i5 or i7 for XP11 ?

[jcomm 5,889]

Will XP11 benefit from HT On ? Or should a good i5 ( latest model ) be a good option ?

What about graphics card ?  1070 6 GB is enough ?

[Jimm 437]

The jury is still out on the HT debate, so be careful how far that conversation is carried.  What I know, from my own experience, I leave HT on (in fact I never touched it, even with P3D) and everything functions fine.

i would review the requirements, both minimum and recommended, at X-Plane's website, for both the cpu and gpu, but be aware that with the extended dsf scenery, being very popular now, the more gpu RAM you have the better.  The 1070, at last check, is a good balance of performance and capability.  For the card you mentioned, 6gb may be ok, but if you start working with heavy scenery, 8gb may be a better choice for minimums.  My specs honestly, should be a base to which new users can gauge for a good stable system.  Not to toot a horn, but my laptop, with the specs shown, handles X-Plane beautifully.  Nothing earth-shattering for fps, but then again, it's all about maintaining low 30's for fps, while maintaining the best visuals.

Hope this helps.

[Pilot53 543]

I would get an i5 k series, a decent board and cpu cooling, and overclock it as high as you can.  Clock speed is the most important factor.  Also make sure you have at least 16gb of ram, but I would recommend 32GB, with high settings I was almost maxing out my 16GB until I upgraded.

[CaptCWGAllen 49]

You also need to factor in number of screens and resolution - a 4K is equivalent of 4 x 1080 screens which means a lot of work for the GPU. I changed to 50" 4K so I went 1080Ti just to be sure.

Are you thinking of going VR at any stage - if so you probably want to max out on the hardware.

I wanted objects maxed out so went i7 as they are CPU bound, although I believe an i5 may be enough. Reflections remain off (CPU).

I am running visual effects and textures running (both GPU bound) one notch off max. HDR (GPU) does affect frame rate and with 4k it is quite a big hit (~10 fps).

AA (GPU) is two notches up - don't need high AA with a 4K. 

Shadows are on (GPU).

I also went for 32Gb Ram just in case.

Last night, FPS in default Cessna, with Ortho at 17zl (18zl for airports) over San Francisco ~50 with Vsync on and X-Enviro giving a wonderful broken cloud sky. In the Airfolilabs Cessna (XP11 version) FPS dropped to a steady 30.

So hard to answer as depends so much on how you want to run it, with what aircraft and at what level of resolution.

Michael Brown (old school pal of Austin) sells flight sim hardware. He has made some very interesting videos about various specs. Here is a link to and FAQ sesssion he did. He by, the way,  having bench tested, thinks for most people an i5 and 1070 is as far as you have to go. 

 

 

Cheers 

Peter

[jcomm 5,889]

All excellent points / suggestions guys - thank you!

I am going to build a PC for XP11, which will take a few months starting now, and that's why I was asking...

Curiously another thread on the subject just started in the Forum ! 

 

[Colonel X 1,428]

3 hours ago, CaptCWGAllen said:

Shadows are on (GPU).

 

Shadows are calculated by the CPU, easily confirmed by looking at the frame times.

[CaptCWGAllen 49]

2 hours ago, frontendrob said:

Shadows are calculated by the CPU, easily confirmed by looking at the frame times.

Oh thanks - I thought all left hand side of the XP11 GUI was GPU and right hand side was CPU - thats how XP developers have been describing it?

cheers

Peter

[Colonel X 1,428]

Shadows do need GPU, but most of the calculations are done by the CPU (dependence on Autogen). It's a myth that all features can be separated strictly into GPU and CPU. You will see CPU time increase a little when you up your resolution - even if resolution is officially GPU bound. 

[Jimm 437]

3 minutes ago, frontendrob said:

Shadows do need GPU, but most of the calculations are done by the CPU (dependence on Autogen). It's a myth that all features can be separated strictly into GPU and CPU. You will see CPU time increase a little when you up your resolution - even if resolution is officially GPU bound. 

