Need help buying PC for new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 release (1 Viewer)

[Horses Mouth]

Hi,

My son wants MS Flight Simulator 2020 for his birthday in a few weeks. 

We are a Mac family so I haven't bought a PC in 20 years. 

Here are the requirements. This will only be used for this simulator and playing his XBOX games. Nothing else FWIW.

Minimum system requirements

You will be able to install and run FS2020 when your system meets the minimal requirements set by Microsoft. Please note that Flight Simulator won't look at superb as it looks like in the movies published by Microsoft, as they used an ideal system for this.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200, or Intel i5-4460

GPU: Radeon RX 570, or Nvidia GTX 700

VRAM: 2 GB

RAM: 8 GB

HDD: 150 GB

Internetspeed: 5 Mbps (0.6 MB/s)

Recommended system requirements

Do you want a smooth Flight Simulator 2020 experience? If average graphics are good enough for you you need at least the speciaifcations below for your computer.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, or Intel i5-8400

GPU: Radeon RX 590, or Nvidia GTX 970

VRAM: 4 GB

RAM: 16 GB

HDD: 150 GB

Internetspeed: 20 Mbps (2.5 MB/s)

Ideal system requirements

Do you want to get the most out of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and would you like to be stunned by all details this new Flightsim has to offer, including its breathtaking sceneries? Then you do need a heavy PC, including fast internet connection.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X, or Intel i7-9800X

GPU: Radeon VII, or Nvidia RTX 2080

VRAM: 8 GB

RAM: 32 GB

HDD: 150 GB SSD

Internetspeed: 50 Mbps (6.3 MB/s)

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Where is a good starting place to buy one of these PCs. I also have a $200 Dell credit through my AMEX card, so perhaps there's a way to use this?

We have a Samsung LED HDMI TV that he can use, correct? 

Thanks in advance!

HM

 

[Gianni Verscotchie]

Dang. The ideal specs are beast. That's not even for VR either.

Just buy the best one you can afford. GPU is usually the limiting factor.

2080 Super or 2080ti gpu or wait for the 3080

 

[The Tick]

Really need some more info here on what you want to do:

• How much do you want to spend
  
• I have no experience with flight sim, so can't say for sure, but what "level" are you looking to hit here, at dell to hit the high specs you are looking at an $1800 Alienware PC.
  
• Are you really tied to picking a Dell?  I know a lot of guys have had good luck buying their gaming PC's from other companies, we have a big thread for gaming pc's where you can usually see what guys are looking to buy.  I use dell for all my generic PC's so i don't dislike them as a company, but when you are getting the higher end gaming stuff, you pay an extra premium with them.
  
• My generic recommendation in most gaming PC buying threads is to pick a mid range intel i5 processor (AMD has really good stuff to, I'm just not familiar with them), 8G RAM, and as much graphics card as you can/want to afford.  For something like flight sim, maybe a i7 proc would be valuable, but i'm not sure, it wouldn't hurt.
  
• Can you play Xbox games on a PC?  I'm honestly not sure about that, never done it myself.
  
• I have no experience with TV's for PC monitors.  I always use my PCs on a desk with a dedicated monitor.  Think other guys here do more of TV thing.
  

ETA: Here is a link to the main Gaming PC thread where you can usually look at the last few pages and see what other guys have been buying recently.  Most often through Amazon. https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/topic/496703-mad-cows-build-a-killer-gaming-rig-on-a-budget-thread/

 

[Osaurus]

Dang. The ideal specs are beast. That's not even for VR either.

Just buy the best one you can afford. GPU is usually the limiting factor.

2080 Super or 2080ti gpu or wait for the 3080

This GPU is awesome. Been very pleased with mine.