We are really in uncertain times when it comes to CPU upgrade considerations. Just think:
We really do not know how MSFS 2024 will affect CPU performance. Will the supposed better core/thread utilization improve performance of current CPUs? Will the X3D CPUs still maintain their performance edge over “regular” CPUs? Will the “improvements” consume the better core utilisation or even more than that?
The recently released non-X3D Zen 5 processors have been a disappointment. They certainly have not raised the MSFS performance stakes to any meaningful extent.
We still do not know exactly when the Zen 5 X3D CPUs will be released. We also do not know how they will perform, nor what they will cost.
My current build (Ryzen 7 3700X based) is performing well for what it is, and I am quite happy with my MSFS experience. But it is now basically 4 years old, so a few months ago I decided it is time for an upgrade. Essentially I was contemplating a 7800X3D-based build BUT I was waiting for:
Early MSFS 2024 results
Zen 5 X3D performance in the sim
Potential price drops of 7800X3D CPUs due to the availability of better performing Zen 5 X3Ds.
Black Friday pricing
I was hoping that, come Black Friday, I would have a good handle on prices and performance of all the suitable options in MSFS 2024 and I could compare CPU prices. But the disappointing Zen 5 performance has put a severe crimp in my plans. It seems that a lot of people have decided to take the safe “devil you know vs. devil you don’t know” option of buying 7800X3Ds while AMD already seem to have all but stopped production of those CPUs to force buyers into buying Zen 5 CPUs. As a result, the supply of 7800X3Ds has all dried up and sellers are exploiting the “panic demand” for these CPUs. Ergo: hard to find any, and when you do, the prices are very high.
What to do? Stick with my initial plan and hope that the new X3D CPUs will perform well in MSFS 2024 while being priced reasonably? And if they do not, there will still be 7800X3Ds available somewhere at a non-extortionate price?
This sort of felt like a darned if you do, darned if you don’t scenario. And I would certainly have been VERY upset if the newer CPUs turn out to be expensive and not that great in MSFS 2024 while older CPUs were no longer available at anything like a reasonable price at all.
So I have hedged my bets: I have been scouring the internet for somewhat reasonably priced 7800X3Ds for some time now. And today I finally found one. So I bought it. And I will keep it unused until we get clarity on the uncertainties. The assumption being that, if the new CPUs are not that good, I am covered. And if they ARE good at a reasonable price, I should still be able to sell my NIB 7800X3D for a OK price and get one of the Zen 5 X3Ds.
So the die is cast. Time will tell if I was a genius or an idiot. Feel free to tell in which camp you believe I am!
On the same boat. Was contemplating switching to AM5 and 7800x3d when 9700x dropped, and it was still comparatively cheap (although it never is compared to first world nations) in my country. But then suddenly price shot up and stock just vanished kinda overnight.
Early signs of the 9800X3D are promising (like 18% better single core performance than the 7800X3D in Cinebench R23), so I am holding on to my 5800X3D until they drop and will pounce when released if the rumours prove true.
If you thinking about upgrading PCs for MSFS I suggest holding off until the release of MSFS 2024 and test how it runs on your current gaming rigs first.
Also, leading up to the MSFS 2024 release, there will be a wave of launches: the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel new CPUs.
So, once again – don’t buy any new PC parts now. Wait patiently for the launch of MSFS 2024 and the upcoming AMD and Intel CPUs.
You seem pretty sure that the 9800X3D will release before November 19. I certainly hope so since this is the one I am waiting for myself.
I have read about the speculation that its launch could be imminent maybe even in late October or even some time in November. Hopefully though potentially disappointing benchmarks for the Arrow Lake CPUs (intel seem to be favouring power effiency rather than outright performance) don’t lead AMD to feeling they can delay a launch of the 9800X3D until next year.
Interesting times though with new cpus coming out from AMD and Intel (and new MBs) and new GPUs from AMD and Nvidia reportedly also around the corner.
I have been doing a lot of soul searching since yesterday evening. I suspect my decision to order a 7800X3D was driven largely by how much I was spooked by i) the relatively poor performance of the 9700X and 9900X and how that might be carried over into the 9800X3D and ii) the apparently very rapid drying up of the supply of 7800X3D chips. My fear was that a month or two down the road I could be left with only unpalatable options should the 9800X3D prove to be a damp squib. At least with a 7800X3D in hand I would be guaranteed of having a generally good CPU. And yes, I obviously know that nothing is certain about how MSFS 2024 will perform: I believe I made that very clear in my original post.
And yes, I know there are enthusiastic and hyped 9800X3D rumours out there, but quite frankly, given how the 9700X and 9900X failed to live up the their pre-launch hype, I am hugely skeptical about rumours. Those chips were supposed to provide very significant improvements over their predecessors, but that turned out to not really be the case. To such an extent that initial post launch sales are apparently the worst of any AMD launch in a long, long time.
But.
AMD is clearly under a lot of pressure to release a superlative 9800X3D due to the poor reception of the first Zen 5s. How much of the design and performance of the 9800X3D was already cast in stone by the time the first Zen 5s launched so poorly and how much they could still have improved the design since then is moot. But hopefully it should give a reasonable generational uplift. Launch pricing should hopefully also not be much above US$450.
Taking all this into consideration I have decided to be more brave and I have canceled my 7800X3D order. Hope I do not end up regretting that…
Another fly in the ointment is next year’s release of the Ultra series.
It’s an interesting design. Early Intel propaganda…err…marketing bulletins, seem to indicate that it may offer some raw improvement over the Core I series, and a massive improvement in power/performance efficiency.
I’m quite interested to see whether the new NPU (Neural Processing Unit) will offer AI gains that translate to gaming in general, and of course our sim in the future.
What is Intel’s NPU? It processes large amounts of data in parallel, performing trillions of operations per second. It uses less power and is far more efficient at AI tasks than a CPU or GPU.
I’ll be using my new 7950X3D and old 3090 Ti for a while longer, probably replacing the GPU well before I move on to a new CPU. Core Ultra has my attention.
I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but Arrow Lake (Core Ultra) is already available for pre-order and is expected to be released soon ( October 24 2024).
They are going to need to do something to move the needle forward. But if it runs fine on the current fastest chip they developed the game under(7800X3D), I don’t feel any dire need to replace it anytime soon. It’s more about how the new sim runs on the 5800XD as that is still well past the ‘average’ computer.
Really, if they just sort out settings to more stable set of choices, where you can ‘set it and forget it’ would be a boon to this game instead of constantly thinking you need to go back in and change everything every other time you pick a new area or aircraft to fly.
Meh that bleeding eyeballs stuff is for AAA titles that live and die on the benchmarks. Most of those are not optimized and they just dare you to buy something able to run it. This rethinking/rebuilding the sim in half of one typical cycle has never happened before. It’s more akin to the first release/last release version of a game on a single console generation where it’s amazing how much capability was underutilized the first time around. XBOX pushed this into a unique situation in FS history. Otherwise, ‘just buy the next generation of hardware’ would still be par for the course.
Good luck with your system!