You could buy a raptor, they are cheaper then SSDs atm.

Can you explain raptor and SSD please?

Raptor is a brand name for a fast hard-drive made by the Western Digital company. SSD stands for Solid State Drive.

Raptors, like all conventional (non-SSD) hard-drives, store their information on magnetic disks that spin inside them. The faster they spin the better, as it means information can be read from them and written to them quicker. The benefit of that is you don't have to wait so long for programs (including Windows itself) to load up and start, and anything you want your computer to do that requires accessing the hard-drive will be done quicker. Western Digital Raptors (or Velociraptors as they are also known) are the fastest, affordable, conventional hard-drives readily available to consumers.

SSD's are hard-drives that have no moving parts, using instead large amounts of what is called 'flash' memory, which is similar to the kind of memory that's used in removable SD Cards and the USB Flash Drives or 'memory sticks' that you might be familiar with. SSD's are much faster than even the fastest conventional disk-based hard-drive, and much smaller, quieter and cooler too. They're more expensive though, and more limited in the amount of data they can store. SSD's, or something similar to them, will probably replace conventional hard-drives altogether once their storage capacities go up and their prices come down.

At the moment, SSD's are now generally considered to be affordable enough, and to have a high enough storage capacity, to be a good substitute for the conventional hard-drives that you would usually put your operating system and other often-used programs on. A lot of people are still using a combination of SSD's and conventional hard-drives though, in order to still store larger amounts of data, that they don't access as often, on the higher capacity conventional drives.

Hope that makes sense. Getting an SSD for your operating system and often-used programs is something worth considering, but not absolutely essential (though if you do get one you'll probably never go back to conventional hard-drives).

Thanks Les, I really appreciate your time spent on lengthy informative replies. I have been playing IL2 since it was first released (and also RoF since release) and have had computers upgraded/replaced several times over that span.
However, over the past 3 years or so the technology has overtaken my comprehensive powers, it's like a new language.

I know what you mean. It can take some time and research to learn and re-learn and remember what's what. I find the technology kind of interesting myself, so I try to keep somewhat up to date with it all, but I'm not really that into it. I'm certainly not pretending to be anything more than a dabbler in this sort of stuff. I don't mind answering questions if I can, and if it'll help others avoid wasting time and money, but it's a random kind of thing, done in passing if I just happen to feel like it at the time. I'm wary of muddying the waters even further though, so if what I say doesn't seem to make sense just let me know and I'll try to clarify my answers.

Hi Les, it makes sense when it is put into layman's terms thanks.
I think my best option now is to let the guy who is going to build it for me hit me with his suggested hardware list next week and I will post it here to get some advice on its viability/practicability.
He did mention one thing on the phone last time I spoke to him that you could possibly clarify;
He mentioned that the (CPU?) he had in mind had its own on board graphics capability that negated the need for a separate video card. What are your thoughts on that?

I think what he is talking about is on board video that is on the motherboard. Most motherboards now have capability to do video and sound. Never, ever stick with on board video if your computer is used for gaming. You NEED a dedicated video card. All games need a dedicated video card to run properly. The on board video on any motherboard will not be able to handle any modern game, let alone something as resource hungry as a flight sim.

To be honest mate, if the guy building your rig knows you intend to use it for gaming and he is suggesting on board video, then I'd suggest he has no idea what he is talking about. You might want to shop around with another supplier?

I notice you are from Adelaide, I am in Sydney. Have a look at www.auspcmarket.com.au as a rough guide (don't worry, i don't work for them!). You can buy the components separately and build it yourself or just get a pre-made system built by them if that is preferable. They have systems on their website that are specifically designed for gaming.

Anyway, have a look and you might have a better idea of what you might want or need. If nothing else, you can get an idea of comparative pricing if you stick with the guy you are using now. In my experience, a lot of computer shops are unfortunately modern day "2nd hand car salesmen" and the fact this guy is suggesting on board video is a concern. There are plenty of other similar online shops around Australia, but I have bought all of my systems and upgrades from them for several years and have always had great service. Like you I have been playing IL2 since day one and have had many upgrades over the years. Anyway, have a good look around, you can never do too much window shopping, our hobby is not always cheap unfortunately.

