Advice on MS Flight Simulator platform

[queeny]

I am new to gaming and am about to purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator.
What would be the best hardware to purchase ie a PC (what type) or xbox.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Zoid]

I am new to gaming and am about to purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator.
What would be the best hardware to purchase ie a PC (what type) or xbox.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi @queeny , welcome to the community! For now, let's talk about a PC. In order for us to give better advice, can you let us know:

1. What else would you want to do on this PC?
2. Do you already have a computer monitor that you want to use, and if so, what resolution and refresh rate?
3. What is your overall budget for this system?
4. What country are you shopping in?

 

[queeny]

Hi Zoid, Thanks for your reply.
I use a 4-5 year old Asus PC for normal everyday use and it is suitable for my needs, however it is not suitable for running MS Flight Simulator (as far as I can tell). So if I need to buy a new PC for gaming would this necessarily be a "normal" PC as well or can a gaming only PC be bought?

I have a monitor that as far as I know has 1920x1080 resolution. I do not know what the refresh rate is - how would I find this out?

Budget is not important but I would not want to buy a PC that is far beyond my needs.

Shopping in the Republic of Ireland.

Regards, Queeny

 

[Zoid]

Hi Zoid, Thanks for your reply.
I use a 4-5 year old Asus PC for normal everyday use and it is suitable for my needs, however it is not suitable for running MS Flight Simulator (as far as I can tell). So if I need to buy a new PC for gaming would this necessarily be a "normal" PC as well or can a gaming only PC be bought?

I have a monitor that as far as I know has 1920x1080 resolution. I do not know what the refresh rate is - how would I find this out?

Budget is not important but I would not want to buy a PC that is far beyond my needs.

Shopping in the Republic of Ireland.

Regards, Queeny

There is no such thing as a "gaming only" PC. The main thing that distinguishes gaming PCs from everyday use PCs is that they have powerful video cards (or GPUs), which normal computers do not. A gaming PC can do everything a normal PC can.

Just so that I can get an idea of what you're working with now, can you let me know the specs of your current PC? Is it a laptop or a desktop? What CPU does it have, and how much RAM does it have?

Based on the recommended specifications for the game, we can speculate on what will probably run it well. However, I would caution you against buying a gaming PC for MS Flight Simulator before it is released.

I'm sure you're excited to play it right when it comes out, but it would be wiser to wait a week or so after launch so that the game can be thoroughly tested on consumer PC hardware. Once we have benchmark test results for the game, it will be much easier to buy a computer that will give you the exact performance that you want. If you buy a computer before the game is released, you risk either A) getting something not quite powerful enough for the performance you want, or B) spending more money than necessary on buying something that turns out to be overkill.

If you are buying this computer specifically for MS Flight Sim (it sounds like you are), then I would strongly recommend waiting until the performance of the game is thoroughly tested so that you can make an informed choice.

 

[queeny]

I have a desktop with an Intel Core i3-3240T CPU and 8GB of RAM.

 

[Zoid]

I have a desktop with an Intel Core i3-3240T CPU and 8GB of RAM.

Cool. I was just curious whether upgrading your current PC would be a viable option. In your case I would recommend buying (or building) a new PC, but like I said I would strongly recommend waiting until MS Flight Simulator is actually released.