That’s a really good point.
I would also suggest spending the money on some decent fans as well. Noctua fans have weird colors but they are just about silent and are very good kit. Most have a MTTF rating of more than 150.000 hours and have a full 6-year manufacturer’s warranty.
MSFS is very CPU intensive if you want traffic. If you just want to fly around the planet as the sole human being, then it’ll be good.
I would say only go to the 3080 if you’re going to upgrade your monitor to 1440 or 4K. A 3080 is way overkill for 1080.
The motherboard will only really determine how limited you are in which CPUs you have available to you. AMD mobos have a tendency to allow easy generation upgrades, which is one of the only reasons I went with AMD. Intel has a tendency to be a bit more restrictive with mobo generations.
Also, if you want an nvme drive with pcie 4.0 support, you can get wicked crazy loading speeds.
I recently upgraded my 5-year old rig with a 570x AMD board that supports pcie 4.0 for the GPU and nvme. I went with 570x because I will likely get a new AMD processor when they’re out and I didn’t want to have to deal with flashing the bios.
So, it really depends, but for you… start with determining what resolution you want to fly or game at and then match the GPU and CPU to maximize whatever monitor refresh rate you end up getting.
Most interesting topic between all the ctd’s, airliners and peripherals. Thanks! On topic, it’s the cpu and bios that makes the motherboard. Not the other way around. If there is a limiting factor it’s often the bios not the board. But is the motherboard (bios) neglected as a whole many times? Yes, I agree. On the other hand it’s one of the cheapest parts in your pc. It just connects the different parts of the pc together. CPU, RAM and peripherals. A GPU is just another peripheral, like your storage is. What makes the difference between a low and high end board in my opinion? Bios as mentioned before and the quality of chips used. It’s all about chips. And the mother of all chips on your board is the CPU (what actually means Cores Per Unit). So what’s the limiting factor nowadays in a PC? Hint, it’s not the GPU with all of it’s cuda cores. RAM? Do I hear CPU? No. It’s the concept of the motherboard. It’s outdated. Have a look at your smartphone or better inside. How efficient. So yes, I agree, the motherboard is neglected.
CPU means Central Processing Unit. You kinda lost me a little bit with that one.
Sorry about the smileys, I meant no disrespect. I My first cpu was a 8086 with a CGA video. I’m just an old fart.
I am heavy GPU limited. CPU is fine. GPU limited 4k getting 50FPS around innsbruck Ultra settings. I have a 2080ti Overclocked, liquid cooled, 11GB so its the best other than now the 3080 and 3090. I9 9900ks 4.0 boost to 5.0. I have AI traffic off though which helps the CPU.
Just up grade the the GPU. you should be ok with the 7700k. You might have to put the setting to medium to run it at a decent frame rate. RTX 2080 Ti should fall in price soon if you don’t wanna fork out 700 for a new 3080. I’m sure alot of people are going to sell their old cards. You can also get the 3070 for 400 +. Also see if your mobo can get an upgraded CPU if it supports it . You can still use all the parts for a new build too as long as its not too long ahead that you build another system. If you do I would get the RTX 3090 or 3080. Thats Just me. I have a RTX 2080 8700k 32 gig ram and a nvme drive. flight sim runs good on the high settings.
I had a Asus Rog Strix Z390 motherboard with a i7-8700 CoffeeLake CPU, and a 1080ti and 64 GB ram. Running on 4K or 5K, i would get about 18 fps on ultra.
Wanted to update to get the full potential of the 3080 , so just got a Asus Rog Maximus Formula LGA 1200 socket Motherboard with 64 GB DDR4 ram. 10th Generation Core i9-10850, 850 Watt Evga PSU
49 " Samsung ultrawide at 5K
I returned the Aorus Master and the Aorus Pro because they did not have enough USB slots. This motherboard is a monster with all the slots/ USB 3 headers i need, and tonnes of USB ports in the I/O.
Which is nice because i can plug my yoke, throttle, trim wheel, Track IR 5, mouse, keyboard, Saitek FLight switch panel and radio panel , and Oculus Rift VR all into it.
Still running the 1080 ti because i cant get the ■■■■ 3080 yet.
Well i am still getting about the same FPS, maybe 5 fps more with the new CPU and motherboard. I was hoping i would get a lot more, even with the 1080ti, while i waited for the new GPU.
At Ultra, with Bloom off ( fps hog), and all other settings at ultra (render scaling at 100) i get about 18.
with render scaling at 90 , AA 8x, reflections high, i get about 25 fps, which is fairly comfortable and smooth .
So in summary, even though i got the latest CPU , it seems like at any given time, the CPU is only getting 25% or so utilization, while the GPU is getting 91 to 95% utilization, even with the latest motherboard and 10th gen i9.
So really, its all dependent on the GPU.
But im still glad i updated my 3 yr old mobo to the LGA1200 socket, latest CPU. That way when i get my 3080 GPU, my former i7-8700 LGA1151 CoffeeLake CPU wont bottle neck it.
But ive also heard you have to have a PCI-e 4 slot to really run these new GPU’s, and intel doesnt have any motherboard with that PCI-e 4 yet, only AMD does or will do so soon.
Make sure you get a motherboard that can be upgraded, like from an i7 to an i9 when those become standard. Also, some boards does not support more than 64 GB memory, it may seem like a huge amount now but it is probably just an average amount in a few years.
You may want to check the number of SATA connectors and possible M2 drive slots that are available so you can increase storage space.
The number of PCI Express slots could be of importance if you’re adding lots of hardware to your games box.
