Budget Build: About to order and would appreciate comments

[snpower 16]

Ok so I've got everything in the cart and ready to go. Plan on using existing 250GB WD drive and Radeon GPU (4500 I think) until I get more cash. This was a budget built for a system that will only do two things: run FSX and Xplane. I use REX, PMDG 737, and various other add on aircraft. I'm a pro pilot so I don't anticipate spending more than 10 hours per month in the sim. If you think I've $%&@ up with my components, or know of cheaper ones that will work just as/nearly well... please speak up. I'm a Mac devotee and have been trying to school myself on PCs. Major considerations were upgradability and SLI ability at some point. Thanks!!!

[Humpty 751]

The setup looks good except the 4500 may bottleneck the CPU.

[Superpilotv2 2]

Looks good except the fact that the MOBO you´ve decided is an micro-ATX. this means that it´s smaller than normal ATX ones. I don´t know whether this is SLI ready cause micro-ATX boards have mostly a very limited number of GFX ports.

[snpower 16]

Great catch. Alternative MOBO recommendations, if you don't mind please?I would assume just switch to the ATX version of the same board unless there's a better one at that price point.

[ZachLW 37]

Great catch. Alternative MOBO recommendations, if you don't mind please?I would assume just switch to the ATX version of the same board unless there's a better one at that price point.

The micro ATX form factor is just fine. It's more a macho thing when people hate on them. That being said, the cheaper Asrock Z68 lines are great budget mobos. Specifically the Pro3 (Great mobo).

[Charlatan 68]

The micro ATX form factor is just fine. It's more a macho thing when people hate on them. That being said, the cheaper Asrock Z68 lines are great budget mobos. Specifically the Pro3 (Great mobo).

Seconded. Got one when my MSI P67A-C45 bit the dust. While I got to 4.5ghz on the MSI, the board was always very flaky (not due to the overclock). Swapped it for the Asrock as my supplier wasn't stocking the MSI any more, and straight upto 4.5ghz, and the computer has now been running without a peep, without being switched off even, for about 10 weeks.

[ryanbatc 12,859]

Looks fine. I'd seriously consider a better video card though. I guess you can turn down some settings (especially if you're just working instrument stuff) but earlier ATI/AMD cards really choked in FSX. Also you mentioned SLI - doesn't do a whole lot for FSX. Not sure what it would do for XP. If I were you I'd get a GTX 560ti for starters.

[snpower 16]

Great input from everyone!! Looks like I gotta get the GPU right now too.