Hi all looking at getting a pc for flight sim 2020 found two machine which one would be better
[Buy LENOVO Series 3 Gaming PC - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1660, 512 GB SSD or [Zoostorm Stormforce Onyx i5-9400F, 16GB, 1TB, 240GB SSD, RTX 2060 Gaming Pc
Many Thanks
If that Lenovo is that laptop I have seen a bit less than 1000 bucks for that specs In my opinion is to high. The onix well, have a decent graphic card but that cpu I don’t know if is any good or not.
Search here on forum, there are some useful tips to build up a decent pc to enjoy this Sim. I have built a mid range pc for a little bit more than 1200 euros buying parts on sales. Not high end pc but good for many games and Simulators.
It all depends on what your budget is and how much these systems costs. To me, these specs are mediocre at best and if I were looking to buy a pre-built PC, I’d pass unless they were dirt cheap. The specs honestly look like yesteryear’s PC.
That being said, I personally wouldn’t settle for anything less than a RTX 2070. The 16GB of RAM would need to be two sticks, and not four, which makes the jump to 32GB more cost effective. Heck, I’d even go as far as to make sure the motherboard is even upgradeable to 32GB. I’ve recently upgraded from 16 to 32 and the sim loads much faster. As for the SSD, 512GB is tiny. At least go for 1TB with the M.2 interface instead of the slower and older PCIe interface.
Take all this with a grain of salt. This is just my opinion. I’m sure somebody will disagree with me, which is fine. This is simply my .02 cents.
If you’re looking for a computer specifically to run MSFS, or at least that being the primary use, get the absolute best CPU and GPU you can afford to get. Those 2 things will be paramount to your experience. Whatever the recommended specs are listed as (they’re unreaistically low, tbh), the GTX1660 is the bottom end minimum to get a barely acceptable experience IMHO at the lowest settings.
Ideally, NOT a laptop would be the best, but if you must, I would strongly recommend looking for one with a better GPU than that. If you can’t afford it right now, I would recommend saving up a while longer until you can afford something better, or you risk being very disappointed in your shiny new computer.
That said, in the end it’s your choice. Get whatever you want or can afford.
EDIT: i5 processor will be sufficient for the most part, as long as it’s a fast one (9th or 10th gen). CPU single thread performance is the key spec for a good MSFS experience, followed closely by GPU.
For MSFS2020, dont get a laptop. The 2nd one is clearly the better choice though. I’d try to push for something with a 2060 super or 2070 minimum for high/ultra settings with some mediums chucked in for good measure.
I’m using a laptop, and even though I don’t get stellar framerates, they’re still fluid and very flyable with these moderate specs:
Core basics
TUF Gaming FX505DT
AMD Ryzen 5 3550H
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
16.0 GB RAM
Agreed, find an at least 1TB Rocket SSD. It depends on the M.2 vs PCIe interface. If it’s a PCIe x16, it can allow full speed of a full speed SSD, and older M.2 interfaces do not support full speed. Be very careful on SSD selection as well. For instance, compare the Sabrent Rocket 1TB vs the Samsung Evo 970 and the Intel 665p. The Intel is a dog, and the Sabrent is nearly 30% faster than the Evo, and better life, too.
Does this matter for Flight Simulator? I’ve seen over and over that most normal folks who are gaming can’t tell the difference between a pcie4 m.2 SSD and a 2.5" SSD that’s plugged in with a SATA cable.
Maybe it does have a significant impact on load time or in resolving stutters, but I’m guessing OP’s money would be better served in getting a larger SSD rather than a faster SSD. You’ll likely want a larger drive than that 240 gb, but you can easily get by with the 512 if all you’re doing is Flight Simulator and some other light use. You can always get a cheapo external if you need storage later too.
When you’re shopping, this chart is handy for comparing which processor is better than another (again for Flight Simulator): PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Single Thread Performance
I do two things with my computer, flight sim and audio production. Two 1 TB SSD’s are barely enough for that, and only the audio production programs are on my SSD, the data is written too and stored on 5 and 10 TB hard drives, which are fast enough for the audio production.
@ $169 for a 1TB Sabrent Rocket, there’s no reason not to get at least one, preferably 2. One for the operating system, and one for Flightsim. After that, Hard drives (not even SSD’s) should be fine for other work (file storage etc.).
I’m pretty sure my 2 1TB SSD’s will fill up soon and will need to be transferred.
There is future proofing as well in getting fast SSD’s now.
I can’t speak to performance because I’ve never tried a slower SSD.
Just wanted to say thanks for your comments
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