My current rig is not the happiest at the moment with MSFS…15 6600 3.45ghz, 16GBRam, GTX1080.
The system I am looking at is as follows…
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core 24 Threads up to 4.80GHz CPU cooled by 240mm Liquid Cooled - ASUS X570 Gaming Chipset - 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR4 RGB Memory up to 3600MHz - Phantom Radeon RX 6900 XT OC 16GB Graphics Card - Primary Storage: WD Black 2TB Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD, Secondary Storage: Optional - 2.5 Gigabit and Gigabit LAN - Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11AX - Bluetooth V5.0 - ROG SupremeFX 7.1 HD Audio - Windows 10 Home 64-Bit - A-RGB Lighting - Assembled & Tested - 2 Years Return to Base Warranty
What concerns is that, whilst my current PC isn’t totally smooth, and definitely struggles in “busy” areas, it does do a fair job on the FPS…ie 20 to 40FPS in “clear skies” …but drops to 5 to 10 FPS in busy areas. Most of my settings are medium/low/off, however, on reading a number of posts where people have spent a good deal of their hard earned on upgrading, they post that they have been disappointed at the end result.
Not familiar with AMD processors, but as a rule, just make sure that your graphics card doesn’t bottleneck your CPU when it comes to MSFS. It has always been more demanding than any other pc gaming system. This is primarily due to the kinds of calculations that are necessary to simulate the physics of flight, weather, along with simulating a 3d world.
So, get the highest possible cpu is first consideration. Of course a high-end graphics card is next. Then memory as you have described, minimum 32 gb with 3600 speed is best for performance. Then, ssd storage and lots of it, which you have reflected… Just don’t underestimate the necessity of a great cpu when it comes to MSFS.
Thanks for pointers C, according to quite a few YouTube channels I have been watching the AMD Ryzen is the way to go…but I don’t pretend to be a computer whizkid…so any advice or pointers are greatly appreciated…I’m on the wrong side of 60 and retired, so have to be cautious where the dollar goes…ie I want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck. Also, am not flying in the real world at the moment, so flight simming is the next best thing.
Yes sir, understand completely! Looks like you are headed in the right direction. Taking your time, doing the research, goes a long way towards getting the best bang for your buck. Especially when it comes to the demands of MSFS! Happy flying!
You should be good to go with those specs although I’d be more comfortable going nvidia just because you get better drivers.Not to say Nvidia doesn’t have issues but a lot less issues with their gpus.
At the price point you are looking at, go with 64gb of ram especially if you use VR. I noticed it was a bit smoother in cities when I moved up from 32gb to 64gb. I think they now recommend 32gb which means that the marketing department said 32gb when the engineers wanted 64gb
My advice (for what it is not worth !!) would to NOT be buying a new system at this point in time, unless you are prepared to pay over the top prices, for a system that may not turn out to be the optimum, over the next few months,(as MSFS “evolves” to be X-BOX "compatible).
Now, if you have the money, and nothing more important to do with it, and this is what you want to do, GO FOR IT – that’s 100% your choice.
But the requirement for MSFS seem to be changing almost Monthly, as does the performance of hardware, and the escalated prices for that hardware (Chip shortages / Gouging).
The above is particularly true if you are getting into VR.
But if you are getting a new, POWER Gaming machine, good luck to you (but it should not be LUCK if you do your research), and I hope you end up being happy with it.
The impression that I get, is that those who who keep buying the “latest & greatest”, seldom end up be content, and always want MORE. Such is life !!
Point taken…that is why I have been holding off for quite a few months…not so much as to get the latest and greatest…but just to make sure I wind up with a rig that is going to do the job a lot better than my current unit. Interesting re your comment re the Xbox…Cheers
The only reason to prefer AMD right now is that their GPU’s have 16GB VRAM what is welcome in VR (10/11/12 GB are not enough in hd areas) and that they are a little cheaper and a little more available than any Nvidia stuff.
On the chipset/cpu side I still prefer Intel.
Ryzen may be great for benchmarks like cinebench and similiar workload scenarios with many well balanced parallel threads but for msfs single core ipc still rulez and there 11900K is king.
And if money does’nt matter I would pick the 3090 too. But spending 4k+ bucks for an gaming PC is out off my wallet
Since release, it seems (at least to me in my naive ignorance) that the RAM requirements for MSFS have slowly been decreasing, as does the performance & visuals – which may be the attempts to fit it all into the new X-box. ?
I think the 5900x is a great choice, but i always recommend the 5800x. I think Hardware Unboxed made the benchmark, where you can see that due to the 2 dies of the 5900x you loose a few frames in comparison. If you want it for flightsim and don’t use it for business i would downgrade to the 5800x. The heat issue everyone discussing isn’t, thats just AMD letting it use to much power, simple resolution is to set the TDP to a usable value (e.g.125 Watt) in the bios and a decent aircooler and youre @ <70 degrees while playing. Just my two cents…
you have read posts on the forum with people having the best and newest stuff and they complaining…
my Advice , wait for DDR5 memory and motherboards that can handle those.
Dear OP: I might have missed it, but didn’t see a power supply mentioned. This is a critical component of any system. Also, based on what I’ve read, the decision between the 5800 and 5900 depends on what else you want to do with the system. That’s it and good luck.
Happy flying!
…thanks, added
