Personalized help for someone without much time

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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Good day MSFS community! Being new doesn’t mean I haven’t explored this forum, read the rules and been apart of many other forums… I’ve researched here for hours and have read numerous posts similar to mine…

I post today to receive personalized recommendations from you all with more knowledge than I’ll ever have. I also will put my trust into your thoughts more than someone at a PC store or BestBuy looking to make a sale.

I’ve read hundreds of articles on recommendations for specs and what to expect throughout numerous sites, but I guess when it comes to spending $2,000 (my preferred budget), I am cautious that it does not go to waste and the sites I am reading are giving unbias opinions. Besides that, either all sites are completely opposite on each others articles or the exact same, so confusion is easy to be had lol. I do not like to waste money or make spur of the moment purchases without a fair amount of my own due diligence.

A bit about my situation and time to give… I’m 35, looking to open a business within the next year, homeowner, husband and much more. I state this because my time for MSFS needs to be well spent. I do not have time nor the knowledge, nor the will to build my own set up or look to tinker with “too” much.

The primary use for purchasing this PC you all recommend within my budget will be 75% for MSFS and 25% for my wife’s photography side business she is currently starting.

What I have/need:

-I have a 42inch Samsung TV I do not wish to upgrade in my office. It is new within a year.
-I would like the PC to be able to handle the game on medium settings. I do not need 4K, VR. I just would like the game to run on 30-40FPS if possible and smooth without overheating. Extreme detail isn’t important, but something more than the Xbox is of course preferred.
-I do not plan to do much multitasking on the computer outside of add-ons and other programs running for MSFS (passengers, weather etc) while playing the game. My plan is to use an Ipad for things outside of necessity for the Sim. Occasional multitasking may be nice.
-I assume my wife will need some space for photos, editing etc…
-I plan to use a Yoke, throttle and rudder setup.
-I hope for this computer to be able to last 5-7 years for both photography and MSFS without breakdown as I will most likely overspend to have issues corrected since I cannot do anything in regards to electronics myself.
-Budget as stated above is $2000 if possible. Prebuilds ONLY. Nothing I have to do.

I appreciate your time spent helping me as I am very sure most of you have spent tons of time helping others answer similar questions. I do not feel that what I am looking for is outrageous to expect, but I need guidance in what I am doing. Granted I am 35, consider me to be someone out of touch technology wise.

Thank you all again. My plan is to make this purchase within the next month. I have been waiting and reading and looking forward to this day since MSFS was announced. I developed a love for flight sims and aviation roughly a year ago and currently I only play mobile sims which just doesn’t hit the spot.

Best regards,

Josh

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Hi Josh.
If your are looking for a new build, an intel-based PC with a core i7 12700k CPU, 32gb of DDR5 memory and an Nvidia 3060 or 3070 should suffice if you are not planning on running in 4K.

Now how you and your wife will manage to use the same PC (you for flightsimming, and her for a photography business) might be tricky. In my opinion she should have a separate PC for business use only, as this is where her business income will come from.

I speak from personal experience. Business and personal use PCs should be separate, as downtime for business can be costly. But I digress. Take care.

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Hi Viper, thanks for taking the time to write back… It is a very small side photography business. Not something that she will be using often… To start, but I agree eventually we will purchase a second one. She currently has a full time job that has no need for a computer.

The specs you mentioned fall in line with one of the options I was looking at previously, any thoughts on this? A bit above the budget I wanted to spend but had good reviews. (IMO)

(Sorry if linking isn’t allowed here?)
Again, thank you for your time.

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Hello Josh, you should be able to buy a nice pre-built PC within your budget that will perform within your expectations. The recent price drops and availability of graphics cards has put you back in the game both budget and performance wise.

The Corsair you linked is definitely a computer worthy of your needs and the extra 2TB HDD is going to be very helpful and especially in the sharing mode you will be in.

I run a similar system with an I7-10700K and RTX3070 GPU with dual monitors with my main monitor at 1440p and with most settings on Ultra I’m getting (generally) great performance in the sim. 32 GB of 3200 DDR4 will do you just fine. DDR5 is much more expensive at this time and your gains will be minimal.

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I would consider running Flightsim on it’s own SSD 500Gb minimum.
Use the 2Tb HDD for your wife’s bulk storage for Photo’s.

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I agree with this suggestion, @Forza7Italia, but would bump it up the 1TB. :wink: With the size of MSFS and all the 3rd Party addons coming to market, I would build in some headroom for the dedicated Sim drive. You can add it as a third drive. Prices are in the $100-$130 range.

And I agree the item you linked above should do you very nicely with MSFS. Enjoy!

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Okay great!..

