Cody Coyote

These recommendations about companies like iBuyPower, Golden Tech, and Cyber Power are very helpful as I see myself as more likely to purchase from one of these "custom" builders than from a Dell or HP. I'm curious Barkhorn1x, did you have any service issues with Cyber Power? I live in a rural area and the downside of mail order can be getting service if something goes bad. I appreciate the input so far and a couple of things have jumped out at me: as powerful a CPU as I can afford; at least 4 GB of RAM; set aside $20 for good packaging! What about video cards? The market is flooded with a hodgepodge of letters and numbers that are confusing to say the least. What cards do those of you that play OFF frequently like? Does one brand really have an edge over another or is it more of a Ford vs. Chevy thing? Also what about AMD vs. Intel? Does it really make a difference and does the chip affect what vid card I should buy? I appreciate everyone's opinion on this. Thanks for all of the comments.

Now that sounds really promising. Unfortunately my local "Geek Store" as NS13Jarhead puts it, is a Best Buy and I have no intention of picking up a PC there. Over the years I've purchased three PC's mail order and I am certainly not opposed to doing that again. While it's nice to pick one up locally, I realize that to get what I want may require a special order and I am OK with that. My question is, regardless of where I purchase, what should I be getting with regards to processor speed, RAM, graphics card, etc. No matter who builds it, if I don't put in the right components I haven't gained anything. By the way, thanks Winston for posting your system specs.

Buy the drinks? What happened to the tenner I left on the bar when I first visited? I purposely didn't mention price because I was curious to see what my options were. I know that I'm not going to drop $7k on a Maingear Shift. I priced an Alienware a year or so ago at $5k+ and that is still a little high. I'd like to keep it under $3k, but I really need to know what my options are. I won't build my own, so I am thinking off-the-shelf. However, with the right company, off-the-shelf means specifying a lot of your major options which is virtually akin to having it built for you.

I've been following OFF since the SOH days; in fact, since before it was even called "OFF". I rarely post, but I visit the forum repeatedly throughout the day to keep up on what is happening. I have P1, P2, and P3, although I've never flown any of them. According to MS my PC specs are well above what is needed for CFS3 but the reality is that CFS3 was never anything more than a slide show for me with frame rates in the single digits. I didn't even waste my time trying to install OFF, always hoping for a better system. Today my PC is about 10 years old and so bloated and bogged down that I can't even play CFS2 any more! So I've reached the point that I'm buying a new PC and I wanted to come here to get advice on what to purchase so that I can enjoy the same kind of positive OFF experience that so many of you have. I want a system that will be powerful enough to play OFF stutter free and allow me to take full advantage of all of the eye candy that the developers have worked so hard to create. Additionally, as you can tell by my current 10 year old machine, I can't be buying a new box every few years so I'm looking for something capable of handling Phase 4 as well. I'm looking for a machine that can easily handle CFS2 and OFF, but at the same time it will be my box for word processing, surfing the Net, email, photo and video editing, storage, etc. In other words it can't be a dedicated gaming PC but needs to serve all my needs. Considering my age, this may be the last desktop PC I ever purchase and I want to do it right. I have some old notes on PC specs posted by one of the developers some time back as well as the reviewer over at SimHQ, but things change so quickly in the PC world that I wanted to get the latest thoughts and input before I plunk down my money. I'd be interested in hearing any recommendations of what to get and what to stay away from. At this time nothing is set in stone other than that the new machine will have Windows 7 Home Premium and a 64 bit OS. Any help will be appreciated. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines while the rest of you fly off to battle overhead. Thanks

Would I go back in time? Interesting question and one I first began pondering fifty years ago, when I first became fascinated with WWI aviation. Absolutely, unequivocally, yes.

Powerful review. "...the most comprehensive World War 1 sim in existence today" It's difficult to imagine a stronger endorsement than that! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Flyby PC - I think the real albatross around BHaH's neck is not the CFS3 multiplayer issue, rather it's the link to CFS3 itself. Unfortunately you effectively have to buy two different flight sims to play BHaH. Even though CFS3 is dirt cheap (if you can find it) you still have to have it. That must hinder sales when potential customers know they must also track down an obsolete sim to enjoy "the most comprehensive World War 1 sim in existence today".

Layer Cake Shiraz - Australia

Here are a few other photos from some old books of mine.

Here's a shot of the DV at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. This could be the same plane Olham posted a picture of.

Agreed! First class, very professional. Kudos all around.

The forums work at the Outhouse: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/index.php The home page and downloads are inaccessible.

It's still available for free viewing in English on the Internet at: http://www.free-hd-divx.com/video.php?id=429

It's actually just a link that points here.