PC for VR flight sim training

[BimmerCop 332]

@turbomax @odourboy

Guys, I went ahead and preordered the Pimax Crystal! Online reviews on YouTube are also raving about it, especially those that have been testing the latest pre-release version.

I'll post in a few minutes my latest PC build draft and see if you guys agree it's a good build for MSFS 2020 and the Pimax Crystal. 💪🏼

[turbomax 3,304]

1 minute ago, BimmerCop said:

preordered the Pimax Crystal

great! hope you got a free return policy just in case. finally someone who will hopefully give us an honest review instead of the youtubers who got either invited to Pimax's head office or sent free units and can't get enough of "wow, wow, wow, I love it, the clariddy, the fidelliddy". 

standing by for your June 30th hands/eyes on honest review.

[BimmerCop 332]

2 minutes ago, turbomax said:

great! hope you got a free return policy just in case. finally someone who will hopefully give us an honest review instead of the youtubers who got either invited to Pimax's head office or sent free units and can't get enough of "wow, wow, wow, I love it, the clariddy, the fidelliddy". 

standing by for your June 30th hands/eyes on honest review.

I might not be the best to rely on for an honest review because this would be my very first PC VR experience. 🤣 But I will definitely call it like it is and not sugar coat it. If I don't like it, I'm getting my money back. No word not allowed or vendor influenced biased here. 🤣

My only VR experience was about 3-4 years ago with the Playstation VR headset and Ace Combat 7. I really really loved it! The only reason I got rid of it was because I was always getting nauseous (sp?) after 15 minutes of flying like a maniac dogfighting. 

[BimmerCop 332]

Ok @turbomax @odourboy

 

Here is my current tentative PC build:

 

CASE: Corsair 4000D Mid-Tower ATX

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

CPU COOLER: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

MOBO: GIGABYTE X670 AORUS Elite AX

RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO CL30-38-38-96

GPU: PNY nVidia RTX 4090 24GB XLR8

PSU: MSI MPG A1000G PCIE 5 ATX 3.0

SSD: (2) Samsung 980 PRO SSD M.2 Gen 4 1TB

 

Good to go?

[odourboy 1,290]

1 hour ago, BimmerCop said:

Ok @turbomax @odourboy

 

Here is my current tentative PC build:

 

CASE: Corsair 4000D Mid-Tower ATX

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

CPU COOLER: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

MOBO: GIGABYTE X670 AORUS Elite AX

RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO CL30-38-38-96

GPU: PNY nVidia RTX 4090 24GB XLR8

PSU: MSI MPG A1000G PCIE 5 ATX 3.0

SSD: (2) Samsung 980 PRO SSD M.2 Gen 4 1TB

 

Good to go?

Should be good. Put your build into pcpartpicker.com. It will flag incompatible components. (I tried just your case and GPU and it didn't complain.) Also, you'll likely want to get a 90 degree 12VHPWR adapter to go between your PSU GPU power cable and the GPU. Cablemod makes a nice one. I'd personally use 2TB SSDs, ...just cuz.

[odourboy 1,290]

Don't forget a full complement of case fans! You'll need them.

My case has six fans plus a 360 AIO. Runs cool as a cucumber.

Edited June 13, 2023 by odourboy

[BimmerCop 332]

16 minutes ago, odourboy said:

Don't forget a full complement of case fans! You'll need them.

My case has six fans plus a 360 AIO. Runs cool as a cucumber.

How's the noise though? Although since we are simulating an airplane setup, background electrical and wind noise adds more to the realism! 🤣

Thanks for the tips, my friend! You and @turbomax have been amazing! 💪🏼

[odourboy 1,290]

7 minutes ago, BimmerCop said:

How's the noise though? Although since we are simulating an airplane setup, background electrical and wind noise adds more to the realism! 🤣

Thanks for the tips, my friend! You and @turbomax have been amazing! 💪🏼

Very quiet. Moving a high volume of air at low speed.

You're welcome!  I hope it all works out for you. I got a lot of help when I was building and getting my VR up and running so I'm happy to pay it forward.

I word on VR. It's not plug and play. You'll need to watch some videos and ask questions just to get it working and experiment with a lot of settings to find an optimal configuration. Crystal will probably be easier than the Pico 4 (wired vs wireless) but don't take for granted it'll be a walk in the park!

Edited June 13, 2023 by odourboy

[BimmerCop 332]

43 minutes ago, odourboy said:

Very quiet. Moving a high volume of air at low speed.

