Replacement desktop for MSFS 2020

I am based in Lancashire, England and I started flying with MS Flight Simulator many years ago when it came on a single floppy disc and have purchased every incarnation up to FSX. In order to run FSX and the Level D 767 I took the plunge, after lots of advice from this forum, and built a desktop based on an Intel Core 2 Duo 8400, which I subsequently overclocked to 4.3 Ghz (from 3.0Ghz). I am still using this machine almost 12 years later! I currently run PMDG 737 and 777 on this machine.

I am now starting to look at a new build to run MSFS 2020. I am completely out of date with the current hardware and after a little research I have come across the following, pre-built at Scan.co.uk.

ASUS ROG STRIX B550-E gaming,

RYZEN 7 5800X,

32GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO 3200MHz,

EVGA RTX 3060 Ti,

SAMSUNG 970 EVO 500GB (x2),

2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA

CORSAIR RM650x

CORSAIR HYDRO H150i

Alternative motherboard and CPU:-

ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-F GAMING

INTEL i7 10700

Both systems are approximately the same price at almost £2150, a considerable investment! I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. I am not in a hurry and would like to get the spec right, hopefully it will last as long as my existing machine.

I dont think there is much between them. Both have 8 cores and a base clock of 3.8ghz. It comes down to if you prefer Intel or AMD.

Both will run MSFS just fine with most settings at the high end. MSFS appears to use the GPU more than the CPU.

Like all of our previous sims there is no PC built yet to run it full tilt with everything maxed but you won't be disappointed other than the fact that you'll have to wait for a high end addon like PMDG for a while yet.

I have a very similar system i7 10700 and 2080ti and I am super pleased with the result.

Regards

Stinger

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Thank you stinger for your comments. I am trying to get the correct spec, for a reasonable price, before I decide if there is sufficient savings to be made by building myself compared to pre-built.

I understand that the sim streams the scenery as you fly: what internet download speed does this require?

Regards Terry

They dont stipulate a minimum broadband speed because the game can be run by downloading scenery ahead before you fly.

My personal download speed is around 60gb/s and works well.

If you have particularly low speed you might want to consider the boxed version if you can get it although you will still need to download updates, which are frequent.

Again, if you have slow broadband prepare yourself for a long download when you first install. It took me 15 hours, although a lot of people were installing at the same time as me so your experience may be better.

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They do actually give bandwidth recommendations in the system requirements. 5 Mb/s is the minimum, 20 Mb/s is recommended and 50 Mb/s (or higher) is ideal.

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

They do actually give bandwidth recommendations in the system requirements. 5 Mb/s is the minimum, 20 Mb/s is recommended and 50 Mb/s (or higher) is ideal.

 

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

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Thank you for the info. I am currently getting 30 - 36 Mb/s so that should be OK according to the recommendations, although I appreciate any downloads will take a considerable amount of time.

Just one more question. Does the boxed version come with the complete scenery and remove the need to stream scenery when flying?

Regards

Terry

Just one more question. Does the boxed version come with the complete scenery and remove the need to stream scenery when flying?

 

Regards

 

Terry

The boxed edition only saves you from downloading the locally installed sim application and generic offline scenery. As the streamed scenery is many, many times too large to be sold on disc, they used 2 petabytes of data to generate it, you will still need an internet connection.

After looking round for the various components and comparing prices and availability I finallybdecided to buy a pre built PC, which was on offer at Costco. The spec listed below isn't quite what I had in mind but is very near and also has the benefit of a RTX 3080 video card.

Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB Case

Asus ROG STRIX B550 Gaming-F WiFi

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU

Gigabyte 3080 Gaming OC 10GB Graphics Card

16GB Corsair RGB PRO 3600MHz DDR4

Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT

Western Digital Blue 500GB Primary M.2 Solid State Drive

Seagate barracuda 3TB HDD

Coolermaster 750 Gold V2 PSU

I have also added a second SSD (WD Black SN 750). I plan to purchase MSFS 2020 and install it on this drive. I am as yet undecided regarding downloading or buying the boxed version, but I am leaning to the boxed version at the moment. I will be using a 27 inch HP monitor at 1080p.

I also plan to install FSX from the original discs on to a partition on the 3TB HDD.

I remember from a long time ago seeing articles on how to optimise Windows and also how to optimise Flight Simulator but I have not found these again yet.

I would appreciate any comments or advice on my intended plans.

That looks like a pretty decent system. There is a guide for FSX at the top of the FSX forum here. Note that not everything in some of the older guides is applicable these days, especially when it comes to Windows. In fact, for the most part, I would suggest just leaving Windows itself alone.

I am as yet undecided regarding downloading or buying the boxed version, but I am leaning to the boxed version at the moment.

Forgot to mention previously that you will still need to download the updates that have come out since the sim was released, which at this point is going to be pretty much the same size as downloading the sim from scratch. The box edition at this point is best thought of as more of a collector's item for those that want to have something sitting on the shelf. It also requires you to keep the first disc in the drive while flying too.

Thank you Loki for your comments. I didn't realise that you had to keep the disc in whilst flying

That caught a lot of people off guard when the disc version first came out. Rather unfortunate, and unneeded, choice of anti-piracy protection.

the disk does not have to be in the drive.

not with fsx.

(that was only for an older version. )

a reason some love the disk edition of fsx is that it comes with the SDK (Software Development Kit) included.

installing the FSX-SDK makes it possible to edit airports, create gauges, and even object and aircraft models. All for free.

Great fun that!:D:cool:

the disk does not have to be in the drive.

not with fsx.

(that was only for an older version. )

For the disc version of MSFS, which is what was being referred to, the disc does need to be in the drive.