Question MSFS 20/24 PC Specs for a first PC

[Grummpmupin]

Hello, I'm looking to by my first PC mainly for school and to smoothly run MSFS. I'm hoping to purchase something under $2700 AUD which has components that are good enough for what I need. I'm aware that MSFS is an incredibly demanding game especially for a first PC buy which is why I want to buy something relatively high end to last a while. Right now, I'm considering some options for components bearing in mind that I don't want to be limited in anyway. Eg. a good GPU but poor CPU or a weak motherboard.

For CPU: AMD 7700, AMD 7800x3D
For GPU: Nvidia 4070
Motherboard: idk
The rest: 32 or 64gb RAM, 1TB SSD

As you can tell this is my very basic understanding of a PC and I'm not too sure about cooling, power supply and a lot of other things.
If possible please help me with deciding what I should do.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

IMHO, this is the kind of build you should be looking at;
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($708.21 @ Amazon Australia)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK500 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($75.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: MSI MPG B650 EDGE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($319.00 @ MSY Technology)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws M5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($288.00 @ JW Computers)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($55.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card ($1499.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Lian Li Lancool 207 ATX Mid Tower Case ($134.00 @ BPC Technology)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($157.77 @ JW Computers)
Total: $3414.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-24 17:46 AEST+1000
though you didn't mention anything about the OS, monitor(s) and peripherals. 2x SSD's, one for the OS, app's and launchers while the larger SSD is the game library. You might want to add a mechanical drive(HDD), something like 2TB as storage for all the work you want to save. SSD's make for horrible storage drives.

Moved thread from Components section to Systems section.

 

[Why_Me]

Hello, I'm looking to by my first PC mainly for school and to smoothly run MSFS. I'm hoping to purchase something under $2700 AUD which has components that are good enough for what I need. I'm aware that MSFS is an incredibly demanding game especially for a first PC buy which is why I want to buy something relatively high end to last a while. Right now, I'm considering some options for components bearing in mind that I don't want to be limited in anyway. Eg. a good GPU but poor CPU or a weak motherboard.

For CPU: AMD 7700, AMD 7800x3D
For GPU: Nvidia 4070
Motherboard: idk
The rest: 32 or 64gb RAM, 1TB SSD

As you can tell this is my very basic understanding of a PC and I'm not too sure about cooling, power supply and a lot of other things.
If possible please help me with deciding what I should do.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($708.26 @ Amazon Australia)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.00 @ PLE Computers)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B850-P WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($309.00 @ JW Computers)
Memory: *Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($144.00 @ MSY Technology)
Storage: *Klevv CRAS C910 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($159.00 @ MSY Technology)
Video Card: *Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card ($1049.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ PLE Computers)
Power Supply: *ADATA XPG Core Reactor II VE 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $2646.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-24 21:14 AEST+1000

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap

 

[popatim]

Probably want to get cas 30 or less for 6000mhz ram for AMD afaik.

 

[LOGAN54321]

I just realized something, you said this is going to be your first PC, but didn't mention anything about monitor. Is monitor supposed to be included in that budget or not?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($544.77 @ JW Computers)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.00 @ Scorptec)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-E WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($298.77 @ JW Computers)
Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($289.00 @ MSY Technology)
Storage: Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($206.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: XFX Swift OC Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card ($1079.00 @ Scorptec)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($123.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (2024) 850 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($189.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Total: $2788.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-24 21:31 AEST+1000

WARNING :
The Asus TUF GAMING B650-E WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard supports the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor with BIOS version 2613. If the motherboard is using an older BIOS version, updating the BIOS will be necessary to support the CPU.