Question Graphics card for MS Flight Simulator ?

[Pimpom]

I'm not a gamer and have only a broad general idea about hardware requirements for gaming. I have a friend who relies on me for his requirements. He's not a gamer either but does like to play MS Flight Simulator now and then.

Which graphics card will be good enough to ensure a good experience with FS at 1080p but is not overkill (unnecessarily expensive)? The CPU will be a midrange or mid-high AMD.

 

[COLGeek]

What is your friend's budget? What make/model PSU does he have now?

Knowing the specs for the rest of his system would be useful as well.

 

[Pimpom]

This is to be a new build and there's no fixed budget. It is to be primarily a video editing rig, not a gaming machine. Not a real high-end editing system though. No Threadripper, no 5090 or anything like that. Just a good mid-range setup. It's not like the guy's going to run a rendering farm with multiple GPUs and terabytes of RAM.

I'm OK with the CPU, PSU, motherboard, RAM, storage, cooling, monitor, etc.

 

[RTX 2080]

Well, MSFS is very heavy on the CPU & GPU (I know from personal experience) so it’s hard to go overboard, even at 1080p.

You’ll want to go beyond the usual 1080p class cards (RTX 4060) and jump to something like a RTX 4070. It has the rendering power and VRAM to ensure a good experience.

Oh, and in case you weren’t aware, MSFS is so notoriously CPU heavy that you should strongly consider purchasing the very best CPU possible, like a Ryzen 9800 3DX. It’ll be worth it.

 

[COLGeek]

Without some limits, it is hard to realistically make recommendations to meet someone's needs.

For an AMD CPU: Consider 7700X or higher (7000-series) or 9700X or higher (9000-series)
Minimum memory 32GB (2x16GB)
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT or higher. Nvidia RTX 4070 or higher. I would not recommend 5000 series until prices normalize.

 

[rcald2000]

Pimpon, it's nearly impossible to give a concise build recommendation for your friend, since it's main purpose is for video editing. He sent you on a wild goose chase, because he didn't even arm you with the knowledge of which video editing software packages that he'll be using, nor with a budget. With that said, since it's main purpose is editing, I would recommend that you start with this:

What I would do:

Google: puget systems adobe premiere

Where it says adobe premiere, please feel free to replace those word with whichever application he plans on using. In this came, the result would be "Hardware Recommendations for Adobe Premiere Pro". Click that article and follow the hardware recommendations. That's the best advice that I can provide. Also, the conversation is very different depending on whether he'll be video editing to make money, or simply as a hobby. Good luck.

example:

Hardware Recommendations

Our workstations for Adobe Premiere Pro are tested and optimized to give you the best performance and reliability. View our hardware recommendations.

www.pugetsystems.com