Hi,sorry, but yet another what's the best buy for FSX :).As the thread title says I think I've narrowed it down to 2 systemsa.) INTEL Core I3 530 system factory overclocked to 4.4ghz orb.) AMD Phenom AM3 955 Quad Core 3.20ghzboth come with ATI Radeon 5770 1 gig graphics cards, 1tb drives, Win 7 64bit etc. The only real difference is the AMD system has 8gb of DDR3 ram and the Intel system only has 4gb DDR3 ram.My current system is an AMD 64 x2 4600, nvida 8800gts graphic card and 2gb DDR2 ram.I use it mainly for FSX and general web browsing etc, but may try a few more sims, such as Black Shark or Lock On, however FSX performance is paramount.Both systems cost about the same( around £550 uk) and I realise FSX is more dependant on the CPU than GPU so I'm leaning towards the Intel I3 system.Anyone using similar systems care to comment on the pros and cons, or anyone with more knowledge than me (which will be most people lol) care to comment on my choices.Have looked at i7's but they are a little out of my price range for a decent system, and I5 systems in the same price range as the 2 systems above don't seem to offer as much ram or offer lower spec graphics cards and their standard clock speeds are lower too.Thanks for reading this far and if you have any ideas or comments please let me knowCheersSteve

I can tell you that you should proably get the i5 system, depending on which i5 it is it would run FSX pretty well. And the RAM is hardly relevant if your main goal is FSX, you don't need more than 4GB. And do you mind telling me what the lower spec graphics card is? But if you really had to pick I would say the AMD system because it's a Quad core. The i3-530 is only a dual core.

here's what I think:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/292181-i3-530-fsx/@dez, you are right, those forums are a better place to ask hardware related stuff, but most people there don't realise that FSX is not like the rest of the games where the GPU is much more of a factor for example

Thanks for the comments guys,Have read thru the overclockers forum and the linked thread too, interesting stuff. Still deciding but still leaning towards the i3 with all the comments I've read.CheersSteve

I just built an i3 system, check out our other thread: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/292181-i3-530-fsx/page__st__50__gopid__1821050#entry1821050And then check out this dude:http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=640998

:P That's not a guide to overclocking it's just someone showing off how good he is at overclocking, quite impressive acctually!! So if you get the i3 good luck and what will the GPU be?

Sorry I didn't mean it as a link to a howto - just what can be done! But often these types of threads give me an idea of what kind of equipment people are using. His mobo is very similar to mine. There is a good guide to OC'ing on that forum that I have yet to try.As for GPU, I have my trusty 8800GTS. I'm having a look at what I can do with it. I'll probably go with a GTX460 eventually because it seems to be the best all rounder out there for all games.

Sorry I didn't mean it as a link to a howto - just what can be done! But often these types of threads give me an idea of what kind of equipment people are using. His mobo is very similar to mine. There is a good guide to OC'ing on that forum that I have yet to try.As for GPU, I have my trusty 8800GTS. I'm having a look at what I can do with it. I'll probably go with a GTX460 eventually because it seems to be the best all rounder out there for all games.

Sounds good! It's pretty amazing. And with lquid nitorgen it's incredible!! I got the GTX470 because I could afford the extra 50-100$ and it was a steal for only 300$ on sale! And I saw the link to your rig. Looking good, man! Very good for a budget rig, nice performance too I hear. Loving mine too and yet to overclock a digit, I want to get 4.1Ghz once I get my Noctua NH-14