I've been using MSFS since 1998, built my own PC back around 2000 and with a few upgrades along with way I ran FS with full sliders on WinXPsp3 up until a year or so ago.  I've probably flown the Eaglesoft CitationX around the world 20 times or more plus endless trips into Aspen and anywhere else interesting.  For a challenge the CaptSim F104 was a favorite.  That computer finally died and I guess its time for me to start over now that FS2020 has been around awhile, but I dread a huge learning curve, again..  So I have a few very noob questions (sorry):
PC or Xbox?  What are a couple notable advantages of each nowadays?
If PC, I'm not learning how to spec and build one all over again, so where can I buy a good semi-custom gaming PC that'll run the current FS version at max graphics with a complicated (FMS + PFD, etc) aircraft? 
Who is making very good A/C add-on's nowadays?  I'm interested in business jets with full avionics, navdata, FMS/FMC, glass and/or steam. Maybe a 737 like the ol PMDG?
Which FS version should I get or avoid?  Standard, Deluxe or Premium..? 

 

1 hour ago, Dashunde said:

PC or Xbox?  What are a couple notable advantages of each nowadays?

Others may have differing opinions on this, I would just say that I'm a PC guy myself, and love the ultimate performance I can get.  XBox, they are easy to set up (from what I gather), although even the top-end XBox has a little less graphics mem for the higher-end add-ons.  But for normal use they seem fine based on what people have said.

1 hour ago, Dashunde said:

If PC, I'm not learning how to spec and build one all over again, so where can I buy a good semi-custom gaming PC that'll run the current FS version at max graphics with a complicated (FMS + PFD, etc) aircraft? 

If building for MSFS, build around an AMD 7800X3D cpu and thank me later.

1 hour ago, Dashunde said:

Who is making very good A/C add-on's nowadays?  I'm interested in business jets with full avionics, navdata, FMS/FMC, glass and/or steam. Maybe a 737 like the ol PMDG?
Which FS version should I get or avoid?  Standard, Deluxe or Premium..? 

The PMDG 737 comes in a BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) config so that's technically a bizjet.   The Cessna Citation Longitude and CJ4 that come with MSFS are pretty good and have been upgraded/tweaked by a group called Working Title (WT).   A developer FSReborn is working on an Embraer Phenom 300 which should be really good.  There's also a dev called Cockspur who have a Citation Mustang but I don't own that one.   There is also a HondaJet (Hjet) for MSFS as well as a Cirrus VisonJet.     A developer called Flysimware have just released a beta Learjet which looks promising, and the same dev also released a Cessna 414 last year which is really good although it's not a jet.

There are also some good turboprop business-class aircraft like the TBM and King Air, both upgraded by an outfit called BlackSquare.

If I forgot any, I'm sure someone will be along to add to it.

Welcome to AVSIM by the way...🤠

At true max graphics, you'll want a 4090 video card and coincidentally that's about what you'll pay for a prebuilt with one of those installed. Is that in your budget? If not, there are others we can recommend that will require small reduction in graphical fidelity.

 

1 hour ago, Dashunde said:

 but I dread a huge learning curve, again..  So I have a few very noob questions (sorry):
PC or Xbox?  What are a couple notable advantages of each nowadays?

Don’t worry, it’s not a huge learning curve in my opinion, just come to it with a completely open mind.

I run the sim on a pc. My eldest son runs it on the top spec Xbox. He’d prefer to have a pc so he could run head tracking and a wider range of peripherals. However, he is in the middle of wife, kids and mortgaged bliss.

So there you have the big advantage of Xbox; it’s inexpensive compared to a pc based system. He uses the Xbox controller and it runs on his big, wall mounted 4K tv and it looks fantastic!
In terms of bang for your buck I’d say it’s unbeatable. However, your mileage and your tolerance for occasional stutters and low frame rates may vary.

Most but certainly not all that you can do on a pc can be done on an Xbox but…it’s all an awful lot easier, more flexible and you have many more choices on a pc.

