If I OC the Q6600 at 3.2ghz (w/Air and Zalman cooler I got), win Win XP it will run just dandy? I mean, it doesn't even run that bad at AMD4000+ single core, but you know, I am out of disc space and it hicks up a little bit.I'd be happy with Q6600 if it runs of. Do I play other games? Sometimes, but not as much as FS9. Will I play FSX? Possibly, but its performance is something that puts me off. Will I upgrade in 6 months or 12 months again? Probably not.The motherboard is the Asus P5N-E.Also - I never overclocked (only did it through the windows utility) and I am new to it. I just want to push the Q6600 to 3.2ghz, not much more. Does anyone have a guide on how to do that?Thanks!

A Q6600 at 3.2 ghz should run FS9 butter smooth (really well). You can probably max out FS9 settings.It will also run FSX pretty darn well, depending on the FSX settings. You won't be able to run with max settings, but you can get up there. And if you really need a high framerate (20 or 30), you can use mid-level settings in FSX with that processor/overclock. This is assuming that the rest of your system is up to the task (2 gigs+ RAM, good vid card, fast hard drive, etc) and that you have optimized/defragged/clean installed the system using Nick_N's guides.BTW, you said in your original post that FSX won't use additional cores...it will actually. Mostly for texture loading and autogen, but that helps fight the blurries especially if you are low and/or fast.Overclock help for Intel CPUs (refer to the stickies):http://www.ocforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2You've got a good motherboard for overclocking:http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2894&p=7And you've got a lot of fellow motherboard owners to help you:http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboard...50i-thread.htmlJust make sure you watch the heat, you've got a quality power supply, and use thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) when you mount the Zalman. Use these instructions for how to dab the paste on the CPU:http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htmYou should give FSX a try with an overclocked Q6600 (especially if you already have FSX). If you have to buy it, I have read in these forums that you can return it if you're not happy.

Thanks for all the feedback. I think this is the route I will go. And worse case scenario, if a great new CPU that will kick FSX butt comes out 8 months from now, I'll eBay the CPU and go down that route. But I think every month we can wait a little for a better system.A couple of outstanding questions (and pardon my laziness and not using the "search" function).1. What Nvidia Drivers are recommended - my card is going to be be 8800GT OC 512mg? 2. Do you have a link to the Nick_N's guides to optimized system?3. Is there a good guide to the optimized FS9.cfg, settings etc?thanks!

Check this out......go to HighFlight Simulations http://www.highflightsimulationsAt the top click on *Tweaking Solutions* and select config file tweeks and look at #7...Multicore Settings.....This really should boost the Q6600 lots