I need to make an emergency replacement of my computer, and on a budget, unfortunately. Here are the specs of the rig I’m considering and wonder if it can reasonably handle MSFS on high settings:
SkyTech Shadow 3.0 Gaming Computer PC Desktop -
Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz,
RTX 2060 6G (How does this compare to the GTX 1660 Super?)
1TB SSD,
16GB DDR4 3000,
B450 MB
32GB minimum of at least 3600 Mhz.
1TB SSD should M.2 NMVNe PCIe with 2 M.2 slots minimum on MB.
I have a GTX 1660 TI. I run 4k Ultra but with a FPS of 6 to 24 FPS.
We just can’t afford GPU cards today. Waiting on a RTX 3080/TI at MSRP.
Can’t find one.
But, it is a good time to think about getting one in a System purchase.
If you are making a system purchase. If you can afford it, do it.
It could be years before prices drop back to normal.
Can’t comment on the AMD CPU & MB. I’m Intel only.
Good luck. Let us know of you purchase.
What resolution are we talking about here?
You do not need a minimum of 32GB or 3600+MHz. Plenty of users running less than 32GB including a friend of mine and the benefit of 3600(+)MHz over 3200 or 3000 is little if any measurable difference in gaming. You will gain more throwing that extra $ at a better GPU or CPU.
Thank you. Not sure where I will go right now.
Thanks, Solid…! I am happy yo hear that I don’t need to go top dollar with this. I’m going to try 16GB 3000 before I upgrade. Looking at a build using that RAM with an RTX 3060 GPU.
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I see benefit of more GB and faster RAM but, that is my opinion.
We, each, can have one.
Yes, I’m sure there are many users with 16GB and 2666 or 3000 RAM.
But I would think they were purchased years ago.
I would like to see a user purchasing a new system buying a system that
is current (like M.2 SSD slots) and not like one that was current 5 to 10 years ago.
If his/her budget will allow that.
That was where I was coming from.
Ram speed is irrelevant for Intel unless you are seriously overclocking.
However as you are going Ryzen the RAM speed will make a difference, though not always enough to justify the extra cost.
The RTX 2060 (non super) mentioned in the first post is maybe 30% or so faster than a 1660 (non super, non ti ) and has the benefit of ray tracing/dlss capability just in case we eventually need those in the sim at some future point.
I was running an RTX 2060 (non super) back when the sim came out and it was good for 1080p Ultra and could do 1440p Ultra at around 30 fps but 4K it had no hope at high/utlra .
The RTX 3060 is a much better option than a RTX 2060 or GTX 1660.
I am running 2060 6GB with 16GB 3200 and I run mostly Ultra in 1080p. It’s plenty.
Agreed.
If you are definitely staying at 1080p the RTX 2060 with 16Gb system RAM is perfectly fine.
At 4K - no so much. 4K ups the ante (and total system cost) substantially.
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Yeah, I run on a laptop with no monitor connected. 1080p is native, so this suffices for both MSFS (plenty) and P3D (kinda, but for that one I wish I had more VRAM).
I was running all settings High, when flying on the monitor at 1080p with an I7 6700, GTX1060 6gb and 16gb RAM. I purchased an additional 16gb to bring it up to 32gb RAM but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the computer ran MSFS. I don’t know much about Ryzen, so I can’t comment other than my i7 6700 was not overclocked, was only 4 cores and very dated. I also had to run the sim of a HDD. I eventually purchased an SDD but ran the sim for many months off the HDD. I only have a 30mbs connection to the internet also.
Hope this provides some hope for what you generally need to run settings on High.
Note: I later replaced the 1060 with a 2080ti, which allowed me to run mostly Ultra settings. I also had an Oculus Rift CV1, at the time that ran the sim in VR quite successfully, although the upgrade to 32gig helped greatly. Once I went to the 2080ti, I was able to supersample to get clearer results on the CV1.
16~32 is what I been recommending these days.
Running 128 GB of DDR4-3200 (2400 without XMP) and saw some possible gains in fps (around 7) between 2400MHz, and 3200MHz in MSFS but it is hard to benchmark MSFS especially when it is only a few frames apart. Memory speeds make little difference in MSFS and regardless how much you run the game only uses so much.
Most new systems still include around 2400-3600MHz memory, 3000 being most common. Mine is only a few months old and came with 3000 by default which I swapped my own RAM with - first prebuilt desktop I have owned.
Q: Why 128?
A: It was a good deal at the time (less than $400)
Thank you for all the helpful comments. After reconsidering, I decided to go Intel with these specs:
- CPU Type: Intel Core i7 10th Gen
- CPU Speed: 10700F (2.90 GHz)
- GPU/VGA Type: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Memory Capacity: **16 GB DDR4 3000
- SSD: 1 TB PCIe
What do you think?
You will probably get a few self appointed AMD marketing and sales volunteers chipping in to say “never go Intel/Nvidia it will kill your cat, double the fuel consumption on your car, send your milk off and get your teenage daughter pregnant” - but to be honest those specs look spot on for 1080/1440p at mainly Ultra and will probably also handle 4K at “mainly High with some Ultra” reasonably OK as well.
The critical things that are expensive to upgrade later are the CPU and GPU and they look OK. ( you may eventually run out of SSD space but you can easily add another SSD later on - same with the RAM)
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Get the unlocked i7 .Trust me the sim takes advantage of the extra speed.That base speed is too low and the i7 10700kf which I have is a better value for not a whole lot more.
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Yes, i7-10700KF, a Z motherboard like a cheap Z490 UD from Gigabyte and 32GB of 3600Mhz CL16 or lower. Since you are on a budget, 3200Mhz CL 16 or lower is a good choice. And the RTX 3060 is a good card for 1440p, but if I could I would get the RTX 3060 Ti.
If you are on a budget, know that there will be no difference from the i7-10700KF to the i5-10600KF. The game is DX11 and uses just a main core with some subsequent cores being subutilized. You could even try to find an i5-11600KF, which all reviews is saying is the only Intel 11th generation that is worth the trouble.
I would not spend money on a locked Intel CPU. They run the memory at lower clocks as well. The K series has better clock and you can overclock it down the line to extend its life.
Get the unlocked k version as others have said which will give you flexibility to overclock, well worth the extra outlay.
Hi Bluemax,
If you are building a brand new pc and are already planning to go with an RTX 3060 and an M2 NVME SSD, would it be possible for you to find an 11th gen CPU and motherboard combo instead of 10th? Both your GPU and SSD would then be able to utilise the PCIe 4 connection which is only available to the 11th gen Intel CPU’s, and so give their best performance.
I don’t know if this would make much difference in the sim, and of course RAM and internet connection speeds add more variables but it should load flights more quickly at least, and you’d have the latest chip rather than already being a gen behind with a brand new build.
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Magic,
Thank you for that information. I opted for a prebuilt system this time around, but plan to build a new system myself in about 6 months., I will certainly take your recommendations into consideration.