All of my Christmas shopping is done and I have a few dollars left over so I'm trying to decide what would give me a little better performance. I'm thinking of a SSD for my operating system or a GTX 580. My current specs are in my signature. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Despite its tendency to run hot, your 480 is a very nice card. I would definitely pick up an SSD (I would recommend the Crucial M4 or the Samsung 830). Wait for Kepler to make any more GPU purchases. If it were me, I would just throw down on a 256GB SSD, so I didn't have to partition out my mechanical drive to store photos, videos, music, and other personal files in addition to FSX.

Despite its tendency to run hot, your 480 is a very nice card. I would definitely pick up an SSD (I would recommend the Crucial M4 or the Samsung 830). Wait for Kepler to make any more GPU purchases. If it were me, I would just throw down on a 256GB SSD, so I didn't have to partition out my mechanical drive to store photos, videos, music, and other personal files in addition to FSX.

Yeah, I think I agree with Corey. If you could stand the heat and noise up to now, and you don't need the last little bit of rendering performance a 580GTX might bring, go for the SSD. It will make you grin from ear to ear.Kind regards,

Thanks Corey and Stephen for your insights. Corey, are you recommending using the 256GB SSD for the OS and keeping FSX on a mechanical drive? I currently have FSX on a 1TB drive by itself. All of my pics,music etc. are on an external drive.

OK guys, I purchased the Crucial M4 256GB SSD. Can I use a current image of my OS or do I have to do a compete clean install of Windows 7?

OK guys, I purchased the Crucial M4 256GB SSD. Can I use a current image of my OS or do I have to do a compete clean install of Windows 7?

What did you use to do the image?

Dario, I normally use Acronis true Image.

If it's 2012, it supports SSD's. 2010 doesn't, but there are ways to get the partition aligned.Things to check when switching to an SSD:- AHCI enabled: if you installed Win 7 with the controller set to IDE, you'll need to run the registry fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976- Partition aligned. Let us know what version of Acronis you are using- TRIM enabled:- Disable Win 7 scheduled defrags- Disable hibernation- Disable Drive Indexing for the SSD

Thanks Dario. The drive won't be here until Monday and I just got a special offer for the new version of True Image so I should be good to go. Thanks for your help.

Thanks Dario. The drive won't be here until Monday and I just got a special offer for the new version of True Image so I should be good to go. Thanks for your help.

It's not absolutely necessary to upgrade, it can be done "manually" and get the partition aligned, but it will be automatic with versions 2011 and 2012http://kb.acronis.com/content/2699

Thanks Corey and Stephen for your insights. Corey, are you recommending using the 256GB SSD for the OS and keeping FSX on a mechanical drive? I currently have FSX on a 1TB drive by itself. All of my pics,music etc. are on an external drive.

That's an awesome Christmas present, Mike! I know newegg reviews aren't exactly scientific, but the M4 has phenomenal reviews across the entire M4 series. Let us know how you like it once you have it installed.I would partition the SSD, install the OS and programs on the first partition, and then move all my libraries (see attached image) to the other. That way you can wipe out the OS partition any time you want without worrying about backing anything up.SSD Partition 1 (~125GB): Operating System and ProgramsSSD Partition 2 (~125GB): Libraries (see attached picture)Mechanical Drive: FSX and everything FSX relatedDon't worry too much where you align the partition at first as you can change it later (to some extent).