Saw an ad for a new AM4 Ryzen 5 5600x3D coming soon (July 7th) to only Microcenter computer stores. I wonder how well it will run MSFS as it will be a 6 core/12 thread processor with 96MB of 3D cache. Base frequency will be 3.3Mhz and boost 4.4Mhz. The sweet part is that it will only cost $229.
I just noticed its now advertised on Microcenters web site so it must be real. More details with the linked you tube video.
Iâd not buy a 6 core processor in 2023.
If running the vanilla sim or with minimal add-ons, it should run fine. The 5600x3d is really a 5800x3d with 2 cores disabled and slightly down clocked. The sim only hammers a couple of cores, so you wouldnât miss two. The down clock still gets you over 97% the speed of the 5800x3d, so not a huge loss. This could be a great option for a budget build where the user isnât looking to turn all settings up to 11.
As they mentioned in the video, these are 5800x3dâs that didnât make the cut and saves them from becoming pure e-waste. Jays2Cents thinks that because itâs only being distributed and handled by Micro Center, there may only be around 1500 of these available. Hard to say exact availability, but itâs safe to say this will be a limited run product and any warrant may be questionable depending on what the fine print says. Thatâll certainly play into the decision making process.
I would agree with that also but weâre probably not the typical PC user. Iâm thinking for a budget PC for the user who doesnât have a PC, this might really be worthwhile. If you were to pair this with a low end AM4 motherboard (easily under $100), 16GB memory (about $50) and a low end 4000 series Nvidia GPU (4060 @ $300-$400), that would run MSFS pretty well at a very low price point.
Iâm absolutely thinking the same.
I think this is actually the perfect storm for AMD. This chip will probably be very good for gaming and will knock the socks off their current price/performance ratio for Ryzen cpuâs. I believe the low price coupled with the low number of chips, single point of distribution, and saving the world from more e-waste, they can limit the âdamageâ to their margins and best of all poke a stick in Intels eye.
Spend $60 more for the 5800X3D.
On Pc Part Picker, the cheapest 5800x3d is $100 more. If going with a budget minded build, thatâs not an insignificant amount for marginally better performance in this class.
Unless youâre suggesting buying used, which is an option as well but with its own concerns to think about.
Given MSFS 2024 is supposed to have a lighter client with better multi-threaded performance Iâm thinking the 5600x3D will be enough. Perhaps the days of requiring high end CPU/GPUâs will no longer be the case?
I donât think the load on GPU is going down. 2024 should allow MSFS to extract much more from a CPU than it does currently, so maybe you can save money with a cheaper CPU. Or you can have much better framerates or detail with a high end CPU.
Either way it will likely push the bottleneck back to the GPU which means spending lots of money on video cards still.
nope nope nope nope nope. This is one thing youâll get murdered on by MSFS. Spend the smidgen extra for 32gb, even if the microcenter in-house brand for maximum savings and youâll still get a bump in performance to compensate for the weaker GPU. Not only that, some browsers (like chrome) immediately use half your physical memory the first time you open it up, even from a cold boot.
If there were two things that you should budget a little more for a budget build, it would be Memory and GPU. Swing the extra $100 or whatever for the 4060ti and youâll give yourself a little extra headroom on CPU intensive applications (like microsoft flight simulator)
That all said, itâs likely your motherboard and CPU will be your most limiting factors if you get an AM4 and pair with a 40xx and DDR4 memory. You would likely see âCPU Limitedâ when you run the FPS thingy in-game. you could give your GPU something to do by pairing it with a 4K monitor but given budget concerns, youâll max everything out in graphics settings on a 1080p monitor and still not get the most out of your system
Grab yourself a 30xx if you can. 3060ti is a great card for the current market price and it would make a better price:performance pair with the AM4 processor of your choosing.
I think youâll regret that, itâs just not very future proof if youâre thinking of 4 or 5 years (or more) lifespan.
The 5800X3D is the end of the line for the AM4. Iâm toying with the idea of upgrading my 3700XT to one to stretch out another 2 years on my PC before a rebuild, with maybe a 4070 to replace my trusty old 2060 that still runs MSFS just fine on 2K high/ultra and VR with OpenXR toolkit.
32GB Ram minimum, youâll regret doing less for sure.
Donât get a 4060, they donât have a good rap. 4070 minimum seems to be the sweet spot, even though they caught some stick as well, just wait out the price drops on them.
While a thinner client means a lower spec in principle, the productivity paradox is that the headroom released by that will soon be consumed by other areas. Itâs the way of the machine.
You want to be prepared for that for years ahead as well, at least a little bit.
I donât have any complaints running MSFS in 2K high/ultra on what many here would consider to be a dog machine at a 3700XT and RTX 2060 but itâs far from it. Itâs how you optimise it for the outputs you need. I donât need 4K, 2K is perfectly fine resolution and is the best price/performance value point as well. Maybe in a few years that will switch to 4K, weâll see.
Still rocking a Rift CV1 too, which OpenXR toolkit has given a new lease of life.
