i5-12600KF, RTX 3060Ti, 32GB DDR5-4400 expectations?

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I’m considering purchasing a PC with these primary components with the goal of running at 2560x1440 with 100% scaling:

Intel Core i5-12600K CPU on a mobo with Z690 chipset
nVidia RTX 3060Ti GPU
32GB (2 x 16) of DDR5-4400 dual channel memory
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Windows 11 Home

The resolution above is my monitor’s native capability and I think it looks sharp enough so I’m not worried about 4K output and don’t think I’ll be getting into VR headsets.

I’m wondering if anyone else is running this combination and could comment on expected performance? My goal isn’t ultra everything but a stutter-free 30fps at busier airports and over denser city areas. I tend to fly lower to enjoy both the aircraft and scenery. Would it be realistic to expect the performance goal if the graphics settings were turned up enough to match the Xbox Series X (which I believe is a combination of high and ultra settings)?

Thanks in advance.

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My less capable machine with now my “old” rtx2060super is able to do 30-50fps on 3440x1440 with mods installed. Most settings high,some on ultra. I will average in the lower 30s at busy airports but my weakest linked is overcast that dials performance all the way down. You will be ok.

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Not sure what this means … at any rate if it’s 1080 OMG sweet, 1440 … nice rig …above that and high LOD’s, it’s amazing how this sim can have a bar fight and win with a decent rig.

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Am running a RTX 3060ti, older i5 9400F, 32GB ram, All SSD pc (not NVme though) on 3440x1400 ultra wide screen monitor. Running mostly high settings with a few at ultra and 100% scaling. 30fps on the ground at detailed regional airports with FBW A320 but 40 to 60fps in the air. MSFS’s current poor performance on the ground issue can see the fps vary from 22 to 40 during taxi though. Clouds are the biggest hit so I limit them to High. Photogrammetry is another hard hitter, but running terrain detail at 150 rather than 200 to help improve things with no noticeable difference in quality. I noticed a definite drop in performance moving from a 2560x1080 monitor to a 3440x1440 monitor, so your slightly lower 2560x1440 should net a decent performance boost using the same RTX card as me. Most Ultra setting are often hard to notice so use I High rather than Ultra and take the performance improvement. I target Ultra setting at those that matter most to me. I run only Terrain Vector Data, Buildings, Trees and Texture Resolution on Ultra. I run Grass on low as you can’t see it most of the time anyway, and everything else on High.

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I was just meaning my performance goal is to run smoothly (stutter free) at 2560x1440, which is my monitor’s native resolution, rather than worrying about up-scaling to run at 3840 x 2160 which my monitor will also do.

It does look good at even at 1920 x 1080 but I want to match, or slightly better, what I’m currently seeing on the Series X without completely breaking the bank. :grin:

The primary issue is the Xbox has stutters around more taxing scenery and has no ability to dial it back slightly to match it’s capabilities and smooth it out completely like a PC platform does. On the Xbox there are no sliders & other graphics options to allow adjustments like those available on a PC. There’s a single setting of enabling/disabling HDR10. So, you’re stuck with the settings MS & Asobo baked in and there’s been no indication that’s going to change down the road even though several Xbox users are suggesting tuning options to suit an individual’s tastes are greatly needed.

So, I’m exploring my options and considering the switch to a PC. However, I don’t want to spend approximately 5x the cost of the Xbox Series X console only to find out it performs about the same with the same stuttering issues so I thought I should seek some feedback from people who are using similar systems to what I’m considering.

I recognize there are some bugs and issues all platforms share which I still have faith will get solved in due course but there’s been zero indication Xbox users will be given some tuning options - which are especially needed on the higher end “X” because, with it’s less ambitious settings, the “S” runs noticeably more smoothly which just isn’t right.

My other option is to sell the Series X and go back to the Series S which I started with but that’s not a great alternative either now that I’ve seen the better details which are available in the sim and could be mostly kept with a little tuning if it was possible.

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More than sufficient. Even 12400F and 16GB of DDR4 should meet your demands. At Ultra graphics at 1440p that is. With 12600K and 3060 Ti at 1440p, I imagine you´d actually end being capped by the GPU most of the time.

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Honestly for completely stutter free at that res … 14 series CPU and and 5090ti? :wink:

I still get the occasional chop with an OC’ed 99000k and a 3080 but at 5760X1080 which is about 2.5 million more pixels than your 2560x1440.

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Your CPU is also significantly weaker than what the OP was thinking, being more in line with the 12400F I mentioned (though with weaker one core performance).

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By about 13% stock plus mine is overclocked and I’ve disabled hyperthreading for optimal single core/main thread performance.

Weaker, yes but marginally not significantly, at least not with this sim.

