I have a fairly strong setup but think I lack in the gpu area.   Based on what type of flying I do (orbx, fslabs, pmdg, US payware airports), what would I expect to gain with a 1080ti? Currently, I average around 15-20 FPS on the ground And during takeoff or landing and higher through other phases of flight but smooth to my eyes and flyable. I’m hesitant to shell out $800 for something that will be tough to notice any differences.  Spec are below. 

Win10, Gigabyte Aorus Z270x Gaming 5, LGA 1151, Intel 7th Gen Core i7 7700K (4.7GHz Overclock) Quad Core, Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid Cooling, 16GB G.Skill DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz, 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, PCI Express 3.0, 750 Watt Corsair RM Series Power Supply, 500GB Samsung EVO 850 Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

You need to get a monitoring tool on your sim to see if you're currently bring limited by your GPU or a CPU core. If your CPU primary thread is maxing out, upgrading your GPU may not do anything for your performance. 

What is a recommendation for a monitoring tool and what should I be looking for when using it?

I suggest the Task Manager and Resource Monitor (included with Windows) to start with.

If you see your CPU at 100% and the GPU at something less than 100%, that would suggest that the CPU is the bottleneck.

For example, I see my GPU at a less than 50% mark where my CPU is usually near 100% when flying the A320X, which is probably the most demanding aircraft.

See my specs in my signature.

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 2:10 AM, RichieFly said:

I suggest the Task Manager and Resource Monitor (included with Windows) to start with.

If you see your CPU at 100% and the GPU at something less than 100%, that would suggest that the CPU is the bottleneck.

For example, I see my GPU at a less than 50% mark where my CPU is usually near 100% when flying the A320X, which is probably the most demanding aircraft.

See my specs in my signature.

I did a test flight in my fslabs out of KRSW from LatinVFR in thick fog.  I was getting 15fps on the ground and checked the performance in task manager at was at 49% CPU, 49% memory, and 99% GPU.. so that would show my bottleneck is the GPU and I would benefit from a better card?  I want to make sure I am reading it correctly.

8 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

I did a test flight in my fslabs out of KRSW from LatinVFR in thick fog.  I was getting 15fps on the ground and checked the performance in task manager at was at 49% CPU, 49% memory, and 99% GPU.. so that would show my bottleneck is the GPU and I would benefit from a better card?  I want to make sure I am reading it correctly.

If you plan on running in 4k, then you'll need the 1080ti to get the best performance out of your sim.

 

At this moment in time it may be better to wait for the 2018 GPU release new tech, then you get two options 1080ti price drop or go for the new tech.

2 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

I did a test flight in my fslabs out of KRSW from LatinVFR in thick fog.  I was getting 15fps on the ground and checked the performance in task manager at was at 49% CPU, 49% memory, and 99% GPU.. so that would show my bottleneck is the GPU and I would benefit from a better card?  I want to make sure I am reading it correctly.

This is a good start. However, before you jump to any conclusions, I would look at your individual CPU cores (available with the task manager tools). Even if you CPU is showing overall 49%, depending on scenery loading demands (and settings) many of your cores may be near idle while your primary core is still at 100% - which could still be the limiting factor. You're probably right about the GPU, but I suggest you make sure.

Second, I'd experiment with various settings to understand the issue(s). You stated did you test in thick fog. With high levels of AA, this in itself can bring your GPU to it's knees. Ask yourself if it realistic to test in heavy fog if 99% of your flying is in clear weather? Do you need the level of AA you're currently using?.  It's a fact that Shadows, Dynamic Reflections, SSAA, Dynamic Lighting, 3D Water (water set to ultra), New 3D rain/snow effects all impact your GPU heavily. You may breath new life into you GPU by rolling back a setting or two that may have minimal impact on your enjoyment/image quality.

If nothing else, these will give you better insight into how your sim works in general. I upgraded from a GTX980 to a 1080ti and consider it money well spent. But only you can answer the question you poses in the OP because everybody's system works differently and everybody has their own priorities and requirements.