Return to MSFS 2020, looking for new PC recommendations

Hey All,

 

After several years of inactivity, I am preparing to return to swimming with the new release of MSFS2020! I'm in need of a new PC and have begun my research and am looking at a PC to run at High-End to Ultra settings.

 

I've seen the videos, and read some reviews but I want to get a feel for what others are using and recommending. This time my budget will be $2000-$3500. I've looked at Origin PC, and then some pre-made rigs at Best Buy, and other.

 

I plan on using TrackIR again, but will probably upgrade to the latest version. For now I plan to get a single monitor, like a curved 34". Can I use my old controllers like the Sairtek yoke, throttles, and pedals? The plan is to upgrade these as well. I'm looking at the Honeycomb line of yoke and throttle quadrant.

 

Anyway, with the new MSFS I am really looking forward in to returning to flight swimming!

 

Thanks for any suggestions and recommendations! I always appreciate the comments.

 

CDR Shark

I just purchased the Alienware m15r3 with 10th gen i7, 2070 super NVIDIA and 32gig ram. Runs well on max settings. Plenty of ports for external monitor etc.

-Phil

Check out Jetline Systems if you want a prebuilt system. They specialize in flight sim systems and get good reviews. For the hardware, look for something that matches, or exceeds the ideal specs provided by Microsoft. I would also suggest waiting until after AMD announces their new GPUs this fall as well to see how they stack up to Nvidia's latest.

 

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013463459-Minimum-Recommended-and-Ideal-PC-Specifications-for-Microsoft-Flight-Simulator

 

Forgot to add that older controllers do work in the sim, however, you will most likely need to manually map commands to the buttons and axis. There have been several threads in the forums about this, so give it a browse.

I have used AVA Direct on my last three builds, and I have always been very pleased with build quality, pricing and performance, not to mention the vast selection of hardware choice. You will need to do a little research to get the best build for your needs, but they have more options than most. You don't mention what monitor you are running, and that makes a big difference here. If you plan to run 4K, you will need the very top of the line components, I7 10700K and a RTX 3080 for example. If you are running a 1080p monitor, you will probably be fine with an I5 8500 and a RTX 2060s if those are still around? You do need a fast solid state storage device instead of a HD. Also, fast ram is more important in this sim than in older products, so get 32 gig of fast ram, DDR4 at 3200 or faster, and enable XMP.

Hi everyone,

 

This is more of a general computer question, and not one specific to MSFS 2020.

 

Could you please look at my computer specifications as shown in my signature.

 

I thought that I had 16 GB or RAM, and an 8 GB dedicated video card on top of that.

 

Could someone please confirm that that is what I do have.

 

Thank you.

 

Stanley

Hi everyone,

 

This is more of a general computer question, and not one specific to MSFS 2020.

 

Could you please look at my computer specifications as shown in my signature.

 

I thought that I had 16 GB or RAM, and an 8 GB dedicated video card on top of that.

 

Could someone please confirm that that is what I do have.

 

Thank you.

 

Stanley

 

You should start a separate thread in the PC Hardware forum. In the mean time, you can use Speccy to get an overview of what exactly you have installed.

 

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy

Can I suggest you check out the friendly folks over at Thermal Take. They custom build PCs, did my system and it handles Flight Simulator like a Gem! :) If you do, ask to speak to Mike. He worked on my system. Specs are in my signature.

 

Thank you, Ioki and JohnnyJohnJohn. I didn't realize that there was a separate forum on PC hardware.

 

I will go there next. Also, however, thank you for the links.

 

Stanley

No worries Stanley. Also, Thermal Take ships world wide with UPS Freight. It was a bit pricey, but worth it. They pallet the computer, and that way no rough man handling can happen :)

Check out Jetline Systems if you want a prebuilt system. They specialize in flight sim systems and get good reviews. For the hardware, look for something that matches, or exceeds the ideal specs provided by Microsoft. I would also suggest waiting until after AMD announces their new GPUs this fall as well to see how they stack up to Nvidia's latest.

 

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013463459-Minimum-Recommended-and-Ideal-PC-Specifications-for-Microsoft-Flight-Simulator

 

Forgot to add that older controllers do work in the sim, however, you will most likely need to manually map commands to the buttons and axis. There have been several threads in the forums about this, so give it a browse.

 

I called up and spoke to the guys at Jetline Systems and they answered all my questions and more. They didn't try to up-sell me on any unwanted hardware or accessories. After about 20 minutes, they offered to call me back to get started. Within minutes they called me back and we went step by step and built a solid system which will include the new RTX 3080 GPU and i9 10850K 5.2GHz CPU with 32GB RAM.

 

I'm really looking forward to setting this up and getting back in the cockpit!