Newby seeks hardware advice

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

Hi all,

I want to try MSFS but suspect I’ll need a new PC. Wondered if I could at least get a feel for the game (before committing to it) using my relatively old PC. Some parts were upgraded six years ago: an SSD, a NVidia GeForce GTX 950 2GB graphics card, and a Philips G-Sync 272G 1920x1080 monitor). The rest of the PC is 12 years old; has an Intel i7-2600 (4 core) 3.4GHz CPU and 8GB RAM.

So, two questions:

  1. Is it worth even trying MSFS 2020 on my current PC?
  2. If I decide to invest in a new PC, what is a reasonable spec that will assure a good experience (visually appealing and decent frame rate (30 FPS?) at “Very High” settings) with my existing 1920x1080 monitor? Not looking to spend any more than I need to, but on the other hand I wouldn’t want to be bothered with upgrading it for a few years (so maybe some headroom).

I should perhaps also mention that our current broadband package only gives 17Mbps down and 3Mbps up (in case anyone thinks that spells disappointment).

Thanks for any advice,
David

2

Guess you won’t be happy for sure. Maybe FHD in low to take a look if the sim will start, but that’s it.

3

David,

The key to happiness in the gaming world is great graphics and frame rates…
For this you need some minimum components to make it happen…
I have been using the closest specs to top of the line equipment for several years and found that I am quite happy with these setups…however, you do not need the bleeding edge of technology to be very satisfied with FS2020…
I do not know what your budget will allow, but you can start by looking at this site https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ and finding something that is within your budget and compare it to others in this forum.
There are other computer sales sites that might be cheaper than the listed one I gave, but I have had great experience with them and recommend them highly…
I personally would stick with Nvidia graphics cards as they seem to be the highest performance at the moment…

If money is no object then this system is the one I am using right now:

i9-13900KF turbo’d to 5.5mhz (normal is 3.0mhz)
ASUS Z790-P motherboard
64GB Gskill Ripjaws 5600mhz (running at 4800mhz)
Nvidia RTX 4090 (Gigabyte version) (no OC)
HYTE Y60 case with with addon for RTX4090
1300W power Supply (no model/maker) with PCIe 5.0 plugs
Western Digital Black 1TB SSD nvme drive C:

Cost of this system was $4400 including tax & shipping, but could be much cheaper not getting the 64GB RAM. Use 32GB. Nor the RTX 4090 GPU. Use RTX 3070Ti or RTX 4070Ti. Would be more in the $2000-$2500 range?

With this setup I get into the 50+ FPS with everything on Ultra using DLSS3 on a Vizio 79" TV at 60hz HDMI

Hope this helps ya.

4

Yes, you are above the minimum specs for MSFS, which are:

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200.
  • RAM: 8 GB.
  • OS: Windows 10 64-bit.
  • VIDEO CARD: Radeon RX 570 or GeForce GTX 770.
  • PIXEL SHADER: 5.0.
  • VERTEX SHADER: 5.0.
  • FREE DISK SPACE: 150 GB.
  • DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2048 MB.

Obviously, it’s not going to give you as good graphics and performance as a new setup, but it should run fine.
I don’t have much better of a setup.
Bear in mind, you can install MSFS on as many devices as you want, the only caveat is, you can’t log into more than one device at a time.
So, if it doesn’t work to your satisfaction and you do get a new rig, you can install it on that at no extra cost.

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5

Minimum, Recommended, and Ideal PC requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator – Microsoft Flight Simulator Support (zendesk.com)

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6

I have roughly the same setup, but with 16GB ram, i7-6700, GTX950-1GB, and no SSD. I am reasonably happy with MSFS on it. I suspect that limiting the output to 1920x1080 is what allows this performance to be acceptable.

