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Am I Smart to Buy This Hardware For MSFS 2020?


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I am about to re-build my FSX computer (or, have my tech do it), and I have spent some time researching what's out there and what might be best for me, considering my limited resources. The following is a list of hardware I am prepared to buy, but I would very much appreciate any constructive criticism about the wisdom of these purchases. Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

--- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler

---ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

---MSI GeForce GTX 1660 DirectX 12 GTX 1660 GAMING X 6G 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

--- ASUS TUF Gaming VG27VQ 27” Curved Monitor, 1080P Full HD, 165Hz (Supports 144Hz), Freesync, 1ms, Extreme Low Motion Blur, Eye Care, DisplayPort HDMI,Black

 

Lee Graves

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I think that video card might be a little weak for the monitor you show. I would think this might be a better choice.

Asus PHOENIX RTX2060 GeForce

especially with an Asus MB and Asus monitor.

You didn't mention memory, but at least 16gb of ram would be needed on MB.

I7-9700K, RTX-2070, Asus Strix Z-390-H MB, 32gb G Skill 3000 CL15, Corsair Obsidian 750D case, WD Black 1tb M.2, Crucial CT500MX SSD, Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium PSU
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“at least 16gb of ram would be needed”

 

I’d go for 32Gb - it’s fairy cheap these days anyway

 

Regards

Steve

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If you're looking specifically at MSFS I wouldn't recommend doing anything right now. There are still many open questions about the actual in-game hardware needs. It's going to be several months before the air is clear enough to talk about definitive hardware specifications.
Intel 10700K @ 5.0 Ghz, Asus Maxumus XII Hero MB, Noctua NH-U12A Cooler, Corsair Vengence Pro 32GB 3200Mhz, Geforce RTX 2060 Super GPU, Cooler Master HAF 932 Tower, Thermaltake 1000W Toughpower PSU, Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit, and other good stuff.
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A lot of that depends on the user's implementation and expectations. I assume the minimum specs won't satisfy many on this forum, probably most settings would end up looking like FS2004, with all the detail and new technology detuned. If you have a good internet connection, I would expect you could enjoy the sim, particularly since the original poster is going with a 1080P monitor, with the recommended specs, but I would expect these might not be desirable if you often fly in the big city airports and want to implement all the features discussed thus far. With a long expected life, they must be planning to update and add features with time. Will specs change over time, probably, but if you wait for a point of certainty to jump in, you may miss much of the fun. If the original poster does not have some of the minimum spec equipment, he could not run the program at all. While a GTX 560 might have run FSX acceptably, it won't run the new sim at all.

MSFSreq.jpg

I7-9700K, RTX-2070, Asus Strix Z-390-H MB, 32gb G Skill 3000 CL15, Corsair Obsidian 750D case, WD Black 1tb M.2, Crucial CT500MX SSD, Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium PSU
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I think that video card might be a little weak for the monitor you show. I would think this might be a better choice.

Asus PHOENIX RTX2060 GeForce

especially with an Asus MB and Asus monitor.

You didn't mention memory, but at least 16gb of ram would be needed on MB.

 

I highly, highly doubt it. I have a lousy GTX1050TI and it powers a 27" 1080p curved Samsung.

 

Reason why I have a 1050TI is because back when I was in the market to buy a new GPU the damn bitcoin craze was going on and thus the price for GPUs was through the proverbial roof, let alone being able to snatch one up. So because of all the greed heads, I had to settle on a 1050TI to replace my old GTX560TI. Simply had to.

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I am about to re-build my FSX computer (or, have my tech do it), and I have spent some time researching what's out there and what might be best for me, considering my limited resources. The following is a list of hardware I am prepared to buy, but I would very much appreciate any constructive criticism about the wisdom of these purchases. Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

--- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler

---ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

---MSI GeForce GTX 1660 DirectX 12 GTX 1660 GAMING X 6G 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

--- ASUS TUF Gaming VG27VQ 27” Curved Monitor, 1080P Full HD, 165Hz (Supports 144Hz), Freesync, 1ms, Extreme Low Motion Blur, Eye Care, DisplayPort HDMI,Black

 

Lee Graves

 

I don't know what your budget is, but you might wanna consider the 3700x with two more cores and four more threads. https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-7-3700x/p/N82E16819113567?Description=3700x&cm_re=3700x-_-19-113-567-_-Product

 

You never know, the new Sim may be able to utilize it.

