Next step upgrade

steveinhants · 11 Dec 2023 at 15:28

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

steveinhants · 11 Dec 2023 at 18:25

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 · 11 Dec 2023 at 22:33

Tetras said:
What's the name of the software? Does it use the CPU or GPU primarily?

Can you explain what you mean by 'variation'?

No, it's CPU - Pixinsight
I didn't realise that there were different brands - I think on first look, that's what I was confused over. Gigabyte, Zotac etc.

steveinhants · 11 Dec 2023 at 22:57

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.

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 · 12 Dec 2023 at 09:51

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.

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.

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 · 12 Dec 2023 at 16:52

Yes, the bios is the original. Can I just check here.... if I upgrade my GPU to, say, a 4070 would I also need to upgrade the CPU?

steveinhants · 13 Dec 2023 at 14:35

Another question.... would a 408o be compatible for my build?

steveinhants · 13 Dec 2023 at 15:10

Tetras said:
Optimistic to run a 4080 on 650, but it might be alright.

What would you recommend?

steveinhants · 13 Dec 2023 at 17:22

Armageus said:
Depends ultimately on what monitor / screen resolution you are running?

A 4070 is still going to be a huge upgrade from a 2060.

It’s to use with a VR headset.

steveinhants · 18 Dec 2023 at 18:21

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 Clearance

Supports GPU up to 341mm/366mm(without front fan)

steveinhants · 18 Dec 2023 at 19:11

Tetras said:
If you tell us which cards you are looking at, we can tell you which ones you can buy that will fit with the case's front fan installed.

I'd like to upgrade to the 4080.

steveinhants · 19 Dec 2023 at 13:43

Tetras said:
Have a look here:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Specs

NVIDIA AD103, 2505 MHz, 9728 Cores, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 16384 MB GDDR6X, 1400 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

Scroll down to "Retail boards based on this design (97)".

In the "other changes" column, there is a length.

I'd suggest you double check the length on the manufacturer's website before you buy anything, because I've noticed though generally accurate, they're not 100%.

Thanks, very useful. Pretty much matches what was on the website as well. I think a new case is needed to cope with the 4080 and probably an updated PSU from my understanding.