I have two processors right now, the i7 965 and the i7 970. I plan to leave everything at stock settings. Both of them have a 3.2GHz clock speed, however the 965 is an "extreme" 45nm quad-core and the 970 is a 32nm hex-core. Which one would perform better with FSX?Thanks in advance.

I'd say 970. Simply because of cores. And since the same speed, I don't believe tech is going to matter much here.

My main concern is that the i7 965 shows a 6.4GT/s QPI and the 970's spec has a lower number, 4.8. Would that have an impact?My other specs now by the way:Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit with latest updatesEVGA x58 FTW 3 MainboardMushkin Redline Enhanced 12GB DDR3 1600 CL6300GB WD Velociraptor Hard Drive (OS dedicated)600GB WD Velociraptor Hard Drive (FSX dedicated)2 1TB WD Caviar Black Hard Drives for additional storage/screenshots/Fraps video1200 watt Thermaltake ToughPower power supply

My main concern is that the i7 965 shows a 6.4GT/s QPI and the 970's spec has a lower number, 4.8. Would that have an impact?

Not in terms of FSX. I tested different QPIs on my old 920. No impact whatsoever.

Technically Bloomfield's smaller L3 cache has fewer cycles of latency than does Gulftown's, resulting in a minor IPC gain for Bloomfield, but the difference is not observable, and is only measurable in very low percentile differences. Bottom line: as long as you're not paying more for the 970, go with it.