New build for Flight Simulator 2020 - Budget of £800 or thereabouts

[smr]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a PC for Flight Simulator 2020 for a budget of around £800.

What would you recommend I can get for this budget, doesn't matter if it's a little over £800 but around that price.

Won't be waiting for the new 3070 or the new AMD CPUs.

 

[Sparx]

It's fairly do'able... Is this rig expected to be upgraded in the future much? i.e. bigger PSU (i.e. 650-750w) than a 550w, B550 to support PCIe 4.0 and Zen 3 etc? 500GB bare minimum enough (FS20 is 150gb?) or 1TB?

1660 Super seems to achieve 35-45 fps @ 1080p high settings, so for this price point prob best go to. (source) Unless you can pick up anything decent used in the MM?

If you wanted to go on the cheap with a 3600/1660S combo, could go for the below mATX build... 3600 can be had for £186 elsewhere, so saves £33 on the below baskets.

Or the 2nd basket is not skimping as much and would help with longjevity and future proofing i.e. 750w fully mod psu (650w is only £5 less), 1TB NVMe, 32GB RAM, B550 board etc... Or could mix and match what you think is/isn't needed for the future.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x ASUS PRIME A520M-K (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £61.99
• 1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £218.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99
• 1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020102-UK)= £67.99
• 1 x TeamGroup 512GB Vulcan G SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive= £44.99

Total: £716.93 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £218.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £99.95
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £99.95
• 1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0B)= £94.99

Total: £886.85 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

 

[Plec]

@Sparx has managed to cobble together decent specs for your money.

The only thing you may want to consider is the MM market - as you have access - you could get a 5700 for ~£220. This would greatly improve your FS experience for similar money - some may appear with warranty..

The other consideration is that 3000 series CPUs may start turning up in quantity - but these may arrive too late for you if you're buying now.

EDITED: Removed XT ref - as i'm clearly blind without my glasses as proved by @Sparx

 

[Sparx]

@Plec that 5700 XT is £320, not £220 mate! I'd be all over it if it was £220

 

[Plec]

@Plec that 5700 XT is £320, not £220 mate! I'd be all over it if it was £220

LOL - I need my glasses - it was the MSI 5700 Gaming (non XT) - that i should have linked to.

Cheers, bud.

 

[smr]

Thanks for the replies ... decided to up the budget a bit.

How does this look....? I don't really want to pay any more than this. Will all the components work together? Should I replace any hardware for same priced but better performance hardware etc.?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £399.95
• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £84.98
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32= £65.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £229.99
• 1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX650M 650W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020103-UK)= £79.99
• 1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0A)= £94.99
• 1 x Kolink KLA-003 Midi Tower Case - Black= £24.95

Total: £992.54 (includes shipping: £11.70)​

​

 

[Plec]

A standard 3600 @ ~£180 would get you a better case (preferably a mATX case to match your motherboard) a M.2. drive and a 120mm tower cooler.

The 3600X is not worth the extra - better a standard 3600 with an aftermarket tower.

Example:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0B)= £94.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= ~£180
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black= £59.99
• 1 x Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm= £21.95

EDIT: And i'm guessing you know about the imminent release of the 3070 and Zen 3 over the coming weeks? As, £400 is a lot to be dropping on a 5700XT - but if you need the build now i understand.

And - take note of @Sparx advice re B550 and the Lian Li case he listed is another good example of a decent m-ATX case.

​

 

[Journey]

My solution, Thursday just gone, for a limited budget build where 1440p was the desired resolution, an older 6c/12t Xeon HP box which used to have a power hungry Quadro in it, £169 with 24GB RAM and a 240GB SSD, swapped in an RTX 2070 Super which was £370, and added an additional SSD.

Total spend was £580, just need to swap out a fan or two to get the noise down now, but the person who wanted it is over the moon for what was spent. It's a plain black tower, and will still be worth £120 in a years time so nothing lost hardly when they've got more cash to spend and Zen3 is out etc. or maybe even Zen4!

Obviously if you only want 1080p low/medium and prefer fa total new build, then the above build will do the job.

 

[smr]

A standard 3600 @ ~£180 would get you a better case (preferably a mATX case to match your motherboard) a M.2. drive and a 120mm tower cooler.

The 3600X is not worth the extra - better a standard 3600 with an aftermarket tower.

Example:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0B)= £94.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= ~£180
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black= £59.99
• 1 x Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm= £21.95

EDIT: And i'm guessing you know about the imminent release of the 3070 and Zen 3 over the coming weeks? As, £400 is a lot to be dropping on a 5700XT - but if you need the build now i understand.

And - take note of @Sparx advice re B550 and the Lian Li case he listed is another good example of a decent m-ATX case.

​

I presume by aftermarket tower cooler you meant cpu cooler? On which note what is the disadvantage of using the 3600 cooler?

