Gaming machine spec for MSFS2020 (Ultra mode)

Please can I ask the community for advice on the following spec which would be used for MSFS2020 ideally run in 'Ultra' mode.

VR will be added at a later date. To be honest, I'm a novice when it comes to gaming rigs but always save hard to get the best possible kit for the job.



Case
My preference is the Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE. Will the cooler that I have chosen be okay for this case?

Overclocked CPU
This is where I am confused. There are so many opinions out there but the consensus seems to be that if you overclock an Intel i9-10900K, this would perform better that an AMD Ryzen priced equivalent. How true is this? I'd be prepared to scrap going down the intel route if someone can convince me otherwise

Processor Cooling
Have I selected the correct model for this spec of this machine?

Motherboard
Is the motherboard selected a good choice given the specification of the other components? Would a dedicated WIFI card provide better performance than the one that's built into the motherboard? If so, which one would you recommend?

Memory:
I would prefer the following RAM which is a much better option (if only for future system expansion) than 4x16GB but I couldn't see any 32GB strips in the list.
Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz

Graphics Card
Any comments on the RTX 3070? The 3080 takes me over my budget.

SSD Drive
Have I made the right choice here. I understand NVMe storage is the future but do I still need a conventional hard drive for it to work?



Case Model:Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE
Overclocked CPUOverclocked Intel® Core™ i9-10900K 10 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 5.1GHz)
MotherboardGigabyte Z490 AORUS ELITE AC (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX, Wi-Fi) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power SupplyCORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Braided Power Supply CablesCORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Red/Black
Processor CoolingCorsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal PasteARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting2x 50cm White LED Strip
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Windows Recovery MediaWindows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Warranty3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)


Pricing Information
Price (Ex VAT)£2,145.83
Price£2,575.00
Order Quantity1
Bulk Discount£0.00
Total Order Price (Ex VAT)£2,145.83
Total Order Price£2,575.00
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Intel aren't currently to be recommended for many reasons, check out this thread below...


Also consider that Flight Sim will be released on Xbox, which uses an AMD CPU and is therefore better optimised for an AMD based system.

So... can I ask what your budget is and what make and model of monitor you'll be using?
 
Ah, I didn't know that which is exactly what these forums are for.

My budget is £2.5k for the build excluding the monitor, controller, keyboard etc.

I've not purchased the monitor yet but the max size for now would have to be 27".

Must have's.....

Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE
RAM: 64GB minimum (ideally 2 x 32GB). Not keen on using up all DIMM space.
Processor, Power Supply & Cooler: Ideally, all Corsair
Motherboard: Built in WIFI or if separate card if will make a noticeable difference.
Hard drive: 2TB SSD NVMe preferred. No need for additional second drive storage.

System ideally to be overclocked or whatever needed to run FS2020 at its best.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Well I’ve specced up an alternate build for you that would make mincemeat of the Intel. Couple of things of note... the case is just a placeholder as the one you want isn’t currently in the configurator. I’ve put 32GB of fast RAM in there as this iteration of Flight Sim isn’t as memory hungry as previous iterations. If you really wanted 64GB in 2x32GB, you’d be best off ordering from PCS with one stick of the cheapest RAM and then sourcing and installing your preferred choice yourself. AMD chips have a built in frequency boost so they don’t actually need to be overclocked. And finally, I’ve put the fastest possible M.2 drive in there as a boot drive, just for OS and programs. That way it will stay superfast, if you load up a 2TB drive with stuff it will inevitably slow down. I would’ve ideally put another 2TB M.2 in there for Flight Sim to go on separately but that was taking you over budget so have substituted a standard SSD in there.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W AX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® TITANIUM
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £2,491.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2QqxvPgm0M/
 
I'm going to push the budget.... Could you please update the spec from the standard SSD to another 2TB M.2.

Do I need an 850W power supply? Isn't this a tad overkill? What are we looking at in terms of output for this machine?

I will order the RAM elsewhere. Which 2 x 32GB modules would you recommend? Frequency?

Thanks so much.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Okay, I'll refresh the spec with the RAM removed and the second M.2 added. The reason for a higher spec PSU is to allow you headroom to upgrade in future (if you want a 4000 series Nvidia card in a few years and they turn out to be power hungry!) and also that if your power supply isn't having to work at it's upper threshold, it's going to last a lot longer.

It's recently come to light that the 5900X and it's siblings gain a performance boost when the RAM is split amongst all four slots. So a good high frequency option would be...


But if you were set on just using two slots...


Here's the spec...

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W AX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® TITANIUM
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £2,469.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/8TPcgTVdQu/
 
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