I guess that by going for an 'i' series chip, you stand a better chance of being able to upgrade at some point in the future although having or buying a current mobo is no guarantee of a 'future' series cpu working without some fiddling.. eg, a bios upgrade. Rule 1.. go for the very best you can afford for your money
Two things above all others will slow or stop flightsim, whichever version you have. These are a) running complicated weather and/or b) loading up with AI. I think Peter mentioned a few days ago that even on his system.. landing at larger airports like LHR where lots of AI will naturally live, he has to turn traffic down to a very low level before arriving. It is very easy to get carried away and make a perfectly good situation a very bad one with over zealous use of weather and/or AI
