Posted on 01/28/2024 7:17:16 PM PST by fireman15
ping
After getting the setup, I of course bought FS2020 and I have been enjoying it a great deal. However I would recommend the following :
As for going Intel vs AMD, I think AMD is better if you are going to build a dedicated gaming machine. I went the Intel route since I also use my PC for software development and multi-media stuff (mostly video editing).
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Cezanne 3.9GHz 6-Core AM4 Boxed Processor - Wraith Stealth Cooler Included $119.99
Gigabyte - B550 Gaming X V2 AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard $119.99
TeamGroup T-FORCE VULCAN Z 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4-3200 PC4-25600 CL16 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit TLZGD464G3200H - Gray $119.99
Crucial - P3 500GB SSD 3D NAND Flash M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive $39.99
Thermaltake V100 ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case - Black $44.99
Thermaltake Smart Series 500 Watt 80 Plus ATX Non-Modular Power Supply $41.99
Corsair TM30 Performance Thermal Paste $7.99
Arctic Cooling P12 Fluid Dynamic Bearing 120mm Case Fan $5.99
= $520.92
Same Day Pro Assembly $149.99 Same day, if ordered 4 hours before closing. Learn more
Not that I am going to buy and build it, but thank God for ability.
BKMK
I used to roll my own. But my brother is in IT and gets me three or four year old ones that are good enough. And I’m a power user (not gaming though).
For most business stuff, or databases, you don’t need top of the line.
I buy a new ASUS or equivalent gaming laptop every 6 or 8 years. Just bought one this year with a 4070m. Works for me and I haven’t found anything I couldn’t play (although I game less than I did before I had kids).
I need a decent GPU for Microsoft's latest Flight Simulator. I get a warning that my system does not meet the minimum standards.
I also am currently using a Ryzen processor in my laptop and I also am happy with its performance. Because my computer does not meet the minimum standards for the program I have tweaked the heck out of MSFS 2020 to get it to work without constant crashes. It does work, just not to the level that I would like.
I agree completely. The primary reason that I am considering spending a considerable amount of money on a "gaming pc" is for flight simulation. Although, I do have 7 tech savvy grandkids and most of them love various types of games on a decent computer. I like it that I can afford many good PC games for them that are highly discounted because they are not the most current releases.
I purchased two HP Elite 8300 Ultra Slim desktop computers in 2019 to use to connect to some 1080p TVs to play and record videos from streaming services using a program called Audials. I also use them as Plex media servers. Even though these have just 3rd generation core i7 processors they still work fine for this purpose.
They were around $150 back then with new SSDs. They are now less than $100, because their competition now are the tiny little PCs that will basically fit in your hand. I will probably end up purchasing something more modern to use with 4K, but with the limitations of my Comcast account using 1080p is much better for keeping from using too much bandwidth.
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Item: [Gaming RDY ELIBG205] Intel i9 9900K, MSI Z390 Tomahawk Motherboard, GIGABYTE GAMING OC RTX 2080 Ti 11GB Video Card, XPG 16GB RGB (8GBx2) DDR4-3200 Memory, 1TB Western Digital SSD, RGB Liquid Cooler, Windows 10
Case: iBUYPOWER Element Front and Side Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
Processor: Intel® Core™ i9-9900K Processor (8x 3.60GHz/16MB L3 Cache)
Processor Cooling: iBUYPOWER 240mm Addressable RGB Liquid Cooling System - Black
Memory: XPG SPECTRIX D41 RGB 16 GB [8 GB x 2] DDR4-3200MHz - White
Video Card: GIGABYTE GAMING OC GeForce® RTX 2080 Ti - 11GB (VR-Ready)
Storage: 1 TB Western Digital Blue SSD
Motherboard: MSI MAG Z390 TOMAHAWK w/ RGB
Power Supply: 750 Watt RGB Power Supply - 80 PLUS Gold
Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home + Office 365 Trial [FREE 30 Day Trial]
Keyboard: iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: iBUYPOWER Gaming Optical Mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Standard Warranty Service
Subtotal: $2,549.00
Tax: $178.43
Ground Shipping: $0.00
Total Price: $2,727.43
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Good News: Overall the PC performs well (most of the failures were post-warranty period and/or not worth the effort/cost to utilize their warranty approach).
Bad News: I-Power cuts their costs by using their "in-house" peripherals and components wherever possible, which are cheap and/or have a short life span.
For example:
Mouse: Junk (Replaced with a Logitech unit).
Keyboard: Junk (Replaced with a Logitech unit).
Cooling System: Low quality, caused me many headaches because of an intermittent CPU cooling fan (finally tracked down problem and replaced with a good brand name Cooling System - that eliminated my overheating problems). (Also found that I-power install of heat transfer paste between cooling head and CPU was done poorly).
Just some info for You on my experience.
Gest to You and Yours.
Oops, make that Best, not Gest!
