WhiskeyRomeo

What settings did you use in the graphics.cfg file? I just experimented with 1400x1050 and it ran fine for me. Simulation { resolution = {1400, 1050}; bpp = 32; fullscreen = 0; aspect = 1.333333333; Did you remember to use fullscreen = 0? I cant imagine why you want to change from 16:10 to 4:3 aspect ratio but you can at least test it out if you want. Like =FV=MAD said the 1680 is horizontal and 1050 is vertical. Have you tested 1680x1050 and fullscreen = 0 ? If you're not happy with 1680x1050, IMO, you'd be better off using 1600x1000 aspect 1.6 and fullscreen=0.

What power supply do you have? Most important is how many 12v+ amps does it have? You'll have to consider that to decide what video card it can support.

No you do not. RAID is traditionally used on servers and workstations but also found on some high-end PCs. Its most valuable for media tasks like video & audio editing, for example, and less useful for general purpose or gaming PCs.

With only 1 other person flying in your server it should have run more smoothly for you. What type & speed (down/up) internet connection are you using? What Network Settings Speed option are you and your friend using? Try the different Speed settings starting with xDSL 128/128 and both using the same setting.

Im pretty sure Valve didnt say anything like that. They did chide MS for making DX10 not able to run on XP. Since a lot of gamers "feel" the same why Troffmeister feels - and "know" what he knows - its no great surprise Vista has been slow gaining traction in the gaming community. The good news is that Valve games run well under Vista, and Valve will have its games supporting XP and Vista for the foreseeable future. The Steam Stats shows Vista up to about 7% of users but of that only 2.3% actually have a DX10 GPU installed. And only 3.6% of users have a multi-monitor setup. Only 1.16% of users have SLI/CF systems! 16% use a widescreen monitor. Almost 7% still use DX7 video cards. Can anyone spot the trends?

This list has games, plus all other programs that might be of interest. http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List The wiki is compiled by Vista users and updated fairly often. It lists games/programs in 3 categories: -> Works -> Has problems but they can be solved / minor unsolved -> Heavy Problems, Currently Incompatible Like any wiki it's only as accurate as the individuals contributing. Some have the ability to research all the options (available program patchs, work arounds, higher versions that work, etc) and skill using the Vista Program Compatibility Wizard and compatibility tools. Sometimes people have listed programs / games as having problems only to have others come along with updated details on how to get the program running under vista. And of course there are games & programs that haven't been listed just because there is no one using that particular software among those that contribute to the wiki. So if you see your games & programs on the problem list now keep checking back. Those problem lists keep getting smaller. It also pays to check the websites & support forums for your games / programs because that info is usually more accurate and up-to-date. One common trend is for software developers not to make Vista patches for older programs because they can generate income pushing people toward newer versions of the program.

Actually there is a way you can park planes on the carrier. Just set up an AI flight (planes or helos) in the Mission Editor and have them "land" on the carrier. After landing they will move to parking. The aircraft need to be the right type for that carrier.

That linking is called "Crossfire". Just like linking 2 nVidia cards is called SLI. Crossfire and SLI require different motherboards. Striker, P5N32-E and P5N-E are examples of SLI MBs. Examples of Crossfire motherboards would be P35 chipets: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6 or abit IP35 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=Property&N=2010200280&PropertyCodeValue=705%3A9908%2C717%3A27337%2C717%3A19337%2C717%3A28997%2C736%3A7588&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16813128046%2CN82E16813127030 I do not think 2x ATI 2900XT HD in Crossfire will be a good choice. Without knowing what games you plan to use or what future games you'll buy its impossible to say that 2 ATI 2900XT HD will beat 1 8800Ultra or even beat 1 8800GTX. It would be better to compare 2x ATI 2900XT HD with 2x 8800GTS. Both cost about the same. In todays games the 2x 8800GTS usually beats 2x ATI 2900XT HD although you can find certain games where the ATIs do better than nVidias. On average, across most games nVidia is better than ATI at the moment. And at the moment 1 8800 GTX will usually beat 2x 2x ATI 2900XT HD @ 1600x1200 resolution. Top chart shows single card performance over 7 games tested at the THG website. 2nd chart shows Crossfire / SLI performance over the same games. 1x Nvida 8800GTX=2281 & 2x ATI HD2900XT CF=2099 & 2x 8800GTS SLI= 2472 THG single video card charts: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=857&model2=706&chart=278 THG CF/SLI video card charts: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html?modelx=33&model1=867&model2=807&chart=338

