The motherboard that the barebone's kit comes with has a PCIe slot, you chose a AGP card. You need a PCIe card like this to be compatible. I would definitely recommend that card for any build as it is DX10 and has comparable performance to a 7900GS at medium resolutions (1024x768/1280x1024).
If that Intel is a Pentium 4 at 2.2Ghz, I think your processor is the bottleneck. What is your budget for a new graphics card and can you upgrade your processor?
WOW, that is a very interesting picture. I wonder what caused it. 
Great system, you can play any game maxed out with that 8800GTX and X6800 (equivalent) processor.
Your an American, write in English please 
I use both of my cores mostly when scanning while playing games, and running many programs at once like multiple tabs in firefox and no slowdown. Dual Core helps alot during startup too, processing everything faster. New games are starting to take advantage of Dual Core so if you are planning on upgrading, I would get one just to future proof yourself for a few years. 
...so a C2D at 1.8GHz is equivelant to a Pentium D at 3.6GHz, to a X2 at 2.4Ghz. (just adding to your post Jakg
)Have you tried/ever overclocked a processor before? It isn't hard and is pretty safe as long as you watch your temperatures and your Vcore.
Here is a guide if you want to read up on it and consider your options. It is a great way to increase performance without paying anything.
Here is a guide if you want to read up on it and consider your options. It is a great way to increase performance without paying anything.
Have you tried a higher resolution? The first picture looks more blurry than the second.
I'd wait until you get the laptop first to judge whether you need a cooling plate or not. The Desktop Core 2 Duo's run pretty cool at stock speeds so I am guessing that the laptop should be pretty cool as well compared to other laptops.
I can't look at him and not smile, he looks like a monkey 
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Here are some more benchmarks. Whether you think they are fake or not, it's something to look at and compare until release.
Here is some info on what should be the price of one. Ewiz supposedly jumped the gun and put up the 2900XT until taking it down after they realized their mistake. $410 plus shipping isn't bad for what these recent benchmarks say come close to the 8800GTX.
.Here are some more benchmarks. Whether you think they are fake or not, it's something to look at and compare until release.
Here is some info on what should be the price of one. Ewiz supposedly jumped the gun and put up the 2900XT until taking it down after they realized their mistake. $410 plus shipping isn't bad for what these recent benchmarks say come close to the 8800GTX.
Here is a review, supposedly ATI's flagship card can't even keep up with the 8800GTX that came out like 6 months ago. They need to "step up their game" if they want to stay in business. I guess they are putting most of their money on their midrange cards outselling NVIDIA's for their price to performance ratio. 
Install the latest Logitech Gaming Software and make sure you set the pedals so they arn't combined in the software. Then in LFS, assign the axis's to the right pedals (gas, brake etc.) and callibrate them.
QFT!
Are you getting that below 30fps on a 20 car AI grid? If so, that is normal as 20 AI is alot for one CPU to process.
Could be the power supply, have you tried weeding that out yet? Maybe try using someone else's?
Mmmm, pooballs sound tasty
If you don't want to build your own PC, the one mcintyrej posted is definitely a good choice that I would think about going with if I had the money. 
Do you think it could be your windows installation? Maybe it got buggered up somehow after a while. Try running prime95 on the different torture modes for a while and see if it crashes during that.
Stock for stock an AMD is a better deal than an Intel right now because AMD is selling their chips as low as possible to stay in business until they get K10 out. Though if you overclock both processors, Intel will pull ahead in the price to performance value.
I haven't seen anyone yet that could get a constant 60fps with a full grid of AI so I think you're computer is fine.
What is your processor and how much RAM do you have? I am guessing that your processor cannot take it as most can't handle 20 AI at decent framerates, no matter what the card.
Here is the 8600GTS getting better frames in Oblivion than a 7950GT with beta drivers.
I'm guessing it is the preload, as I doubt Scawen would change the AI directly without noting it in the change log.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG