Compatibility Questions

[jflyerguy]

Hello all,

If it all possible, I am looking for a desktop PC that is semi budget-friendly ($500-$600) that will run Flight Simulator 2020. Nothing too high-end and over the top, but smooth. I know it is a hefty piece of software though. I found one last night, but looking at it today from Best Buy, it's sold out now. 

 

http://tinyurl.com/mrxv98mx

 

Then I came across this one from HP on Amazon. Thoughts? http://tinyurl.com/m25d88ep

 

Please feel free to suggest other options too! Thank you in advance. 

 

Best

-Jordan 

[davidc2]

I can't speak to the AMD processor, but I would go with at least 16 of RAM, and a much bigger SSD.  Or a separate one.  The 256 gig would used for the system, and the second one for the sim and add on's.

[chicagorandy]

That is an older model desktop(note the Windows 10). I did see they have a newer version available but it is near double your specified budget. I do agree that 16mb Ram and perhaps a 500gb or 1TB NVMe SSD?

 

With MSFS 2024 coming relatively soon, I might consider waiting till the specs for that are available before making a PC purchase.

[Kapitan]

Budget PC, yes, expect usd 1200. But you can also buy a used gaming PC all set and ready for around 800

Search Marketplace Facebook in your area

Lets start by the most impoprtant piece. Video card. Buy a used nvidia RTX (any brand) with 8gb, expect pay usd 200

Next an i5 processor or better, clock speed above 3ghz. Stick to Intel make

motherboard DDR5 compatible preferred

RAM memory 16gb or better DDR4 or DDR5

A good power supply of real watts for gaming with 6pin and 8pin inbuilt entries (for the video card) 600watts or 700 watts

The best monitor you can afford, 4k ready. Dont use TV or a too large monitor, if its a desktop yo need to sit near it

A good used joystick of your choice

 

[plainsman]

This is about the minimum specs for a new computer that would run MSFS with acceptable results . This would not be smooth and you would probably need to run at a mix of low and medium settings. I notice in another thread,  you are wanting to add equipment and workers and traffic. These will make even more demand on your system, Be careful not  to fall for a system without enough storage capacity. The program requires rather large swap files, and a small drive at 80% capacity is probably going to result in problems!

[KiloWatt]

On 1/7/2024 at 8:04 AM, Kapitan said:

Budget PC, yes, expect usd 1200. But you can also buy a used gaming PC all set and ready for around 800

Search Marketplace Facebook in your area

Lets start by the most impoprtant piece. Video card. Buy a used nvidia RTX (any brand) with 8gb, expect pay usd 200

Next an i5 processor or better, clock speed above 3ghz. Stick to Intel make

motherboard DDR5 compatible preferred

RAM memory 16gb or better DDR4 or DDR5

A good power supply of real watts for gaming with 6pin and 8pin inbuilt entries (for the video card) 600watts or 700 watts

The best monitor you can afford, 4k ready. Dont use TV or a too large monitor, if its a desktop yo need to sit near it

A good used joystick of your choice

 

 

I've run the sim on Intel and AMD CPUs  as well as nVidia and AMD GPUs. Both work very well and I didn't have any issues with any combination, as long as the components are powerful enough to run the sim. My suggestion would be to get whatever combination is the best value for money at any given time.

 

I'd also say that a 4k "ready" (not sure what the "ready" means) might consume budget that would be better spent elsewhere if the goal is a budget system; even 1440p may be unnecesarry, because it doesn't seem that Jordan is interested in that kind of fidelity.

[KiloWatt]

18 hours ago, plainsman said:

This is about the minimum specs for a new computer that would run MSFS with acceptable results . This would not be smooth and you would probably need to run at a mix of low and medium settings. I notice in another thread,  you are wanting to add equipment and workers and traffic. These will make even more demand on your system, Be careful not  to fall for a system without enough storage capacity. The program requires rather large swap files, and a small drive at 80% capacity is probably going to result in problems!

 

Oh I don't know. I think that system would perform similar to yours, plainsman. A quick internet search shows the following:

 

The cinebench R23 scores comparing a i7-9700 with the i5-12400F:

 

i7-9700: Single thread score - 1181 | Multi-thread score:  8540

i5-12400F: Single thread score - 1623 | Multi-thread score:  12454

 

The newer i5 is considerably better. I know you have the 9700K, but that won't make up the difference.

 

Now the GPU:

RTX 2070: 3D Mark Firestrike 1080p - 25999

RX6600: 3D Mark Firestrike 1080p - 24202

 

The cards perform essentially the same. Granted, the RTX has DLSS support, but I've heard that causes issues with UI elements. You also need DX12 to be active, which seems to be hit-or-miss if it works well.

 

Regardless, without any upscaling, the performance would be about the same as your system and slightly better than mine. And I'm pretty satisfied with a 40-45 FPS on my settings (mostly high and some ultra settings).

[plainsman]

Hi KiloWatt,

I agree that based on CPU & GPU, his performance in MSFS would only be about 6% less than mine (based on MSFS in Howmanyframes site), I added the comment about not to expect smooth performance based on two things. The budget system motherboard won't allow him to run a M.2 drive. Based on UserBenchmark site the PNY CS900 with 480GB size will only be less than 20% of the WD SN750. I would expect that system to have some load lag and occasional stuttering from the data read off the storage device, Second, on another thread the OP stated he wanted to have scenery traffic, both aircraft and personnel and equipment active. I run with only minimal equipment and personnel, and moderate aircraft traffic with cars almost off.  I  have never run 1080p, I started out at the odd resolution of 1920x1200, which is about 133% greater than 1080p in pixels, and eventually went to 1440p. The program is also less demanding now than at release. I run my fps capped at 30fps in Nvidia and my system runs that without much drop in the area I usually fly. If however I go into St Louis, my fps does create some stuttering. Out at KFMZ, I run stutter free. I don't know what areas the OP will usually fly, but I wanted to suggest a caveat if he is going to use LA or NYC.,