Kentsfield is the Intel code name for the Core 2 Quad CPUs. So Kentsfield = C2Q. So it looks like that Asrock 4Core Dual mb will support a C2Q 6600. If you're trying to keep your DDR RAM and AGP video card this might work for you. Google turned up some reviews of the board - 1 using Q6700 and 1 E6300: http://www.ocworkbench.com/2006/asrock/4coredual-vsta/g1.htm http://www.pro-clockers.com/review.php?id=207&page=1 It seems a little bit like dropping a Porsche engine into a Mini body. You can do it - but are you sure its a good idea? Be sure to carefully check ALL the items you want to move over to make sure they will work together.

Water cooling will not solve the problem of having your computer in a hot environment. ShadowXP's nice watercooling setup only cooled the CPU. You can get more expensive watercooling setups that also cool the northbridge and video card. But the other system parts besides the CPU and GPU that are heat sensitive, the power supply, RAM, voltage capacitors/regulators (and more motherboard components) and hard drives, don't benefit at all from water cooling setups. The key to cooling is passing enough "cooler" air over the hot components to transfer heat and then move the heated air out of the case. When the "cooler" air on the outside is already very warm the transfer inside the case doesn't work as well letting heat build up faster. If it's 35C in your room (about 95F) it could easily be 45C in your case and some of the actual components might be even hotter. If there is any type of air flow restriction / air flow shadow caused by large video cards, flat ribbon cables, case partitions, etc., it's possible there could be hot spots. CPUs and GPUs have overheat protection. If they get too hot they order the CPU or GPU fans to spin faster. If that doesnt work they start slowing down automatically. The better motherboards have "health monitoring" options. They measure the CPU and motherboard temps and if they get too high the system can alert you. So when the computer tells you its too hot you'll know its time to take a break. Asus has PC Probe II software to do that. Now that you are thinking about over clocking and we know there are environmental concerns I'm going to toss another motherboard option at you. ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI @ ~$205. Right between the Striker Extreme and P5N-E SLI. It doesnt have many of the bells and whistles the Striker has but is similar in almost every other respect. It also has more overclocking options than the P5N-E. And it has the "health monitoring" options that the P5N-E doesn't have. Now as bad as heat can be on PCs - problems with the electrical power probably do more damage than any other cause. Spikes, surges, brown outs (sags), line noise and power outages can put your PC at risk. A decent UPS (uninterruptible power supply) will clean up most power problems and provide a few minutes of backup battery time to do a safe shut down in case the power doesnt come back on right away. About the worst case scenario would be to be in the middle of a hot & heavy PC workload (like gaming) and have a power outage that stops the CPU and GPU fans and lets temps spike all over you system. And then have power return with a hefty spike or surge. Good UPSs also filter the data line from the cable/DSL modem and can even auto-shutdown your PC while you're away. A couple UPS examples. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2013140072+1123414387+4027&StoreType=7&CompareItemList=N82E16842102085%2cN82E16842102034%2cN82E16842107112&bop=And