So purchase the computer but also purchase a 1TB SSD to run the sim on directly… Just curious, how do you dedicate what you put on the computer to a specific Memory card? If that is the right question lol

Thank you all again. Glad one of the computers I was looking at seems to be getting good vibes. There is so many options, for a novice it is very overwhelming.

I’m digging the one I linked but does anyone know of anything under 2k that is pretty similar that is as worthy as what I linked? Of course, the less you spend, the less performance, I just don’t know if a drop of 1.1 processing speed is substantial for a $500 savings etc…

I see people who state they want their PC to last 2-3 years… is that a personal preference for specs or the computer itself working? I assume just keeping up to date, but I just want to make sure lol.

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Could lessen the graphic card to 20x0 series.

Also, I second the motion … Keep business system and MSFS – gaming – system separate.

You also will be adding control devices, throttles, rudders, which add to the cost.

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Can’t add much more than what’s already been said
Have fun , hope you and your wife enjoy the new PC
Oh but definitely go for a dedicated ssd 1tb for msfs maybe an nvme

Enjoy :blush:

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Most folks will have the OS and basic non-gaming apps (Office, Adobe, etc.) on one physical SDD (C drive). Then their games (in your case, MSFS) on another separate physical SSD, and then use a large HDD for data (D drive).

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Alright, that is a lot to take in, ill research diligently lol. Thank you all again. Much appreciated

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Pretty much the same for me except I have no HDD’s.

@Forza7Italia When you install MSFS, initially you only have the launcher which resides on your C drive.

When you run MSFS, it will as you where you want to install the simulator. You can accept the default, of the C drive, or you can change that first to install it on another drive.

Have a quick look at this video:

04:16 is where you would choose the location for the sim to be installed to.

I changed mine to “D:\Flight Simulator”.

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Thanks hobanagerik! I will check that out. I am glad I reached out to this forum. I knew there was a risk of getting 0 response since there are a lot of “what computer should I buy” topics lol.

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First response post seems most appropriate

12700k + 3060ti/70 32gb Ram (i would have stuck with DDR4 for cost but DDR5 if within budget) and approx 1.5 to 2 TB of storage across 1 500gb Nvme for OS+ 1tb Nvme for the sim or 500gb NVME and 1 TB SSD depending on budget.

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Just 2 quick points: 1) I did not see any power supply specs in the BB specs section, but when I looked at the manufacturer info, they specified a 750watt psu was included. IMO, this is a critical component which will definitely affect PC longevity and avoiding CTDs, especially with a 30xx video card.

  1. You might want to factor in a comprehensive warranty from BB since you don’t want to spend time looking for the source of issuews, especially inside the case.

Okay, 3) customizable ligthting in what you’ve described will add no value at all. I wonder if they have a similarly spec’ed system without that and if it would save any money that can be used for a good warranty, which will add imense value for you.

Good luck… Redeye

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Is there much of a diff between 11700 link i provided and the 12700? I really just am not sure…

@Redeyesjm is that 750 watt power source something I can… or should upgrade as far as longevity? I am not sure if that is able to be changed? This is the hard part about purchasing a computer and making sure it runs well for the sim. If it isn’t pretty cut and dry or someone holds my hand, its going to get over my head lmao

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You should buy a VR set, a HP Reverb 2 matched with preferably a 3090ti a 3090 or a 3080

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He literally states he’s not interested in VR lol.

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Big difference
I would not recommend the 11700k that is the last gen… the 12700k is current gen “alder lake” with a completely new cpu design and it is the recommended cpu for the best value all round performance right now.

the 750 watts would be good for now… May be an issue if you plan to upgrade. But if your sticking to budget i would keep the 750 and be mindful that any gpu upgrade down the road would more than likely require a PSU upgrade in tandem.

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I agree with Maxisone here. Although I am something of a geek, I am not a super, genetically enhanced, geek. What they said makes complete sense to me, even about up’ed psu if you decide on a beefier video card. Also, IMO, Corsair is not chopped liver. I am humbly that you should be fine with these specs, but with a good warranty. That will be worth every penny in my occsionally humble opinion. Dump the lighting if you can. Tell BB you really like the specs but want to save some money so you can afford a warranty. I think they will love that and try their best to help you. Again, imo, you can save some dough on the lighting and the liquid cooling. The psu, processor, motherboard and video card are good though. One thing you may want to consider re: storage, is a 1TB SSD or NVME drive for Windows and MSFS / add-ons and the 2TB hard drive for your other half. As always, others may disagree. You can get a great cooling fan for way less that a liquid cooling system, but you’ll need BB to be flexible on specs without going to a lesser manufacturer. Maybe let them propose something and then ask us about it. Tell them: I don’;t think I need custom lighting or liquid cooling but you like the rest of the specs and would like a warranty. See what they say and report back.

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