[RichardH]

Well, my old laptop died last week, and I decided to forge ahead early and invest in my new super rig. I was going to wait for Windows 7, but I need a new machine now, not only for gaming but also some side work tasks and personal computing.

The custom built machine arrives tomorrow and is loaded to the teeth with so much strength, I hopefully will never have to look at 3 to 7 fps in the clouds or amongst heavy flak in modded IL2 again! Check out these specs:

EVGA X58 based chipset with DDR3, PCI Express, 3-way SLI motherboard
850 watt power
Intel i7-950, quad 3.06GHz cores, 8MB Cache
12GB DDR3-1333 Triple Channel Memory with Heat Spreader (6x2048)
1792MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 Plus
26 in. Widescreen LCD, Ultra Thin Bezel, 1920x1200, 5ms response, DVI/HDMI
300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000rpm SATA/300, 16MB Cache
Vista Ultimate 64-bit, with Service Pack 1 installed

Now for the million dollar question... will this run modded IL2 with a MS Sidewinder 3D Pro, and TrackIR, at no less than 30 fps with all settings maxed?!

I assume so, but did see a number of things to do prior to confirming an install works. These include:
1) disabling some Vista User Account control setting;
2) creating a "games" directory and not allow default Program Files install;
3) set shortcut icon for Windows XP Compatable

Any other Vista or other issues to be aware of?

Also, I like to use IL2 Stab for configuration control and to load additional programs such as trackIR, and/or Gapa when it loads, will this function on Vista 64? Also of course, Hyperlobby?!

Not sure how my flight sim experience will compare with this new rig but I assume for the investment it should be a much richer experience! Hopefully my other flight options such as Falcon AF, Falcon 5, LockOn, and perhaps DCS next will all function well on this new rig. Perhaps too I may look into MS Flight Simulator, simply to check DX10 in the skies?!

Note, as a back up plan, I also have a second 1TB HD installed which if worse comes to worse, perhaps I could set the rig up to duel boot XP, or Win7 if it more easily supports XP compatability?!

I have a similar rig, but i have the i7 920 and 6 gig of RAM, but i'll probably upgrade to the i7 950 in a couple of months me thinks.. Killer performance!

Congratulations with your new rig!