I have to thank NickN for some good tips on using FSX. I've tried to hold down the cost, after all, this is for entertainment purposes. I was fairly happy with my AMD 6400+ setup last year, but I never tried FSX. Once I installed FSX, the air modelling got a hold of me. I just couldn't stay on FS9. FSX was fun, but I had huge stutters and after all, I was only on DDR! After reading many of Nick's posts, I sold my AMD setup on Ebay and built a budget Q6600 machine. My local shop periodically closes out old hardware, so I stopped by often and got an MSI P35 Platinum for next to nothing. With cpu, MB, 4GB of RAM and AC7 cooler I was only out $325! Then the "bug" bit. The Flight1 Mustang. Now I had to get this thing running right. I then spent some $$$$, (it's all relative), and got a Raptor. So many said the HD makes almost no difference, but NickN said otherwise, and it helped. The idea he pushes is balancing the components, and it has really worked for me. I downloaded the latest MB bios and sold my Q6600 with my PC6400 DDR2 and shopped hard for a Q9650 and 4GB of PC8500C5. The MSI has a pretty crude bios, but I read many of NickN's posts and I now have the Mustang locked at 28 fps and it goes anywhere! If I am down below 2000' and cranking a steep turn, I get a hint of a stutter, but considering I am running the autogen at very dense/dense it is pretty nice. I would have gone i7, but that would have doubled the price and I might even need a new power supply, (I only have 600W@38A). NickN can show you how to tune your memory using MEMSET and use defrag and tonight I flew into Seattle and it was smooth as glass! I'm having a lot of fun and I've learned a lot from Nick. :( Kdub

That's good stuff. I also took some of NickN's advice when building my new system. I had originally bought Corsair 1600Mhz RAM at 9-9-9-24 timings but Nick had recommended Mushkin 1600 Mhz RAM (which I had never heard of till then) with 7-7-7-20 timings. The results have been great and I got the better RAM for same price. RMA'd the Corsair back to TigerDirect. BTW, you can buy Mushkin RAM direct from the manufacturer.I also took his advice on the hard disk drive. Bought my first VelociRaptor 300GB and again the results are excellent. The theory of a well balanced system is a good one. These forums helped me immensely in putting together my very first PC build and it went without a hitch!Thanks to NickN and all those who post there knowledge here. It is greatly appreciated!!