Ram prices! 😬

 

Me thinks this is a waste of money!

1 hour ago, jmdriskell said:

Me thinks this is a waste of money!

Me too!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't watch the video.  But 5k isn't that much anymore.  Mine cost about 4200 in COVID era.  12700k, (upgraded to 64gm ddr5 ram), and later my RTX 4080.

It's a great rig though.  It cannot run VR with high end headsets unless you turn down the render settings.  It does very well in 1440p but with high end addons (planes and scenery, AI TFC etc) it can still succumb to stutters and lower fps even without Frame Generation.

If you see 200 fps via frame gen imo that's NOT overkill because you'll need the extra headroom for when you do want to run the Fenix, ini builds LAX, heavy weather, and FSLTL traffic.  

My PC today would probably be 5k USD at the very least.

So a budget PC?  😁

If you want a machine that will handle almost anything you throw at it, you'll need to drop the cash. The sims get more demanding as time goes on. 

The video is titled "This PC kills MSFS".  Well, if the SU4 optimisations are as good as we are hearing, then that PC will have been a waste of money. 

For the last four decades I've always found that the PC I want next is going to cost me around £5k (GBP). Been pretty consistent over the years. Still true, but nowadays the spec is obviously a bit higher than that original 30386. Probably actually a bit more than that once I've got the spec settled. Current PC (spec in sig) was from 2022, cost about 4k but then that didn't include the 3090Ti that I transferred in to it from the previous machine, so just a tad over £6k in all. 

But I really don't see me needing another upgrade for a few more years yet, neither the PC nor the GPU. Oh, and regarding another thread here recently, the 64 GB DDR5 memory in that last PC cost me £224!

(and I didn't bother with that vid either)

Edited December 6, 2025Dec 6 by andy1252
typo

It's both sad and true that for today's highend PC, $5000 is almost a minimum. 5090 alone would cost more than half of it. RAM price is out of roof and consumer video cards may become even more scarce and expensive since AI is sucking all the chips into its blackhole. 

I feel very lucky that I don't have to upgrade my current PC for next few years. Of course, who knows how demanding MSFS 2028 is going to be. Hopefully by that time AI has cooled down and we're looking at the same price tag of $5000 PC not $9000. 

There's an old saying amongst those of us who remember the main frame days, "Software sells hardware!"  Apparently this is still true.  I spent about $2200 for a Dell XPS 8950 in 2023 that still handles everything MSFS2024 throws at it.  However, I am considering swapping my RTX 3060 Ti for a something stronger.

2 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Well, if the SU4 optimisations are as good as we are hearing, then that PC will have been a waste of money. 

Indeed.  On a 2021 build I get solid 60 fps (LSFG), absolutely stutter-free in the iFly in 1440p with a Ryzen 5800 / 3060Ti (8GB) combo, all fine-tuned by the mighty AutoFPS...no need to buy a new central FS machine, more money left for peripheral stuff 😇

I seldom think 'I have to throw hardware at it' - but most of the time 'Let's first optimise my system and then wait for the code optimisations'. Saved me a lot of money in the last 45 years.   

 

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by MaGer1965

My 4090 build with a 7950x3d cost about $4000 2 years ago

3 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

The video is titled "This PC kills MSFS".  Well, if the SU4 optimisations are as good as we are hearing, then that PC will have been a waste of money. 

For now.

In 2008 I spent $4000US on a custom made gaming laptop. I was flying on fire suppression in those days and spending 5+ months away from home. When My colleagues were heading for the bar i was in my room on my laptop or with a good book. That computer was worth every cent and I got years out of it. My current machine, a desktop,I have about $5000Cdn into it + a 49" monitor I can run at max res. Money well spent as by the hour in the long run it really is pretty cheap.

1 hour ago, dbw1 said:

In 2008 I spent $4000US on a custom made gaming laptop.

Time to time I'm thinking about a gaming laptop to fly MSFS anywhere I go. But in reality, no gaming laptop is powerful enough to drive VR as I want. Even there is one, it will definitely weight > 10 lbs (including power adapter), not sth I want to lug around.

My current laptop for work is a 3lbs ultrathin LG Gram 17 with 17 inch screen. I even tried MSFS on it... I can only say that it's my very first time seeing MSFS 2024 at its lowest setting and it is actually surprisingly decent looking, still far better than FSX.