New CPU or GPU for FSX:SE?

[TheSkiMC 0]

Hello there.

 

I am currently running FSX Steam Edition for flying on VATSIM. I use a number of addons like PMDG, Majestic and Aerosoft Aircraft, and many addon sceneries from Aerosoft, FlyTampa, T2G, etc.

 

Here are my current specs:

AMD FX 6300 3.5GHz

Gigabyte Motherboard (AM3+ Socket)

Stock CPU cooling

AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB

8GB DDR3 RAM

Windows 10 x64

 

I have to run FSX on very low settings which makes textures, sceneries and terrain look rather horrible. I can tweak it to the point of maybe getting 20fps in well optimized or less dense scenery, but once you start adding in more dense scenery and air traffic, frame rate can drop as low as 8fps (which I am kind of getting used to flying with...)

 

I would like to upgrade either my GPU or CPU, depending on which is more likely to be the bottleneck, so I can run FSX with textures that are actually readable! I'm on a budget of around £300, and would like to move away from AMD, but replacing the CPU with an Intel would obviously require a new motherboard too, which would mean I'd have to go for a lower-end CPU.

 

If you could point me in the right direction, even suggest a specific processor or card!

Thanks for the advice.

Calum

[Charlatan 68]

Go for either of these, then upgrade your GPU later

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/8pack-approved-intel-core-i5-6400-4.4ghz-overclocked-quad-core-gaming-bundle-bu-050-as.html

or

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/8pack-approved-intel-core-i3-6100-4.5ghz-overclocked-dual-core-gaming-bundle-bu-049-as.html