Just a correction to 3Sqn-Fudd's note. The Striker is a nVidia 680i chipset, not Intel P965. The P35 boards are good choices being the more modern Bearlake chipset. Just about all the motherboards you'll even think about getting will take the Penryn CPUs when they do start showing up for sale. But if you're even thinking about SLI any time in the future the nVidia SLI chipsets are the way to go. We don't often recommend SLI setups but its nice to have the option if you find a real need for it in the future. (1) QX6850@$1100/Striker Extreme@$300/8800Ultra@$600 = $2000 (2) QX6850@$1100/Striker Extreme@$300/2x8800GTX@$525x2 = $2450 (3) E6850@$325/Striker Extreme@$300/8800Ultra@$600 = $1225 (4) E6850@$325/Asus P5N-E SLI@$125/2x8800GTX@$525x2 = $1500 (5) E6850@$325/Striker Extreme@$300/2x8800GTX@$525x2 = $1625 (6) E6850@$325/Asus P5N-E SLI@$125/8800GT2@$250 = $700 (7) Yorkfield@$999/BearlakeX-38@$250/G92 9800GTX@$650 = $1899 If you sat down and played Lock On on each of the first six systems above you couldnt tell the difference by playing the game. They'd all "feel" the same. But for future games like BioShock, Crysis and other 2008 releases #6 wouldn't be the best choice. #2, #3,#4 or #5 would be the best choices available now. #7 will be the best choice but not available right away.

A year ago a ~3Ghz C2D CPU (X6800@2.93Ghz) cost more than $1000. You're getting a slightly faster C2D now for about $320 or so. A year ago I got the E6400 (2.13Ghz) for $225 which would overclock easily 3Ghz. But I have had it running for over a year now @ E6700 (2.66Ghz) speeds with a FSB overclock from 266mhz to 333mhz for a 1333 effective FSB speed. I saved about $325 over the cost of a E6700 (about $550 then) which was just about the cost of a really nice 20" widescreen LCD. If you were happy about the E6850 bang for the buck the Asus P5N E SLI is an even better bang for the buck choice. You save about $175 over the Asus Striker Extreme and lost almost no performance. "So the Striker Extreme doesn't quite live up to our admittedly lofty expectations, but the P5N-E SLI more than exceeds what we typically ask from a $120 motherboard. For the most part, the board is every bit as fast as the Striker. You also get a decent array of BIOS options and just enough onboard peripherals." Read the full review P5N-E SLI and Striker Extreme @ http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/asus-6x0i-mobos/index.x?pg=1 Well there are SOME difference between the P5N-E SLI board Troffmeister got and the Striker Extreme board you're looking at. The Striker has fancy blue LED and tiny LCD screens. It has a bigger copper heatsink and "more BIOS tweaking & overclocking options than any sane person could ever need". It does have a few extra SATA ports (6vs4), an extra e-SATA port (2vs1) and a slightly better audio chip. The SLI channels are x16 vs x8 for the P5N-E. And it does come with a free game and a keychain. Thats what you get for an extra $175. What you dont get is an extra $175 worth of performance. The $125 motherboard performs just about as well as the $300 bard. And even in SLI rigs:

The QX6850 is made for over OC'ing fanatics. It comes with an "unlocked multiplier" which can help to get higher over clocking results. How high you want to go depends on what you want to spend on exotic cooling (Peltier/Tec and water cooling for example) that can get you overclocks above 5Ghz. People that overclock PCs that way don't play games at the highest possible OC'd speed. They back it off a lot to use the PC on a daily basis. With the more ordinary aftermarket air cooling that most people use they get something closing in on 4Ghz. But "your mileage may vary". In this Anandtech article "Bring it on, QX6850 Overclocking" the QX6850 they had didn't make it past 4Ghz. http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3042&p=1 The E6850 can be over clocked too (which Kuky already pointed out was "kind of" an already overclocked E6600). With the right cooling, motherboard and RAM it won't be far behind the QX6850. Maybe within ~10% which probably means 3-5 FPS in games. Thats a very good question. The easy answer is $900. The rest of the answer (for gaming) might be just a little bit faster gaming. For a game like Lock On the QX6800 and E6850 will run Lock On at just about the same FPS. As far as we know that should hold true for Black Shark as well. The same is true for any other games that dont support multi-threading on dual or quad CPUs. Here is a game that does support multiple core CPUs. So for this game the answer would be the $900 extra dollars gets you about four extra FPS in the game. Here is a great article that compares all the top CPUs (AMD & Intel). I think it will help you sort out the price vs performance questions of the 3.0Ghz E6850 and QX6850. "Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850: Four Cores at Three Gigahertz" http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2extreme-qx6850.html The next you may want to ask: What does the price difference between the Asus Striker Extreme $300 and Asus ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium $210 mean? The answer should be - about 1-2 FPS in games. Another good question to ask would be: What is the best way to spend $3-4K over the next 2-3 years to get the best gaming performance over that time? IMO the answer to that is to spend $2-2.5K now to get the best "bang for the buck" performance and in 18 months spend $1-1.5K to get an upgraded CPU and video card to drop into the system.