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7

I have this config and it gets strained, producing early to mid 20 FPS with minimal to no stuttering at complex airport like Aerosoft Brussles + Fenix a320 + FSLTL AI traffic at 85%. Most settings ultra with Terrain LOD set at 160.

i712700K
RTX3070
32 Gb RAM @3200 MHz
1 Tb NVme SSD
2K Monitor

I suspect it will perform better with 1080p monitor. If you plan using VR, go with RTX3080 for getting a higher VRAM. 3070 will work but may not be as fluid.

8

You could run it but you will not experience the true beauty of it. I run only a moderate system …i7 9700k, rtx3060ti,32 gig ddr4 ram,1tb nvme drive. I run in 1080p and everything is on ultra. Very happy with my results.

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9

Those specs are an absolute joke.

10

Let’s not sugarcoat it: with your current system, you might be able to start and run MSFS in low settings, at most medium, but you will not enjoy it at high settings @1080p as is your goal.

If you’re looking at acquiring the most cost effective/affordable new system to fulfill your stated goal, here is my suggestion:

5800X3D CPU (going lower is futile for a new build)
Entry level B550 motherboard is fine
16Gb of Ram (2x 8gb) @ 3200 (higher is better)
6700XT Graphics card is the sweet spot budget wise nowadays IMHO, it has plenty of RAM and will do the job very well @1080p

You can buy this new or used. If new, here is a rough budget estimate:

image
image1554×598 56 KB

If you buy used, depending on where you live, you could probably shave 100 dollars on the graphics card, or maybe go for a 6800XT instead.
With these specs, you’ll enjoy MSFS very well at 1080p for years to come and you could probably think about going for a higher resolution down the line, with just a new monitor/TV.

An even cheaper alternative, is an XBOX. It will run the game much better than your current specs ever will, but you will lose the ability to use some third party software.

Having said so, your broadband speed is a bit of a problem for MSFS, IMHO. In my area, the available speed went from 20Mbps to 100Mbps, with pings reduced from 25ms+ to less than 5ms. The overall experience was vastly different.

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11

Nope. MSFS won’t even run on a second generation Core CPU. Everything else about your current machine is bottom line minimum required spec to run MSFS. Assuming you had a compatible CPU, it would run. But I don’t think it would be an experience I’d ever consider playable even with lowest settings.

You may want to re-read the OP’s details. He’s running a 2nd gen i7 CPU. Literally the sim won’t even boot on his system with that CPU as it lacks instruction sets required by MSFS to start up. So he’s not above the minimum spec.

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12

If you want to get a feel for the sim before deciding to buy new hardware, I would suggest looking at Xbox Cloud Gaming (which you can do on PC, despite the name). You can stream MSFS at a decent quality level to try it out. I assume it would work on your PC as it’s basically just streaming video of the game and applying your keyboard / controller inputs.

It would involve buying Xbox Game Pass for a month, but that’s a very small cost compared to new hardware.

Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) with Xbox Game Pass | Xbox

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13

To answer the second question, what new PC spec - that’s the million dollar question. If you want the no-holds-barred best experience you can get you have to go right to the top of the range. But your ask - 30FPS consistently on High settings (there is no Very High, there is Ultra beyond High) - will still need a pretty beefy PC to achieve.

My $0.02: I would go for a 13th gen Intel CPU, the Core i5 13600K would not be a bad choice but it’s still a 320USD CPU, and the price differential up to the i7 13700K is just another 100USD. Similar (if slightly inflated) prices in my neck of the woods (the UK). I wouldn’t go for an earlier Intel CPU generation because price/performance is just not as good. AMD is a good option also but I don’t really do Ryzen so I can’t advise.

32GB RAM is really the minimum I’d build a PC with these days. I would go for DDR5, but honestly, DDR4 is fine… but you’ll have to pick a motherboard with one or the other kind of slot, none of them have both.

For the GPU, I’d be quite comfortable going for an NVidia 3000 series card, although I wouldn’t go lower than the 3070 and I think the 3080Ti is a good card that’s finally starting to get cheaper (but not much - supply issues with the 4000 series cards mean 3000 series are still overpriced). Some people will say ‘but DLSS 3.0’ which is cool since it can double your FPS, but until there’s AI training data for MSFS in the drivers, the generated frames will be noisy and artefacted. If I were building a PC today I’d still go for the 3000 series.

