Like many, I am in the market for upgrading my system to get the most out of FSX. I have read a few posts about different systems and I have a couple questions. I see alot of guys running quad core CPUs and also running Vista instead of XP. Isn't FSX designed to run in XP and therefore Vista isn't necessary or maybe even a drop in performance? Also, I have read that FSX won't use a quad core CPU and that a good fast dual core processor is a better investment...?
Also, I have a customer (I work on L-39s for a living) that lives in Austrailia but is keeping his plane here in the states for now. He wants a good L-39 simulator to train on while he is down under. We'll be getting the beautiful Albatros by Lotus (see link to video) and he will get a new PC just for running FSX and this plane. Anyway, he is wanting to know (so am I actualy) what is the latest greatest stick/throttle/pedal combination that everyone is using these days?

http://lotus-films.blogspot.com/

Just click on the pics to watch the video. There are some great pics on an L-39 thread over at SOH whenever the site gets back on line.