 

Also, when you pick RAM you should look at the motherboard manufacturer's QVL sheet available on their website for the motherboard so you make sure the RAM is compatible and won't give you grief down the line. I'm pretty sure a bunch of noobs who build their computer's go on ahead and just buy some Gskill RAM and not even look at the QVL sheet and wonder why the RAM or computer is acting up. Then they blame the motherboard manufacturer or RAM manufacturer by posting an asinine review. I can't tell you how many reviews I've seen that were nonsensical.

 

Yeah, it really is too early right now to make a definitive decision on what hardware you could use based on a budget versus what kind of performance you'll get.

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I think there is a difference in just driving a 27" monitor, and the performance he will need to enjoy this program on a high refresh rate 27" monitor. Just to compare, the GTX1660 has a memory speed of 8GB/Sec, a bandwidth of 192GB/Sec, 1408 cores, and no hardware acceleration. The RTX2060 has a memory speed of 14GB/Sec, a bandwidth of 336GB/Sec, 1920 cores, and includes hardware acceleration. That is a big performance difference.
I7-9700K, RTX-2070, Asus Strix Z-390-H MB, 32gb G Skill 3000 CL15, Corsair Obsidian 750D case, WD Black 1tb M.2, Crucial CT500MX SSD, Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium PSU
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Your post lead me to believe you were solely talking about driving the monitor, not the game, thus my post. Of course better cards will have better bandwidths, etc. However, I'm willing to bet the GPU the OP chose will work alright for "FS2020" anyway.
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The important question is, what is your absolute maximum budget?

 

Personality I'd go for a 3700X, a 2070 video card and 32GB RAM. Throw in a B550 mobo, a cabinet, power supply and 1TB SSD and you're talking around €1400.

 

Not talking about the monitor. I doubt if you need a monitor that's capable of more than than 100Hz for this sim. Freesync may or may not not work with nVidia, to be certain find reviews about your monitor, or ask around.

Edited by Rudy_B
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Even though I am sure the 3700X is cheaper, the new simulator seems to favor Intel at the latest tests. Maybe an I7-10700K instead?
I7-9700K, RTX-2070, Asus Strix Z-390-H MB, 32gb G Skill 3000 CL15, Corsair Obsidian 750D case, WD Black 1tb M.2, Crucial CT500MX SSD, Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium PSU
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Thanks again, to all of you responding to my request for help in choosing the best hardware, considering my budget, to get the best I can out of MSFS 2020. Since my original post, I have upgraded my hardware list by substituting the

 

---EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO GAMING Video Card, 06G-P4-2066-KR, 6GB GDDR6, Dual Fans, Metal Backplate

 

for the GTX 1060. Also, I asked my tech to look for the best price for 32 MB of RAM, at a compatible speed with the Asus ROG B550-F Motherboard. He will buy the appropriate Win 10 version and anything else we need (MS recommendations) to complete the updating of my Antec box from FSX.

 

We agreed a new hard drive was required (is 3 TB enough?...or, larger?). Hard to know in advance, exactly how much is advisable...

 

Please offer any additional comments, advice, or suggestions...And, thanks in advance for any help...

 

Lee Graves

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Thanks again, to all of you responding to my request for help in choosing the best hardware, considering my budget, to get the best I can out of MSFS 2020. Since my original post, I have upgraded my hardware list by substituting the

 

---EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO GAMING Video Card, 06G-P4-2066-KR, 6GB GDDR6, Dual Fans, Metal Backplate

 

for the GTX 1060. Also, I asked my tech to look for the best price for 32 MB of RAM, at a compatible speed with the Asus ROG B550-F Motherboard. He will buy the appropriate Win 10 version and anything else we need (MS recommendations) to complete the updating of my Antec box from FSX.