Disk - NVMe, not SSD and certainly not spinning rust, and as big and as fast as you can afford. MSFS eats storage and it wants to read that data as fast as it can.

Now all of that means a high-end machine, but you would need that to meet your goal IMHO. If you’re willing to be flexible on your goal - lower some settings or your FPS expectation, then you can achieve that with more modest hardware. I tend to think, though, that it’s better to wait until you can invest in a great system than to buy something much more mid-range and then be unhappy with your performance. MSFS is in some ways the new Crysis (as in ‘…but can it run MSFS?’)

And honestly… I’m sure people will be able to chime in here with system specs quite a bit lower than that who get 30FPS most of the time. I just loaned an older i9 9700K + 1080Ti system to a friend and he’s getting 40+FPS outside of the big cities and major PG scenery areas. So take my thoughts with a pinch of salt because I’m well known for over-speccing my hardware :slight_smile:

Hope any of that helps…

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14

If it wasn’t for scalpers my original specs would have come under $1100 and performed very well for such a resource hungry sim.

B550m mobo, 3800X (includes fan), rtx3060, 16GB fast ram, NVMe 500GB, SSD 500GB. My Case (with PSU) was a neighbor’s discard.

I have upgraded a few bits since but much of it wasn’t really worth the extra expense. The only real exception to that being the CPU to a 5800X which I got for a bargain price but of course then I had to buy a $50 cooling fan.

15

I have an I7 as well, although slightly bigger 3770.
I have no problem at all with it.
Is there a difference between that and the 2600?

16

Yes there is. Minimum “official” requirement is a 4th gen i5, although people such as yourself have been able to run it on a 3rd gen CPUs. But there’s something lacking in the 2nd gen CPUs that will completely prevent MSFS from even running at all. It’s not just a performance thing. It simply won’t start. I’m not sure what exactly is missing in those older CPUs, but it’s a show-stopper from getting MSFS to run.

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17

My opinion. An AMD 6xxx series gpu is too much for 1080p, fps would be great but LOD totally in the cellar and of course stutters

18

I recently tried both a 3060ti and a 6700xt, back to back at 1080p, on the same system otherwise, with the same settings.
Comparable cards budget wise.

The 3060ti was fine in DX11 but I could not get DX12 to work at all. It was just unplayable.
With the AMD card, my DX12 experience was very good.
Given these two cards have somewhat comparable raw performance, I suspect the better experience in DX12 comes from the additional RAM (12gb instead of 8gb).
Hence the suggestion to go AMD for a budget build.

If money is no object, the top tier Nvidia cards are still better IMHO.

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19

That isn’t completely true. About 2 years ago, I tried to run MSFS on an i7-860 (released in 2009) with a Geforce 1050 Ti 4GB, and it worked on low/medium settings. Frame rates were in the 20s, but with bigger stutters. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but it worked :wink:

Anyway, haven’t checked it in a while, so I don’t know if they raised the bar with one of the updates in the past 2 years. It might have become impossible to run MSFS on this old CPU by now…

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20

Thanks for all these great answers!

Based on the various suggestions I’m going to go straight to a new PC. The graphics card may well end up being replaced after a year or two (along with the monitor), so I’ll probably go for a modest RTX 3070ti. This should be quite sufficient for 1080p and should work nicely with my current G-Sync monitor. For the rest of the PC I’m thinking the following should hopefully provide at least 6 years of decent gaming: B650 mobo with Ryzen 7 7700X CPU; 32GB DDR5 RAM; 1TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD.

Decided to forget the idea of dipping my toe in the water with the old PC. Main reason in the end was realising that I expect a great chunk of the enjoyment of getting into MSFS will come through undertaking the various tutorials and bush pilot trails that I’ve now read about. It would be a shame to experience that voyage on a reluctant machine.

Thanks again. See you in the blue yonder some day!

David

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