Looking to upgrade my GPU

[twharrell 38]

I'm looking to upgrade my GPU in the next couple of months from my GTX 770 4GB to a GTX 1070 ACX 8GB and am wondering if it is worth upgrading. My budget is $500 USD or less.

 

My current computer specs:

I7 3770K OC 4.5 GHz (hyperthreading off)

8 GB RAM

750W power supply

250 GB SSD - Windows 7 64 bit

500 GB SSD - P3Dv3.4 and add-ons

Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler

 

I am running P3Dv3.4, Active Sky Next weather with REX soft clouds, Track IR

Scenery - FTX OpenLC USA with UTXv2, multiple airport add-ons, AlG AI traffic

Aircraft - mainly PMDG 737 and 777, Aerosoft Airbus, A2A C182, RealAir Turbine Duke, Flight 1 GTN 750/650

 

I don't want to upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. If it will make a difference then I will do it. If I have to upgrade CPU and other components to make it worthwhile then I'm going to hold off.

 

Thanks!

[bic 44]

I have 4790k at 4 ghz.

 

I just upgraded from GTX 780 to 1070.  In cities, it helps, but still  a little jerky.  Outside cities, it really doesn't get much work.  GPU around 30-49% utilization. This was from one quick flight. Other reason I upgraded was it uses less power than the 780.  

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

If you use GPU intensive games then it very well may be in your best interest to upgrade. But if you're like me, and using only FSX/P3D, then probably not unless you are considering adding a 4K TV to your hardware line up (I don't believe the 700 Series supports 4K, but please double check me on that).

 

Another word on 4K...  With at least a 900 Series (which supports 4K), Windows 10 and a 4K TV.

 

My system is an i7-4770K (running at 4.5 Turbo, but no overclock) with a GTX960 and it's pushing x3 23 inch LCD monitors and a 55 inch 4K TV.  Under Windows 7 I had to reduce the 55 inch P3D window to about 70% of the full screen in order to get between 40 and 55fps.  Set to the full 55 inches I struggled to get 20fps and on taxi at a complex airport I saw about 14fps. Entering REX 1024 resolution clouds hammered my system under Windows 7, sometimes seeing 6 to 12fps in clouds.

 

Under Windows 10 (and no other changes) I can easily reach 138+fps with P3D the 55 inch 4K TV set to the full 55 inches. The same clouds still reduced my fps, but I was still at a very high fps. This comparison used the default P3D F-22 at Eglin AFB.

 

The GTX960 handles all three monitors and the 4K TV without any strain whatsoever.  Of course let's remember that FSX an even P3D are still CPU intensive, with the caveat that Lockheed Martin has moved some of the processes to the GPU.

 

I hope this is helpful to you.

[Bob Scott 7,714]

In P3D, upgrading to a GTX1070 should make a noticeable difference, particularly in high GPU load scenarios like heavy clouds or aggressive AA, and especially at resolutions above 1920x1080...in FSX, not so much.  DX11 (P3D) allows for a lot more of the frame rendering to be pushed to the GPU, so it will make use of a fast Maxwell GPU.

 

The GTX770 supports 4K, but not above 30 Hz, IIRC.

 

Comparing Win 7 and Win 10, I saw virtually no difference in frame rates in P3D v3.3 after carefully controlling for the same IQ settings on both platforms.  Had some unhappy compatibility glitches with addon software and several hardware drivers in Win 10, however, so I reverted back to Win 7 where everything just works.

 

Regards

[twharrell 38]

Thanks guys, looks like an upgrade is in my future.