Being as i am a relative novice in the OC game, i find the Asus boards so easy to learn on.

I've used the p8p67-pro & p8z68-deluxe from ASUS. I would recommend either board to someone wanting to build.

Both the AMD phenoms and the Intel Sandy Bridges overclock just fine. AMD is much less expensive which might allow you a little more money to spend on you MoBo or Ram. ASUS motherboards do have very nice overclocking utilities. I think the consensus here is Nvidia graphics cards work a little better than the ATI. Since you appear to be new to computer building, make sure all your components are compatible, and make sure you have a good power supply. $1000 is at the low end of the minimum budget for a decent new rig. Look for components that might be one or two steps off state of the art. Should be able to save you some money. There is an entire subforum on hardware that you might want to take a look at. http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131646 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127565 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139009 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231313 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103727 This setup (AMD) comes in at just under $700. These are the same items I bought over a year ago for $1200. It's a very nice setup. I'm assuming you will use your old monitor and case. The biggest single improvement in my system was when I added an Intel SSD. The differences between the SSD and even a Velociraptor is significant.

For processors go with any Intel K series, make sure you get the K and sandy bridge. It has been very good to me. The gtx 460 so far has been perfect for fsx. I am running this airplane, REX,GEX,ExDok,ASE crazy addon airports, 1024 clouds and all sliders except cars and boats on max. Light bloom had to be shut off and all I care is that I cannot see frames go by. I must have22 or above. That is all you need is 22, movie style.The parts in my sig are a good starting spot. The new EFI bios on some of the new motherboards are great. I am running this at the stock 3.3ghz for the i2500k. This week however is overclocking week and my first attempt will be 4.4ghz so I can turn the light bloom and traffic up and give overhead for my new HD monitor for mega high resolution in HD. Spend the 1400 bucks and do it right. All the little nicknacks add up and you walk out the door 400 over budget. For example, spend the extra 50 on win 7 pro vs home so you can eventually use over 13 gb of ram, I am running 8 now but plan on 16. Forget SLI but get at least a 700 watt psu so you can upgrade your video card later to a 570 in a year or two when the price drops. The coolermaster 212 cpu cooler is a great choice for a cooler if you plan to oc, which is why you went with the sandy bridge K right? In a nutshell, the system I put together for $1000 ended up costing $1400. Had I not splerged on a new keyboard and mouse it would have been $1300 but this $300 dollar difference gave many more future upgrade options thus costing less in the future because you must think about the future with computers and flight simulators. Hope this helps

specs in my sig. this is all you need.