MS Flight Simulator 2020 spec PC: comments on adequacy?

[Vickycat]

Hello, I've ordered the spec set out below for using almost wholly for MS Flight Simulator 2020 and maybe FSX, and the display size will be 5120 x 1440 on a single Samsung Q9 monitor (curved). I'm likely over time to add addon scenery, and extras like weather generators and related software which may run at the same time, so I think this is pretty heavy in processor, GPU and memory demands, hence the large RAM and the high end GPU plus the Fuzedrive for my SSD. Do people think this is a spec which can have any obvious improvements (the RAM for example was the fastest PC Specialist have if I want 64GB but perhaps a higher speed would be better eventually, and the main board can handle 5000mhz RAM). I'm not bothered with a fancy case or LED lighting etc, and am hoping the chosen cooler is adequate (the main board I think should run cool due to its voltage staging). Any views especially on the use of a Fuzedrive - never used one before but was attracted to the apparent durability and access speeds. Are there any opinions on whether the significantly more expensive ASUS version of the RTX 3090 would be worth the extra expense given this is already an expensive project (its my first major upgrade since 2008 when I opted for what was then a top spec PC). My instinct is not but comparisons are hard to come by.
Thanks

 

[Vickycat]

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i9-10900K 10 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 5.1GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Master (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI, Wi-Fi) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1.6TB ENMOTUS FUZEDRIVE M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3470MB/R, 3000MB/W, 128GB SLC for endurance)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
6x Slim USB 2.0 External Blu-Ray Writer
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]

 

[Resistance100]

With that monitor Flight Sim will be a dream.

I would recommend, switching to an AMD build if possible, you can also save a lot of money and go with the 3080 rather than 3090 and get fantastic performance still. (Although you might have to wait longer)

You would need a better case for sure with those components in it to maintain temps and would switch to the H115i plat cooler. You won't need to pay extra for the thermal paste as comes with great paste already.


An example of a high end AMD flight sim G9 build would be -

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 BLACKOUT TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £2,538.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/tZeUeMr5jW/

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Really wish you had come to the forums first.
Intel is unfortunately a bad move, and youve made a few errors like arctic thermal paste and the AIO youve picked.
The case is not a good choice and you could of made some far better selections on drives too.
Generally speaking, its very much on the messy side.

It is possible to cancel the build? I personally wouldnt take it, and with £2500...you could build an incredible machine, and what you have spec'd would be well over 3K...and is just burning cash.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

A note on RAM speeds, 5000MHz may be supported on the board, but it also needs to be suited to the CPU, and having speeds that are too high actually return less performance. Need to be careful on things like this as numbers arent always the best indicator.

 

[Ash_]

The CAS Latency on 5000mhz Ram would probably be like 30 and making gaming awful. For gaming i don’t think you can get much better than say 3600mhz CL14, which you may very well be able to clock down to, but i can’t be certain.

Also as Sibun said, your cpu also has a memory controller and can only handle certain speeds, before becoming unstable.

And once again, that case is going to melt your components i think, especially if you start overclocking ram also.

I don’t even know what a fuzedrive is tbh.

 

[Resistance100]

Really wish you had come to the forums first.
Intel is unfortunately a bad move, and youve made a few errors like arctic thermal paste and the AIO youve picked.
The case is not a good choice and you could of made some far better selections on drives too.

It is possible to cancel the build? I personally wouldnt take it, and with £2500...you could build an incredible machine

You can speak to PCS who can change your order from Intel to AMD

 

[Deleted member 17413]

You can speak to PCS who can change your order from Intel to AMD

Yes and no...
If finance is involved, its not that simple as the finance is tied to the specification of the build, and having done it myself I know for a fact you can end up just losing money doing it.
It has to be done as a manual adjustment, and needs approval to do it. I would of lost over £100 doing it as well, as its put through by wiping the previous and putting a whole new build through as a alteration with a £0 cost pricetag.

Its quicker, and cleaner, to cancel and put a fresh order in. Especially at this stage where its only just gone in.
(And if finance is involved, there is no penalty as its within the cancellation period and if the new application is the same amount or less, it pretty much goes straight through)


Problem is, I think the OP may have done a runner... not sure pointing out what theyve done has gone down too well.... Which is a shame, I went and put some of their spec into the configurator and it was already hitting a £3500 pricetag before i'd even put the whole thing in... thats gotta hurt.