And as for the original question. Yeah, Win7 64 bit is what I am using too...it is the way to go in my opinion. I use Satiek ruddle, throttle and stick and Track IR with no problems.

Good luck mate.

Hmmmmmmmm, food for thought - thanks. The guy building it (nothing set in concrete yet, still waiting for a quote) is a retired ex RAAF guy who works from home.
I was put onto him by someone who had one built for him and was happy with it.
I will check out the website you provided for pre built systems.
At the moment I am running;
Thermaltake Soprano Case
Thermaltake 750w Silent Pure Power
240Gig capacity
Asus P5N32-SLI-SE-Delux
4 Gig DDR2 800 HZ Kingston memory (but can only utilise 2.something because of Windows XP Home)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz CPU
Gigabyte PCI-E 1GB 4870 video card
Creative X-Fi Extreme Music sound card
LG DVD Drive
Liteonit CD Drive
with Widows XP Home Edition
Would it be a worthwhile option to replace whatever need replacing in this set up and installing Sys 7 64 bit to get it to play Rof and IL2 CoD at a reasonable level?

Perhaps I was being a tad harsh on the guy with the "2nd hand car salesman" reference, however, he does seem to be uninformed on the needs of a gaming rig...and at the end of the day, it is your money being spent.

The computer you are using now is pretty much the same as one of my previous rigs, except that I had a better video card (I cant remember which one to be honest, it was a while ago now). I was able to run IL2 fine with that and a big you-beaut flash top end video card at the time, however I reckon you'd definitely struggle with COD with that setup.

One thing you can and probably should do is transfer your current sound card over to the new rig...that will save you a little bit of coin. You could also transfer over your CD and DVD drives as well, but to be honest, they are so cheap nowadays that its probably better to just go with a new total system that is pre built. Depending on what video card etc you go with you "may" be able to keep the power source and the case as well but the beefier video cards need a big power supply so you would need to be sure if the current power supply can handle the card (and that it has the correct "plugs" to fit with the card).

To be honest, depending on your budget, you may as well just bite the bullet and get an entire new system if you are not sure how to transfer the components over yourself or are unsure of what components are going to be compatible with the new system. Its pretty hard to advise what to keep and what to change unless you are confident enough to be able to figure out what can be kept and to do a lot of the assembling and transferring over yourself.

I suppose it really comes down to how much you are prepared to spend mate. I admit I am not good at holding on to my money when it comes to upgrading. I am quite lazy so I tend to just bite the bullet and buy most components that are near the top end (but not at the top) of the scale. I do, however, generally splurge on the top end video card. Overall, at least I know I will be able to run all the newer games without much hassle. I just look around a fair bit to compare prices to be aware of how much I should be paying....I am sure you could buy a rig that is not at the top end but will still run the game fine, but to be honest, i am probably not the best person to advise you on that, given I have not really done the research and don't know what will give you the best bang for your buck. There are plenty of sites that review the various components however and you might get some good insights from a quick reading of them. Even if you (and I) don't understand all the technical references, you will still get enough of an idea from the reviews.

Off the top of my head; http://www.overclockers.com.au/ and http://www.tomshardware.com/ are decent review sites that I have used in the past and have gotten enough of an understanding of what I was buying to make an informed choice.

For what its worth, my rig is as follows;
Intel Core i7 950
Gigabyte EX58-UD5 m/board
6 Gig RAM
ATI Radeon 5970 Vid card
Win 7 64

That was reasonably beefy just over a year ago when I got it and it runs every game I have fluidly. For example, Shogun 2:Total War is a new release and it still runs flawlessly (@1920x1200 screen resolution) on my rig with all settings set to max.,,so fingers crossed, I should be right for COD.

Why not hold off on upgrading immediately mate? The game is out in less than two weeks (in Australia). I am sure there will be plenty of discussion from people on the various forums as to how COD runs on various setups. Perhaps then you might be more informed as to what system specifications will best suit your budget whilst being able to run the game at settings acceptable to you?

I have pre ordered COD on steam as well, so I will be happy to let you know how it runs on my system once I have had a go.

sir best to use 64 bit operating system