This will be my first attempt at building a PC. This is what I have come up with so far:Component Item PriceCPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cashe 164.99Fan Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro 92mm 18.99Motherboard ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX 129.99HD Hitachi P7K500 500GB 7200RPM 64.99RAM G.Skill 4GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 44.99Video Card EVGA 512-P3-N860-TR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 104.99Sound Card ASUS Xoner DX 7.1 PCI Express 89.99PSU BFG ES-800 109.99DVD RW Samsung SH-S223Q 28.99Case LIAN LI PC-65B Mid Tower 119.99Monitor ACER P243WAid 24" 1920 x 1200 339.99OS Windows XP Home 89.99 Total: 1307.88Price is definitely a consideration. This machine will used exclusively for FS9. Does anyone see any obvious bad choices? Any recommendations?I have stipulated Xp so that I will not have any problems with any of the software I already own. Is there any advantage from Vista for running FS9?Thanks for your inputDave

Onboard sound of newer MBs is really quite good. Maybe put that money on a 9800gt. Bob

Perhaps replace the 8400 with an 8500 or 8600? This is the bit that will be doing all the work.