Skipped Buying a New Flightsim PC

[Republic DC-9]

Hardly a major Mustachian victory, but here’s the deal.

I’m obsessed with flight simulation as a hobby, and my $2400 3 year old gaming PC had its expensive GPU (upgraded graphics card) fail completely.

My wife begged me to “just get a brand new PC!” ($2200)

My plan was to spend $300 on Amazon for a new Nvidia replacement GPU ($250 after gift card) and spend $150 more to have the local PC store install it.

In the end, I bought a new GPU for $250 after gift card snd installed it myself...a 80-90% savings vs, a new PC and I got more comfortable with upgrading PC motherboard components.

And love the performance of my new Nvidia GPU vs. my prior AMD card now waiting to be recycled.

Is Flightsim necessary?

No...but this turned out to be a greener and much cheaper resolution to my major hobby predicament.

[314159]

And if you compare that to the cost of getting a real life pilot's license, the savings are even greater! /s

Nicely done.

[Republic DC-9]

And if you compare that to the cost of getting a real life pilot's license, the savings are even greater! /s

Nicely done.

Yes! :)

My Dad was a private pilot but eventually gave it up because it was expensive, he didn’t feel he was able to do it often enough to stay proficient, and he just got bored with it.

[Heckler]

It is indeed a victory, congrats!

As I was reading along, I thought “who would pay $150 to install a video card?”    Then I realized this was really about not buying an airplane.

[HipGnosis]

I am interested in FlightSim (et all, I know it's not the only one).
What is the minimum equipment (w/ $ pls) you recommend for enjoying it?

[BlueMR2]

Xbox X Series is a good way to enjoy MSFS if you are fine with single screen and aren't getting fancy building a cockpit.

[Republic DC-9]

I’m currently enjoying MSFS and XP12 on a 10900K processor and (new) 3060 graphics card and it works well.

The key to a good experience is a nice graphics card and fast processor - probably in the $2000 rwnge or as BlueMR2 suggests via Xbox X series.

Like with any other hobby, it’s possible to spend a fortune on a top of the line PC and add ons...but both XP12 and MSFS offer a great experience out of the box with the built-in planes etc for much less cost.

And the fewer things you add, purchased or otherwise, the smoother these flightsims run.