Sorry for all the post spam but I want to be 100% sure these are the parts I want to get. Dropping 2k is a ton of money for me (and my better half, and my baby, and my dog LOL) so I want to get it right the first time.COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper Case$160GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD5-B3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard$260SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s$70Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe MKNSSDCL120GB-DX 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC$220 (Still on the fence with the larger SSD, and also doubting the whole Windows on SSD in the first place ARGH)Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W$225EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB$370 (pricey)CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866$145 (just came out - 1866 for OC headroom)LITE-ON Black 12X Blu-ray Burner$110CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler$75 (brand new... supposedly quieter than their other coolers and not as huge as Noctua/Coolermaster coolers)SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular$190 (again, pricey but Seasonic is the bomb digity (basically rebranded Corsair/OCZ)ASUS VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor$210All just under 2k with S&H @ NeweggThoughts? Concerns?

No concerns here - it looks PERFECT! You could cut a couple corners by going with a 90GB SSD or the P67A-UD4, but I think you'll find your money was well spent on what you chose either way. I thought you were getting the 650D!

No concerns here - it looks PERFECT! You could cut a couple corners by going with a 90GB SSD or the P67A-UD4, but I think you'll find your money was well spent on what you chose either way. I thought you were getting the 650D!

It's just a lot extra.... the Sniper seems to have the same basic amenities, and I know at the moment Corsair has an issue with their fan controller/fans buzzing - but they are supposed to fix it shortly. Then again the Corsair would probably fit with the cooler better ;)LOL...we'll see.Also, I didn't see that UD4 board when I was searching yesterday. Looks like it has 2 less USB3 ports (no big deal for me). What else doesn't it have for $70 bucks less? I very well may go with that one instead. The difference could help me get an SSD then :) Or I could always pickup an SSD later.

UD5 upgrades from UD4:- 1 more internal USB3.0 header- 2 more USB3.0 ports on the back- 1 internal 1394a header- 2 1394 ports on the back- Onboard power/reset button- 8 more power phases- PCIE x4 slot (useful for PCIE x4 SSD drives)- heatsinks are attached to mobo with screws instead of push pins- trendy but admittedly useless "NF200" heatsink

The onboard/power button is nice but not worth th increase in cost - I will go with the UD4, and get the Mushkin Callisto 120GB SSD. I also put the Corsair 650d back on the list LOL! I'll sit on it for another day to make sure I really want it :)

Well I bought it, Corsair 650D, mushkin 120GB ssd, UD4 mobo...$1980ish + SHThis is a large purchase so I'm hoping to get some uber help from you guys if I have issues ;)

Awesome. I'll be waiting to hear how it goes. I've been considering exchanging my UD5 for the UD4 when I swap for my B3 board.

Awesome. I'll be waiting to hear how it goes. I've been considering exchanging my UD5 for the UD4 when I swap for my B3 board.

And of course I'll do the FSXMark 11 bench with stock FSX ;) I sorta wish I could bench my current setup on that to see the drastic difference, but that would mean reinstalling everything for the old rig... really no point.Also, out of curiosity, why would you want to swap out for a board with less amenities?And, not to get too far ahead of myself, but 2500k OCing guides, I found one here which is using my exact motherboard, but is there one you'd recommend?http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/4edit: This is the original one I was looking for and found:http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.htmlAny others I need to be aware of?As some background info I've never owned an Intel CPU and haven't overclocked in a really long time. Thankfully my current BIOS does look like the new gigabyte board (no nice GUI like some others have).

You should bench your setup since you don't have to worry about screwing anything up! Just uninstall everything and then reinstall FSX. Otherwise we will never get benches on older systems. I'm considering the UD4 because I'm thinking about getting a 650D and installing a water cooling system. The $70 would go a long way... sort of. I really like my UD5, but none of the features beyond what the UD4 already has are really necessary.I didn't really follow a guide - they're all way too wordy for my liking. The one you linked specific to the UD4 is short and sweet, however. I started with the video below and it was all trial and error from there. He's using the UD5, but your BIOS should look identical. Just stick with lower voltages (below 1.35 or 1.40) while your learning and you will be fine. Start with a moderate overclock - perhaps get it to 4.5GHz and then go learn how to tweak your memory, fan speeds, etc etc, before coming back to push the CPU more. Let me know when your stuff comes in and I will post my latest BIOS settings.

On a side note, the UD4 and UD5 boards look SWEEEEET