Building a PC for FS2020

General Discussion & Community Support Tech Talk
1

Hey all,

I am building my first PC and I want to get your opinions on what I have so far.
I have been into MSFS all my life and used to intel and Nvidia products to run it. I would like some suggestions on motherboards and cases.

My max budget is $2000 with shipping and tax included.

Here is what I have so far.

Intel i7-10700K

Corsair H115i RGB Cooler

32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200

Crucial P1 1TB M.2 NVME SSD

EGVA GeForce RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra

Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular Power Supply

So I still need a motherboard, monitor and a case.

What do you all suggest?

2

Case should matter as long as it is big enough to fit your parts.

I would also get an external hard drive to use to back up your PC.

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If you can afford an i9-10900k that would be good if not better. With my RTX 3070 setup I do see at times limited by CPU (i have an i9-9900k) so the 3070 still needs a bit of cpu help.
Also the EGVA XC3 is good for overclocking so I would bump that power supply a tad up as the 650w is minimum for a standard 3070 build.

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4

A few general remarks in the hope that they help:

Intel i7-10700K -
good choice [though the above suggested i9-10900k would be better].

32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200 -
It’s not just the 3200 rating that’s important here. I would recommend a low latency of
CL 14 if the budget will stretch that far.

Crucial P1 1TB M.2 NVME SSD -
Yes, an SSD really is de rigueur here.

EGVA GeForce RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra -
A fair choice between power and price. Though be prepared to upgrade should a future
DX12 implementation require it.

Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular Power Supply -
Arguably, for the difference in cost and with the future in mind, a better choice here would be a minimum of 850 Watts

So I still need a motherboard -
Your choice of mobo [for a given spec] is a fairly personal thing! I have done a lot of research in this area resulting in a change in allegiance from Asus to Gigabyte [particularly the Master models] on the basis of their VRM spec’s if nothing else. I have never experienced throttling with these boards!

Monitor -
Again, a very personal choice, made more difficult by the shear plethora of models on offer. If however you want the best colour balance, then a good IPS panel is your best bet! And, with that 3070 GPU in
mind, I wouldn’t shoot for more than a 2K [2560 x 1440] native resolution.

Finally, your case -
Again, a very personal choice! Objectively I would only consider buying a case such that the
radiator for that Corsair H115i can be mounted horizontally in the top of the case for best cooling performance. I personally like a big case, preferably one I can properly get my head into.
Large cases, generally, are easier to fettle with and offer more choices re case fans to
achieve good throughput of air.

I hope this helps.
I love building computers! I hope you enjoy the process too.

Good luck.

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5

I’d also suggest a more potent power supply, e.g. 850w region.

And if you can up the spec on the CPU I would e.g. 10850K

Case and motherboard as said above are more personal choices. I’m a fan of Corsair cases and Asus mobos.

On the mobo side, just check it has features and ports you want, some have integrated graphics support or built in WiFi, some don’t etc.

On the case side, just ensure it’ll have the room for the kit, especially GPU card, some of the larger GPUs don’t fit some of the smaller cases.

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With the recent release of the new AMD Ryzen 5000 lineup, you really shouldn’t ignore it.
Right now AMD is just the better choice, more power, more efficient, cheaper motherboards, all chips are overclockable (not limited to a single SKU like intel).

At least have a look into third party benchmarks (I would suggest Gamers Nexus). You could get buyers remorse if you ignore them.

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I have been looking for just ATX Cases. Found a few that I like but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I have my eye on a few Corsair, Thermaltake, and a Lian Li Lancool 2 Case. Nice review on the Lian Li case by Jayztwocents on youtube.

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The price point I have at $2000 tax and shipping included pretty much keeps me with the i7-10700K. I know the i9 is faster but I can boost the i7-10700K to 5.1Ghz. That is the best I can do for this build. I have priced the 850W PS and believe I can squeeze one in for $125 max.

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Hi Captain,

As far as the i7-10700K I am stuck with that due to the price of the build at $2000 tax and shipping included.
For the Ram, I have two choices I have selected, 32GB Corsair Veng RGB Pro 3200 @ 16 Latency for $134.99 or 3600 @ 18 Latency for $139.99. If you have any suggestions on how to get better numbers here for cheaper, I am all ears.
Hopefully DX12 will not screw me over too bad here with the 3070. I am trying to get the overclockable 3070 from EVGA. I had to sell a lot of RC cars and stuff to get this budget. Plus some computer peripherals that may make you cry. lol
I have found a few 850W PSs just within my budget of $125
As far as motherboards, I don’t know a lot about them except I prefer quite a number of USB ports, some RGB lighting, and some sort of status indicator on the mobo(LED or lights) ASRock seems to have some nice boards but not very familiar with them like I am with Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte etc…

I am looking for 2K monitors and I was going to stick with a 32" but now because of a recent budget cut I may need to stay with a 27". Also looking for IPS and maybe ultra wide screen.

