This was my first Barebones homebuild and with a lot of great advice i was able to determine what to buy, where to buy it, and easily put it together. Your help thru replies and posts allowed me to put together a great system. Adding some bells and whistles to it like the Alien I fans with a fan controller, UV senstive tie wraps, UV sensitive IDE/power/floppy/SATA Cables,UV senstive split tubing and sound sentive LED light tubes this system looks as great as its specs are.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60008.jpgOne thing I did do wrong was order the Ultra HD instead of the serial so I brought another HD (the serial) since I couldnt return the first as part of the barebones setup. Found a converter to change the Ultra to allow a serial 150 cable but it wouldnt allow a RAID config with the converter so I got plenty of space for now with 2 160G HDs.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60009.jpgMy prior system was a Gateway P4 2gig 512 RDR ram 80gig HD Golden Limited gForce 5600 with the 256ram.My to benchmarks were with AQUAMARK and a FS config.As for Aquamark theresults were using 32bit, 1024x768, no FSAA, 4x Anisotropy, Max details on bothMy old system scored an average 6.77FPSMy new system scored an average 43.77FPSThe Flight sim Benchmark I did was KSEA Clear skies, all sliders maxed, UT installed, 172 in VC, high Noon and the same with Scattered skiesMy old system: skies clear average 6.5-7.5FPS during roll out/Scattered was 4.4 to 6.0FPS during roll outMy new system:skies Clear average 24FPS during roll out/ Scattered average 20FPS during rollouthttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60011.jpgI tested my Video card overclocking and could using auto detect chang my clock spd from 400 to 466 and memory from 700 to 860 if I want to safely overclock my system. With having a total of 8 fans countings the video, the cpu and the two in the power supply the system has plenty of air cooling. So overclocking shouldnt hurt. Just dont know if I should also overclock the CPU. I have a sensor on it showing the temp on my fan controller and want to wait til summer before seeing what I should do with the heat. Otherwise this system is superfast at loading, burning and running stuff. FS9 is amazing and to be able to run it wide open is a dream.So once again many thanks to all those who provided help in getting this system set up.

Looks sweet - best of luck with it!Would you consider uploading an excel sheet with parts, vendors, cost, etc. for others considering going this upgrade route?Best,sg

It was suprising cheap. The overall cost for the computer and keyboard was $2,250.85. I paid extra in shipping because I keep forgetting things when i would order or I had things ship 3day select or even overnight. So shipping charges cost me $183.00.The breakdown was Barebones system: Access MircoCaseHard DriveCPUMoBofloppy driveLite On CD drive$989.13Memory: Kingston187.00(Could of got this cheaper but wanted to make sure I got the real thing and kingston had free shipping)Items from Directron.comSerial HD 139.99 (HD-ST3160023AS)Fans 9.99 (FAN-VCF8025)Fan Controller 39.99 (Port-UC-A8FATR4)IDE Cables Blue and Red 3.99ea (CBL-R-UV-IDE)Floppy Cable 7.99 (CBL-R-UV-FD)Split Tube Flex tubing 1.40/ft (TUBE-LOOM)Aspire Power Supply $68.99 (PS-AS-%00S)SATA Cable 3.99ea (CBL-SATA-Glow)Antec LED Light Tube 14.99 (LT-Light-Tube)Keyboard: XOpenOnline.com44.00 KBZ-EL715Video Card:BuyXtremeGear.com$185.00 (VC-125-102) Free shipping 3 day selectCOMP-U-PLUSSound Card: $160.00Creative DVD drive $170.00Thats the bulk of it.