How many pilots have built their MSFS PC’s ground up?

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I was thinking :thinking: over coffee this am, and wondering if there was any data pertaining too how many pilots have built their MSFS PC’s grd up, and how many have off the shelf, out the box, stock ones with minor to no hardware changes. Maybe a poll? Curious

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Since the release of MSFS I’ve been through four PCs (currently have two). Both of which built with MSFS in mind and one exceeds the recommended for MSFS 2024. The other meets the recommended GPU and exceeds in the others.

i7-8700 / GTX 1070 / 32GB RAM
i9-10900K / RTX 3070 / 32GB RAM
i9-13900K / RTX 4080 Super / 64GB RAM
i9-14900KF / RTX 4090 / 64GB RAM

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I’ve had the same case for the last 8 years. Everything else (except one SSD) has been swapped at least once:

Radeon FX 8350, 16gb RAM, RX480 8gb ← initial build
Radeon Ryzen 7 2700X, 32gb RAM, RX5500 8gb ← Build when 2020 came out
Radeon Ryzen 7 5800X, 32gb RAM, 3060ti 8gb ← Current build

CPU cooler has been replaced once
Motherboard 2 times
PSU once

current build should be okay to run '24 at 1080p, but i can probably get comparable performance with a mostly new build (new mobo, RAM, CPU, GPU, PSU) for under $2000

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I built mine from the ground up specifically for MSFS and that is all it is used for.

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I didn’t build my pc myself, but ordered it to spec, 7950x3d, 4090, 64 gb ram, fast ssds, 1000watts power. I ordered it from cyberpowerpc.com, the one before that I ordered from ibuypower.com. I have other computers too, but these were both ordered specifically dedicated for MSFS. Now my old one is used for other things but the newest is just for MSFS.

You could order all the parts and put it together yourself, but these big pc assemblers can get the parts for less than you can so to me it seems best to just order it with the parts you want.

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Built my own

i9-13900KF
64GB ram
ROG STRIX Z790-E
tuf rtx 4070
SSD drives

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Build my own PC’s about every 3 years.
Now i have this configuration for about one and a half year.

  • Gigabyte B550M AORUS PRO-P motherboard.
  • AMD Ryzen 7 5800XD3 with Noctua NH-U12A dual fan cooler.
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX4070 SUPER 12GB Graphics Card (new)
  • 64 GB ram.
  • 2x Samsung 980 PRO with Heatsink SSD M.2 NVMe 1TB.
  • 3x MSI Optix G251F 24" 165Hz G-sync monitor (triple monitor configuration).
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Built my own two years ago. Will probably upgrade the GPU in another six months or so, then will perhaps do another new PC in 2026, depending on how MSFS 2024 is running…

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Custom built my own PC on the store’s website. Since they then had to physically build it on my behalf, I had to wait two weeks for it to be prepared and delivered.

I use it exclusively for MSFS, having migrated from an Xbox Series X (which itself was used solely for MSFS).

I think many simmers tailor their machine to MSFS.

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I’ve doubled ram (32->64), switched from a 3060ti to a 4070ti super 16gb e installed MSFS2024 on M2.ssd; (main processor is a Ryzen 9 5900X).

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I am not a pilot, unless you meant virtual pilots, but I never bought a complete PC since I moved from A500 in late '90. Friend of mine helped me building my first PC and I’ve been doing it myself ever since. I considered buying it off the shelf before I did the last upgrade but when I compared the prices, I quickly changed my mind.

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I built mine:

Corsair 5000D case
850W eVGA P/S (upgraded to 1000W)
MSI B550A-Pro motherboard
Ryzen 5800X (quickly upgraded to a 5800X3D.)
eVGA 3090 Ti / 24GB
64GB DDR4-3600/CL14.
Custom loop / CPU water block

Recently upgraded:
Sold the 1000W P/S and bought a 1300W Seasonic P/S
Gigabyte X670 Aorus Pro X
Ryzen 7950X3D
64GB DDR5-6400/CL32
Kept the case and the GPU
Before the upgrade I switched the CPU to air-cooled, and bought a water block for the GPU. That hasn’t changed.

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Thermaltake H570 TG Tower
X670 Aorus Elite AX motherboard
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
32GB DDR5 RAM
750 Watt PS

Sat down with the tech at a local PC sales/service place and spec’d everything out. It was ~2k for the parts. At that point, it would have been up to me to put everything together and I’d have the individual part warranties from each factory. But for $150 more, they built it, installed Windows 11, stress tested the hardware, and added their own warranty on top of the part warranties - that little extra was a no-brainer. That was right around 23 months ago and she’s still purring like a kitten.

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I’ve built my systems myself for more than three decades. My main gaming system has always been upgraded based on the requirements of some new flight sim or another.

#1 system is currently a 7800X3D with a 4090. (I’d like to see what a possible 9950X3D might offer, otherwise I’ll probably skip this generation. Same with the 5090.)

I have two other systems that also got ground-up builds at around the same time. Typically when I build a new #1, the old #1 just became #2 and #2, #3. But I was in a position where I wanted to and, more importantly could, make them both pretty beastly. #2 is a 13600K with a 4090 and #3 is a 13600K with a 4070 Ti Super.

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I have only purchased one desktop PC in the 21st century, during the pandemic in order to secure a 4090 GPU. (And CyberPowerPC’s Best Buy build was horrific – had to replace all the cooling to keep it from throttling.)

Been building my own rigs since the mid-90s when I replaced my Dell 486SX with a homebuilt Pentium II 400 rig that I put together so I’d have the power for cutting-edge sims like Falcon 4.0 and Jane’s WW2 Fighters.

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Similar story with me except right at the start of the pandemic when you couldn’t get a 3080 here in Oz unless it was strapped to a pre-built system. I still have the case and liquid cooler, both of which really need replacing, but everything else has been upgraded.

I’m currently rocking:

  • Ryzen 7 9800X3D @ 5.4GHz, PBO -40
  • Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24GB
  • Gigabyte Aorus Elit AX V2 B650 motherboard
  • Corsair Vengance 64GB 6000MHz CL30 DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
  • 2TB Gen4 + 1TB Gen3 NVME SSD
  • 2TB SATA SSD
  • 2TB HDD
  • Corsair RM850 PSU
  • Gigabyte 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler

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I’m loving these systems being posted. Sister passed today unexpectedly. Be back in a few days . :pray:

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Sorry to hear that. I recently lost my grandmother from my moms side.

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Still have the home built 9900k and 1070FTW I started with as a secondary PC

Primary home built is now 7800X3D and 4080S … somewhere in between a 3080 gave it’s life to water cooling.

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New PC with 9800x3d, thats for sure