Had they come here and done some proper research they could of saved over a grand and got a machine that was very argueably significantly better...

 

[Vickycat]

No I havent done a runner! I am fairly keen on sticking to Intel - the past history of Intel being higher performance with MSFS is what sells that to me and no experience with AMD. Thanks for the comments on the cooler and case, I may consider changing those (the order will not even start to be worked on for a while I suspect since there are long lead times on 3090 cards. Reports I have read suggest that with extra processes and the highest resolutions and so on MSFS pushes the video memory of a 3080 and hence the 24GB of the 3090 appeals to me. Its not on finance.

re Drives: what would be better selections referred to: I am aiming for fast but not limited lifespan, and the Fuzedrive (which is a sort of combined SSD system which PCspecialist sell) seems both very fast and very robust. I like normal SSDs but the vast rate of access by this PC is something I am not keen on with a standard SSD given the lifespan in terms of write operations.

In terms of processor, why AMD suggested: I can consider it but would hope to see some reports that AMD is indeed now preferable for MSFS given Intels hitherto supremacy with that software in particular. Thanks for the input. I will probably alter the case and cooler. Any suggestions on a case (one available on PCspecialist)

 

[Ash_]

5000X or 5000D Airflow (you’ll need to buy extra fans) or 500D SE would be my recommendations.

 

[Martinr36]

No I havent done a runner! I am fairly keen on sticking to Intel - the past history of Intel being higher performance with MSFS is what sells that to me and no experience with AMD. Thanks for the comments on the cooler and case, I may consider changing those (the order will not even start to be worked on for a while I suspect since there are long lead times on 3090 cards. Reports I have read suggest that with extra processes and the highest resolutions and so on MSFS pushes the video memory of a 3080 and hence the 24GB of the 3090 appeals to me. Its not on finance.

re Drives: what would be better selections referred to: I am aiming for fast but not limited lifespan, and the Fuzedrive (which is a sort of combined SSD system which PCspecialist sell) seems both very fast and very robust. I like normal SSDs but the vast rate of access by this PC is something I am not keen on with a standard SSD given the lifespan in terms of write operations.

In terms of processor, why AMD suggested: I can consider it but would hope to see some reports that AMD is indeed now preferable for MSFS given Intels hitherto supremacy with that software in particular. Thanks for the input. I will probably alter the case and cooler. Any suggestions on a case (one available on PCspecialist)

read thisd

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 17413]

You need to forget history, Intel have been trading off history for a good few years now without actually living up to it.
The 3000 series AMD were better than Intels offering in all areas except the competitive gaming (low graphics, high frame rate and single core) and with teh release of the 5000 series they have well and truely taken 2nd place on all accounts.

They are more expensive as well, which is insult to injury, prone to thermal issues, have numerous security flaws and are running on old architecture. I get familiarity, but the hard cold truth is Intel are a poor decision.

 

[Resistance100]

No I havent done a runner! I am fairly keen on sticking to Intel - the past history of Intel being higher performance with MSFS is what sells that to me and no experience with AMD. Thanks for the comments on the cooler and case, I may consider changing those (the order will not even start to be worked on for a while I suspect since there are long lead times on 3090 cards. Reports I have read suggest that with extra processes and the highest resolutions and so on MSFS pushes the video memory of a 3080 and hence the 24GB of the 3090 appeals to me. Its not on finance.

re Drives: what would be better selections referred to: I am aiming for fast but not limited lifespan, and the Fuzedrive (which is a sort of combined SSD system which PCspecialist sell) seems both very fast and very robust. I like normal SSDs but the vast rate of access by this PC is something I am not keen on with a standard SSD given the lifespan in terms of write operations.