We agreed a new hard drive was required (is 3 TB enough?...or, larger?). Hard to know in advance, exactly how much is advisable...

 

Please offer any additional comments, advice, or suggestions...And, thanks in advance for any help...

 

Lee Graves

 

Do not buy a Hard Drive. Buy a SSD instead. 1 TB is more than enough.

 

SSD's are far faster and FS 2020 will be downloading and writing to your drive as you fly. A normal hard drive might become a bottleneck and reduce your flight sim performance.

 

You can buy a decent quality 1 TB SSD for about £100.

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Thanks for the tip on SSDs. I scouted around and most reviewers seemed to favor the Addlink S70 1TB SSD. Are they correct?...

 

My tech thinks I should consider a 2 TB SSD. to handle ALL Drive C programs. Any 2 TB recommendations? I probably can't afford the best, but perhaps one closer to the top would be okay for me...Are the 2 TBs anywhere near the 1 TBs in speed? Considering MSFS is the focus here, would it be wiser to stick with a faster 1 TB?...Thanks for any help...

 

Lee Graves

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To be honest not familiar with the Addlink brand.

 

Samsung EVO are without doubt the best performing SSD out there at the moment but they come with a hefty price.

I personally put a 250 GB Samsung EVO Plus in my build as a boot drive reserved for windows only and then added a Sabrent Rocket 1 TB SSD to install my other software. 1 TB should be more than enough storage unless you are going to be installing absolutely loads of games.

 

Sabrent is my personal SSD of choice, recognised as top quality, great prices, and great performance too.

 

 

 

Personally I usually go with the reviews on Partpicker

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

 

All the reviews there are by ordinary customers who have actually bought and used these parts and are not being sponsored or making any money out of persuading you to buy a particular brand. If a part gets 4 or 5 stars you know you are buying a quality part.

 

It is also a great website for finding deals.

You simply go to create your custom PC select the parts you are looking for and it will give you best available prices for what you want. If you want to change which country it searches simply change the flag on the right in the options at top of the page.

 

 

Something to be aware of. If your system board allows installation of a NVME SSD then use one of them.

Far faster than a normal SSD that would connect to a normal SATA connections at not much more cost.

Edited by efanton
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You could also consider something like this if your MB supports it.

Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 ~#150 for 1TB probably cheaper if you search.

I7-9700K, RTX-2070, Asus Strix Z-390-H MB, 32gb G Skill 3000 CL15, Corsair Obsidian 750D case, WD Black 1tb M.2, Crucial CT500MX SSD, Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium PSU
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I am about to re-build my FSX computer (or, have my tech do it), and I have spent some time researching what's out there and what might be best for me, considering my limited resources. The following is a list of hardware I am prepared to buy, but I would very much appreciate any constructive criticism about the wisdom of these purchases. Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

--- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler

---ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

---MSI GeForce GTX 1660 DirectX 12 GTX 1660 GAMING X 6G 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

--- ASUS TUF Gaming VG27VQ 27” Curved Monitor, 1080P Full HD, 165Hz (Supports 144Hz), Freesync, 1ms, Extreme Low Motion Blur, Eye Care, DisplayPort HDMI,Black

 

Lee Graves

 

I would go with nvidea over amd for a flight sim.

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I can vouch for WD SN750 performance. This was loading time for FSX, clicking the sim icon to aircraft idling on runway...

 

With WD VelociRaptor 10K RPM mechanical HDD's...

 

5 minutes, 17 seconds

 

With WD SN750 NVMe drives...

 

2 minutes, 42 seconds

Gigabyte GA-X99 Gaming G1, i7-5960X, Noctua NH-D14, Crucial Ballistix Elite 64Gb, Nvidia GTX Titan X, Creative ZxR, Ableconn PEXM2-130, WD Black SN750 250Gb & 2Tb NVMe/Gold 10Tb HDD, Sony BDU-X10S BD-ROM, PC Power & Cooling 1200w, Cosmos C700M, Noctua iPPC 140mm x6, Logitech M570/K800, WinX64 7 Ultimate/10 Pro
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IMHO the smart decision would be to buy zero hardware before they state what is needed;) Take a breath!! Smell the roses!! This isn't the sixth day of creation!!! There have been many "flight sims" before and there will hopefully be many more after!!

