Best CPU for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X is an insane CPU for the price. It offers tremendous value, offering 12 physical cores and 24 threads, which was previously exclusive to the enthusiast Threadripper family of processors. This is a perfect match for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Like the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, Intel's Core i9-10900K is a monster of a desktop CPU. It's not quite as good as AMD's offering with only ten cores and 20 threads, but it makes up for this shortfall in per-core performance. If you prefer Intel, this is the CPU for you.

If you don't really need AMD Ryzen 9 3900X levels of performance, the Ryzen 7 3800X is an excellent second choice. The Ryzen 7 family of processors used to be the leading edge from AMD before the Ryzen 9 3900X launched, so you know these are still fairly powerful.

Intel's Core i7-10700K is about as good as its i9-10900K sibling in terms of gaming performance, but you do save a little in the process. Should you not find yourself running any demanding software when not up in the clouds, this processor may be the better buy.

The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU is one of the most affordable processors you can buy from the company, but it still comes equipped with four physical cores and eight threads. That's amazing when you consider quad-core processors used to be a premium purchase.

Intel offers the Core i3-10100 as a budget-friendly processor with four cores and Hyperthreading. It's not the most powerful CPU by any stretch but will be able to fire up Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. You just won't be able to overclock the CPU or do much else with it.