I have head tracking, a hotas system and am able to make use of the simply enormous amount of really high quality freeware available. That’s why I’m a pc guy.

’Fraid I can’t advise you on who or where to get yourself a decent pc. I still build my own. However, depending on your screen size and resolution you don’t need a super computer…

As to high end add-ons; again, there is now a great deal of choice coming out. I enjoy the PMDG stuff. It’s complex enough to keep me very occupied as far as tube liners and biz jets are concerned. 

I’m really enjoying the new, complex turbo props that have come out recently.
As to which version of the sim to get; if you’re willing to spend a decent amount of cash on a new pc, the cost of the sim is chicken feed. Get the Premium delux, all singing, all dancing version. It’s worth it.

 

To OP: for the PC unless you want XBOX games my 5900xt AMD NZXT with a 3060ti works great.

Today go with a 4070ti @ $900 US.

MSFS is great BTW.

sp

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by Sky_Pilot071

If you decide to go with an X-Box, bear in mind that you'll miss out of thousands of pieces of brilliant freeware. The MSFS Marketplace (store that is built into MSFS) is packed full of literally hundreds of payware liveries and repaints for aircraft that Xbox users have to pay for - that's because on Xbox there's no way to install or use mods or freeware.  Those of us on PC don't buy those liveries, because we get them for free from flightsim.to (an excellent freeware resource).   Any modifications, tweaks or improvements you want to make or install won't be possible on Xbox.

On PC, the world's your oyster.  As stated above there are more options for peripherals and hardware with PC too (I've been using TrackIR head tracking for 18 years and couldn't fly without it). 

Even for regular payware products, there are many that are only available on PC (whereas there are none that are "Xbox only").   Xbox has it's place for those who are happy with more simplified controls and peripherals, and those who also enjoy more regular gaming.   But the experience of MSFS as a hobby is far wider and deeper on PC.

PS..... You absolutely 100% do not need a top end card like a RTX 4090 to enjoy this sim, despite what some who have them will say.   When I bought MSFS in 2020 I used a GTX1070 for the first year and with mostly medium settings had a great experience.  I switched to a 1080Ti and had a better experience.   I'm now on a 3080Ti and yes I was able to crank up some settings, but nothing fundamental has changed in my enjoyment of the sim.

I would say as a minimum you should have a Nvidia card where the last two digits are "-60" (eg 3060).  A -70 (eg 3070) will give much better results. A -80 or -90 will let you use higher settings still whilst maintaining smooth gameplay.   I can't comment on AMD graphics cards as I've never used one.

Good luck!

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by JYW
Around 8 typos!

Welcome to Avsim! 🙂

I also had a pause in simming, much longer than yours when my old sim computer couldn't cope anymore. FS 2004 was my last sim with a ludicrous amount of addons. We called it MSFS9.5 in those days. So when I finally built me a new PC a year or so ago, I bought the MSFS2020 Premium version on Steam. I mostly flew airliners back in the day, but when I finally got into the new and shiny MSFS2020, I was totally blown away by the virutal world I found myself in. To my great surprise I found out that I didn't need any add-ons at all at that point. I enjoyed discovering my country in a small GA aircraft, flying low and slow. 

Fast forward one year... I do have the Hjet, the PMDG 737, the Justflight Bae146, HorizonSim B787, a Navigraph subscription and I do fly the bigger stuff once more. But I also have what is probably the best add-on aircraft, the A2A Comanche and a few others like the C310, the Chancellor and lately, I've been completely charmed by helicopters. Not to mention the Duckworks enhanced default DC-3 which I also fly regularly. I only bought a few big add-on airports, filled my little country with freeware GA airfields and even built me a few heliports. The sim is just so... rich for lack of another word, that I fly all sorts of things. Invariably I am returning to low and slow flying in my country and am awed over and over again without exception when I fly above the familiar landscape. I must have buzzed my house fifty times by now! 😁

Essential add-ons? For me, that would be the freeware MSFS Addons Linker to manage your growing list of add-ons, the brilliant freeware LittleNavMap and Spad.next to manage my controlers assignments.

