If I wan't a penryn NVIDIA 9800 system

First, we are Not going to 5 ghz on a $300, DDR2, non-ubergeek penryn setup. That $1000 CPU might get up you to 4.5ghz with (otherwise) regular priced parts. The Nethalem upgrade suggestion skips the Penryn.A top AMD CPU is Still a runner. I would be hard pressed to give up a dual core opty at 2.6 for even a Penryn (especially with FSX in its current condition). I'm hoping this is the kind of sequence this latest gen of Intel CPUs will experience. From here on out, there will only be small advances in clock for clock and absolute speed performance. That means the really big gains will occur by adding cores. My argument is that it may not be worth chasing a 30% speed increase or a 10% clock-for-clock advantage. That's the old days. If I have a 4 core CPU now, I don't care about what it's called or its clock speed. I want a 40 core as my next upgrade. 10X is the upgrade goal. Consider: a Q6600 at 3.6ghz is a 10X over a HT'd single core P4 at 2.8ghz. That's why I say pull the trigger if you are at ~ P4/2.8 NoW. Penryn . . . Conroe. Who cares? Use the moment to your best advantage, but from a 3-4 year upgrade perspective, it really doesn't matter. Look for 10X, not 10%. Then wait for that next 10X. That will be Nethalem's shrink to 32nm in 2009/10.