New Hardware Advice

[rich1241 1]

Hi folks,

I'm wanting to get back into flight sim. Used to love playing FSX & things look like they have advanced rather a lot since then 🙂. Had my current setup for over 10 years so I want to purchase a new computer & new monitor also. Plan would be to mainly use P3D V5 (with ORBX, PMDG, ActiveSky etc) for next few years and maybe consider switching to MSFS2020 after...so if possible to "future proof" would be great. (Going to be purchasing from PC Specialist and don't want to build my own)

I don't really know a great deal about hardware, what's better, NVIDIA/AMD, or even 4k/1440p etc? From reading forums past few weeks - is this the right time to buy?

Budget is anything up to £3500 for both pc & monitor. 

Have been looking into these, if anyone has any experience of using them:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-32UL500-W-31-5-Inch-Monitor-3840x2160/dp/B07YCQK373/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Odyssey-Curved-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B0866C9XJM/ref=asc_df_B08669WZRH/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=435771752801&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16835589312521435208&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007092&hvtargid=pla-923965783586&th=1&ref=&adgrpid=104282993474 

Appreciate this could be a rather big topic, so any thoughts on any of this would be really welcome!

Thanks in advance,

Rich

 

[rich1241 1]

Anyone got any thoughts on this setup?

 

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER 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)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP (Delivery before Xmas not guaranteed)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM 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
Firefox™
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 13 to 15 working days
Price: £2,363.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/ryM0YVYYTn/

[stigt 13]

That is a very solid setup, will serve you for years to come.

[rich1241 1]

15 minutes ago, stigt said:

That is a very solid setup, will serve you for years to come.

Nice thanks mate - that was what I wanted to hear! Pondering this gaming monitor with it too https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Odyssey-Curved-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B0866C4BM7 

I know they haven't released anything more yet but you think the 10gb 3080rtx will be sufficient for MSFS?

[Tektolnes 184]

Have a shop around during Black Friday for additional SSD at reduced prices. 500GB will fill up pretty quickly. The 2TB HDD that you have is fine for general storage but these days I wouldn't want to run games from it.

The 3080 will run MSFS 2020 well. There is an open question about whether the 10GB will be enough down the line as more stuff gets added to the sim. My view would be that you could get the 3080 now and if it turns out it's not enough later you'll probably be able to sell it for a good % of what you paid for it and fund an upgrade.

You can get some impressions of the G9 below. The G9 had a lot of quality control issues early on I believe but newer models have improved.

You could check on reddit as well for more info on the G9: https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/

 

 

[rich1241 1]

Thanks for your v useful reply Tektolnes...that's a v good point on the SSD, will have a look for some higher storage options. I like that idea on the graphics card as well.

Done a bit of googling on the G9 & it sounds like those issues have now been addressed on the newly manufactured models and they have also released a firmware update which has solved the issue. Looks like it will be a decent setup for flight simming. Looking forward to getting back into it. Many thanks once again for your reply.

Rich

 

[Tektolnes 184]

The G9 has just gone on sale on Amazon for £890. Probably the best price you'll be able to get it at for a while. 

[rich1241 1]

13 hours ago, Tektolnes said:

The G9 has just gone on sale on Amazon for £890. Probably the best price you'll be able to get it at for a while. 

Thanks for letting me know!  

Im hoping this version will also appear in the Black Friday sale - its still currently £1279 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Odyssey-Curved-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B0866C4BM7/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Samsung+g9&qid=1606229035&sr=8-3 

Edited November 24, 2020 by rich1241

[Tektolnes 184]

On 11/24/2020 at 2:45 PM, rich1241 said:

Im hoping this version will also appear in the Black Friday sale - its still currently £1279 

£1079 today. I'd be sorely tempted myself but buying a house in the next while so have to avoid the nice-to-have purchases or the missus might raise an eyebrow in my direction.

[rich1241 1]

7 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Yes, I was concerned about quality control issues also, but I'm almost 1 month in with the G9 and it's had ZERO issues and not a single dead pixel ... but don't expect OLED image quality, it's good but not great.  Because the 5120 x 1440 is fewer pixels than 4K 3840 x 2160 I had better FPS with my older Titan X (Pascal) GPU.  The wide screen actually works VERY well for flight simulators, so I highly recommend it.  But the price stills seems high to me.  

On a side note, I only run it at 120Hz Gsync On, I haven't tried to run it at 240Hz.

Cheers, Rob.

Thanks Rob - interesting thoughts! Looking forward to receiving mine after purchasing in the black fri sale