Is this a good set-up for FS9/FSX in Windows 10 Pro?

[SSI01]

I've been off the air for about two weeks or so due to RW matters, getting my son w/cancer down here for care for his condition. Just prior to taking care of that move my machine quit after being shut down overnight, losing the screen saver and then the desktop display froze on the monitor after I attempted to move the mouse. The basic machine is about 14 years of age, various things have been replaced as needed. The shop was unable to reproduce the problem that locked the machine up. I'm wondering if this thing is on its last legs.

That being said, the shop has a machine that is available, built by them, specs are as follows:

Gigabyte GA-B450 M.2 motherboard
AMD 7th Gen 9600 Quad-Core Processor
Viper DDR4 8GB memory (I would upgrade to 12 GB, personal preference - that's what this one has)
SP 512 GB Solid State Drive
Rosewill Tower
EVGA 450W power supply
Radeon 7 series graphics
24X DVDRW
Logitech keyboard & mouse
Windows 10 Pro
$599.95 USD

The last system item causes me some concern based on problems others on this site have reported re: incompatibility between the W10 OS and FS9/FSX. However, others on this site have reported a problem-free FS9/FSX conversion from W7 to W10, but I don't know if they went with W10 Home Edition or W10 Pro. The computer tech stated W10 Pro will allow the owner to hold off on installing updates/changes coming down the pike from MS whereas the other versions do not offer this feature. I'd like to keep that capability if possible. I hate the company/OS sneaking something in on me while I'm asleep.

I need to determine whether, in the group's opinion, this is a decent setup for FS9/FSX; whether 12GB of RAM is overkill or just right; and just how fast or "tricked-out" a video card (with cooling tower) this setup can tolerate without burning itself to a crisp.

[mrogers]

I have W10 on my system, it came with my brand new PC and had it for 3 years now. I run FS9 and FSX on it no issues. My W10 is a Home edition x64 bit version and it has updated automatically over time and I've had no probs with it at all. W7 was the base for the W10 on my PC I think, the shop put it together for me (PC and W10 systems).
I have 16gb memory DDR4 as well so I think you would do better with 16GB than 12GB. Lots more room. It isn't overkill at all.

In the past I did have a little problem with Focus Assist on W10, but I got that sorted out. It can be disabled or enabled and at the moment it's disabled so that it won't make a nuisance of itself popping up while I'm simming or doing something else.

[SSI01]

I'm glad you mentioned the W7 base for your machine, they have offered to move everything that is on my "C" and "E" drives over to the new one; everything that is currently on this machine was put on there with Windows 7 Home Premium as the OS. Hopefully they will mesh properly with the Windows 10 OS.

[mrogers]

Windows 10 Pro comes with a raft of software, but the Home version has enough features to suit most user's needs.
It should not be a problem with everything being moved to the new drive and should be fine.

[stansdds]

I've been off the air for about two weeks or so due to RW matters, getting my son w/cancer down here for care for his condition. Just prior to taking care of that move my machine quit after being shut down overnight, losing the screen saver and then the desktop display froze on the monitor after I attempted to move the mouse. The basic machine is about 14 years of age, various things have been replaced as needed. The shop was unable to reproduce the problem that locked the machine up. I'm wondering if this thing is on its last legs.

That being said, the shop has a machine that is available, built by them, specs are as follows:

Gigabyte GA-B450 M.2 motherboard
AMD 7th Gen 9600 Quad-Core Processor
Viper DDR4 8GB memory (I would upgrade to 12 GB, personal preference - that's what this one has)
SP 512 GB Solid State Drive
Rosewill Tower
EVGA 450W power supply
Radeon 7 series graphics
24X DVDRW
Logitech keyboard & mouse
Windows 10 Pro
$599.95 USD

The last system item causes me some concern based on problems others on this site have reported re: incompatibility between the W10 OS and FS9/FSX. However, others on this site have reported a problem-free FS9/FSX conversion from W7 to W10, but I don't know if they went with W10 Home Edition or W10 Pro. The computer tech stated W10 Pro will allow the owner to hold off on installing updates/changes coming down the pike from MS whereas the other versions do not offer this feature. I'd like to keep that capability if possible. I hate the company/OS sneaking something in on me while I'm asleep.

I need to determine whether, in the group's opinion, this is a decent setup for FS9/FSX; whether 12GB of RAM is overkill or just right; and just how fast or "tricked-out" a video card (with cooling tower) this setup can tolerate without burning itself to a crisp.

I'd say this system would be ok for FS9, but it is weak for FSX. The AMD 9600 CPU is an older generation CPU, it has four CPU cores that run at 3.1 GHz and the boost mode takes all four cores to 3.2 GHZ, but to get the the maximum of 3.4 GHz, only one or perhaps two cores will reach that limit. The 450 watt PSU is also a bare minimum for this system. Keep in mind that MicroSoft's flight simulator series has always run better on Intel processors and Nvidia based graphics cards. It's the difference in CPU and GPU architecture that makes a real difference in the performance of MS flight sims.

[Jafo]

I'd say this system would be ok for FS9, but it is weak for FSX. The AMD 9600 CPU is an older generation CPU, it has four CPU cores that run at 3.1 GHz and the boost mode takes all four cores to 3.2 GHZ, but to get the the maximum of 3.4 GHz, only one or perhaps two cores will reach that limit. The 450 watt PSU is also a bare minimum for this system. Keep in mind that MicroSoft's flight simulator series has always run better on Intel processors and Nvidia based graphics cards. It's the difference in CPU and GPU architecture that makes a real difference in the performance of MS flight sims.

What he said...
I'd certainly be looking for something a wee bit higher-specc'd than what you listed.
Sure, it'll cost more...but be a little more future-proofed as well, particularly if you want to keep it as long as you have with the old one...
FSX has it's own built-in limitations [32bit - can't benefit from modern head-room with cores, heaps of ram, etc] but the 'next' sim from MS will certainly be wanting as much grunt as you can throw at it...

[wombat666]

Stick with W7 for starters.
And perhaps look into building your own rig, when all is said and done it's just connecting cables and plugging a few components into a box.
You get to tailor you kit to your own spec as well.

[PHo17]

Stick with W7 for starters.
...

It is ok as far as one stays out of Internet (it´s bad world out there) after 1/14/2020. MS is ending support for W7.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/micr...dows-7-support

[Stefano Zibell]

If you want something cheap and effective try the ryzen 3200g. A far better architecture than the one you picked, and a far better integrated GPU as well. Make sure you get a dual channel memory kit (as in two sticks of same size/spec) for optimal performance. Should run fine with 450w psu too.