On the other hand..... Google did turn up some Specs that make it look like ASUS P5N-E SLI has the AI booster. http://www.hothardware.com/printarticle.aspx?articleid=944 Special Features ASUS EZ DIY (Q-Connector, CrashFree BIOS2, EZ Flash2) Intelligent Overclocking Tools (AI NOS, AI Overclocking, ASUS AI Booster Utility, O.C Profile) Overclocking Protection (ASUS C.P.R.) ASUS Music Alarm ASUS MyLogo3 ASUS Q-Fan 2 Uses 100% High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors GreenASUS - RoHS compliant Silent Pipe Cooling

Hello Troffmeister; I couldn't find the same AI Booster references in the P5N-E SLI manual as were in the Striker and 680i manuals. The only OC'ing reference I saw was that you could store multiple OC'ing profiles in the BIOS. I'd suggest looking around the ASUS forums to see if you can find out more info there. Over clocking draws more power and creates more heat. If you were to overclock your CPU 20% to 3.6Ghz you'd draw about 90watts extra under load. Taken to extremes, yes it can shorten the life of the CPU or motherboard components. But with a good CPU cooler and decent case cooling you're only talking about shortening the component lifespan a small percentage. With a little care to avoid common system killers most systems have a life span over 10 years (thats physical life span - not useful lifespan).

Here is a picture of what the Asus AI Booster user interface looks like.

You should be able to get a Asus Striker Extreme for about $300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074 Support for 8GBs or RAM is pretty much the standard. ALL gaming motherboards will support 8GB of RAM these days. You can find a $90 motherboard that supports 16GB of RAM - Asus P5NSLI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131032 (OK, the MB chipset supports 16GB but you can only fit 8GB on the board as built) DD2RAM should be installed in pairs for best performance. Higher bandwidth & lower latency is good. I'm getting the idea that you want a "brag box" instead of powerful computer at a good price. Is that right? Nothing wrong with that and you have the budget to go that route. If that's your intention let us know - it helps to make it easier for us to make suggestions for you. If you're going for the top end CPUs you'll "pay to play". (a) Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Kentsfield 3.0GHz 2 x 4MB L2 $1,400 or $466 per Ghz (b) Core 2 Extreme QX6800 Kentsfield 2.93GHz 2 x 4MB L2 1,070 or $365 per Ghz I know you're not keen on over clocking. But if you do get the QX6850 you'll need to know that there will be people out there with more powerful computers that spend a LOT less. © Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz 2 x 4MB L2 $556 or $209 per Ghz (d) Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 $299 or $124 per Ghz Q6700 2.66Ghz vs QX6850 3.0Ghz = $844 more expensive Q6600 2.4Ghz vs QX6850 3.0Ghz = $1,101 more expensive You'll see people buying the Q6600 and over clocking them above 3.0Ghz to around 3.45 Ghz. -> Q6600 @ 3.4Ghz or 15% faster than the QX6850 for $1,101 less. Over clocking a modern motherboard and C2D or C2Q CPU isn't difficult. The motherboards are "smart" enough to help you do it easily. Asus has the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Booster. Safe and easy to use. You could easily over clock the Quad Q6700 to 3.0Ghz (QX6850 speed) and save $844. With that savings you can easily afford to get a LCD Touch Screen (or two) for a TouchBuddy set up and still have some gas money left over. Zorlac, WildBill Kelso and Ruggbutt are doing some pretty amazing things. Above pic is from Ruggbutt's Touchbuddy screenshots. While you've been away the price of gas has dropped. Even here in California we're back down under $2.75 (from a high of $3.69). I think you'd still have a couple hundred left over to pay for gas to go crusing for chicks every now and then. No one wants to tell you how to spend your money but I know everyone wants to see you get the most enjoyment out of your hard earned bucks.

