Next step upgrade

steveinhants

steveinhants

steveinhants

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Hi,
I've recently discovered MS Flight Sim and use it in conjunction with Quest 2 VR. I'd like to upgrade to the next step so that I see a difference in the graphics and running speed of the sim.
My current spec is as follows and I'd be grateful if someone could recommend what the best approach would be:

MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Ventus GP OC 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
ASUS Xonar SE 5.1 PCI-E gaming sound
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120 AIO CPU Cooler - 120mm
Aerocool Quartz RGB Midi Tower Case - Black
Phanteks RGB LED Strip Starter Kit (PH-LEDKTCMBO)
TP-Link Archer T6E Dual-Band Wireless AC1300 PCI-E Adapter
WD Blue 3D NAND 2TB 2.5 SATA 6Gbps SSD
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 Twelve Core 4.2GHz
Corsair RMi Series RM650i 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power
WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB M.2 2280 SSD
Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX4M2D3
OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator
 
Flight Sim likes the 3D cache, so I'd get the 5800X3D for CPU and a 4070 or 7800 XT (if AMD card is appropriate for VR).

If you get higher than that (e.g. 4080 or 7900 XT), then you might need a new PSU, though I'd still try it out first.
 
The most obvious component holding you back is going to be the Graphics card - something like a 4070 should give you over double the performance of your 2060.

A 5800X3D would certainly help for MSFS, but with only 8 cores may be a side grade depending on what else you use your PC for.

If you don't go for a 5800X3D then either overclocking/tweaking your RAM would likely help as 3200Mhz/3600Mhz are preferred to allow the CPUs Infinity Fabric to run faster (which is not as necessary for a 5800X3D as the cache offsets RAM speed to some degree)
 
Thanks for the replies so far. There's several variations of the 4070 - would it be possible to link one here for me to view please? I don't know what the different versions do. I mainly use the pc for processing very large astrophotography files. The processing is fairly intensive
 
steveinhants said:
Thanks for the replies so far. There's several variations of the 4070 - would it be possible to link one here for me to view please? I don't know what the different versions do. I mainly use the pc for processing very large astrophotography files. The processing is fairly intensive
Click to expand...
There. Is the 4070 and the 4070ti which has slightly more performance than the 4070 so depends on your budget.

Google for comparison.

Most GPUs come with 3 years warranty but I prefer the Zotac models as they come with a 5 year warranty if registered within 30 days otherwise it's 3 years.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
 
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steveinhants said:
I mainly use the pc for processing very large astrophotography files. The processing is fairly intensive
Click to expand...
What's the name of the software? Does it use the CPU or GPU primarily?

steveinhants said:
There's several variations of the 4070 - would it be possible to link one here for me to view please? I don't know what the different versions do.
Click to expand...
Can you explain what you mean by 'variation'?
 
steveinhants said:
No, it's CPU - Pixinsight
Click to expand...
I see. If you mainly do this kind of work, then you may be better off with the 5900 or 5950, rather than the X3D, assuming it uses all the cores on your 3900.

steveinhants said:
I didn't realise that there were different brands - I think on first look, that's what I was confused over. Gigabyte, Zotac etc.
Click to expand...
The difference in performance is usually very small, within a % or two, but there can be a difference in warranty and the card's design, especially the cooling.
 
Tetras said:
I see. If you mainly do this kind of work, then you may be better off with the 5900 or 5950, rather than the X3D, assuming it uses all the cores on your 3900.


The difference in performance is usually very small, within a % or two, but there can be a difference in warranty and the card's design, especially the cooling.
Click to expand...
Yes it does use all the cores when I process the images.
The cooling is something I meant to ask about - the PC is getting very warm when it's running at full tilt. I went in to the BIOS at the weekend and overclocked the RAM as was suggested earlier. For some reason though I couldn't see the actual ratings of the three available profiles.
 
steveinhants said:
For some reason though I couldn't see the actual ratings of the three available profiles.
Click to expand...
Have a look at CPU-Z's SPD tab and it should tell you the profiles. I think you can also grab them from hwinfo.

steveinhants said:
the PC is getting very warm when it's running at full tilt
Click to expand...
Not a problem if everything is running fine.

steveinhants said:
Yes it does use all the cores when I process the images.
Click to expand...
My understanding was that you were primarily upgrading for the performance in Flight Sim, if so then the X3D is the right CPU, but if you're mainly interested in the multithreaded performance, the 5900 or 5950X are superior and could save you a lot of time if you're waiting around a lot for work to complete.
 
Tetras said:
Have a look at CPU-Z's SPD tab and it should tell you the profiles. I think you can also grab them from hwinfo.
Click to expand...
Thanks - xmp is on and running at 1497mHz.
Tetras said:
Not a problem if everything is running fine.


My understanding was that you were primarily upgrading for the performance in Flight Sim, if so then the X3D is the right CPU, but if you're mainly interested in the multithreaded performance, the 5900 or 5950X are superior and could save you a lot of time if you're waiting around a lot for work to complete.
Click to expand...
That's right - just someone asked what else I use the PC for. I'm not unhappy with the processing times for the images so it's primarily the graphics and performance for the flight sim I want to focus on.
One thing that CPU-Z highlighted was how old my BIOS is. Is it a good idea to update it? I've downloaded the latest version from Gigabyte and saved it to a USB.
 
steveinhants said:
One thing that CPU-Z highlighted was how old my BIOS is. Is it a good idea to update it? I've downloaded the latest version from Gigabyte and saved it to a USB.
Click to expand...

If the bios is the original that came with the board, then you may have to upgrade it to work with a 5000 series CPU.

Also never upgrade the bios from windows.
 
Just been looking at this a bit more and not sure if my case would house the upgraded card.
My current GPU is 280mm long. Upgraded GPU is 356mm
Case states but I am not entirely sure what the without front fan refers to.
GPU ClearanceSupports GPU up to 341mm/366mm(without front fan)
 
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