I was thinking about this today. In all the discussions about P3D performance/settings we often talk about a high end computer vs medium vs low end. I realize this is a moving target and there is a continuum, especially as technology changes yearly (if not faster), but what fits the definition of each? Specifically, looking at my specs in my sig, how would one define my system?

I guess there is no precise definition for this.

 

In my opinion, even if a system like yours is quite common in flight simulation world, if I compare it to most home or gaming computers that I see every day, then it is definitely high-end: you have an unlocked i7 (even if 3rd gen) and a 1070, plus a bunch of other nice features such as the 2 SSD. You computer is more than enough for 99% of today AAA titles.

 

You could of course have a "higher end" system with newer generation features (7th gen unlocked CPU with liquid cooling, 1080 or Titan, DDR4, NVME SSD) but that would actually represent quite a "small" increase in performance compared to the big cost difference you would get.

 

The fact is that you should always compare the system to your needs.

This is quite obvious when rating GPU, where you should take into consideration the resolution you want to use.

A GTX1060 would be a low end card for VR or 2160p gaming but it is absolutely an high-end card in 1080p.