Hi all

I've been out of Simming for the last year and preparing to build again in anticipation of native VR support.

 

May I ask for some opinions on if it's worth it to go for i7 8700k vs i5 8600k or even i5 8400?

I do not want to overclock and now that these are all 6 core models, I'm wondering if the benefits of going i7 (and paying for it) have subsided a bit?

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

Note:  This is simply a Simming/gaming PC - No other uses whatsoever (I use macOS for everything else, but this will be a Win10 build).

VR and you don't want to OC?

you need the fastest you can get - 8700K with a GTX 1080ti

Correct… No overclocking.

I'm sure there are benefits I just want nothing to do with that anymore and am fine losing a bit of performance. 

 

It's really interesting to see how close in performance in a lot of situations that 8400 is. It's an amazing value it appears. 

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8700K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8400/3937vs3939

Ryan, I appreciate the link.  I guess I'm more focused around the value component a bit on this particular comparison.

 

Obviously there is "more" performance in an 8700k, but the price is currently 2x that of an 8400.

 

I'm sort of in the camp of get the best high performance value and swap it all out every 18-24 months personally.

 

Since I'm not into overclocking, perhaps a good deal on a straight 8700 might be in the cards..

Since you're into buying new components every 2 years why not overclock?  My 2500K has been slightly OCed to 4GHz for approx 5 years.  It was at 4.5 originally but wasn't ever really stable.

Since OCing usually drops the lifespan AND you're going to buy new why not get the 8400 and OC the old school way?  I'm actually not sure how to do that anymore hehe.  Or get the 8600K and overclock that (easy peasy).  All you need is a decent little air cooler like the noctua U12S: https://noctua.at/en/nh-u12s/specification  It's not a top of the line but it will give you enough headroom for a medium OC (or better if you land a nice CPU)

Buy an asrock z370 board like this (again not top of the line but pretty dang good): https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming K6/index.asp

And in XP11 you could easily buy 32GB of ram, but if you're tight on a budget get 16 - Gskill makes a quality ram, the Trident Z: https://gskill.com/en/product/f4-3200c16d-16gtzb (this meets the QVL for the above asrock board)

And then yeah, a GTX 1070 but maybe more for VR.  No one really knows what XP11 native VR will require.  But I'm guessing a hefty card and a hefty CPU.

Thanks Ryan

I just don't want to overclock.  No offense, but can we please end the discussion around that point at least?

 

Maybe I'll have to wait until native VR comes out and see some first hand reports.

Thanks for your time.

I can tell you from experience that for native VR you will need the best available hardware unless you totally want to axe your graphics settings. And this is true for CPU and GPU.

There is a lot of conflicting information about requirements for XP11.

Please add some advice about HDD v. SSD.  Some people recommend SSD for running the sim, with HDD backups for orthoptic scenery not in use.

Others recommend a RAID set up for running the sim. 

What to do?  Price is important but I can run to a large SSD. 

Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, betelgeuse said:

There is a lot of conflicting information about requirements for XP11.

Please add some advice about HDD v. SSD.  Some people recommend SSD for running the sim, with HDD backups for orthoptic scenery not in use.

Others recommend a RAID set up for running the sim. 

What to do?  Price is important but I can run to a large SSD. 

Thanks!

 

A 512GB SSD is fine for a bucketload of add-on sceneries and the V4 HD mesh. SSD speed is boss during initial load, and minimizes pauses in the sim upon scenery streaming.

A larger drive is really only required if you want to run orthophotos. A single US state takes up around 50GB (YMMV). 

I'm all SSD's at this point.

I had a 4 TB HDD for Ortho's, but found that the areas & quality I cared about made using SSD's feasible and I made that switch.

Thanks, guys!  Just what I wanted to hear.  I'll start with a 512GB SSD and take it from there.

John

Just a quick thought. The arrival of the X299-E motherboards might point to a different CPU purchase. Best  to ensure future CPU updates do not require the purchase of a new motherboard at the same time. The Eighth Generation Core X family might be within your budget. i7-7740X and i7-7820X are possiblities?  

On 12/22/2017 at 0:58 PM, irrics said:

Hi all

I've been out of Simming for the last year and preparing to build again in anticipation of native VR support.

 

May I ask for some opinions on if it's worth it to go for i7 8700k vs i5 8600k or even i5 8400?

I do not want to overclock and now that these are all 6 core models, I'm wondering if the benefits of going i7 (and paying for it) have subsided a bit?

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

Note:  This is simply a Simming/gaming PC - No other uses whatsoever (I use macOS for everything else, but this will be a Win10 build).

With the current cost of graphics cards, you should look at buying a system from a vendor like Cyber Power.  It's actually cheaper right now to buy a system than build one with the crazy graphics card prices...

2 minutes ago, montanasimmer said:

With the current cost of graphics cards, you should look at buying a system from a vendor like Cyber Power.  It's actually cheaper right now to buy a system than build one with the crazy graphics card prices...

Hi Folks,

Ain't that the truth - I have three quarters of a new build - purchased before the holidays - unopened and gathering dust in the corner of my office - for want of a reasonably priced video card...

Regards,
Scott