Upgrading my PC

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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msfs-2020 User Support Hub > Hardware & Peripherals

Hello all, I’ve been looking alot into upgrading my current PC as it is running 30fps on low end settings and runs at an unplayable 10fps at medium.

Current specs are:

Ryzen 5 3600
Power Color Radeon RX6500XT
Kingston 16GB 3200MHZ (2x 8GB)
MSI B550M Pro VDH
Kingston SNV2 500GB.
AeroCool Bionic
I have a budget of 1400NZD.

I’ve been looking at upgrading my CPU to the Ryzen 5 5600X GPU to, RTX4060TI or RTX5060. I want to also upgrade my ram to 32GB but get the same ram sticks as it’s awesome as is, it’s a generic kinston one. I also want to upgrade my case and PSU.

I want to run ultra on MSFS2020 and was wondering if this was sufficient for around 30fps gameplay in Fenix A320, PMDG 737-800 and PMDG 777-300ER without using DLSS. I can’t spend more than 1400NZD

Cheers

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Is this a laptop?

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It’s a PC. (Minimum of 10 words so I’m adding this)

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For MSFS 2020, the CPU is the main component for performance. If you’re not changing the motherboard and have an AM4 socket, the 5800X3D is the way to get decent smooth performance at Ultra settings.

32GB of RAM will be OK for 2020, but before you buy any new sticks, check to see if the intended CPU and the memory controller are good to use 4 sticks - I don’t have an AMD based PC personally, but I have read in a lot of places that 2 sticks offer much better performance. If you can possibly get hold of 3 x 32GB, then a total of 64 makes gameplay smoother and will be very welcome if you change to MSFS 2024.

In MSFS 2020 the GPU follows what the CPU sends it, and the graphics card is really therefore dependent on the resolution you want to run. If you’re using 1080p then a 4060 or equivalent will allow you to run ultra settings at that resolution since the construction and speed of frames is so dependent on the CPU. If you want to use a 2K / 1440p screen, then you’ll need a 4070 or the AMD equivalent for Ultra, and if you want to use 4K or upgrade to it in the near future then you’d need a 4080 or 4090 (or one of the two higher end 5000 cards). The top end cards are also best by far with multiple screens or VR.

For the PSU, just get something from a decent manufacturer that has plenty of headroom. There are loads of PSU calculators online, where you enter details of all the intended main components (and sometimes peripherals too) and it will tell you what you need. Definitely ensure you have plenty of headroom though, both for performance right now and also future-proofing. Be Quiet, Corsair and Seasonic are all generally good, but check reviews once you settle on a particular model.

Same kind of thing applies to the case - you really just need something that will comfortably fit all the parts, allow for good airflow and a decent cooling solution, and that you like the look of. I have a Be Quiet Shadow base 800 DX case, and have found Be Quiet cases in general to be very well thought out and nice to build in.

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You’d better sell it and build a new one… basically every component needs to be upgraded and most probably the new GPU will require a more capable PSU.
What’s your budget?

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I think the hard drive is a little small. My current MSFS 2020 and 2024 installation is taking up 355 GB. It is broken down as follows:

MSFS 2020: 2.05 GB
MSFS 2024: 8.38 GB
Community Folder: 11.4 GB
Official: 333 GB

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He said his budget is $1,400 NZD.

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Sorry, didn’t notice that. It’s about 800 USD, not much… I’d consider buying an XBox Series X.

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I was thinking about an Xbox, but I already have a Series S and I don’t really wanna rebuy Microsoft Flight Simulator. I probably will sell my pc and just buy a prebuilt, one of my mates managed to get a 4070, R7 5800X3D 64GB 3600MHZ 2TB for 2300 and that’s white so I’ll probably just save a bit more and get what he has, I’ve played on his computer a bit and it has near no lag.

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This is already good :ok_hand:

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I understand the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck for the GPU but it’s only for a few months until I can buy something proper. I’ve increased my budget by 500 NZD as I’ve decided to sell my current pc. Is this much better?

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Find yourself a 5800X3D as stated above. You will get very good performance out of that CPU.

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If you assemble a new PC right now, then

  • Do not invest in AM4 anymore
  • Do not buy a video card with less than 16 GB

If your current budget is not high enough for that, wait until it is or buy a (used) console.
You may not like hearing these words now, but you will thank me later. :slight_smile:

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Honestly, I would save your cash for the moment. I don’t have an AMD based PC, but for MSFS 2020 in particular the X3D processors offer much superior performance than either your existing 3600 or the alternative proposed 5600.