Since you have the money now maybe the question is - how soon do you want the new system? OK-Ordering in about a month, thats good to know. You have the budget you need to both get a very good system now and upgrade later. Brand loyalty is OK too. Yes, Intel is doing better at the moment but its not a "bad" idea to stick with AMD. -> There is no reason not to look at both an AMD and Intel options. If you want quad core now the only option is Intel. Barcelona are the new 65nm sized CPUs. Penryn are the 45nm sized CPUs. Both AMD and Intel are releasing the new Barcelona/Penryn CPUs this fall both will release the server Opteron/Xeon models (rumor is Intel will drop the Extreme Edition Penryn desktop CPU at the same time) first. There will also be desktop CPUs based on Barcelona and Penryn. It will be into 2008 before the desktop AMD Phenom X4(quad) X2(dual) and Intel Yorkfield (quad) / Wolfdale (dual) are available for sale. Motherboards that support the Phenom X4/X2 and Yorkie/Wolfie are available now. AM2+ Biostar TF560 A2+ P35 boards from ASUS, Gigabyte and others CPUs that can carry you over to till its time to upgrade to Phenom X4/Yorkfield Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz @ about $70 overclocks into the 2.8-3-0 range. Intel Dual-Core E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz @ about $95 overclocks into the 2.6-2.8 range. Even without heavy overclocking both CPUs will run LockOn (and anything else great). What about video cards? Do you have to wait for the 9800GTX and RD7xx? You could get a mid-range GPU now and upgrade when you're not happy with the performance any more. For around $250 you can get a 8800GTS 320 that will have you gaming now. The ATI 2900HD would run you at least $100 more. You have the budget you need to both get a great system now and upgrade later. Would you be happy with the budget CPUs now and the Quad cores in say 5-6 months? Or do you want a Quad now? Are you OK with overclocking?

That AMD X2 6000+ system would be awesome fast (compared to your laptop) and a bargin too. It would NOT be a mistake to jump on that system if you want a fast gaming PC for the next couple years NOW! If you can wait till Christmas - Santa might have some awesome new goodies in his bag. (He usually does) Remember the days you'd pay $1031 (June 06') for a 2.8Ghz FX-62? You can get one now for $200. Both AMD (X2 6000+ $170) and Intel (E6850 $310) have a top 3.0Ghz dual core for the desktop market. (There is also the AMD FX-74 QuadFather @ 3.0Ghz $310 but it's a strange duck. For the next few months anyway Intel is the only real Quad choice around without going into the Opteron dual CPU workstation option) Today AMD's top dual core CPU sells for $170 and Intel's top desktop dual core CPU goes for $310. (I'm leaving out the top end Intel CPUs that cost $500+ mainly the Core2 Quads for the moment). Why is AMD's top CPU (X2 6000+ 3.0Ghz) selling for $170 which is about the same price ($180) as the C2D Conroe E6550 (2.33Ghz)? It's because AMD has dropped its prices to compete with Intel (which has been turning the screws on AMD big time). Leaving clock speed aside, dollar for dollar, AMD is matching Intel in performance. So on average the X2 6000+ 3.0Ghz $170 performs very close to the E6550 2.33Ghz $180. Use the CPU Charts over at Tom's Hardware website to compare CPUs in about 35 different benchmarks. Notice where the other AMD (green) and Intel (blue) CPUs end up also. http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=921&model2=874&chart=435 Right now AMD is, price vs performance, competitive with Intel in dual core CPUs. AMD (and Intel too for that matter) are a real performance bargin for those that just want a fast PC without doing any overclocking. OK, if that's the case why does everyone think and talk like VMFA-Blaze "I'm afraid that AMD has lost it to Intell at this point in time." IMO thats not strictly true. But AMD is being pushed HARD to stay competitive. It's time to talk about overclocking, and its probably the reason VMFA-Blaze, and a lot of other gamers, buy into Intel's "dominance". Roughly speaking you can overclock the AMDs a little (10-15%) and C2Ds a LOT (25-40+%). The older AMD X2s (think Toledo core) overclock better (percentage wise) than the newer Windsor core. But if you take a budget CPU from AMD and Intel and overclock both to 3.0ghz you're still going to have that X2 6000+ vs C2D E6850 performance gap. And only the C2Ds can overclock into the 3.6-4.0Ghz without having to resort to extreme measures. Whats out there in the near future for hard core gamers? CPUs: Intel Wolfdale (Penryn) 45nm Quad vs AMD Phenom (Barcelona) 65mn Quad Motherboards: Intel X38 (Bearlake) vs AMDs AM2+ (Stars) Video Cards: nVidia G90 vs AMD RD7xx VMFA-Blaze also said "and I'm not so sure that AMD will ever catch up to the competition". I think it's safe to say at this point that it doesnt look like AMD will jump back into the performance lead going into 2008.