 

Michael

Edited by Rupert
Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow.
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When I looked around the web for reviews and advice about 1 TB SSDs, I found a number of favorable articles about the Addlink S70 MVNe 1 TB SSD. In many instances it matched or topped the most popular SSDs (WD, Samsung) in various important areas. Please check out the link below to the PCWorld article (typical) and let me know if I'm missing something, or should the S70 be my 1 TB SSD choice?...

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3405888/addlink-s70-nvme-ssd-review.html

 

Lee Graves

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When I looked around the web for reviews and advice about 1 TB SSDs, I found a number of favorable articles about the Addlink S70 MVNe 1 TB SSD. In many instances it matched or topped the most popular SSDs (WD, Samsung) in various important areas. Please check out the link below to the PCWorld article (typical) and let me know if I'm missing something, or should the S70 be my 1 TB SSD choice?...

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3405888/addlink-s70-nvme-ssd-review.html

 

Lee Graves

 

On paper it all looks good. They include a 512mb cache which a lot of the cheaper SSD's skimp on, 3D NAND technology, and if their claims of total writes are true then theses SSD's will last a long time.

 

I find it very hard to believe that they could even come close to the performance of Samsung EVO SSD's for the very simply reason that Samsung SSD's come with a huge cache in comparison.

12 GB for 250 GB model, 22 GB for 500 GB model, 42 GB for 1 TB model and 78 GB for 2/4 TB. Compare the paltry 512mb offered by Addlink to the truly massive 42GB offered by Samsung and you can clearly see what Samsung EVO's are considered the best that money can buy, but obviously at a much more hefty cost. The flip side to that is how often will you be writing more than 512mb of data to your drive at any one time? Very rarely, except for the occasional software install.

 

Having said that there are only two manufactures of the actual memory chips used by all SSD's on the market, Samsung and Hynix , both proven to be very reliable.

The difference between the different brands of SSD's really comes down to three things, the amount of onboard cache, whether they are 3D NAND or not (3D NAND being better, cheaper budget SSD do not use it), and the level of support provided after sale.

 

My reluctance to endorse the Addlink SSD would simply be down to after sales support, and the fact that they are a 'new kid on the block' and to a large extent an unknown quantity. Personally I had never heard of them before your post and I have been in the IT industry for decades. If their after sales is good then they look like a company that will do well with the performance they are offering.

 

 

 

Personally I would go with a Sabrent Rocket SSD which I think you will find is cheaper both in the UK and US, has equal or better performance. has great after sales support, are a known brand that has been tried and tested and are a favourite of PC builder enthusiasts

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LGF54XR?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

 

 

But given the specs of the SSD you posted a link for, you will not be disappointed by the performance of that SSD if you buy it.

Edited by efanton
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My thanks EFANTON, for your comprehensive and detailed analysis. All things considered, I'm more comfortable going with the

Sabrent Rocket. Sabrent is a known, established company; while Addlink is still an unknown quanity...Thanks again, for helping me...

 

Lee Graves

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Having said that there are only two manufactures of the actual memory chips used by all SSD's on the market, Samsung and Hynix.

 

I use Crucial products and all of them use Micron technology. So there's a third. https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-memory/truth-about-memory-manufacturers

 

As to the cache thing, I find that to be a little odd about needing it at all from the standpoint of a flash-based memory chip. The data being written and read to the memory in of its self is already going to be as fast as a cache that uses the same memory chip/s. Also, and at least this is true for my Crucial SSD, in its software I can enable something that Crucial calls "Momentum Cache." This in effect takes a portion of your SSD storage and uses it like a page file of sorts. When I have it on my HDD speed tests are through the roof because of it. It's really an artificial number, but it shows that from a software perspective a "cache" can be created with no hardware needed. Never mind the aforementioned statement on how I think a cache for an already flash-based medium is kinda pointless. I just don't understand how that would change IOPS or anything no matter how massive this "cache" is.

 

Here's some more Info. on this budget M.2 drive. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/addlink-s70

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