My build is similar to yours. X670E motherboard and GeForce 4080 but otherwise same CPU (7800x3d) and RAM (32GB DDR5).
It’s my first PC build, so I have nothing to compare it to.
I’m running Flight Simulator with the Fenix (external program) and GSX, SimConnect, Navigraph, a web browser for SimBrief, FSRealistic, Volanta for flight tracking, Flight Recorder, and OBS Studio actively streaming the game. Also either VPilot for my VATSIM client, or FSLTL, depending.
Having all of the above open and actively running is the norm for me, that’s usually how I’m simming if I’m simming, and the computer never misses a beat - all good, always.
I would say it depends very much on what productivity software you want to run, how demanding that software is and whether running that software is more important to you than FS20.
To add more to the mix AMD will likely come out with better CPUs sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year. I personally am waiting for news on these before I purchase another PC. If you can wait a bit longer this might help your decision.
@Red81Trekker
Thanks, but dont you worry that 8 core wont be enough for msfs2024?
@Kayembee370
Productivity-wise i am not worried.
My current pc is i7 - 8750h which is less poweful and has less cores than the 7800x3d and all my working apps are just fine.
And because its pretty much the end of the cpu generarion the prices are pretty low right now.
I dont think a brand new amd cpu will be in my price range
It’s pretty well accepted that AMD’s X3D cache is a huge performance booster for this sim, and also that the base code does not take much advantage of multi-core, multithread processing. Whether FS2024 improves the latter remains to be seen.
As for multitasking, I have a 5800X3D (8 cores, max boost 4450 MHz) and the sim runs great with quite a few other programs running simultaneously. Certainly I could benefit from a 7800X3D, or 7900X3D, or even a 7950X3D with their higher clocks speeds, especially for things like traffic and weather (which tend to hammer my CPU.)
Really the higher core count CPU’s are most beneficial for things like multi-layer video editing and CPU encoding, where programs are designed to take advantage of multithreading.
I personally think that if I was building a new system, and needed to consider budget, I’d go with pretty much exactly what you’ve chosen. I have the 5000D case and I love it. I thought the 4000D was a little small, but that’s because I installed a closed-loop liquid cool system and needed a bit more room.
On that note, I started out with the CPU on a 240mm radiator. I soon realized that my 3090 Ti was dumping a ton of heat into the case, so I switched to the excellent and inexpensive Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 air cooler for the CPU, bought a water block for the GPU, and put it on the closed-loop instead. I’m going to replace the 240mm radiator with a 360mm radiator, because the way I have my system set up, the GPU is working hard (95% load) and still getting pretty hot (80°C.) I have no issues at all with CPU temps.
If your current cpu runs your productivity apps okay and FS20 is a key application for you then I personally would opt for the 7800x3d.
The spanner in the works though is that we know very little about MSFS 2024 and what would be the best cpu for that sim. Will the L3 cache of the 7800x3d still remain supreme or will the sim run better on a cpu with more cores due to the sim’s better multi tasking performance (maybe). Unfortunately, this is question I think at the moment which can’t be answered with any degree of certainty.
Not really an easy question to answer since you might be buying the new sim which we know next to nothing about or how it might run
With this club you no longer have to worry about performance. I only use the Ryzen 7 5800X without 3D, but I can often reach the 75 Hz of my monitor with ultra settings.
It is important that the memory components perform well with the board
otherwise the Sim is merciless.
Asobo actually has the programming quite well under control at the moment and has announced further performance improvements for Msfs 2024. Hopefully it’ll start soon
When talking about production loads, reviewers are referring to things like video editing and code compiling, and other all core heavy workloads. The current SIM is heavy only on one or two cores, and other supporting programs are lightweight compared to a true production workload. Even if 2024 improves multi-thread performance, I don’t think it’ll be a huge issue running it on the 7800x3d with several supporting programs.
4K performance is more intensive on the GPU than the CPU, but the CPU usage tends to get used more in higher resolution environments, just not much as the GPU scales.
No one here can tell you that the 7800x3d will be enough. they will either have no idea on what is coming, or cannot tell you for contractual obligations. However, Ryzen 5 is coming with 8 core chiplets again (according to rumours). This is looking like the next big step in CPUs. I cannot see Asobo designing a game that will not run on the next gen hardware.
For context my system is looking to be around Ryzen 5 on the 800x3d variant, but I will be looking to see how the next interconnect system works. AMD has leaked some product information regarding this, and how much better it is. Ryzen 5 is looking like Q3 2024.
My GPU will be the next gen NVidia most likely. It very much depends on how RDNA 5 performs in benches. I certainly wont be spending £2k on a GPU, which is what Nvidia is pushing. Nvidia is pushing the narrative that Blackwell won’t be here till 2025. I have my doubts. I just feel they want to keep their old stuff selling.
EDIT: Ryzen 5 will come in 8 core chiplets for mainstream desktop. There are some rumours released regarding server 16 core chiplets on the N3 process.
I’m in the same boat getting ready to buy and going with 7800X3D/4080 Super. Just maybe the B670E motherboard as the prices are getting closer to 650’s and has a bit more future-proofing for a few bucks more. 2024 is likely if anything to be better optimized than 2020. The XB requirement makes AMD a pretty safe bet for now.
My setup is very similar to this. I have 14700kf with a 4070 Super and I think you will have no problems with performance at 1080. I run 4k and I get great fps, until I load in lots of traffic at a complex airport and then I can see drops to 30-40 fps at high/ultra settings.
