New PC Build Advice (UK, 900-1200 GBP)

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
, , , ,
1

Hi all,

I’m new here but my relationship with MSFS goes all the way back to MSFS 2000. I’ve never owned a proper gaming PC and I’m looking to build one for MSFS 2020/2024. Any advice appreciated! Some guidelines:

  • Budget 900-1200 GBP excluding monitor/peripherals
  • Based in London, UK
  • Reasonably tech savvy but never built a PC before. Happy to build or buy pre-built if there are good options that don’t cost a lot extra
  • Probably not interested in 4K, but 1440p at a “playable” frame rate would be good
  • Will do GA and commercial flying, specifically looking at the Fenix A320
  • Not otherwise looking at playing the latest and greatest titles but don’t want the system to be too limited in the future

Please prompt me if I haven’t included any important information! Thank you so much for any advice

2

Avoid AS Rock 850 motherboard - I had constant CTD with that. Asus and MSI are better with Ryzen 7series processor. At least 32Gb DDR 5.0, NMVe drive 2TB and Nvidia 4080 or 4070Ti super if you can get one. 50 Series are still a bit buggy.

3

Does your £900–£1200 budget include the graphics card or is that separate?

EDIT
Just asking because a mid-range GPU, like an RTX 5080 which is enough for 2K gaming, could eat up the entire budget. And then you still need a CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU, case, storage, etc…

4

You’re going to struggle to get better than a 30 series GPU with a decent CPU, plus the 32GB of RAM the sim really needs with that budget. That said, I ran a 3060 with a decent processor and 32GB quite happily, as long as you don’t expect to be able to turn up the graphics to ultra! I managed quite well with a mixture of high and medium. (Actually I’ve still got that machine, it’s my current backup PC). But forget VR at this level, it’s possible but takes a lot of fine-tuning.

5

Thanks so much for the feedback.

I can vary my budget a bit to get this right, so I guess maybe a better question is what is a good graphics card & processor combination to run the game at 2K with decent graphics? I’m not necessarily looking for ultra everywhere but more high than medium.

6

With that budget

Ryzen 9 9900X 350€

RTX5060 450€

1 Like
7

I would go with the following:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Tray
The tray version is quite a bit cheaper than the boxed version, and the only difference is the addition of a (mediocre) cooler. The 7700 also won’t bottleneck your PC, so there is more money to put in a GPU.

Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B650-PLUS
Reasonably priced, loads of features, 3 M.2 SSD slots, good vrm for your processor and cooler, and a good audiochip. There is also a Wi-Fi version that is a bit more expensive, but I would use a cable regardless for the amount of data streaming that MSFS requires.

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
It’s pretty much the best “bang for buck” videocard for 1440p out there and the architecture works great with MSFS.

Cooler: Arctic Freezer 36
Seems to be the best ‘ bang for buck’ 120mm cooler in my country, but you can check performance/price in your region yourself, there are plenty of cooler comparisons out there.

RAM: 32GB DDR5 @ 6.000MT/s should be good, especially when turning EXPO on in the BIOS.

Add a 650W PSU and a 2TB (or 4TB M2 SSD if you play more than just MSFS) and you’re good to go for 1440p around your budget :slight_smile:

1 Like