Reference my post ``FSX crash ntdll.dll `` on 02 February 2012, I have taken note of your expert remarks and decided to revamp my PC. Want to keep ANTEC Nine Hundred Ultimate Case, ENERMAX Galaxy 850w PSU and install new :Intel Core i7 2600K, 3.4Ghz 8MB cache Sandy Bridge CPU. (no overclocking)ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3Nvidia GeForce GTX 560Ti, 1GB, GDDR5 and 256-bit memoryZalman CNPS11 x ExtremeCORSAIR 8GB (2x 4GB) DIMM-8gb PC3-12800 1600Mhz DDR3, 9-9-9-24Western Digital WD10EALX Caviar Blue 1TB, 7200RPM, SATA-III, 32MBWould welcome any comments.Forgot to mention most important point, changing to MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Very nice! Once you get FSX installed plus addons and your system is stable, then you can look into overclocking, at least up to 4.2 GHz. Also remember to 'slowly' move those sliders up to the right. You may still get an occasional ntdll CTD but they should happen less frequently. I don't recall seeing one for at least 6 months and I think they might be gone forever since I reconfigured my memory voltage and frequency settings in the BIOS. Look in the Hardware Forum here for examples of settings others have for the type of memory installed and MB. Good luck!Best regards,Jim

WAIT! Ivy bridge is coming out in a month or two (29th of April is official release date), if you can wait, you will get a new architecture, or the same PC you are looking for now for a lower price. Also 22nm nVidia cards for mainstream range should be ready soon.

Thanks Jim for the remarks. Yes, I have thought about overclocking in the future, but first need to learn about the procedure. Will the 850w and Zalman take the additional heat load ?Assume will now need to part from my old and faithful MS Sidewinder Precision 2. Any suggestion for a simple (no trigger) joystick.Best regards,John

Does your Sidewinder have the red trigger and USB connection? Mine works perfectly with Win 7 64 bit and FSX.

No red trigger and no USB connection, but it works OK with Win 7 32-bit

Will the 850w and Zalman take the additional heat load ?

Yes. There's a pinned thread over in the Hardware Forum with bios settings from others here at AVSIM. Like I said earlier, I'd overclock first to 4.2 then maybe try 4.4. Anything higher than 4.4 is unnecessary IMHO. I used the settings from SpiritFlyer except I went up to 4.8 instead of his very high 5.0 (he's no longer at 5.0). Before that, he called me from Canada and gave me direct assistance as the overclocking of the Sandy Bridge CPU's was very new when we built our systems. We have some pretty cool dudes here....

No red trigger and no USB connection, but it works OK with Win 7 32-bit

The MS Sidewinder Joystick will work with a 64 bit system very well too. I used mine for some time before I got on a buying spree and thought I should try a new joystick (shown in my specs). Your sidewinder must be really old not to have a USB connection. Just based on that I would get a new one.Best regards,Jim