That may be the true in the future but they haven't been together long enough to justify your faith at the moment. For example the ONLY motherboard that will handle the FX-74 Quad is an Asus nVidia 680a chip set. Keeping in mind your preferences you (and anyone else) can look over these suggestions: (1) FX-74 core components: $3,032 (before $160 in rebates plus tax (if any) and shipping) Two AMD FX-74 3.0 Ghz / ASUS L1N64-SLI WS (Socket 1207FX) nForce 680a SLI Motherboard / 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) RAM / POWERCOLOR 2900 XT 1GB Radeon HD 2900XT 512-bit GDDR4 PCI-E x16 GPU AMD FX-74 wish list at NewEgg ASUS L1N64-SLI WS review @ HardOCP (2) X2 6000+ core components: $2,178.87 (before $160 in rebates plus tax (if any) and shipping) One AMD 6000+ 3.0 Ghz / MSI K9A Platinum Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 Motherboard / 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) RAM / POWERCOLOR 2900 XT 1GB Radeon HD 2900XT 512-bit GDDR4 PCI-E x16 GPU AMD X2 6000+ wish list @ NewEgg MSI K9A Platinum review @ HardOCP Common components: Case/Cooling/PSU: COOLER MASTER Stacker Black Case / Two ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED CPU cooler(s) (1 cooler for X2 6000) / OCZ GameXStream OCZ850GXSSLI 850Watts Power Supply Storage: Seagate ST3400833NS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive / LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner / CORSAIR Flash Voyager GT 4GB Flash Thumb Drive for ReadyBoost Cache Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers/OS/Power Protection Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard / Logitech MX518 8 Button 1 Wheel USB-PS2 Optical Gaming-Grade Mouse / Logitech THX Z-5300e 5.1 Speakers / Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate OEM / BELKIN F6C1000 1000VA 615 watts UPS Some notes: (a)The Asus ASUS L1N64-SLI WS motherboard and 2900 XT video card is a poor compromise. The board is SLI only and using an ATI card will work but its not what the board is designed for. If you want keep the dual GPU option for SLI video cards I'd also recommend bumping the PSU up a notch. (b)The FX-74 Quad & Socket F MB looks to be a dead-end. Future AMD Phenom quads will be using AM2+ motherboards. If you're REALLY set on AMD and a Quad waiting a few months is a REALLY good idea. :music_whistling: Right now my recommendation would be the X2 6000+. It should perform close enough to the FX-74 on most games (especially Lock On) that you wouldn't notice the difference. Some people buy Chrysler's & some buy Chevy's. Others get Honda's or Subaru's. The smart ones get pickup trucks. VMFA-Blaze's pricing and buying advice is good. Its just easier to show a whole system with NewEgg's wish lists. It's also easier to dump the wish list into the shopping cart and then give 'em your money. Remember to add in the shipping and any taxes and then compare the total costs.

