Budget build for Microsoft Flight Sim

[Jake563]

I've been cruising the forums here for days and everybody seems to want advice for the best simulator build with budgets much higher than mine. I'm a flight instructor, not a gamer. That means two things: I don't care about awesome graphics, and I have a small budget. This will be for IFR training, so rendering complex scenery isn't a big deal. I'll be seeing fog. I understand FS takes massive CPU speed rather than powerful GPU. Can y'all recommend me builds I can do for 500 or less optimized for FS? I have FS 2004 but I may upgrade to X if somebody convinces me x is better. Please include everything from psu to ram to mobo. Case too if anyone knows cheap ones that aren't complete junk! My laptop didn't even come close to trying... Thank you!

[CRJ_simpilot]

With a $500 budget you're almost limited to an AMD CPU.

 

Here's a parts list. You may want to chose your own case. Do note the compatibility notes which says you may need to update the BIOS in the motherboard. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fht3vV

 

I would use Windows 7. Windows 10 is complete spying junk. Also, always install FS into the root of C:\ and not into the programs folder otherwise you may have issues if you do chose to add any addons.