So I have been getting weird crashes on my 11900K PC for quite some time and I’ve gone down the path to figure it out it’s probably on its way out. It mostly happens in FS2024 but will occasionally happen in other apps. I have even tried doing a full case clean out, re-applying thermal paste to the cooler, and it typically helps for a little while and then I’ll get random BSODs.
It’s my birthday next week so I figured I would treat myself. Looking at new PCs and the prices (especially if I wanted a decent GPU), I decided I’m going to rip out my 11900K and associated motherboard and have opted for the 9800X3D on an X870 with 64GB of RAM. I already have 64GB in my current system and didn’t want to lose out on that as I think it’s had a benefit.
I also decided to purchase the Western Digital SN8100 to replace my Intel 660P, because I figured if I’m doing a Windows reinstall I’d rather take advantage of a faster disk drive. Not sure if FS load times are dependent on the hard drive or not but it’s nice to have for other things I use this PC for.
The one thing that will no doubt hold the system back is my GPU, which I’m not swapping at the moment. I have an RTX 3080 10Gb. I figured at least if I have the right platform now I can look at a 5070 Super or TI Super at some point in the future or even just a regular 5070 TI.
Any thoughts on the route that I’ve chosen? I haven’t started ripping out and replacing it yet so if there are any huge bright red flags on those components, I may reconsider.
Your card is a huge bottleneck. As you probably know.
Why not consider a 9070XT or 7900XTX? Both will outperform a 5070Ti (assuming this is a flight sim rig and that is your benchmark) and both are quite a bit cheaper. Would that allow you to upgrade the existing card any sooner?
I wouldn’t necessarily agree a 3080 10GB is a huge bottleneck. I think the CPU upgrade is definitely the most important. High TLOD’s are important to visuals, and that depends more on your CPU. You will quickly see if the GPU is actually limiting once your system is built.
Any reasonable NVMe is going to be fast enough and not a bottleneck. You don’t need a bleeding edge PCIe 5.0 drive so see if you can save some money there.
@Andersinho
I agree with the the previous posters, & would suggest you prioritize a GPU replacement over a SSD. Use the cash earmarked for the SSD towards the GPU. I’ve been looking at the 9070XT, now around $600 USD - you may well see a lower price if purchasing in the USA during the Black Friday sales. The only issue with this card is the artifacts seen during night flights:
According to the October 8th Bug-list, this bug-logged item is #37 on the list, planned for SU_05.
Depending on the brand, it requires an 800-850+ Watt PSU.
Yes there are currently artefacts at night but it’s really not that bad (it’s annoying but it will get fixed)
Performance is very good and my 9070XT/9800X3D/64Gb combo runs 4K native at 250 TLOD/200 OLOD at the heaviest 3P airports/ aircraft with BATC 10/10 traffic injection + other mods.
I think as a sweet spot price/ performance package a 7800 or 9800X3D and 9070XT is hard to beat
10Gb is a huge constraint for the sim and a 9800X3D is a powerhouse CPU. It would be a total waste to buy a premium CPU and spend X months or a year + holding it back with the 3080
You probably know already, but do make sure the ramkit you get is EXPO type DDR5 and the exact model number appears on the QVL list for the motherboard vendor of the X870 board you choose.
It’s just not that black and white. It’s much easier to optimize settings to work with your GPU, see how satisfied you are with the experience, then decide if a thousand dollar upgrade is necessary.
Per recent industry reports regarding RAM prices and memory fab allocations, the 50 Super series may well be canceled. It seems AI datacenter demand for memory, and in particular VRAM for enterprise-grade datacenter GPUs is pushing out capacity for consumer-oriented GPUs. If this pans out, it will seriously kneecap the entire consumer PC market next year and into the indefinite future until the AI bubble pops, or at least stops expanding so rapidly.
Hi, I saw this much earlier today before I posted above,
According to multiple sources from Hong Kong and Taiwan, NVIDIA’s upcoming mid-cycle refresh of the “Blackwell” SUPER GPU series is not canceled, although add-in card partners are still awaiting final specifications. HKEPC reports: “NVIDIA informed AIC yesterday that the RTX 50 SUPER plan is not canceled but the release date has been postponed to Q3 2026. The statement by Uniko’s Hardware is incorrect.”
So, I hope this is correct because I sure want one with 24GB at a more reasonable price and less Watts.
Pushed to Q3 is happening for a reason, as is lack of final specs. What do you think that reason is? ANSWER: industry-wide RAM manufacturing capacity shortages.
Further, think it through: if the 50 Supers do launch in Q3, a 60-series will definitely not launch in early ‘27 as you would have otherwise expected. They will get pushed to late ‘27 or more likely, early ‘28.
I had not thought about a 60 series - which would be more powerful - or to be hoped. You are probably right, the 50 series has been troublesome and if the 60’s were better, then I prefer to wait for that. However, if it is true there are chip shortages for the 50 series, then this will be true for the 60 series too. Who knows
The current lack of RAM fab capacity is definitely true. Kicking the 50 Super series 6 months down the curb is Nvidia’s way of avoiding outright cancellation while they try to figure out the RAM situation and seeing what happens with datacenter demand.
I just has a little look around the 60 series and they are changing the architecture. So yes, looking at your reasoning I tend to agree - and will wait for a 60 series.
So, wait for another year for a SUPER series card that may or may not appear in Q3 2026 at an indeterminate price, or purchase a 9070XT today at a known price & enjoy the benefits during 2026 & beyond.
My personal choice would be the latter, with the goal of staying on the 9070XT for the lifespan of MSFS 2024. Amortized over 3 years, for example, a $600 card would be $0.55 / day.
Well I was speaking for myself. I already have a 5080 but I would like more vram. @Andersinho of course has his choice to make.
So I agree, if it were me I would be making a choice such as you suggested
Thanks for the response and I knew I was going to open a can of worms on the whole GPU subject. While I do think the GPU is the limiting factor, to someone else’s post above, it’s not always black and white:
Right now at Frame Gen (either NVidia’s with the mod or AMD’s FSR ‘natively’) I can still achieve 60FPS flying over Manhattan in 4K with a TLOD up in the 300s. Granted that’s in a Caravan and not a Fenix A320, but the software part of the GPU seems to be doing its best to get me there.
I can also fly a Fenix A320 on a nice 2hr trip from a non custom airport to another one. Again in 4K
My biggest gripe is random crashes so I figured it would be worth getting over that hump first and then building in stages.
The SSD was a trigger happy choice just because I like the feeling of having the fastest SSD on the consumer market as I use the system for more than just Flight Simulation.
I am very curious about the 9070XT and the 7900 XTX as the price to performance blows the others out the water. I haven’t done any research into what image quality looks like on AMD vs NVidia and also what the frame gen looks like. But both those cards sound very appealing.
(PS I am going to post a video on YouTube of me flying the Cessna Caravan around Manhattan in 4K with ultra high TLOD levels. I took the video from my iPhone so there was no real loss in the smoothness, but when I try to transfer it to my PC or upload it to YouTube it won’t transfer above 4K. If anyone has any tips on this I’d really appreciate it.)