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I wonder. For example: Cinebench R23 Benchmark Scores [2022] (nanoreview.net)

Single core scores:

9900K: 1328
12400F: 1690
12600K: 1871

What does the game tell you when you open the FPS counter on the dev mode when on the ground in large airport? I suspect it´s “limited by main thread”.

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OP - Be aware of these issues. Z690 MB had some capacitors wired backwards, massive recall on it. Make sure board you get has been tested, and make sure the place you get it has easy return/RMA policy. This assumes, you are not buying completed unit but building it yourself.
For future, better off upgrading to the I-9-12xxx series processor, yes more money, but at the very high end of current PC stuff, so you would be “covered for updates” out for at least 3 years.

AMD-INTEL and Nvidia have product cycles updates scheduled for last half of year, new architecture for Processors, pins/dimensions. And rumored Nvidia 4000 series cards also coming out. Also, memory type is very strong consideration, DDR5 is going mainstream for AMD, and prices again will start to drop, my minimum recommended amount is 32GB system ram, and NLT 6GB on the graphics card.

Realize you can “chase tail on PC components” and at some point, have to decide, but if being on the cusp of performance is you goal some things to consider.
Stock of components is showing up as more in channel, prices are close to MSRP, but again, if you wait, prices will come down more. Deals to be had on 3000 series cards once new ones are released, again, food for thought.

Check out this link: (3) This is the BEST and WORST time to build a PC… Here’s why - YouTube

I always buy Intel, so the AMD stuff is just information. Was going to buy new one this year, but waiting to see if quality improves, and prices drop. I would get ASUS ROG Gamer one, again, channel just now starting to get supplies in quantity, but, quality took real hit, so going to wait on that. Also, many 3000 series of cards had issues with some games, and caused them to fail, so quality was second place to manufacturing so if it was me, waiting till late this year or early next. My current Laptop can play what I fly just fine. MSFS-2020 is OFF my PC, to many bugs.

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Thanks for the information and feedback. Some very good food for thought.

Back in my “old days” I used to build the PCs myself but was thinking of buying a name brand pre-built this time. Still early research and thinking though.

I was looking at the Asus ROG line and didn’t see one with the 12th gen processor I’m thinking about but I’ll look again. It could be they’re not being offered right now due to supply chain issues.

I was looking at the Alienware R13 series with the specs above but now I’m wondering about how you’d know if Dell has corrected the problem with the Z690 chipset.

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My rig bounces back and forth between the two, full ultra plus.

Also cinebench isn’t hung up on one thread.

Edit: More accurate, it uses the later gens optimizations, MSFS, not so much,

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I don’t know if you’ve seen this video, but you may want to check this one out: Build the Best PC for Flight Simulator 2020! CPUs, RAM and GPUs tested for the Perfect Sim PC - YouTube

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FS runs fine on my Intel i5 10600K CPU, Asus RTX 3050 8 GB OC card 16 GB DDR4 ram on Windows 11 at 1920x1080p.

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xbox x user here also on the verge of switching to PC. I’ve been very closely monitoring prices and chatter on yt and some great links in posts above. The GPU is still is by far the most expensive part of any build and I think they are still too expensive and will be cheaper and (I hope) at least closer to msrp in a month or so so I’m watching and waiting.

One reason I’m switching is so I’m not playing roulette with scenery/airport addons many of which are unusable on xbox (instant CTD). I’ve heard that VRAM is important to handle the more complex scenery addons so originally was thinking of RTX3080, but prices are still way too high. I’ve also been tracking RTX3060Ti and starting to think that might be more acceptable although it has “only” 8GB VRAM. AMD Radeon GPUs seem like a better value (and more VRAM across the board) but seem to be much less popular from what I’ve seen in the forums.

I’ve seen horrible reviews of many pre-builts but especially Dell Alienware gets poor reviews. I’ve done enough research to know I want the satisfaction and reduced cost of building my own PC but I know that’s a lot more work and not for everyone.

I use site below to track pricing trends (example for 3060Ti). For now I’m waiting at least a few weeks. Mostly it runs great on xbox so I can still play while waiting. :slight_smile:

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Fully agree. If you can build yourself, I’d recommend it. Satisfaction of building it yourself, saving some money, and knowing exactly what you’ve loaded onto the hard drive. The OS install always worried me, but the Win 10 keys you can purchase are the way to go.

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The thermals on the Alienware rigs are horrible Gamers Nexus PC Jebus wrecks them

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Yea but then you can end up doing this kinda thing :smiley:

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IMG_20220501_22084074111920×1440 144 KB

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I’m curious whether you ended up building the pc? If so, how does it perform compared to your expectations/specifications? I’m considering a very similar build:

i5-12400F
RTX 3060 TI
2x16GB 3600 DDR4 CL16

Goal is to run MSFS well at high/ultra settings @1440p with 3rd party content.

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