I am planning to buy a new system so I can finally play MFS2020 in VR. Which of the three setups below would be the minimum to have a good VR performance with the pico4 and which one would be the best deal money/performance?
If the cheapest of these three still does a good job, I would definitely prefer it, but on the other hand I dont want to buy a system, which is not sufficient from the beginning on.
Thanks for your opinions.
Option 1:
- Intel i7-13700KF
- 16GB RTX4080
- 32GB DDR4-3600
- 1TB NVME-SSD
- Gigabyte Z790 D
=> 2.499 €
Option 2:
- Intel i9-13900KF
- 16GB RTX4080
- 32GB DDR4-3600
- 1TB NVME-SSD
- Gigabyte Z790 D
=> 2.713,90 €
Option 3:
- Intel i7-13700KF
- 24GB RTX4090
- 32GB DDR5-6000
- 1TB NVME-SSD
- Gigabyte Z790 UD DDR5
=> 3.299,00 €
All three setups would work fine with the Pico 4. However going forward, the 4090 would be a better choice for VR, especially if you upgrade the Pico 4 to a higher resolution headset.
You may want to wait a bit until April though and see how the 7800X3D performs compared to the Intel options in MSFS. I still have a 5800X3D with my 4090 and it’s remains pretty close to the best CPU available for the sim.
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@ScarletLlama396 I agree with Mercury, all three will more or less get the job done, and, as he says, I would not sell yourself short on the video card. The GPU more than anything will be your limiting factor in VR, so absolutely get the best Nvidia card you can. If you can afford a 4090, do it. AMD gpus are unfortunately a non-starter for VR use, not enough compute power for good motion reprojection.
The 1TB SSD may not be sufficient. Currently MSFS with all world updates installed comes to around 280 GB I think, and a solid collection of addons can easily double that total. If you want to have room for other things on your machine, and future space for FS to grow, I’d recommend at least 2TB. PCIE-4 Nvme is fine.
Also keep in mind that the Pico, in its current state, isn’t exactly the ideal headset for our use case. It’s really meant for the beat saber crowd, not us simmers. Not having an uncompressed wired displayport connection isn’t great, and that means it currently comes with a lot of extra processor and videocard overhead for wireless or USB transmission that displayport wired headsets don’t have to deal with. VR is marginal to start with, and that processing power should be used for the sim imo. Something to keep in mind maybe.
You can’t go wrong with the 13900K but again as Mercury said I would definitely wait a few weeks for the 7800X3D reviews to come out before purchasing, or better yet wait for others here to pick them up and report their results. The 7950X3D is absolutely amazing for VR and the 7800X3D likely will be as well.
Lastly you should keep in mind that even with the absolute best system money can currently buy you will still have to make compromises in VR. There is no hardware that can match the clarity of 2D simming quite yet, but we’re getting there. The next generation of CPUs/GPUs will likely let us run the default sim without much if any tweaking, and the one after that will cover us with addons as well.
In VR ‘nirvana’ is always just one more tweak and an entire bank account away… 
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If money isn’t an issue, option 3 is the easy winner.
I would just opt for two NVMEs - one for Windows, one for the sim.
I agree with the others, anyway - wait for some serious VR benchmarks for the new x3D beasts from AMD 
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no doubt. 3 but take at least two TB.
good luck!!
ps I have something like this and its amazing!!
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Many thanks for the answers! 
So the Intel i7-13700KF would not bottleneck the rtx4090?
Does it make a huge difference, which rtx4090 model I choose? Palit / KFA2 are way cheaper than the MSI one.
I really hoped, someone would say, the RTX4080 will do a great job in VR as long as you do not fly London or NY, because money of course is a big issue… 
Well, my 5800x3D/6800XT does a good job in VR, as long as you lower/disable some settings 
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Is anyone running VR on a 4080 and what is it like?
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consider the new AMD X3d series, either the 7950x3d or upcoming 7800x3d !
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Sadly money is absolutely everything when it comes to VR. Yes you can enjoy a lesser experience on cheaper(ish) kit but you’re always going to think VR would be that bit bitter if only you had a better GPU, headset or whatever. If you can afford a 4090 get one.
As for a CPU. I’m sure there are good Intel chips but lots of people on this forum including myself rave about the AMD 3D chips for a reason. They seem made for flight sim.
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Unfortunately the Pico4 does not have a display port, so it needs even more GPU power to produce a sharp image. But saving money on the GPU could make it possible, to get the next (advanced) headset earlier.
you are absolutely right about that better gpu/headset thing. 2D I do not mind playing in 1080p but in VR you already have to spend a lot to get a similar level of quality. bad luck the prices are through the roof these days for GPUs.
I do not really want to wait till mid of April for the new AMD CPU. But probably you are right with the 7800x3d.
Its currently a great time to get a 5800X3D. I just got one for £315. As far as flight sim goes its a fantastic deal. It doesn’t seem reviewer’s are falling over themselves to recommend the 7000 series 3D AMD chips simply because the performance gain over the 5800X3D isn’t worth all the extra cost. Having said that though I know every frame counts in VR so even a 10% performance increase is worth something.
The other thing about the 5800X3D as far as flight sim is concerned is that lots of us here have one so there’s quite a few threads here on how to optimise it.
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this makes sense only if you currently own an AM4 mainboard. if you have to purchase a board too then the AM4 platform is outdated, makes no sense to invest. wait for the AM5 7800x3d in a few weeks.
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Indeed, I could upgrade my am4 system. But my mainboard is low end and I think I would prefer a complete new system, even if it is am4, bc i am not good at stuff like this. am5 is beyond my budget unfortunately so I will go with 5800X3D.
What are the problems with your system? Sounds like you want a stronger system? I’m looking forward buying the same setup. Or even a 13600k instead of the 5800x3d.
My system is not good enough for vr. Thats why I would have to upgrade it with the rtx4090 and the 5800x3d. But I would have to change too many components (powersuppy/ram/case maybe) and dont want to build it by myself. Thats why I am thinking of a complete new PC.
I was refering to HugeMercury163, his system is 4090/5800x3d.
@ScarlettLlama396 why you asked for the i7-13700k and not the i5-13600k. As far I can remember the benchmarks are almost the same.
What is the aim for your vr-system? Are you flying the Fenix A320? PMDG?
Because I have no clue… 
Aim…well…I am not sure. But I dont want to end up with an expensive compromise, thats why I go for the 4090 in the hope, that it will do good with the 5800x3D. Not planning to fly with an a320 over Tokyo, but who knows what comes in two years from now?!
Same here. Still try to figure out whats enough. I wanna see all the instruments clearly in a Fenix, thats top one priority…ofc not wirh 5 fps…i heard breaking point is about 30 fps.
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