I did take somewhat of a gamble that 2024 is going to utilize the additional cores.
Others have provided very good advice, in particular I concur with everything @BegottenPoet228 has written above.
For an optimal gaming experience with MSFS, the choice is not between 7800X3D and 14700K.
IMHO, current Intel chips should not be shortlisted when it comes to MSFS strictly. For other uses, such as light esports gaming, video editing, CAD, etc, there is a logic to their offerings, not for MSFS, due to the 3D Cache advantage.
For MSFS 7800X3D is the sweet spot today from a price/performance standpoint.
Is 7950X3D a better chip? Yes.
Is the additional cash required to acquire that chip justified?
There is no clear cut answer on that.
Probably not for most people, but if money is no object, why not.
The question that you have not asked, and that is worth thinking about is whether now is the right time to invest in a new PC.
The conjunction of MSFS2024 reveal just around the corner, and new offerings expected in H2 2024 (AMD Zen5 and corresponding boards, RDNA4, Nvidia 5000, etc) may be a good reason to wait a couple of months before investing in an expensive PC that is intended to last several years.
COMPUTEX in Taipei in early June may bring some clarity on the hardware evolutions, for MSFS2024 we don’t know, maybe we’ll know more by the end of the summer.
But if you need a PC now, I would say building it around a 7800X3D/B650 combo is probably your best bet given your stated goals. NVIDIA 4070Ti Super is an excellent GPU choice. I would go for a higher end B650 and beefier PSU if I were you (for future-proofing), but your choice is fine.
My biggest gripe with AM5 current offering is precisely the motherboards.
I have hope the X870/B850 boards will be more refined than the current breed, and given that we will soon have clarity on MSFS2024 requirements, it may be worthwhile to wait a couple of months for those two before investing a couple of thousand dollars in a new PC.
Or you can indulge now and hope MSFS2024 will not change the equation drastically, which is a reasonable expectation, but we don’t know that for sure.
Caveat: Of course, anything that is not confirmed by independent benchmarks is to be taken with a grain of salt.
In this case, it would seem AMD is hyping up their next flagship to have 46% better MT performance and 42% better ST performance than the incumbent in Cinebench tests:
If true, this would be staggering.
Logically, 9800X3D should have approaching ST numbers, with the bonus of 3D Vcache and a more palatable pricing, a perfect match for MSFS2020.
Marking COMPUTEX in early June on my calendar, hopefully AMD will do a formal announcement, with reviews in tow.
What remains unclear is whether the 3D Zen 5 chips will be announced at the same time as the vanilla CPUs.
A phased release could be in the cards, like they did for Zen4.
Really quite hyped for these CPUs tbh and the new MB’s which will be accompanying them. I’m guessing AMD are now slowly beginning to leak info here and there to build up interest. Good marketing and nothing less than expected but very interesting none the less.
Not sure I quite believe the performance increases of 40% plus though. I mean it would be great but I can’t really see it happening in everyday applications and everyday conditions. I don’t think that AMD need to do this either to sell the CPUs. If I was them I would leave something in reserve for the next gen CPUs to show improvments then. My own expectations are around 15% better than now, with more L3 cache than currently and with the ability to run faster RAM. Anything more than this will be a very welcome bonus. We can but hope though.
Hopefully with the new MBs and CPUs the boot times are a lot better too although to be fair a lot of users with updated BIOS’ are now reporting boot times of around 40 seconds or less. Much better than at launch.
A phased release of the 9000x3d unfortunately makes sense too and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is timed to come out at the same time as the Arrow Lake CPUs late in 2024 or early in 2025. I hope that it will come out at the same time as the other 9000 CPUs but I don’t think that is very likely
I agree with you that these leaks are most likely AMD marketing trying to build up interest.
However, I would say I believe it to be very possible, the potential is there.
If I were a betting man, I would say their internal tests showed much better results than expected. Now they want to try & make Arrow Lake irrelevant, so they’re going full blast on the performance targets.
I don’t think AMD marketing would take the risk of setting completely overblown expectations, even through leaks, it would come back and bite them.
We’ll see how that translates in terms of power efficiency / thermals / stability, though.
And of course, as your rightly pointed out, a 40%+ increase in a single Cinebench run does not mean 40% better performance in each and every game or application…
Also, a phased release is indeed likely, the question is, how phased.
If I were in their shoes, I would try to have the 3D chips out before Arrow Lake, so as to undercut Intel nextgen as much as possible and stay ahead of the curve.
It would require an accelerated timeline, compared to Zen4.
Either way, that, the new boards, and MSFS2024 requirements are all going to be very interesting news to follow for anyone looking at investing in a new/updated flight sim rig.
Ugh, I was JUST waiting for the exact GPU’s on my list to come in stock today to stop by microcenter and I saw the 9 information in some push feed on my phone… It’s always a conveyor belt, but-Maybe I hang with XSX just a wee bit longer.
I imagine it’s using the 670 motherboard, I wonder if it can use faster ram?
Or I could just buy a zen 5 670E board and jump on the train. Could probably sell the CPU for something used. If it ‘costs’ me a couple hundred bucks jumping in now it’s probably still worth it. I think I may let SU15 official release be the final word on when to jump.
I would highly recommend skipping the Zen 4 mobos when building something. They’ve already relaxed a bit on the new board pricing, they’re going to stockpile otherwise. I’ll hedge with a 2TB 4th gen SSD and can add a gen 5 later rather than going all in on storage.