If you’re going to go the route of selling the old PC & getting a new one, then I don’t think it’s a great idea to go for another AM4 / DDR4 build. You already have that mobo, SSD, RAM and PSU, so that’s spending quite a lot on a sideways move which is unlikely to be significantly better than what you have now, and is stuck in the previous generation.

Given what you’ve posted already and thinking mostly about use with MSFS 2020, I’d personally be tossing up the following choices:

1 - Either keep the PC you have, and use the budget on the bits that can be usefully and significantly upgraded: 5800X3D, 4070 ti/Super, 32 or 64 DDR4 RAM in two sticks, a new 2TB m2 SSD & a suitable PSU. You can keep using your existing mobo, case (& the GPU for a while if necessary), and also keep your existing 500GB SSD just for Windows & drivers etc. This builds in a bit of future-proofing, and will make any later changes easier. It also matches the spec of your mates stutter-free PC mentioned above.

Or alternatively:

2 - Hold on and save up a little more for a 7800X3D, AM5 mobo, 32GB or 64GB DDR5 RAM, 2 x m2 SSD’s (1 for Windows & 1 for games), 4XXX or 5XXX GPU (depending on required screens & resolution) and a suitable PSU. You don’t need to spend loads on a case, RGB strips & fans etc., and you’ll be fine with an air cooler rather than a liquid AIO on that X3D chip. You can also offset a bit of the cost by selling on the old PC.

This build will be way better than either your mates pc or the sideways-move 5600 build mentioned above. If you go for something in between then I don’t think you’d be getting good value, or a noticeable step up in performance.

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Cheers, I’ve spoken to my mate he said his pc is actually around 3,000 which is just out of my price range. I’ve been doing lots of research and found specs for my budget which my budget is actually 2450NZD, gotten my parents convinced but that’s the most it can be. The specs I’m looking at are,

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X

Thermalright Aqua Elite V3 66.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard

Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory

Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X2 NVME Solid State Drive

GALAX 1-Click OC 2X GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card

Deepcool CG530 4F ATX Mid Tower Case

MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

It’s AM4 and DDR4, but AM5 and DDR5 is simply out of my budget and unless I’d opt for a lower end graphics card. I’m running 1440p, that’s why I’m not going for a 5800X3D and also those CPUs are around 600 NZD and simply put that’s out of my budget. I have another NVME from an Old laptop that’s 500G and I can put that as my boot drive. A few people have recommended an Xbox but that’s not an option as I have one currently, and I run programs that aren’t compatible with an Xbox hence why I bought a PC in the first place. I don’t want to save and wait longer because my PC is literally on it’s final legs, it barely runs games. I think the 5700X is a solid CPU for what I’m doing currently. I sort of just want to know generally if there’s a better route or if Intel is worth looking at for my budget.

Cheers

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The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB PCIe 5.0 SSD is compatible with your MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI motherboard, but keep in mind that this motherboard doesn’t support PCIe Gen5. If you install the drive in the M2_1 slot, which is connected directly to the CPU, it will operate at PCIe Gen4 speeds, which is the maximum your system supports - still very fast and more than enough for most use cases.

The M2_2 slot, on the other hand, is connected to the B550 chipset and only supports up to PCIe Gen3 x4. So if you plan to use two NVMe SSDs, you can install a Gen4 SSD in M2_1 and a Gen3 SSD in M2_2. Gen4 drives are also backward compatible and will work in Gen3 mode if needed.

Since your motherboard can’t take advantage of Gen5 speeds, you might want to consider buying a PCIe Gen4 SSD instead. It will be more affordable and still deliver excellent performance on your setup.

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I would strongly advice against upgrading memory if you are thinking about adding a additional 2x8gb to the system, you are running a dual lane memory system. If they are not from the same batch you can get some protentional memory errors even if the spec are the same. You will never figure out were those errors are from. I recommend to only run 2x ram stick with the capacity desired on a dual lane system.

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Yep, the specs I’ve given is for a complete new build instead of what I currently have. The 16GB in my system is nearly impossible to play games on even though it’s still a decent amount of ram. If I were to buy this ram I wouldn’t use the RAM I currently have even though it’s similar sticks I plan on selling that computer as it’s of nearly no use to me.

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That’s sort of perfect if I go for a PCIe Gen 4 NVME for gaming, because the other NVME I have is Gen 3. It’s a WDC PC SN530 SDBPMPZ-512G-1101 if anyone’s wondering, I can run windows off that and use the Gen 4 for games.