The easiest way to tell what is controlling what, is by observing the cpu and gpu limits, which can be had through enabling the fps data, in the network section of the settings.  As each rendering feature is increased or decreased, the subsequent data is displayed on those two readouts, helping the user to tune their sim accordingly.  Striking the balance is still key, keeping in mind that excessive fps is a surefire sign that either the gpu or cpu is underworked.  The opposite holds true for lower than average frames, where one or the other is overworked, which then the settings need to be lowered.

[Colonel X 1,428]

13 hours ago, jcomm said:

Will XP11 benefit from HT On ? Or should a good i5 ( latest model ) be a good option ?

What about graphics card ?  1070 6 GB is enough ?

I would definitely go for a 7700k - X-Plane is a CPU hungry beast and as it will be very hard to upgrade a CPU later (unless your motherboard allows it), you need the best that's available today to be prepared for tomorrow. You may save on the GPU for now (not lower than 1070 though), as you can always pop in a new card. I bought a high end system in 2013 and just today I popped in the 3rd card, first I had a 780, then a 980ti and now a 1080ti.

A 7700k with a entry level board should be affordable. You don't need any "gamer spec" ect. equipment, as overclocking is hopelessly overrated nowadays. Let me give you an easy example: a current i7 clocks 4.6Ghz in "Turbo" mode (any time you launch X-Plane). The highest probable overclocking is 5Ghz if you're lucky. That's a rough 10%. Or 3fps if you're running 30fps. But you'll be producing excessive heat and consume a lot more power. Stability not even considered. 

In terms of RAM it's very easy. A fully loaded standard X-Plane with payware AC and airports never exceeds 10gb of usage. So you'll always be good with 16. Once you start the whole orthophoto and W2XP frenzy, things may change. But you may always upgrade RAM later.

[Jimm 437]

1 minute ago, frontendrob said:

You don't need any "gamer spec" ect. equipment, as overclocking is hopelessly overrated nowadays

I wouldn't say "hopeless", in fact, a "safe" overclock is enabling the cpu to run at it's rated turbo clock.  This is what was done on mine, and I have stability and that extra boost of performance, without the worry of overheating.  Going above and beyond that, sure, you not only introduce the need for better cooling but you may decrease the lifespan of the cpu over time.  Futureproofing a system is not easy, but as you say, new emerging technologies are available now, and if someone is in the market to upgrade (at least anything older than the 6700k), it is a good idea to do so.  16gb of RAM is sufficient, but with current memory costs, more wouldn't hurt, for the system or the pocketbook.  I highly recommend SSDs though.  Their throughput is substantially faster and that comes in handy for any sim. 

[Pugilist2 878]

I am waiting for the 7740K to be released soon  and am also upgrading to 32gb ram.  As far as a video card, get a 1080ti!

Trust me, overclocking is not overrated if you do it correctly.  I am fortunate enough to have a friend that builds my computers that competed in overclocking competitions with the "Kingpin", who is a champion overclocker. 

[sizziano 172]

On 11/5/2017 at 8:13 AM, frontendrob said:

a current i7 clocks 4.6Ghz in "Turbo" mode

7700K turbos to 4.5

[Colonel X 1,428]

54 minutes ago, sizziano said:

7700K turbos to 4.5

Oh well I was referring to the 4790K, who would've thought Intel even takes steps back ;)

What cooling and voltage do you need to pull 4.9 outta your chip? Mine is stable at 4.6 with 1.375V on air. Don't know if I want to push more voltage to get 4.8 stable... for what, 1 fps?

[SmokeDiddy 262]

I used the i5 6600k because all four pipes can run full bore vs the i7 which throttles the pipes down for hyperthreading.  That was just a thing for me, I am not implying the i7 is inferior by any means.  My system is liquid cooled and it has 32GB G.Skill Trident DDR4-3200 and GTX 1070.  Also using a pair of SSDs, one for OS and one for sim.  I haven't OC'd CPU yet - really haven't had to tbh, then again my main sim is FSX:SE and I am contemplating a switch over to XP if and when the stars and moon align and big mama lets me spend a little dough, but in all honesty she wouldn't know I changed sims seeings how I've spent well over a grand in FSX:SE software, hardware and add-ons, not counting the system itself.