What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

Also, which looks better, MSFS 2020 at half sliders or FSX at full sliders with Ulitmate Terrain and GEX?

Thanks

FSX can't graphically be compared to MSFS, ever.

That being said, they are both important but it depends on the situation. Filling up CPU use is not good, but neither is doing the same with ram.

Edited January 19, 20215 yr by Pastaiolo

1 hour ago, Gary1124 said:

What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

Also, which looks better, MSFS 2020 at half sliders or FSX at full sliders with Ulitmate Terrain and GEX?

Thanks

This must go down as the ultimate unanswerable questions 🙃 

1 hour ago, Gary1124 said:

What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

Both. If you fill up your RAM, it'll start paging the data instead which costs smoothness. If your CPU isn't fast enough, it'll cost smoothness.

 

1 hour ago, Gary1124 said:

Also, which looks better, MSFS 2020 at half sliders or FSX at full sliders with Ulitmate Terrain and GEX?

MSFS 2020 on low settings still looks better than FSX maxed out. You're comparing a 2020 graphics engine with a 2006 one.

 

 

Edited January 19, 20215 yr by Tom Wright

Yes. A Quantum leap indeed

My PC is a Ryzin 5 3600 with a RX580 8 gig. It still has the same 8 gig DDR4 3000 it started with but I'm about to buy 16 more gig to install. It's what I want to do before going to newer sim platforms, possibly P3D, X-plane 11, and ultimately MSFS 2020. 

There are addons I've been putting off also until more ram like Flight1 Mustang and P2ATC. 

Could anyone tell me about the default aircraft and systems? 

Like how does the default TBM 950 compare to Carenados TBM 850 for instance? 

Edited January 20, 20215 yr by Gary1124

11 hours ago, Gary1124 said:

What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

How long is a piece of string ?

The sim will run out of system ram regularly with 8Gb even at 1080p but rarely uses more than 32Gb even at 4K.  The sweet spot is 16Gb to 32Gb . 

At 1440p my game sits around 20GB used out of 32Gb most of the time, climbing up to 30GB on rare occasions, never seen 32GB at 1440p.  Though to be honest I have not noticed a huge difference over 16GB in actual in game performance, I assume there is probably a slight reduction in stutter with more ram..

My 3070 does however use ALL 8GB of VRAM quite often. 

CPU will depend where and what you fly.  I run a 3070 on an i5 8400 with 32GB ram and most of the time my game is either balanced or is mainly CPU limited BUT busy locations can push me to all GPU limited even on a 3070 at 1440p .

12 hours ago, Gary1124 said:

What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

Also, which looks better, MSFS 2020 at half sliders or FSX at full sliders with Ulitmate Terrain and GEX?

Thanks

1. CPU. But if you're on AMD, RAM speeds matter more than with an Intel CPU. Whatever setup you end up with, enable XMP / DOCP in BIOS to get the most out of your CPU and RAM.

2. Flight Simulator 2020 looks so much better it's incomparable. Different league. 

Appearance is desirable. But replicating real flight procedures is my end goal. I can VFR the northeast US if terrain form is good and I do. 

Sadly, or happily I recently acquired 3 A2A aircraft on sale.

Majestic and PMDG on my future list. That is what I want to see soon in MSFS. A2A spoiled me for most sim aircraft. 

I will have to research XMP/DOCP when the time comes to know how to adjust.

15 hours ago, Gary1124 said:

What is more critical to smooth performance? Ram or CPU?

Also, which looks better, MSFS 2020 at half sliders or FSX at full sliders with Ulitmate Terrain and GEX?

Thanks

What's your starting config first of all?

Optimal hardware would be a 6 core high frequency CPU and 32 GB of 3200+ MHz RAM but the sim runs "OK" with a fast 4 core / 8 thread and 16 GB as well.

The GPU is important too, I would not venture with less than a GTX 1080 / RTX 2060.

On the graphics difference between MSFS and the old FSX others have answered already.

Ryzen 5 3600. Rx580 soon 24 gig ddr4 3000

Graphics difference -

If you are a "fly on AP at FL300 for 4 hours" person, well not much ...

 

 

OTHERWISE ... decide for yourself

 

This video is FSX ...

 

This is the same plane in FS2020   (Alabeo/Carenado seem to be the same people)

 

 

SIDENOTE: Given the furor over the Fs2020 YMF-5 ground handling, it is amusing that the guy doing the FSX review also had issues with the ground handling of the FSX version 😄

This video demonstrates the effect of lower settings in FS2020 ...

 

Edited January 20, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

Ryzen 5 3600. Rx580. Soon 24 gig ddr4 3000 Currently, only 8 gig. Also have a 250 gig SSD for drive C. Other than stock Windows related software only FSX or any other flightsim runs on C.

Are those 8GB composed of 2x4GB? Otherwise I would not add 2x8GB to reach 24GB total but rather just use the 2x8GB instead. Why? Because you will loose the Dual Channel with a total of three sticks, which might be contraproductive. 

I will have 3 stick of 8. One now. Two more on the way.

Adata XPG

Are you saying that a Ram total between 3 stick may not be as productive as less gigabytes between two sticks? I would just buy a 24 gig 3 stick package to give me 32 gig total but sadly I have only found 1 and two stick bundles or 8 or 16 gig. 

Edited January 20, 20215 yr by Gary1124

I Already crush anything with FSX as is but I want to overkill my RAM to do 2020 or XP 11. 

I read 16 gig recommended as medium spec for 2020 or XP 11.