My system:
Acer Aspire M5100
Microsoft Windows Vista (6.0) Home Premium Edition  Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Mainboard Model F690GVM
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ @ 3GHz
3 GB DDR2 RAM  (max capacity 8192 MBytes)
Integrated ATI RadeonX1250 w/256 MB RAM (Yes I need a card)
Acer P221W Monitor
FSX SP2 no addons

I'm not wanting to buy a top end card, just something to "balance" out my system.  I think if I had a decent card I would be very satisfied with FSX performance.  This system actually seems to do ok compared to other's results that I've read about.  I'm not quite sure about compatibility and I don't want to pay for something that will just be held back by the rest of the system.  I've followed Nick's instructions word for word-which are excellent btw-THANKS NICK!!!  But has not helped much.  That was kind of expected.  Thanks in advance, everyone, for your abundant knowledge and help.

There's too many choices out there.  So, a couple of questions to start with.  Can you guys please check out these cards?  And, my board supports PCI Express 1.0.  What happens when I put a PCI Express 2.0 card in?  Does the 8800gt outperform the 9800gt and, if it does, why?  Are there any builders I should stay away from (PNY, KFA2, MSI, etc.)?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133205

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=42525...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=37631...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127387

And 500W Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012

Hello, and welcome to SimV!

Sprayall wrote on Dec 29^th, 2008 at 4:04am:

Famous last words there! That's how I got trapped into this web called flight sim!
"All I need now is a faster processor." "All I need now is a new video card." Four complete system builds later, I find my self getting close to being happy with it. (FS2004, that is) Now if I only had a bigger monitor.

Anyway, which ever video card you decide on, you might also want to save room in your budget for upgrading from the stock 250W power supply, too. (if you haven't already done so.) I can almost guarantee, any card you get will require more than that PSU can provide.