Would like to hear from users with regard to being staunch INTEL or AMD users and further down the line switching, if so why?. Did you also switch from Nvidia to AMD or the reverse?.
I canāt say Iāve been a āstaunchā Intel guy, although all the edit systems Iāve built for clients in the last 20 years have used Intel CPUās with high core counts.
When I built my gaming system I went with AMD because of what I perceived as superior price/perfomance in an 8-core. I havenāt regretted the decision. I donāt think Iād have any regrets if I went with Intel either.
Itās kind of interesting that an old stereotype about AMD CPUās (you can fry eggs on them!!!) has been proven false. Mine runs nice and cool, and performs quite well for a mid-range system.
As for the GPU, Iāve always bought nVidia, and donāt really see myself switching to AMD, even if theyāve solved the driver issues that have plagued them in the past. Not sure whyā¦ I think itās kind of an āIf it aināt brokeā¦ā kind of thing.
5800X3D
3090 Ti
funny thing is, that has been turned around.
Now AMD makes nice efficient fast CPUās, and intels are the space heaters 
@CardRocket70431 for MSFS specifically currently the AMD X3D CPUās are the best you can get. Nothing intel has can beat them.
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Staunch Intel here.
i5-13600K CPU and A770 GPU.
Will switch to Intel Gen15, Arrow Lake, CPU and Intel Battlemage GPU this year.
Ryzen 7800X3D
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I was an Intel guy for the past 20 years, but finally made the switch to the 5800X3D a couple of years ago, and Iāve been very happy with AMD. That being said, my loyalty isnāt with one particular brand; for me, it comes down to cost and performance.
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You wonāt go wrong with either. The AMD 7800X3D and the 7980X3D chips are arguably faster than the Intel i9-13900 series (though Iām not sure how the new i-9 14900 model compares), but IMO Intel is just easier to work withāespecially out of the box. I was about to pull the trigger on AMD, but then I realized that since I was going to run 4K with an NVidia 4090, I was going to be GPU bound either way so the putative performance difference wasnāt going to be signficant. After doing more research, I decided to stay with Intel becauseI knew that I wasnāt going to have to spend a bunch of time fiddling with settings to get it optimized for MSFS, nor did I have to worry excessively about pairing it with the right motherboard.
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For me one of the most important are drivers, stuttering-free gaming and a smooth gaming experience.
Intel and Nvidia regularly release driver updates to improve compatibility, performance, and fix issues, contributing to a smoother gaming experience.
Thatās why I chose i9 13900K, RTX 4090.
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Iāve only bought Intel since the 80386, so canāt comment on CPUs.
W.r.t. GPUs, used to purchase NVidia, though I disliked all the tweaking one had to do to get optimal performance out of the cards. Then tried ATI, primarily based on their price at the time. Disliked all the superfluous files that were automatically installed, plus yet more tweaking. Was going to buy a NVidia about a year or so ago, but their prices were just not realistic at the time due, as I understand it, to the crypto-mining craze.
My latest purchase has been the Intel Arc A770, choice based on price & the 16 GB VRAM. Can manage it with Intel Arc Control software, but MSFS 2020 runs smooth as silk 99% of the time without any tweaking required, so have not done so. The other 1% is the occasional stutter on approach to major airports caused not by the card, but increased disk queue as the sim tries to load many files related to the airport from an HDD. Intel regularly provides software updates for the Arc series. Installation with their update tool is really easy too.
If I was purchasing a new PC for MSFS 2024, Iād stay with Intel unless the released hardware guidelines for the sim either recommended against it (highly unlikely), or showed that there was a considerable performance and/or feature gain to be had by purchasing an AMD or NVidia.
Mine runs 100% smooth. I think it depends on the CPU being used.
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open up developer mode, enable the FPS readout from the debug menu, and youāll likely see ālimited by main threadā, which is a CPU limit.
Itās pretty rare to be GPU limited in MSFS.