As for the PC, go with Mace's advice and get  an AMD 7800X3D. I bought an (overpriced) RTX 4070 which I soon sold to a friend, bought an RTX 4090 and never looked back. I have FPS locked at 60 and with Frame Generation I get between 45-55 FPS at busiest airports in the PMDG 737 with over 200 AIG or FSLTL AI aircraft around me. 

Do get a big SSD M.2 disk or two, MSFS2020 size is measured in Tb now! Memory? I am happy with 32 gigabytes. 

Enjoy! 

 

 

12 hours ago, Dashunde said:

PC or Xbox?  What are a couple notable advantages of each nowadays?

Forget a sim on a closed-souce and all mods etc. 100% blocked-off gaming console 🙂 on PC you get all the PUREST AWESOMENESS the new gorgeous Fenix, the FlyByWire A350 and A380, and of course.... the Piston Duke. (And Turbine Duke) plus all the other Black Square greatness, and half a million enhancements and bugfix-mods and liveries. Yeeehaaa 😺

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by JetCat

15 hours ago, eslader said:

At true max graphics, you'll want a 4090 video card

Desirable, yes, but required?

16 hours ago, eslader said:

At true max graphics, you'll want a 4090 video card and coincidentally that's about what you'll pay for a prebuilt with one of those installed. Is that in your budget? If not, there are others we can recommend that will require small reduction in graphical fidelity.

To the OP:  decide what kind of DISPLAY you will be using as this comes into play substantially.  If it's less than 4K, like my 3440x1440 curved HDR/Gsync display, I guarantee you do not need RTX 4090 to have true max graphics.   If you end up with a 3440x1440 display I would aim for 12Gb of VRAM at a minimum, and it will be sufficient.  A 4070Ti will fill the bill for about $700.  Or 4080 with its 16Gb of VRAM for around $1100.  With the recent addition of a freeware app designed to allow the user to adjust level of detail based on feet above ground level it is simple to dial in perfect performance at maximum graphic settings--I'm set 100% on all Ultra settings and performance is flawless without a single stutter into any airport in any plane and I only use complex planes hard on performance.  Plus, we're told MSFS 2024 due out this year will greatly improve performance.   

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by Noel

If you want to take full advantage of the freeware community (flightsim.to), all the planes available for MSFS (ie. some planes like the Fenix are not available for XBox), and all the ATC networks (VATSIM/IVAO/Pilot Edge), and AI mods like FSLTL/AIG, you want a PC. 

48 minutes ago, Noel said:

To the OP:  decide what kind of DISPLAY you will be using as this comes into play substantially.  If it's less than 4K, like my 3440x1440 curved HDR/Gsync display, I guarantee you do not need RTX 4090 to have true max graphics.

I agree with this. I have a 4K monitor -- actually 2 of them -- and run just fine -- virtually stutter free -- on a 3070 card, albeit on high and not ultra settings. But if I had a 4070Ti I think I would be fine. So certainly running below 4K would be fine and no need to spend a small fortune on a 4090.

1 hour ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

Desirable, yes, but required?

Not required at all, but if your going to build/buy a new computer that you want to keep for a long time, and not have to upgrade it, then going with the latest technology like the RTX 4090 is a good investment in the long run. If your budget allows it. 

3 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

Desirable, yes, but required?

That's up to OP  - he said he wanted "max graphics." If he *really* wants max graphics, that's going to involve 4k displays or a high-res VR headset running with all the graphical sliders turned all the way up. 

My point was to get OP to reconsider what he's actually going to do, to determine if he *really* needs to spec for "max graphics."

I, too, am running just fine on a 3070Ti, but some of the graphical sliders aren't all the way up, and my VR headset is not as resource-hungry as the Pimax Crystal I will probably get at some point. When I do, I will probably have to bump up the video card as well.