Also what is wrong with the £25 kolink case?

And why is an m2 ssd better than a 2.5" ssd?

Thanks for the advice. I will go for the standard 3600 instead of the x then if the x isnt going to make any difference.

 

[Plec]

I presume by aftermarket tower cooler you meant cpu cooler? On which note what is the disadvantage of using the 3600 cooler?

You can use the stock cooler but it's noisy - very noisy (for my ear). It will do the job - my main point was that the money saved on ~£180 3600 would be better spent on a ~£20 CPU tower cooler. They're quiet and far more efficient at cooling.

Also what is wrong with the £25 kolink case?

Dated design, only 1 x 80mm outake fan - so a bit of a hot box. It's also, a full ATX case when you're buying a micro-ATX board - which is fine but you could benefit from a smaller footprint and get a micro-ATX case, with 3 x 120mm fans for better cooling and noise.

And why is an m2 ssd better than a 2.5" ssd?.

Ease of use: no cables, easy fit, neater and your motherboard has the feature - plus same price. It's more a case of why not?

Thanks for the advice. I will go for the standard 3600 instead of the x then if the x isnt going to make any difference.

No, negligable difference and certainly not worth the price bump. The 3600 combined with the 5700 XT will chew through games at 1080p even 1440p. (But, as mentioned £400 on a 5700 XT is a lot when in October the 3070 comes out at ~£469)

 

[ExRayTed]

I presume by aftermarket tower cooler you meant cpu cooler? On which note what is the disadvantage of using the 3600 cooler?

Also what is wrong with the £25 kolink case?

And why is an m2 ssd better than a 2.5" ssd?

Thanks for the advice. I will go for the standard 3600 instead of the x then if the x isnt going to make any difference.

Although Plec will have his own thoughts on this, mine would be the £25 case will be a frankly awful experience to build in for a start (think skinned knuckles, sharp edges, thin metal, etc), plus it only has 1 fan installed with airflow that looks terrible and takes up more space to boot.

In my opinion the only real world, tangible benefit right now to an m.2 drive is lack of cables. There is apparently more on the horizon with Nvidia's RTX IO accelerated GPU storage coming which may make use of the speed for streaming assets but who knows when that will become relevant *shrugs*

And whilst the stock cooler will do it'll be louder and not cool as well as the 3rd party cooler he's linked. That may not be an issue for you if only running at stock and the extra noise doesn't bother you.

Only you can decide is these changes are of benefit to you, but they would be to me

 

[Plec]

Although Plec will have his own thoughts on this

I think we're singing from the same hymn sheet, @ExRayTed

 

[smr]

You can use the stock cooler but it's noisy - very noisy (for my ear). It will do the job - my main point was that the money saved on ~£180 3600 would be better spent on a ~£20 CPU tower cooler. They're quiet and far more efficient at cooling.


Dated design, only 1 x 80mm outake fan - so a bit of a hot box. It's also, a full ATX case when you're buying a micro-ATX board - which is fine but you could benefit from a smaller footprint and get a micro-ATX case, with 3 x 120mm fans for better cooling and noise.


Ease of use: no cables, easy fit, neater and your motherboard has the feature - plus same price. It's more a case of why not?


No, negligable difference and certainly not worth the price bump. The 3600 combined with the 5700 XT will chew through games at 1080p even 1440p. (But, as mentioned £400 on a 5700 XT is a lot when in October the 3070 comes out at ~£469)

Ah ok thanks for that, yes definitely sounds better spending a bit more on a better case, and the m2 SSD. I think the 3070 launch may go the same as the 3080 did.

 

[smr]

Ok so after those changes, everything ok? Is the PSU ok at 650W?

 

[smr]

Is the 3600 a better choice than a 2700X ?

 

[Plec]

I think the 3070 launch may go the same as the 3080 did.

Almost definitely. It was more a friendly heads up about price : performance in comparison - but there's little you can do about that if you need a system now.

Ok so after those changes, everything ok? Is the PSU ok at 650W?

Yes, ample for 5700XT - but use independent leads to the 8pin/6pin connections on the GPU. Don't daisy chain the connections from the same lead.

Is the 3600 a better choice than a 2700X ?

Yes, superior speed for gaming even with less core/threads.

 

[Plec]

You could also swap out the memory for the below - same timings and £5 cheaper. Then the Bitfenix 650W GOLD fits into your budget. It's a quality, fully modular PSU with a 7 year guarantee and will only cost you £5 more (when factoring in cost of swapped out memory).

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Bitfenix Whisper M Series 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £89.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99

​

 

[smr]

Thanks for your advice Plec and everyone else. I've bought the kit.

 

[ExRayTed]

Thanks for your advice Plec and everyone else. I've bought the kit.

Wise decision

 

[ExRayTed]

I think we're singing from the same hymn sheet, @ExRayTed

*fistbump*