A low end gaming system could be considered a high end business computer. Unless your business requires a high end workstation (think CAD/CAM, 3D artwork, making movies or audio tracks) you wont find higher hardware requirements than for PC gaming. Your budget is more than enough to get a great gaming PC. If anyone asks just tell them you have an Extreme Business PC. Since you want to stick with AMD you'll be looking at the X2 6000+ 3.0Ghz for about $180. Performance wise it compares well with the Intel Conroe E6750 @ 2.66Ghz for about $212. Check out this review for a performance comparison: http://firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_athlon_64_x2_6000/default.asp The major difference between the AMD/Intel in terms of peformance is overclocking ability. The X2 6000+ can be pushed to hard about 3.2Ghz and the E6750 should be able to hit 3.2Ghz fairly easy and could reach 3.6Ghz with the right setup and a little bit of luck. If you want to consider a quad core option you'll be looking at a comparison between: (a) Two AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket F (1207pin) @ $310 x 2 for $620 cost for 4 cpu cores in a Socket F motherboard. (b) One Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache for $577. Here is a comparison of the FX-74 four core and the Q6700 four core. http://firingsquad.com/hardware/intel_core_2_extreme_qx6850/default.asp Again the Intel CPU is the better overclocking option by a wide margin. (I'm not suggesting the QX6850 because of the way too high cost) The major advantage quad core has over dual core is better multi-tasking while gaming (think Game, plus TrackIR, Teamspeak and Touchbuddy all running at the same time). Plus of course the newer games which will make better use of Quad cores like MS FSX and Crysis. A few last questions: (1)--> Keeping in mind that Lock On won't run any faster on a Quad core system than a Dual core system do you want to go Dual core or Quad core? AMD or Intel? Planning on any overclocking? Here is a list of AMD and Intel CPUs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000340343&StoreType=7&CompareItemList=N82E16819115027%2cN82E16819115028%2cN82E16819115017%2cN82E16819115029%2cN82E16819103773%2cN82E16819103866&page=2&bop=And (2)--> Any preference between ATI and nVidia video cards? Interested in Crossfire or SLI setup? (3)--> Do you have any type of space limitations where you'd have trouble with a large computer case fitting in your gaming area? Room for the case on the floor or must it fit on a desktop?

I think destroyed static objects do show up in the debriefing - IF they've been designated as Targets in the mission editor. But they always show up as destroyed buildings - no matter what the object was. You can always use vehicles/helos operating in a low speed loop (begin loop/end loop) to simulate a static vehicle or hovering helo. The loop option for helos can make it seem like takeoff/landings outside an airfield.

"enough money" is a relative term. Have you decided what your total budget is going to be? Cruise on over the forums at Toms Hardware website and see what hardware is being recommended for your budget range. You should be able to get a good idea what the best choices are after a little research. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-31.html A popular website for pricing hardware is http://www.newegg.com/ You can "build" virtual systems and save the items in "Wish Lists". That site is also pretty good about showing any available rebates or price cuts.

Nah - he's made LOTS better posts ;). He didn't say "asshat" even once!

After burning is dumping raw fuel into the combustion chamber. I don't see how that wouldn't do anything but increase the fuel flow rate. Water injection is a well known way to increase engine thrust. It's not because of the water's hydrogen burning. It's the "weight" of the extra thrust the engine can generate with cooling. "The maximum power a turbine engine can output depends largely upon the density or weight of the flow of the gases through the engine. Therefore, when the atmospheric pressure decreases or ambient air temperature increases, there is a loss in thrust. The power output can be boosted or restored by cooling the airflow with water or coolant." http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~propulsi/propulsion/jets/basics/water.html