You're welcome!  I hope it all works out for you. I got a lot of help when I was building and getting my VR up and running so I'm happy to pay it forward.

I word on VR. It's not plug and play. You'll need to watch some videos and ask questions just to get it working and experiment with a lot of settings to find an optimal configuration. Crystal will probably be easier than the Pico 4 (wired vs wireless) but don't take for granted it'll be a walk in the park!

I'm in PCPartPicker right now and will definitely check out your case and suggestions!

Oh my, tell me about it! I've been watching YT videos and VR is definitely not plug and play! 🤣 Gonna have my hands full for sure.

Speaking of, I might just have to go for 64GB of RAM. I plan on running many addons at once such as a VATSIM client, etc, so I don't want to skimp on RAM while it's still considerably cheap nowadays.

 

[ryanbatc 13,025]

On 6/12/2023 at 4:49 PM, BimmerCop said:

 

I think I might just get the HP G2 for now and see how it goes. Once the Crystal comes over, whenever that is, I can consider that option as well.

 

I have a Reverb G2 and only recently got one (about 6 months ago).  With a bit of tuning and tweaking it's a reasonable display for MSFS.  I've got a fairly high end system (12700K / RTX 4080) and I run most VR settings on high.  My 2D monitor is 1440p res 144hz.  In the VR "sweet spot" I'd estimate I'm getting similar to 1080P.  But outside of the (small) sweet spot it turns poor to more like 720i at best.  I don't think the 4090 would be any better as the real image quality comes from the headset.  I mean the 4090 is better for performance just not clarity.  I wish I would have gotten a 4090 but didn't want to swap out my 850w PSU at the time.  

Anyway I think the G2 (on sale right now actually!) for 400 USD is well worth it.  I don't always fly VR though.... I still use 2D about 60-70% of the time because the IQ is just superb on my monitor and the triple digit fps using Frame Gen is incredible!

Oh, also checkout Navigraph charts for use in VR - they have a really nice popup app on the MSFS toolbar - and some of the aircraft have integrated navigraph charts.  I HIGHLY recommend the Premium Deluxe version too - which gives you the analog gauge C172, the Baron and the incredible C700 longitude.  Once you get that please check out the Black Square analog Bonanza!

Welcome back btw!

[turbomax 3,304]

1 hour ago, ryanbatc said:

I wish I would have gotten a 4090 but didn't want to swap out my 850w PSU at the time. 

not required, according to Nvidia, as the 4090 does not suffer from those excessive overcurrent load spikes as the 3090 did.

"The RTX 4090 TGP is 450 W and the minimum recommended PSU is 850 W."

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5396/~/geforce-rtx-40-series-%26-power-specifications

Edited June 14, 2023 by turbomax

[Reset XPDR 1,359]

I'm running a 4090 on an 850W PSU quite successfully. With a slight undervolt, my 4090 only uses about 50W more than my 3080 did and that 3080 worked fine on a 750W PSU.

[BimmerCop 332]

Thanks for all the help and advice, guys! I finally finished building my new PC last night, fired it up and did a fresh install of Win 11 and MSFS 2020. Now I'm just waiting on my pedals, yoke, throttle and VR headset!

I ended up with the following system:

 

GAMING PC

CASE: Corsair 5000D iCUE RGB mid tower 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7800x3D CPU

RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO 32GB DDR5 6000 CL30

MOBO: ASUS TUF Gaming B650-PLUS WiFi

GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4090 OC 24GB

DISPLAY: ASUS TUF Gaming 28" 4K 144HZ monitor

STORAGE: Samsung 980 PRO 2TB NVMe

PSU: MSI MPG A1000G ATX 3.0 PSU

COOLING: Corsair iCUE H150i Elite LCD XT CPU liquid cooler

OS: Windows 11 Home

FLIGHT SIM: MSFS 2020

 

PERIPHERALS

YOKE: Thrustmaster TCA Boeing Edition

THROTTLE: Honeycomb Bravo Quadrant

PEDALS: Thrustmaster TFRP

VR HEADSET: Pimax Crystal

[odourboy 1,290]

Helluva nice system! Congrats!

[BimmerCop 332]

On 6/20/2023 at 11:03 AM, odourboy said:

Helluva nice system! Congrats!

Thanks @odourboy! I briefly tried MSFS 2020 last night and OMG, silky smooth with the default settings. I didn't even bother to tweak them because first time running MSFS 2020 and I have no clue what to look for as far as settings. I did notice most of them said Ultra.

You know of any must go-to guide for tweaking the settings? I shouldn't bother with them until I get the VR headset?