I agree with said advice ^^But keep in mind the OP tells us he's going to use this mainly for FS9. In which case a faster dual core CPU would be better (since he doesn't want to OC)And to the OP: A i7 920 which is not overclocked won't help you that much with FSX. If you absolutely go that route be sure you have good components to match the CPU, ie good ram, video card, good power supply, not to mention a good CPU cooler... That way you will be able to overclock

My bad on the 386, yes it's been that long. Again, I have not purchased the Alienware yet. Actually, I got my taxes done last night, and apparently I over-estimated the amount of my refund, so it may be that the Alienware will be out of my price range. Whoever made the show off comment, keep it to yourself please. I'm not surrounded by anybody who even knows what and Alienware is, and as far as online, you guys all hate them, so why would I show it off?We'll see. Maybe I'll get a Core 2 Quad, closer to 3ghz, and just build the thing myself.

I hear ya on the tax refund thing. Mine was way less than I was expecting this year too :(

Guys, I'm having a really hard time pricing this thing. To start, it appears that I have to drop all hopes of a Core i7 just to stay below $1600. I may have to stay away from Intel all together. So I don't know why you guys are all saying I can build it cheaper. I need everything, not just a CPU/Mobo/GPU/RAMThis is a whole new build. Plus, in order to beat the Alienware, I'll need to include a joystick/game combo that I found on NewEgg for $59.99Right now, on New Egg, for just over $1000, I have essentially this.AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945WFGIBOX - Retail ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Patriot Gamer Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS36G1600ELKC - Retail Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter - Retail HEC 6C28BBX585 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 585W Power Supply - Retail GIGABYTE GV-N26OC-896I GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail VANTEC Nexstar 3 NST-360U2-BL 3.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure - Retail THRUSTMASTER T.16000M + Tom Clancy's HAWX PC - Retail Link Depot 6 ft. DVI-D male to DVI-D male dual link Cable Model DVI-6-DD - OEM Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM Amd I missing anything?

You can build an i7 system for $1600, easily. First step: do you have a Micro Center nearby? If so, following the advise in a previous post of mine (#14), you can obtain an i7 920 for a mere $199. In that same post I'd outlined general prices for components to build a system with your budget. Don't give up hope! You just need a bit more guidance.

Yes, I do have a Micro Center about 70 miles away, a very interesting shopping concept. That's nice, I did see the $199 Core i7, however, I still could not configure the system without going over, and believe me, I tried.Anyways, without intending to do so, I purchased my system earlier this evening. I was just visiting a local computer parts store to check out pricing, and they sold me on a system. I won't divulge the specs, to avoid being told it isn't good enough, I am very pleased with my purchase. Thank you for everyone's input.