CPU recommendations for MSFS2024?

[TenPatrol]

@Sling380

I’ll tell you for specifically 2020 in most cases the CPU is the limitation and not GPU like you are stating. I have a 7800X3D which before it’s 9 series replacement launched was regarded as the best CPU for flight sim and games in general and I’m still cpu limited in 2020. For the bigger picture the facts that back this up are right here in the forum.

@Wdseith

(…) Short version of what I wrote–that MAY be true if you’re running a single 1080p monitor, but not if you’re running multiple 1440p monitors or even a single 4K monitor. The number of pixels being driven by the GPU correlates directly to its workload. Transporting the raw data (what the CPU does) doesn’t require much effort. Processing that data (what the GPU does) does. Increase the number of pixels (resolultion or number of monitors) or up the in-game settings, the workload on the CPU doesn’t change, but the workload on the GPU changes substantially.

@Sling380 @Wdseith
In the case of flight simulators like MSFS the main bottleneck is often the CPU. This is due to the nature of the game, which relies on advanced physics algorithms, atmospheric simulations which require significant CPU processing power. In MSFS, rendering the scenery and flight simulation calculations also put a heavy load on the CPU.

A graphics card like the RTX 4090 is very powerful and at resolutions like 2K or 4K, it won’t be the limiting factor. Higher resolutions, such as 8K, could lead to situations where both the CPU and GPU are heavily stressed. At 8K, the GPU has to process a much larger number of pixels, which could impact performance, especially when paired with the demanding simulation engine.

So, at 2K and 4K resolutions, the CPU is more likely to be the bottleneck in and the RTX 4090 will handle the GPU load with ease.
At 8K resolution, both the CPU and GPU could become performance bottlenecks.