In terms of processor, why AMD suggested: I can consider it but would hope to see some reports that AMD is indeed now preferable for MSFS given Intels hitherto supremacy with that software in particular. Thanks for the input. I will probably alter the case and cooler. Any suggestions on a case (one available on PCspecialist)

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Some great reading there regarding AMD/Intel at present

You will get slightly better performance out of the 3090 than the 3080 but even in MSFS your paying £700-800 more for 10-15 extra FPS. Of course its your choice and money but I couldn't justify that amount of extra money for such a small performance gain

 

[Deleted member 17413]

And just as a rough idea....for LESS than what your spec appeared to be adding up to, you could build something like this (which is a complete and utter monster of a machine, and incredibly premium):
Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £3,454.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/A499pCSc0y/

Its not an exact spec I would recommend, theres a couple of extras on it I dont think will be of any use (like 64GB RAM for example...)

 

[Martinr36]

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Some great reading there regarding AMD/Intel at present

You will get slightly better performance out of the 3090 than the 3080 but even in MSFS your paying £700-800 more for 10-15 extra FPS. Of course its your choice and money but I couldn't justify that amount of extra money for such a small performance gain

@Resistance100 , you getting slow, good point on the 3090

 

[Resistance100]

@Resistance100 , you getting slow, good point on the 3090

The sun is coming out and grass is growing so my attention gets pulled away

 

[Vickycat]

Hi. My basis for the 3090 is that the ram of the 3080 is potentially exceeded where the most complex scenery and detail is in use, from some reports. Yes I would sooner have a hypothetical 3080 with say 18GB video memory but faced with 10GB on the 2080 or 24GB on the 3090 I feel the added ram concludes it. Its not the speed per se that is my reason.

I will look at AMD but since this is specific for MSFS I am hesitant even if AMD is better for other software since notoriously MSFS and FSX preferred Intel (probably as a result of the programmers rather than hardware I suspect). I understand MSFS is largely reliant on one processor thread and uses others for ancillary things, and that intel has a slight advantage where that is the design (even if AMD would be better for games written to fully exploit multiple threads).

But I will look at it. For now I have amended my order to change as follows:

Standard paste
1 x extra 120mm case fan (given the number of fans already in this system one extra was all that I could add).
Corsair H115i cooling
Corsair Crystal Series 680X gaming case.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

The VRAM on a GPU is very, very different to RAM. It doesnt work that way.
Also, if you are going to add fans, dont get cheap ones. A lot of cases dont need them anyway, especially quality cases liek the 680X, but should you need them, look at ML120 or LL120 fans, you want decent quality.

 

[Vickycat]

And just as a rough idea....for LESS than what your spec appeared to be adding up to, you could build something like this (which is a complete and utter monster of a machine, and incredibly premium):
Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £3,454.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/A499pCSc0y/

Its not an exact spec I would recommend, theres a couple of extras on it I dont think will be of any use (like 64GB RAM for example...)

Thanks - on the RAM, Im going for 64GB so that the SSD wont be used for much page file swapping, and also having read reports that in some circumstances running MSFS alone has pushed up as far as 30GB ram usage for complex cities (and I would eventually be running other ancillary software alongside MSFS. (Im grateful by the way for the comments about faster RAM not being necessarily better here).

 

[Vickycat]

The VRAM on a GPU is very, very different to RAM. It doesnt work that way.
Also, if you are going to add fans, dont get cheap ones. A lot of cases dont need them anyway, especially quality cases liek the 680X, but should you need them, look at ML120 or LL120 fans, you want decent quality.

PC Specialist only offer just the one fan option there I am afraid if buying a single one (I cant be bothered to so a self build on this). I may just remove it and save a fiver or whatever since its a big case. Can you say more on the Vram: surely if a card tops out its VRAM that would have implications for speed, and this is for a 5120 x 1400 display and highest detail settings. Recommendations I have read have been concerned about MSFS exceeding 10GB VRAM et https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pag..._graphics_performance_benchmark_review,4.html

Do you feel that would not impact performance if VRAM demand exceeded 10GB on a 3080? Obviously if not then Id save money (I had intended to get a 3080 but the VRAM is the deciding issue at present). Im aware of the difference between allocated/reserved Vram and used Vram but absent detailed data as to actual usage the best one can go on is the info out there (which may refer to allocated Vram)

On the AMD Ryzen processor, looking at frame rate reports for MSFS there seems to be not much in it - the AMD seems slightly slower (negligibly so) relative to an i9-10900K at 5.1 GHz. https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/amd-5900x-5950x-performance-in-msfs/315580