I am ready to upgrade my PC but would like some advice regarding which of the above is more suited to FSX??I am considering (within my Budget) either an AMD Phenom II X965 or an Intel i3 530Any advice would be welcome although I suspect it will be fairly conflictingMany thanksGeorge

AMD Phenom II X4 965 black edition (?)Quad core in lieu of dual core, triple channel in lieu of dual channel memory configuration.

I'm the wrong guy to ask about this, but you should mention more details, like whether you plan to overclock.You're also not comparing dollars to dollars: the Phenom II X965 are currently going for about $185, versus $120 for the i3 530. The i3 540 would be closer at $140, but shouldn't you should be comparing the X965 to the i5-750, which is going for $200? (That's only a $15 price difference, compared to $45–65.) Overclocking is an important part of the equation, and both the X965 and the i5-750 give good OC performance. (See notes in the articles below.) An advantage of the i5 is that you can get a motherboard that will allow you to upgrade to an i7 in the future.In terms of CPU performance, Tom's sees these two as the best gaming CPUs in their respective price ranges:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-g...cpu,2599-5.htmlhttp://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-g...cpu,2599-6.html"With rapidly-increasing prices over $200 offering smaller and smaller performance boosts in games, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-750."Hope that helps

If you are near a Micro Center, do yourself a favor and go there. They have the following Intel processors available:i5 650 - $139i5 750 - $189i7 930 - $199I highly recommend saving a bit more money and going for a 1366 X58 motherboard, DDR3 memory, and the i7 930. This will give you great performance, high overclocking ability, and will allow you to upgrade to new processors down the road. If you do this, I would suggest a GTX 260 216 or an ATI 5770 graphics card, which are both around $160 at Micro Center.

How does this Micro Center thing work?! Those are crazy prices. :(

How does this Micro Center thing work?! Those are crazy prices. :(

Crazy but true. The only hitch is that you must go to their brick'n'mortor store to buy it. They only mark down their CPUs; other component prices are in line with what you see elsewheres but their occasional sales can be really good, picked up my gtx 275 there for $205 a few weeks ago.

The best computer I ever had for FSX was an FX-62 system with an ATI 4870 and Windows XP x64. My kid has it now. I just might steal it and give it another go.

The best computer I ever had for FSX was an FX-62 system with an ATI 4870 and Windows XP x64. My kid has it now. I just might steal it and give it another go.

Yes, I see the Belushi influence...