This is my one out of thousand roads which lead to Rome:
Windows 7 - 32bit Home Premium + all non-FS Programs on harddisk.
Memory: 4GB RAM (more than 4GB does not make much sense for a 32bit OS, even if I had the 64bit OS installed, FSX will not benefit from any extra memory because it still is a 32bit program. Even flying over a dense urban area, the task manager indicates the amount of total used RAM stays well below 2GB.
FSX + addon scenery + addon aircraft on a dedicated SSD. Using the SSD really did speed up the time it takes to load the program. Path does not influence speed so I would stick to the default suggested by the installer: \Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\
Conclusion: If you want to buy another HD specially for FSX or the scenery files, go for an SSD. Assuming you run Vista 32bit I would not invest in more than 4GB RAM. Some tweaking of the FSX.CFG file will probably help you more - Jesus Bojote has an excellent tool for that:
http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html
And this is what most experts say: To run FSX with minimal stutters you need a fat CPU with high clock speeds, preferably 3.5 - 4.0 Ghz.
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