Yes, and I would like to go with a VR setup. As I told you previously I have sometimes had some issues with motion sickness. I have used android phone-based VR headsets and the ones that bothered me had cheap and awful lenses. I have a couple of 360 cameras. A phone-based headset actually works quite well to view videos and virtual tours. There are also rudimentary video games that they work with.
I probably will not be able to justify spending as much money as it would take to use VR in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 without turning the settings down quite a bit. I want to put some new radios in the Cherokee and unfortunately I am expecting an expensive annual. My wish list is going to have to have a few compromises.
And yes, on a standard laptop screen a little less than 20FPS does not bother me. There is a bit of control lag to get used to as well with a system that is underpowered. This helps to foster the good habit of not using extreme movements on the controller but is still a bit annoying.
We are currently selling an old house that my wife and I spent years “restoring”. When it sells, I hope to reward myself with these new toys along with getting our Piper Cherokee back in the air. I have been using the flight simulators to keep my skills freshened up a bit.
I was going to mention in our last conversation, that I did have a very good Aerobatic flight instructor. The problem was she was very pretty, long, tall, and blonde and my wife had a fit. I did have a wonderful time flying with her though while it lasted.
Thanks for your heads up and relating your experience. I wondered about that type of thing. There are few true bargains these days. Even so the same types of issues are often faced with name brand equipment. At least with a generic desktop it is not typically a problem to swap out parts later. And with name brand computers the BIOS/UEFI are typically severely limited which can be extremely frustrating.
I am a little suspicious of liquid coolers... it is not surprising to me that you ran into some difficulties with it after a while.
I purchased the basic edition, and have purchased some additional aircraft and liveries (paint jobs and interior upgrades), along with the IFR flight school. The extras airports and aircraft included in the deluxe versions are not actually important to me. My brother is a longtime airline captain... he would probably be better off with a deluxe version.
I went the Intel route since I also use my PC for software development and multi-media stuff (mostly video editing).
I have done a lot of video editing with AMD and never had any difficulties. I am shocked at how well the little Ryzen 5 2500u with 25 watt TDP performs in my laptop. It didn't make Microsoft's Windows 11 approved list which has got to be some form of planned obsolescence because it runs it with no problems at all.
I also get warnings when starting MSFS 2020 that it does not meet the minimum requirements, but after tweaking and troubleshooting and using a few tricks it works fine as well with half way decent graphics by my standards.
The name brand PCs are a hassle in many ways, but the parts do get added scrutiny. The problem is that some of the parts are very expensive to replace if you want to replace problem parts with the name brand originals. Apple is an absolute nightmare for people who want to fix their own computers and some of the other brands are not a lot better in that respect.
There are also refurbished pc’s at Amazon for sale at big discounts. About 11 months ago I bought two HP z240 SFF pc’s from Amazon. One for my sister and with a credit I got from a credit card company it cost just $17+ : )
For mine it was the $135+ listed with s/h. Mine was built in 2018.
When the model first came out it sold for $3,265 !!
https://www.amazon.com/HP-Z240-Worksation-Bit-Multi-Language-Supports/dp/B085LMQQLC
It has a 1TB Samsung SSD (room for 3 HDs), 16gb ram (can take 64gb). i5 7500 cpu. Windows 10 Pro. The cpu is not good enough according to microsoft for Windows 11 but you can still install with workarounds but I do not want to be a Windows 1 beta tester.
What you need is a IBM mainframe with 40TBs of ram <- terra and 200+ cpus and a 200gb internet speed.
Great advice there.
One way to save a bomb on this is to buy a slightly old Lenovo or HP tower workstation and just upgrade the graphics card.
I got a brand new but overstocked Lenovo P series tower with Zeon and 32GB RAM for about $1200 in your money. With a three year full system warranty thrown in by Lenovo.
Came with 1TB hardware RAID (SATA SSDs, which I use for document libraries and development projects) and a separate 1.5tb of PCIe nvme storage (1TB for operating system and 500gb for a Steam library).
Adding a much better graphics card was the only gap but these rigs are exceptionally reliable. The last one I had was a HP workstation and it was still running after ten years of daily use. I got $500 from selling it.
Yes you can spec up a much better machine with a self built or a custom builder, but after 2 years you’ll have seen it depreciate to half the build cost - it’s not the quality of components that holds value, it’s the warranty cover of the whole system. There’s a guy near me trying to sell a rig he built 6 months ago for $1500 after spending $2000 on parts but someone’s pointed out that the same rig could be built today for $1300 courtesy of extended January sales prices.
Yes, I mentioned in post 25 that I purchased used HP super slim desktop computers in 2019 to hook up to our televisions to use with a program called Audials that records and plays back streaming video. They are about the size of a DVD player, and do have DVD drives in them. I use them with wireless mice and keyboards. They still work extremely well for this purpose... We also use them viewing web pages on the TVs. They cost about $150 at the time, but our less than $100 these days
I played a new game a few months ago and couldn't run it on the highest settings, more like 80% but that was just fine and looked great up on the 70" tv.
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