I have wanted to try flight simulation for quite a few years but could never afford the type of powerful PC needed to give a satisfactory experience.
I did start accumulating FS2004 discs (scenery, airports) but never got any further.
Ironically, now having retired, I could go out and buy a really fast PC tailored for Flight Sim,
but I don't want to throw a lot of money at hardware if I didn't "take" to the hobby.
I am wondering whether what would have been considered as a high powered PC for FS2004 when it first came out, is matched or bettered by a modern budget PC?
To that end, what I had in mind, considering its more about CPU speed than graphics, would be to purchase a fast Athlon PC with an AMD A10-5800 (3.8gz) and which I understand has good on-board graphics and may be adequate for older software like FS2004 (and avoid the cost of a graphics card)
Also, since FS2004 was written in the days of single core 32 bit technology, I was thinking of buying a systemless PC and loading Windows XP.
I realise that support for XP is coming to an end but I intended to have the new PC solely for Flight Sim and would not need to connect to the Internet - so malware and viruses would not be an issue.
As a beginner, I would welcome advice on my reasoning.
Many thanks,
.