So while I generally agree with the idea of a lower spec machine, youâre not going to be able to upgrade that CPU (at least I think that will be the eol, though there were some rumours of AMD maybe doing one more AM4 chip release), so you should position it accordingly for gaming. Maybe as a media player it would be great though.
I would absolutely regret it as a techie but what if a cash constrained newby wanted to get into MSFS with reasonable fps and visuals at a budget price? A 5600x3D w/16GB memory paired with a 4060 I think would do quite well at a low cost.
Iâm all about stretching the tech (see my specs as I said) but I think moving forward you still need to go up 1 more level as a minimum if youâre going forward for 4 to 5 years. My previous PC I stretched 10 years out as an experiment, and Iâve gotten 5 years out of this one so far (itâs all about the optimisation), with maybe one more life extension (or maybe not, will see).
Go and watch some tech breakdowns of the 4060. Choose the components wisely if youâre going to keep them for 4 years+. You may as well get a 3060ti for even cheaper if youâre going to do that.
8 cores is also the min spec now, not 6. 16gb also wonât cut it downstream.
Not for a gaming machine anyway, but would likely make a great office and/or media server with some light gaming capability. MSFS is not light gaming, even MSFS 2024 wonât be.
But hey, up to you. You sound like youâve already convinced yourself, so good luck!
That totally depends on what the outputs youâre pushing pixels to are. 1080p isnât quite dead, but 2K is more than adequate, and will be for years still. The headroom freed up by an optimised game will get used as well, for other features. MSFS has always been a technology testbed, and MSFS 2024 will be no different there, just different.
I just had a look at the Steam hardware survey. It seems like 6 cores is still the most popular, but slightly in decline, whereas 8 cores is on the rise by roughly the same amount.
The most so far reported is 24:
The chart goes all the way up to 128! 
And to that I would also say, for what?
You need to also read into the stats based on what is known about what system configs are best suited for which type of application (office, light game, med gaming, heavy gaming, media server, content producer etc etc).
Many PCâs are also multi purpose. Many are bog standard off the shelf name brands, some are semi custom , some are full custom.
So while the stats may well be 6 as still most popular (and will be ok generally for even up to some AAA level games), itâs a fact if you want to play the more demanding games you are looking at 8+ cores, and this will only become more obvious 2024+. Games at the heavier end of the market will always find a use for more processing power, either on the CPU or GPU. More so as game developers are now getting to grips with multithreading.
The conversation here isnât about 2D card games, itâs about a game that literally invented the market for stress testing PC hardware. Thatâs not to say you canât get it running well on low to mid-range machines, I do that myself & know other users that do too, but it also helps to have the right components on those machines - especially if you multi-task using MSFS as many people do.
AM4 is end of the line now (almost, they are still releasing BIOS updates at least), so if you want to stretch the budget machine as long as you can all Iâm saying is you will probably be regretting not having those two extra cores in a couple of years time if a heavy game like MSFS is the core target usage. Who knows what youâll want to do? Itâs CPU insurance for a dead platform.
One Iâm still on myself, yikes!
I checked the price after first seeing the Gamers Nexus 5600X3D video.
5800X3D prices have gone up since then.
âMarginallyâ better performance was worth $60. Is it worth it for $100? Maybe, maybe not.
In all honesty, if I was looking to build an âextreme budget computerâ for this sim, and worried about $100, Iâd get a Xbox X.
The important point to remember is that these new games still need to run on âAM4â Xbox Series X or even S. The hardware is fixed, so game designers canât push too far, otherwise millions of Xbox users are excluded.
Personally, I would go for (and have indeed) gone for the 5800X3D. However, other peopleâs budgets may not stretch as far, so the 5600X3D could be the next best CPU for the price.
Yes, and no. They can optimize on a per platform basis.
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Games featuring the Optimized for Xbox Series X|S icon will showcase unparalleled load-times, heightened visuals, and steadier framerates at up to 120FPS. These include new titles built natively using the Xbox Series X|S development environment as well as previously released titles that have been rebuilt specifically for Xbox Series X|S.
The Optimized for Xbox Series X|S icon means the developer has done the extra work to take full advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X|S. In addition, Smart Delivery ensures you are getting the right version of your game no matter which Xbox youâre playing on.
Optimized for Series X|S | Xbox
âBut can it run crysis?â
I agree otherwise though: If youâre going to go with last gen tech, might as well spend the little extra and get the most you can out of the hardware before youâre in a position where this years mid-level budget PC is next years low-end potato
I certainly wouldnât advocate buying anything less that 8 cores these days. I was simply stating that 6 cores are very prevalent out there, and are in fact that largest group by a small margin as per the hardware survey. There is some small shift there though, but people are leaving that tech behind in droves as yet.
When I started buying the parts for my $3,000 AM4 system two years ago I knew it would be a baked potato when AM5 matured into the standard, and AM4 went the way of the dinosaurs (OK, maybe the Wooly Mammoth.) Amazing how quickly really good hardware becomes outdated these days. One of the reasons Iâm excited for MSFS 2024 is that, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, my system might actually shine a little brighter. Maybe not a supernova, but⊠Sorry, metaphor overload. 
