Hi all,
I’m new to the forums.
I’m planning on building a PC for my dad (recently retired pilot) so he can have some fun on flight sims. I have never used a flight sim before, but I do a lot of PC gaming so I am somewhat familiar with PC builds.
Not planning to OC or anything, more so want to just be able to run the sim as well as possible without breaking the bank. Currently just planning to have one monitor, but if he really gets into it I’d like to add a couple more.
Future plans are to add flight sim peripherals, but I believe this isn’t the right place to ask about those.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card
Power Supply: EVGA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Thank you in advance and I hope you all have a good day.
Forget the monitor. Get him a VR headset.
- For the RAM, if you can, get 32 GB.
- The CPU is slightly outdated… but it’s what I have and it can easily handle MSFS with VR.
- The power supply is close to the short side. 750 W would leave some space.
I can’t stress enough how crazy he would be in VR. Think about it.
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I know, I keep considering VR he would love it. Especially with the right peripherals.
So you’d suggest more RAM and a more powerful power supply. Gotcha I’ll look into that.
Thank you!
RTX Founders Edition,… Excellent choice ! If this PC Build is going to be a surprise for your Dear Dad
please let us know his reaction when he sits down with his new Flight Sim.
Kind Regards from us.
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It is, I’m doing some early research for a Christmas gift this year 
Thank you for taking the time to take a look at this!
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RTX Founders Edition
If only you could actually get hold of one 
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Every component is up to date except the CPU.. Please change that to a 5600x The PSU can be left alone or you can opt for 750 watts for margin. Anything more than that is overkill unless you have an rtx 3090 lying around.
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That’s my worry, I was going to build a PC last year Christmas but it was near impossible to find one. I’m hoping I get lucky this time, and also why I’m starting early 
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Awesome, thank you for your input and taking the time to look into this!
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Just to be clear, MSFS is running fine with 16 GB of RAM.
If you have to choose between VR and the extra RAM, get the VR 
Time to sell the Grandkids we suppose !
ps. Grandkids. Please don’t sell us,…Sell the Collies instead !
Beloved Co Pilot to aforesaid Ankle Biters,…Go to Bed right now !
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16 GB of Ram,… GOOD ! 32 GB of Ram,… GOODER !
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If the guy is on a budget then surely vr is out the question plus his dad might not get on with vr.
Id upgrade to 32 gb Ram as it is possible to have the sim use more than 20 gb’s and many including myself found it also reduced stutters.
Also get another ssd or a larger single storage device. unless he is unlikely to add many other games, then probably what you have is fine.
Maybe get a hdd just for backups though can use cloud storage.
Id probably look at one of the i7’s with higher clock speeds if you can stretch to it.
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Hi there, 32 GB of ram makes absolutely sense. In some scenarios I have readings of 17/18 GB on average with peaks into mid twenties. Another advice, make sure you have sufficient cooling in a decent case. The simulator is very demanding on hardware.
Good luck and let me tell you, a very awesome idea!
Mick
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Thank you, I will look into this!
I appreciate the input.
You make a good point, thank you for your advice and input!
If you like to go VR (what I absolutely recommend) dont go for a GPU with less than 11GB VRAM. 3070 is not able to handle the G2 well even 2080ti/3080ti go out of VRAM over HD areas, only the 16GB cards from team red and the 3090 are fat enough.
And, whats so amazing on AMD CPU’s? Go for an 11700k or 11900k and your dad will love you 
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I highly recommend a good investment in CPU. 3600 seems a lot mid-range. Also, get 32GB of RAM… Aim for at least a 5600x… 5800x would be a perfect fit.
I recently upgraded from a i7 7700k overclocked to 5.1ghz to a stock 5950x… all the other hardware the same except for the MB (x570). The increase in performance was just huge ! For sims, invest on CPU, this is where it pays off!
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Definitely bump the CPU get an unlocked Intel or AMD pick your poison some one will disagree with you no matter which way you go. I say to get an unlocked CPU as several motherboard BIOSs out of the box will take advantage of an unlocked processor giving you significantly better performance with out you having to do anything( MSI Intel MB I have does that) 32 G RAM, is a must Also keep in mind the more monitors you drive and the higher the resolutions, the better the CPU/GPU will need to be.
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I’ve actually never used AMD before I normally use Intel, but this build was recommended to me by a friend.
Thanks for your input.