There are 4 open slots: PCI ex 1_1 (looks like the PCI express 1 in the picture in your Wikipedia link; PCI ex 16; and PCI 1 & PCI 2 (these look like the conventional 32 bit slots in the bottom of the picture). I also have two open RAM slots which I assume I may end up needing. You mentioned the PCI ex 16 is what I need. Any product suggestions? I still have an Nvidia GE-Force FX5500 from a now dead PC, but it appears to be an AGP 8 slot so I assume it won't work. Thanks again!

Stay with the 4GB Memory for now. The FX5500 will make a dandy anchor for a very small boat, but that's about it.

You'll have to remain super conservative due to the small 300 Watt Powersupply which verification can only be a good thing. The specs say 300 and that's the Limiting Factor

I'll look, your best bet is a parts house. . TIGER DIRECT

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6896097&CatId=3669

Throw that in, you should be good to go . .Don't forget the compressed air

Whilst you wait

See the STICKY OFF Tips and links Page 4 Scroll Down Till you see my name and start reading

Bring a sandwich as there's a bunch of'em

They serve to limit the amount of questions down the road

Because OFF has a rather steep learning curve

Ordered one of those. I will see how it goes after install, and consider a new power supply (~500W?) later if necessary. In addition to the OFF dvd I guess I also need to order the two patches? Thanks again. I'll read up on install issues as you suggest.

If you are talking about the two BH&H patches, they are just downloads from the OBD site, you do not have to "order" them.

As far as the Larger Power Supply is concerned. Some investigating on your part is needed, the really High Tech cards are physically HUGE. Many times too Huge for your case

My GTX480 is 12 inches deep, and Double Space, and creates a lot of heat within your case

You might be better off with something a little tamer
.................................................................
Power Supplies are all the same physical size, until around 1000 Watts

If some is good, more is better

The Book on my Video Card calls for 600 Watts, I run a 750......WHY ?

The cheaper Power Supplies never make their advertised rate, normally less

What's going to work harder . . the 600 or the 750 ?

Theoretically at least the one that is not stressed will last longer, at the time it only $20 more

That's Cheap Insurance in my book

Got the video card, OFF DVD, and installed both along with the patches. Used the FAQ recommended graphics settings for a low or medium performance PC, and managed to play for a while. At some point I sense I will need Track IR, because the MSFS view controls are so cumbersome compared to the old RB3D keys, that it is difficult to keep track of friends, enemys and cons. Maybe it is because I played it for so long, but geez, I liked those controls, and I sure wish there was one source for a good "equivalent key command" set of instructions.

Still, the game seems to be working OK with relatively little "tweeking." I would like to raise some of the graphics sliders to see whether I can get some better graphics, but I am afraid of causing something to crash. So, perhaps a stupid question, does the power effect my ability to run the higher level graphics? I note this video card requires a 350 watt supply, and mine is 300, so I assume the answer is "maybe."

Thanks again, Gregg

Since day 1, OFF has screamed for Trackir. As a cost cutter you only need Trakir4 if it's still offered. I used to be heavily into CFS2, but since I bought Trackir it only gathers dust
The views on CFS3 are pretty poor, I myself stubbornly carried on till mid Phase II, then kicked myself in the butt for waiting that long

OK the reason it calls for 350Watts is due to the extra memory, as the 8400 was the card that I got with my DELL in XP with a 300PSU, but mine was 512mb
The 8400 is fairly basic. You ain't gonna get any eye-candy

Run object density low. . . 5-3-3-4-1 on the graphics sliders . . . ( Z ) Brings your FPS on screen. . . probably wont go high than 35

Ready for a punch in the guts, here it comes there are PCIE 16X - 1 and PCIE 16X - 2 that's your motherboard. That's where the bottleneck occurs, the fastest transfer of data (eye candy )
is from the Video card through the motherboard to the CPU. Meaning you can boost your wattage, and install a much better Video card, but IF there's a bottleneck you're screwed in the ( eye candy department )

My DELL was a PCIE-1 300Watt PSU is still there, running an 8600 512DDR3. . . 5-3-3-5-3 . . Runs Smooth

I'm willing to bet folding green, you're also running a PCIE 1

You have the basis for a sweet running machine, but as far as transforming the 98 pound weakling into Charles Atlas . . . that's only in Comic Books

While I was searching for the 8600 - 512DDR3 ( 512DDR2 is commonplace) I ran an ATI 4670 with 1GB DDR3 no complaints ( But I'm a Nvidia guy )

Well, its running smooth and the graphics are not bad at those settings. Started a campaign to get used to the program. I think I understand the power issue a bit better now, although I'm curious about the additional demands that Track IR will place on the system, running at the same time as the game. I guess the only way to find out for certain is to try. Thanks again for the explanations.

Trackir runs just fine with couple simple rules, you have primary and secondary USB's. You want a primary, that's directly off your motherboard, the secondaries are usually part of the case

You MUST be in administrator mode for Trackir in OFF

In Windows 7 you'll get a large Icon for Trackir on Desktop . . Double Clic the Icon . . gives the Trackir window . .which you minimize to the taskbar . .good to go

The only Tweeking then will finding the optinum postion of the camera unit atop your monitor . . meaning how far off of center, mine about 1 inch

It's EXTREMELY Light sensative, it hates sunlight

and my computer is in my Florida Room, drove me nuts, for the first year I only flew at night. Then came the Huge Cardboard Refrigerater Boxes, now it's 2 folding room dividers

But between 3pm - 5pm find something else to do