Hello All,My 5+ year old FS2004 rig finally bit the dust yesterday. MoBo getting power but no life. Either way, I'm done putting it back together with glue and prayer so it's time to upgrade. I'm have to keep it under $1500 US. Here's my list of components so far:CPU: Intel i7 2600KMoBo: ASRock P67 Extreme4 1155SSD: Crucial Real SSD, 64GB (For OS and FSX only...I already have a SATA II 500GB for storage/programs that don't need the fast response)Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600Vid Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD6870, 1GB, 256-bitOptical: Cheap ASUS DVD BurnerPSU: Corsair CMPSU-650WCase: Rosewill Challenger OS: Win7 Pro x64 SP1Any advice?? I'm just looking to get decent performance out of FSX with a few complex addons, maybe some pretty stuff like REX, and hopefully full traffic. Like I said, I must keep it under $1500. This list of stuff has me right at $1400 so I don't have much headroom. Thanks,Adam

Why 16GB of RAM? for FSX 8 or even 4 GB of RAM are enough. Get a decent CPU cooler and overclock to 4.5GHz+

Agreed - I'd drop the RAM to 4 or 8GB, change the video card to nvidia flavor if you're only using FSX - if other programs keep it - should be fine.I question the SSD - 64GB won't be enough to run your OS AND FSX... unless I misread your post.Either use the 64GB for OS only, or buy a bigger one for both, or use it for FSX only. You'll find plenty of varying opinions about FSX usage on SSDs hehe.The PSU looks fine for a single card...

Thanks for the advice...yeah, I didn't realize the memory I picked actually has a high latency (9) for 1600. I'm going to step it down to 6GB but with a CL of 7. As for the SSD, I may just stuff FSX on it and use my 500GB for the OS/temporary storage. I'm not a freak about Windows loading in 15 seconds flat like I've heard SSD's can do. Would the interaction between FSX and Win7 make putting the OS on a slower drive make a difference? What's the scoop on the AMD GPU's for FSX? Do they just not play as well with FSX?? I've always been kind of a AMD/ATi guy, but I will be running other software/games besides FSX. Also, as for the MoBo, any reason to go with an Asus P8P67 PRO instead of the ASRock??The Asus is more $$ but I don't know much about ASRock.Thanks,Adam

Thanks for the advice...yeah, I didn't realize the memory I picked actually has a high latency (9) for 1600. I'm going to step it down to 6GB but with a CL of 7. As for the SSD, I may just stuff FSX on it and use my 500GB for the OS/temporary storage. I'm not a freak about Windows loading in 15 seconds flat like I've heard SSD's can do. Would the interaction between FSX and Win7 make putting the OS on a slower drive make a difference? What's the scoop on the AMD GPU's for FSX? Do they just not play as well with FSX?? I've always been kind of a AMD/ATi guy, but I will be running other software/games besides FSX. Also, as for the MoBo, any reason to go with an Asus P8P67 PRO instead of the ASRock??The Asus is more $$ but I don't know much about ASRock.Thanks,Adam

How are you going to configure 6 GB of ram? Nvidia does better with AA in FSX, but if you are running other games, (it depends which ones, but generally), maybe go with AMD.

How are you going to configure 6 GB of ram? Nvidia does better with AA in FSX, but if you are running other games, (it depends which ones, but generally), maybe go with AMD.

3x2?? I thought I read somewhere that DDR3 should be in sets of 3?? Adam

3x2?? I thought I read somewhere that DDR3 should be in sets of 3?? Adam

Sandy Bridge uses dual channel RAM configurations.

Didn't know that, thanks. I guess I'm back to 2 x 4GB which should suit my needs just fine. Thanks,Adam

I think you can install three sticks, but they will run in single channel mode, so it is recommended you keep the dual channel configuration.

Ome more question...is there any sizable difference performance-wise by going with Win7 Ultimate x64 as to opposed to my choice, Win7 Pro x64?Okay, I think I'm done. Here's what it looks like the final spec will be:CPU: Intel i7 2600KMoBo: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 1155SSD: Crucial Real SSD, 128GB Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600Vid Card: EVGA SuperClocked GTX560, 1GB, 256-bitOptical: Cheap ASUS DVD BurnerPSU: Corsair CMPSU-650WCase: Rosewill Challenger OS: Win7 Pro x64 SP1Monitor: 21.5 inch 1900x1080 Hanns-G (forgot about this before)I bumped up the SSD, down the RAM, and up the MoBo due to some things I've read about performance and the new Z68 vs the P67. I hope I'm happy with this rig. I even came in about $120 under budget but really can't stomach spending more. Thanks,Adam

And why not Win 7 Home Premium? or do you need the extra features?

Yes, there are features in Win7 PRO that I need for work...I wouldn't shell out the extra $40 if I didn't need to. Thanks for everyone's help. Once I get the system built, stable, maybe some OC'ing, FSX, etc etc., I will try to post back with some results in case anyone else needs info on a new build system.Adam