USB connectors, while USB2 seems unnecessary, some things may still need USB2 and USB3 slots are not fully compatible even if they fully follow the specs, i have some gear that didn’t accept USB3, even through a USB2 hub. If you don’t have any USB2 gear (Steering wheels, rudders etc) which cannot be firmware upgraded, ignore this paragraph.
Display connectors (HDMI, DP) can be a factor if you want to use VR later on. I had to get an adapter for my HTC since the box had 3 DP and 1 HDMI and both my monitor and the Vive used HDMI. You may want to check that as well.
No issues, the GPU is mainly powered by the PSU. Make sure you have at least a 650 W PSU of a good brand.
The Asus Strix is one of the best MB anyway. You can overclock your CPU easily to 4.8 GHz.
I am on my third gaming computer, over a period of a decade or so. I have found it best to rebuild from scratch (gaming case/motherboard) and properly match the components so they are all compatible. It’s not too hard to do (there are specs on each component identifying compatible memory, cpu, psi, etc.
You can do this yourself or go to one of the gaming computer “build-for-you” websites and go through the various selections as you virtually build your own new gaming tower. Of course, you don’t have to commit to purchasing it, unless in the long run, you really think it’s the right thing to do.
I am a bit leery of popping in single components into existing configurations, particularly if older or limited architecture, unless you have matched the specs. Good luck.
This was my main concern, as at the current time I am not getting these and lets face it I think my system is pretty mediocre by todays standards!!
At the moment I have most settings on high some on Ultra and flying the G36 or the C172 glass cockpits I get around 50 FPS generally dropping down to mid 30’s if I fly over big congested area’s. I always have live weather and live traffic on. I must admit I don’t really take much notice of FPS though if it’s smooth and no stutters its good for me.
Very good point at the moment I only have 1080p GSYNC monitor and is there a point in spending the money on a new GPU and then not get the benefit of what it is capable of being limited to 1080.
I started playing around with this last night, note to self though, next time don’t do it when the misses is around, as she noticed the price 
I think I am going to need to do some creative accounting judging her reaction.
Thanks to everyone who has replied its been really useful and given me lots to think about.
2 weeks ago I upgraded my good old 2012 computer. It had an I7 3770OC 4,4GHz with Asus P8Z77-V MB and 16GBDDR3 2400MHz. I just bought a new MB, a MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Edge Wifi, with a I7 10700K and 32GB DDR4 3200MHz. I kept my GTX1080, and I was able to keep all other old stuffs (8 years!) around those new component. I have a good 620W power supply, an old case (with some duke tape), my OCZ SSD system 128GB with a new install of Windows 10 only on it, another 1TB HDD and a 500GB HDD. I was also able to keep my CPU fan, a big Noctua double fan, as it’s compatible, and run fine so far for OC.
The new MB is pretty good, lot of VRM and can OC later my new I7 without problem (tried sucesfully, but for now stay I stock clock). I have a very nice improvement on fps side with a lot of games and with MSFS (locked to 60 fps nearly everywhere with new settings at high/ultra), even keeping my GTX1080. With the new core, I guess RAM and DDR4 speed matter a lot too.
Good invest, pretty happy, only 700€ and a brand “new machine” (with some scotch tape for the case;)). I’ll change surrounding components when they will fail but so far so good 
Your Mobo should be fine. Have a look at your PSU instead because that’s the component being neglegted much more.
You don’t have a ■■■■■ CPU and 64GiB of RAM so it all depends on your GPU. If you would have a ■■■■■ CPU (4 cores or less), 16 Gigs of RAM, the latest GPU won’t help you. That’s why I stated the concept of the current motherboard is outdated. Because nowadays when you want to buy a new generation of GPU to play a simulator like MSFS you need to buy a matching CPU, RAM and motherboard. Why not integrate them? Put them in one package on one of your standarized peripheral slots on your software driven peripheral board and if it’s not enough put one next to it to double your performance. Basically a Software Defined Gaming Center. AMD should be able to do that as they make CPU’s and GPU’s. Because something is wrong now when some need 6 cooling fans or water cooling, special cooling paste, cooling fans on RAM and jet powered GPU’s to get out a ■■■■■ performance while others like me have only a CPU cooler, a cooled GPU and a case fan with no troubles at all. Beside that what about the electricity bill when you use VR or MSFS in the current configurations? Anyways, happy flying!
Oh yeah. The so many times neglected power supply. You bought a new MB, a new CPU and a state of the art GPU wondering why it all keeps shutting down all the times. 
been there.
Mine is an Antec 620W 80+ Bronze and it run nearly 20h per day for the last 8 years (like all other old components I kept). So far no problem at all. I’ll have to change it when I’ll upgrade my GPU that’s sure…
LOL I still have my old epson 8086 sitting in my collection. I havent fired that puppy up in years…I had EGA on mine though Im such a spoiled brat ;p
I found the floppies for the 1st ms flight sim as well, also the floppies for the 1st version of windows back when IBM / Microsoft were working together.
I have an old Compaq Laptop 8088 512k of mem dual 360k floppies, and a 8 inch green on black monitor. All this power and goodness in a carry case the size of a small suitcase. And such an easy carry for a laptop if I remember correctly it weighs in at about 20lbs.
The sound of a spinning up 20 MB harddisk in the morning. Priceless. The 8088. Hmm wasn’t that the one that had a turbo ? We are talking about end 70’s, early 80’s computers. That’s over 40 years now. The times that we spent more money for a decent Soundblaster than we do now for a CPU. I remember the first FS too. Wasn’t that the one bringing post all over the US? I played more F16 Fighting Falcon those days.