Outstanding Robert. I knew that little rascal would do the trick. Harleyman and I have been experimenting with various parts that come to less $700 that run FSX just plain kick-arse.
Harleyman needed a shop system for experimentation and I had just built a school homework system/gamer for a disadvantaged kid in our complex and had very little money to do it on. Harleyman's inexpensive though powerful Gigabyte motherboard was a better board than the more expensive ASUS boards I had been using. I had to use the Intel E5200 for Bobby(the kid in our complex) because I had run out of money to help the kid. Little did I know that processor would OC to 3.8 Ghz and run FSX like an E8600. I was stunned in the testing I did on it, and I asked the guys at TechCorp to build one and confirm my timings. Of course you can run a nice quad core on that same board and come up with even better scores.
Harleyman and I combined what we had been working on and came up with that little jewel. This same system with the HIS HD4850 Turbo has been running Crysis eye candy at 60fps with stunning graphics. When I OC'd that unit to 3.6, FSX ran and looked as good as it does with my E8600 OC'd to 4.0Ghz combined with my BFG GTX285 OC and costs a heck of a lot less. Needless to say, that is one happy kid...his mother reports he is doing well in school now and wants to be pilot some day.
Harleyman may be somewhat new at this, but he was bound and determined to find a system that ran FSX right the first time, without breaking the bank. He had been burned by two very expensive systems from Digital Storm that would not run FSX well. It's nice to have a guy in the forum who has everyone's best interest at heart when it comes to this hobby. He is always working on some new angle that will save eveyone else some grief. I recommend his computers to anyone in this forum that is looking for a great, inexpensive little gamer. I only build in Texas, but Harleyman has worked out a deal for shipping Continental US inexpensively.
Ya did good Robert, and I really appreciate you listening to what must have sounded crazy to you. Now about finishing that Thorp...:ernae:
Ted