Also, no need to fiddle with anything with AMD CPUās. You can do a slight undervolt with PBO2 if you want for a bit lower temps, but itās by no means necessary. Pretty much the same as intel, plug in CPU, enable XMP/DOCP/EXPO, and off you go.
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Donāt think it is the CPU (i7-12700K), but could be wrong. Iāve never seen any cores maxed out during flight. I have seen my HDD maxed at 100% with a disk queue length >5 when approaching major airports. Always seems to be just when Iām getting stutters. Resource Monitor also shows a HUGE number of file read requests for various airport-related MSFS files on that drive being simultaneously created at that time.
I probably should have not said just the CPU because it will depend on the specs of all components (motherboard, memory, disks, power supply).
I had a 9900K that was smooth at 4K.
Your HDD would cause me to question whether a SDD would be better.
Oh, absolutely. Iāve got a SSD in mind but am waiting for the 2024 requirements to come out (or alpha / beta invites) before purchasing.
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2024 system requirements will be little or no different to 2020 - it will still have to run on the XBox S and X, which specs are fixed and cannot be changed on a whim.
I couldnāt resist adding my two cents worth. When I built my current system I wanted something economical but reliable. I searched the web and found a site that purported to have information about compatible cpuās and gpuās. I didnāt know much about them at the time but one of the recommended pairs was the AMD 3800x processor and the AMD 5700xt gpu. I matched these with an ASROCK X570 phantom gaming 4 motherboard and 32mb of DX4 memory. I use the included air cooler for the processor.
Overall, Iāve been very pleased with the performance of the system. There is no overclocking and I can count on one hand the number of CTDās Iāve experienced. This is a moderate system and I think I spend somewhere around $1700 including a new monitor. Iāve since upsized the monitor to a 35" curved monitor.
I know this is not a super system but it has served me well. Since installing MSFS, my grandson has installed DCS on the system and it is performing well, also. I heartily recommend this system. If I were building it today Iād probably use a 5800x processor with a newer AMD graphics card.
For MSFS specifically, you will NOT find a better CPU than AMDās 7950X3D or 7800X3D. It will give you more fps than even the 14900K and will absolutely be smoother than Intel. When it comes to gaming, AMD is king right now. For productivity, Intel is king.
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Iām a supporter of no brand. And I think anyone whoās a hardcore user of one and wonāt look at the other does that at their own detriment. Itās about evaluating the capabilities and pricing of whatās currently available and making decisions based on actual data over brand loyalty.
Right now, if youāre looking at performance strictly for MSFS (or other heavily multi-threaded workloads), AMD is the undisputed king with their 7000 series X3D CPUs, and anyone who says otherwise is coping. Sure, the Intel fans will find edge cases to prove their CPU is better. And Intel still most often comes out a bit ahead in single core performance. But overall, AMD is the king right now with better overall performance, better power efficiency, and at better prices in many cases.
nVidia is still the reigning champion for overall performance when it comes to GPUs, although AMD is really not far behind, and arguably a much better value. With AMD you lose hardware DLSS support and frame generation (until Asobo add AMDās implementation into the sim). But you get comparable raster performance, and often more VRAM (much preferable in DX12) in the same tiers often at lower prices. I donāt think either nVidia or AMD are a bad choice for MSFS as long as one gets a higher end GPU.
So without a doubt if today I was building a system dedicated for MSFS, I would choose a 7800X3D with an RTX4070Ti or better (likely 4080).
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Hi all, I appreciate everyones input on this article, its made some interesting and informative reading, please keep it coming.
Me, well I have an Asus Rampage IV Extreme board, an Intel i73970X at 3.50mhz, 16GB mem and a trusty old GTX980ti.
I can see me switching to AMD in the near future, not sure which CPU yet.
For MSFS specifically, you will NOT find a better CPU than the 14900. It will give you more fps than any other CPU and will absolutely be smoother than AMD. When it comes to gaming, Intel is king right now.