I allready tried FSX on a SSD and the only thing it changed is how the game loads when you launch the game. I could not tell the difference in the game between a SSD and My 640GB Caviar Black. Now using the rest of the computer with the SSD makes such a huge difference, that you would never consider doing it any other way. I have both and have tried it both ways because I was going to buy the 160GB X25M for FSX but it just isnt worth the price/gain in performance. I also did not notice a difference from my Caviar Black to my 300Gb Velociraptor that I ended up returning.

I am running the OS on a Kingston 64GB V series Gen2 SSD, and FSX on a separate identical SSD. This is the way to go if you can afford it. I didn't need huge SSD drives as I use the machine strictly for FSX. Even with all my add-ons installed, which includes Scenery Tech USA, UTX USA, GEX USA, REX 2.0, UT2, TOPCAT, PMDG 747X, PMDG MD-11X, FSLabs Concorde-X, Maddog 2008, FeelThere E-jets, CS C130, CS 727, CS 757-200/200F, and CS 767-300, I still have over 20GB left on the FSX SSD and over 15GB on the OS SSD. If I need storage, I have a 320GB WD Caviar Blue 7200RPM drive for that purpose.With the external FPS limiter set to 30fps, 4x multisampling AA, 8x AF, [bUFFERPOOLS] set to 0, LOD Radius at 6.5, TextureBandwidthMult=100, AffinityMask=14, water 2.x high, very dense scenery complexity/autogen, maxed scenery sliders, and UT2 set to 100%, I manage around 20fps on the ground and 30fps continuous in the air with no blurries or texture flashing.

2) Thanks for the explanation on the memory. Paying a premium for memory heat sinks does seem unnecessary for this system. How much does latency matter? What is the benefit of 7 or 8 vs 9? Or is there a good guide to this somewhere?

My understanding is that latency is as important as amount for FSX, but that it rarely will have a big impact on performance. UlfB posted a link to an article recently. Even though it's almost a year old and not FSX specific, I found it interesting and largely applicable:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=281892

IMHO, save your money and don't get an SSD at all. It does NOT help the operation of FSX and to spend $$ just to get the OS to load a little faster is ridiculous. Plus the drives are small - an 80G drive for FSX will be too small very quickly. A few add-ons here and there and you'll be quickly running out of space. You would always like about 35% free for ideal operation.get some decent sized Vraptors and be happy. In a year or two the price on SSD's will come down AND they will get bigger. But, at this point, it's a waste unless you are just after bragging rights.Vic

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. I now know more about video cards, SSDs and memory. As a result, I am now looking at an nVidia card for the FSX system - the GTX 285, or a 470, since they are about the same price. It's pretty clear that there are different opinions about SSDs, but I'm prepared to risk a couple of hundred dollars to find out. Obviously, I do expect a benefit. And as to whether there is a bigger benefit for FSX or the OS, I will have the OS on an SSD in my system, so we'll be able to compare that part of it. As for memory, I plan to find the fastest I can from a good name at the price I'm comfortable with.