Hi All.I am just about to pull the trigger on this FSX PC build and thought I would through it out to you all to see if you had any suggestions or constructive comments that might assist me in this project.Intel i7 Quad Core 960 3.20GHz 6.4 GT 8MBGigabyte X58A-UD3RKingston KVR1333D3N9/12 3x4GB Non-ECC DDR3EVGA GTXX480 1536MBIntel X25-M 160GB Gen 2WD Velociraptor 600 GB SATA6Liteon IHES108 BlueRay COMBOAntec Twelve Hundred ChassisThermaltake TRX-1000M PSUMicrosoft Window 7 Pro 64 bitWD 1TB Black Drive.Let me know what you think...Thank you in advance.

The cpu is kinda waste of money, you can just get the 920 / 930 instead for half the price and OC to ~4ghz. The biggest difference between the 920 and the 960 is the price. It is basically the same piece of silicone, except the 960 has a slightly higher stock speed. They would both overclock to the same speed, unless youre running phaze cooling / Nitro / dry ice. In that case the 960 *might* overclock slightly higher. Or it might not, depending on that particular chip

The cpu is kinda waste of money, you can just get the 920 / 930 instead for half the price and OC to ~4ghz. The biggest difference between the 920 and the 960 is the price. It is basically the same piece of silicone, except the 960 has a slightly higher stock speed. They would both overclock to the same speed, unless youre running phaze cooling / Nitro / dry ice. In that case the 960 *might* overclock slightly higher. Or it might not, depending on that particular chip

A waste of money on the cpu? .. noIs there cheaper solution? - yes, potentially.I don't like OC'ing .... it always leads to other problems.  I would imagine there are others that would pay more of the 960 vs. taking the chance on OC'ing the 920/930.

It never leads to problems in my experience. It does of course require some effort. But the chips themselves are identical internally. Why spend $500 on a chip when you can get an identical one for $250

I'd also recommend going with a less expensive cpu. To get good performance in FSX you'll really want to overclock it to the max anyway. With modern hardware, overclocking is generally very safe and you'd be extremely unlucky to cause any permanent damage. If done correctly and using adequate cooling and components, it does not lead to any problems.This issue is probably better discussed in the hardware forum though.

Mine is mildly overclocked, just enough to make a difference, since the first boot after XP install 2006!! With the large Thermaltake cooler I have on it, there has never been a problem. Just FYI