That MSFS question again.

[SJA914]

Hi Folks,

Hope you're all well.

I bought a PC from here before, and it has served me well. I ran it pretty hard and it's probably time for a new one, all things considered. Does the below look like something that could run Microsoft Flight Simulator on highish settings (maybe not at complete max) in 2023? My current GPU is a mere 4GB and handled it on medium.

Case
PCS 6003B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.3GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

I'm a bit cash-strapped at the moment due to a missus with an expensive taste in overseas holidays (!), so I'd like to keep it below about £1,300 if possible. Bearing in mind I bought a PC from here in early 2020 for £800 that ran MSFS on medium, and that things have come along a bit, I'm wondering how the above build would fare, if you know please? I don't really know anything about PC builds or what my current motherboard, power supply and basic air cooling could withstand, but it's starting to fade, given how hard I pushed it.

 

[SpyderTracks]

To be honest, you risk repeating the same mistake. A well configured system will last 7 to 10 years with just a gpu upgrade during that time.

If you keep cutting corners to save cash, you'll end up paying far more over the long term while having a poor visual experience.

I would suggest saving up more, you need a 7800x3d platform as a minimum.

 

[SJA914]

Yeah, probably right. Maybe I'll expand budget to £1,500+ and see what I can do with it. I never intended to play MSFS when I bought the old build, as it handled my FL Studio and Football Manager just perfectly. Simulation was only a recent thing for me

 

[sck451]

Here's as solid a system as you're going to get under £1500 for MSFS. I would agree that a 7800X3D would be a good investment for MSFS (it's an additional £150 above this system). Ideally it would want a better cooler, but the FrostFlow 150 air cooler would probably be enough for just gaming/flight sim purposes.

I'd also urge you not to pay so much attention to VRAM on graphics cards. It's an aspect of performance, but not the only one. You should look at the graphics card's overall performance, not at one statistic about the card.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6750 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,450.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/DkZAp!P6Ne/

 

[SJA914]

That's some solid advice @sck451 - thanks for the build suggestion! With my last build I went for an 8 core CPU @ 3.7GHz as at the time I just wanted processing oomph and didn't factor graphics in so much. This time perhaps I overcompensated.

 

[Scott]

Unfortunately the metric you chose the processor on falls foul of the same consideration as the vRAM count. It's not that simple unfortunately.

The 7800X3D has significantly less frequency than other chips, but it smashes them out of the park thanks to the 3D cache.

There are so many things to consider when looking for performance, high level shiny numbers on the box are just to get you to spend your hard earned.

If you consider your position, you're looking to have spent ITRO £2.2k in 3 years on PCs. If you had spent ITRO £1500 in 2020 you wouldn't be here right now. We always advise going for a platform that you can upgrade. The GPU is the obvious thing.

With the build above, if you go for it as it stands. You would likely want to upgrade the CPU, cooler and the GPU. If you spend a little more right now you will only have to upgrade the GPU to stay relevant. It's a sliding scale but there is a sweet spot for value IMO.