Hi all.
I am thinking of an upgrade for my pc, but would like to check the consensus opinion to see if my thinking is in the right general direction.
I currently have an i7 11700k CPU with a 240mm AIO cooler in a Gigabyte Z590 mobo, 32GB 3,600mhz RAM and an RTX 3070ti GPU. The sim is on a 1TB M2 Nvme drive, and I have a be quiet 1000w PSU running it all. Display is a 27in 2K / QHD / 1440p, which I will not be changing due to space constraints.
I would like to improve the look, detail and smoothness of the sim, and this will benefit other pc uses and games too of course. Like most people, I am mainthread limited in MSFS currently, so LOD and TLOD sliders are both at 170 to keep everything smooth and gpu limited. Other settings are a mix of high / ultra, and I usually get around 50-60 fps which is my preference. I have tried limiting it to 30fps multiple times but I just don’t like it, the blurring is too distracting for me.
My hunch is that improving the CPU, mobo and RAM is the way to go at the moment, as I am currently strictly limited by these. I was looking at either an i9-12900k or i7-12700k in a z690 mobo (probably Gigabyte again) and taking the opportunity to move to DDR5 ram - 5,600 or 6,000 mhz roughly.
So, what does anyone think - worthwhile improvement in my case, or just leave it all alone and live with it for a year or two?
Cheers.
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I would leave it alone for now.
Look, the difference between a TLOD of 170 and 300 is NOT THAT PROFOUND for the price.
And you will never get 60 FPS on any CPU at all times and with decent settings in MSFS (which is why folks suggest 30 FPS. Because even though higher is better, smooth is best).
There is a real chance that with better optimization we will get better Main Thread performance in future updates, and a real chance the next generation or two of CPUs will really be up to the task of running MSFS in spite of Main Thread bottlenecks.
I dunno, for that price, I would want more improvements. And I feel like you will have better options within the year.
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Too small a CPU generational leap and negligible visual improvement for the LOD increase you want to make anyway, so I’d leave it well alone.
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I feel like the sim is more single core and GPU than CPU. I just upped my 3060 to a 3080 without touching my 9900k and sorry McDonalds but Me Encarnta
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The best CPU for MSFS is without a doubt the Ryzen7 5800X3D.
This CPU outperforms even the i7 12900KS in MSFS.
I replaced the 5800X with the 5800X3D and my system is gaining a whopping 20%~60% fps gain over the 5800X.
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Thank you for the replies, much appreciated.
ResetXPDR and WellREDBarron; your thoughts make a lot of sense, and on consideration and reading a few more reviews I agree. The cost of changing CPU, mobo and ram would be around GBP 1,000 - 1,300 ish, and I don’t think it’s going to make that much of a difference to be considered good value. I could swap my gpu for a 3080 ti or 3090 for a similar net spend or maybe less, but then I would still have the same mainthread limitation.
For now I’ll maybe fine tune my peripherals and keep on tweaking and experimenting with NCP and in-game settings but otherwise leave well alone and wait for optimisation to improve.
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Your cpu is imho absolutely strong enough for everything msfs with your display and the rest. I move from 8600k to 11900k last year and have seen almost no improvement because of the design of msfs cpu utilization. Gen 12 strong cores are same design as Gen 11 (just more efficient) so such an upgrade will cause no noticable improvement.
If you desperately need to waste money go for an 3080ti or 3090 for some gpu headroom.
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Hi Yellow11, and thank you for the reply.
You are right about the Ryzen 5800X3D looking very promising with msfs, but after a lot of thought I won’t be making any changes currently.
I don’t have any particular allegiance or preference in cpu makers, but a switch to a Ryzen 7 now would mean changing the mobo to an x570 / AM4 as well, and with AM5 / zen4 just around the corner I would rather wait a little longer to see what they come out with in the next gen of chips.
Changing up intel chips means a new mobo too, but they have only just started on 12th gen so for the future a setup with a 1700 socket makes more sense than an AM4.
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Hi,
My current CPU is OK, but I do feel the visuals on screen could be improved quite a bit. Your 11900k will probably be quite similar to my 11700k in MSFS performance, given the way they are utilised, but there are lots of other variables too of course.
12th gen Intel CPU’s with the mix of P&E cores or the new Ryzen 7 (not available in the UK yet) are demonstrably quicker and provide better fps in game reviews, but I am not convinced that right now either of these moves would provide enough bang for my buck, especially as both would need new motherboards too.
I don’t have a burning desire to waste money, which was the reason for seeking out other’s views in the first place. Given that like most simmers I am already main-thread limited, I think upgrading the gpu would also be pointless right now, until the cpu side has moved forward considerably. If I was going all-out for VR with a mega headset like the Varjo Aero then it would be a different matter, but that’ll be for much longer in the future.
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I just upgraded last week to an i7 12700k and an MSI Mag Tomahawk z690 DDR4 from an i7 7700k and z270 ASRock Extreme 4. Negligible improvement too. Agree it’s MSFS CPU management/DX 11. Great improvement in Vulkan and DX12 implementations though (not MSFS DX12 - yet?).
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