As far as Cases, I have a few ATX cases I’m looking at. A few Corsair, Thermaltake and a Lian Li Lancool 2.

I would like a lot of RGB lighting since I’m into futuristic looks of things (Big Star Trek NG fan)

Please if you have any more suggestions or critiques I’m listening.

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Hi Mort,

So I have had mostly Intel and Nvidia in all the computers I’ve had in my life. However, since the release of the AMD line I have been poking around there a little. I still have much time before my 3070 arrives( IDK when though ,lol), but if I can get the same performance as the i7-10700K and the 3070 for far cheaper then what I would be paying for my specs now, I would be inclined to give it a shot. Isn’t it true that Intel does better with MSFS than AMD though?

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Not anymore.

Before the Ryzen 5000 series launch, Intel had the ‘best gaming CPU’ niche, since their single core performance was a bit better than AMD’s. Most games (including MSFS) are performance limited by a single core (in MSFS terms, the main thread running on a single thread). This made intel outperform AMD in most games.

With the new release, AMD have caught up and in most cases overtaken intel’s performance in single core workloads. So right now there really isn’t a reason anymore to pick intel (AMD have been ahead in productivity tasks for years now).

Don’t take it from me though, have a look at reputable third party reviews (linked the Gamers Nexus one below).

Added benefit is that AMD CPU’s all come completely unlocked for overclocking (something intel has been charging a premium for with their ‘K’ CPU’s for years), it’s playing very nicely with fast RAM (5000 series works great at 3,6 or even 4GHz RAM), and motherboards being cheaper (also, no special motherboards needed to unlock overclocking features. You get that for free).

In your use-case I would think the Ryzen 5 5600X on a B550 motherboard is pretty much the sweet spot.

In some cases the 5600X even outperforms the 10900K.

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12

Hi again,

You can pick up 16Gb of G.Skill Trident Z RGB LED DDR4 3200MHz 2x8GB (F4-3200C14D-16GTZR)
with a super low CL14 for around £145 or so. Four of these look super when installed and all lit up!

DX12 is less an issue of out and out speed, in this context, as video memory. The more VRAM the better!

I am firmly an Intel man myself. But lets not be ‘slavish’ about this! You have received some good
advice regarding possible alternatives. eg. AMD. It’s all about the price versus the performance.

13

Hi
The goods you have to install at present are fine although my preference for the Crucial P1 would be to use a 1TB for the PC and any other games plus 500GB or above for the MSFS 2020. I built my present PC almost three years ago with an i7 quad core 4.2GHz and 32MB of RAM.
I can recommend a very quite cooler: Noctua NH-D155 Dual Radiator Quite CPU Cooler for Intel/AMD. Not cheap and very large but fits well in the case I recommend below.
Case: Corsair CC-9011076-WW Carbide Series 330R Blackout Mid-Tower ATX Silent Computer Case - Black.
Have Fun.

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Don’t buy Intel.

5600x is the way to go. Or you could do the 5900x for a little more future-proofing. Also, get this fast memory kit:

And pair it with this MB:
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-VIII-Motherboard-Integrated/dp/B07SYW3RT2

Back in September, I bought a 10900k and I’ve got it OC’d to 5.2 GHz all-core under air (Noctua NH-D15). Got lucky with the silicon lottery. Runs MSFS very well. But the Zen 3 series AT STOCK will probably match or beat my OC’d proc. Less heat, less noise from the heatsink fans. AND you get PCI-E 4.0.

No-brainer at this point.

-Elliot

15

You really want to start with choosing a monitor resolution.

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You’re suggesting a $360 X570 motherboard? Why? There are plenty of solid B550 boards on the market that are a lot cheaper.

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Yes a good choice of memory kit, but the CL14 version is even better.

Addendum: That’s

G.Skill Trident Z RGB LED DDR4 3200MHz 2x8GB (F4-3200C14D-16GTZR)

18

Good advice.
Sadly, I usually start with: ‘right, how much money have we got’ Haha.

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I’ve just had good experience with the Z490 variant (Maximus Hero XII) and Asus Hero boards in general over the past 7-8 years. Solid construction, supports very high overclocks and voltages without crashing, I’ve never had any problems with high-end RAM compatibility, etc… Just speaking from my own experiences. But you’re right, a B550 board would probably be just fine.

-Elliot

20

Ok, so here is what I have built on Newegg. This is an AMD Build.
It is already $52 over my budget and I cannot spare anymore.
If there are some parts here that I can get cheaper or other better components that are better for the same price, please let me know.