Hi,My Mobo in my computer gave ouy on me recently and i am thinking of building a new system than repairing my old one. It is 3 yrs old and I would like to run FSX alot better. I have been looking online for cpu's , motherboards and so on. I would like to get a system for 1000 - 1200 dolloars. I have been looking at the Q9550 and the I5. I would also like a nvidia GTX 280. I was wondering if anyone is running a system like this and if they would recommand it. As well i would like suggestions if i can get a better cpu or graphics card for a little cheaper. Any suggestions would be appricated.Thanks,Will

If good performance in FSX is your concern, you need to buy as much CPU horsepower as your budget allows, and with a budget in the range you mentioned you should be looking at the i7 line. i7 860/870 or 920 are the CPUs I would recommend.

i was looking at the price of the i7's. the 920 is cheaper than the 860. So my question is does FSX run better with 3 channels of memory or a higher GHZ? I guess i could oc the 920 but i have not done that before and have no idea where to start for that.Thanks,Will

Higher clockspeed with the same number of cores, cache, and micro-architecture *generally* means more performance. Therefore the 860/870 should be slightly faster than the 920 at *stock* speeds.

I just built a 920/asus p6t with 6gb of 1600 7-7-7 crosair xms3 ram with a GTX275. Ive got it Oc'ed to 3.8ghz right now. It runs no more than 55c during fsz so Im thinking about pushing it to over 4.9ghz soon. Im getting really nice results so far. In the bigger airports/cities frames will sometimes drop to 15-20 but 95% of the time I can run @ 30fps stutter free. Im still tweeking my settings according to nickn's tuning guide to get the most out of my systems power. Ive found if I set it to unlimited the system can run in the 70-90 fps range but that causes some major stutters this is why ive locked it @ 30 for now. You gotta play around with it a bit to suit your own build but his guide puts you on the right track. I would go with the 920/p6t and 6gb of 1600 and at least 7-7-7 ram for best proven ocing results.