering with a budget of around

[MWISimmer]

Does the barebones come with a PSU John or do you have one you can use? If not you can factor in the cost of that too...

Also you may need to take into account you're going to need an OS.. Vista and XP both cost around

[machineman9]

The 8500GT is (and I quote slightly from another person on another forum) "A multimedia card and isnt good for gaming atall."

Invest in something like an 8600GTS 512mb (which although many despise, is actually alright at running FSX and great on FS9) or maybe even an 8800GT which I think would take the cost up to about your maximum. Remember... you will need a powersupply of atleast 600W if you do get the 8800GT... 500W runs the 8600GTS fine for me.

[MrRooney]

Hi,

the barebones case comes with a 250W power supply, but i've got a 500W one at home, I've got a version of Windows Xp Pro at home which i bought about a year or so ago.

[simonmd]

I'd think about at least upping the CPU a bit. My new one is the AMD Athlon x2 64 5000 and that is by no means the top of the range.

I'll second what was said about the 8500GT as well. When I first built my system, that's the card I bought as the next step up was nearly double the price. However, I was so unimpressed that I took it back and got an ATI Radeon HD2600pro 512mb. Not only does it run better than the 8500 but it was