Hi, very simple question...

Specs:

i5 8600K

GTX 1060 6GB

16GB RAM

Should I upgrade:

i5 8600K --> I7 9700K

GTX 1060 6GB ---> RTX 2070

 

Which one affects performance the most. Personally, I think its th CPU, but others disagree. Its very annoying... Why isn't there is a simple answer. I really want a good idea about my performance gain before I chunk down £400 at an upgrade.

EGLL 14-18 FPS at night with dynamic lighting, orbx, pmdg, REX sky force etc...

Thanks, Ollie

Not a simple question at all, especially absent some critical information:

Which sim?  P3D, FSX?

Display?  4K, 1440p, HD, VR goggles?  Single or multi-monitor?  Screen size?  Refresh rate?

What priority do you place on image quality vs frame rate performance vs fluidity?

Is your CPU overclocked, and if so, to what clock frequency?  If you upgrade the CPU, do you plan on overclocking it, and how aggressively?

Regards

11 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Which sim?  P3D, FSX?

P3D V4.5

11 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Display?  4K, 1440p, HD, VR goggles?  Single or multi-monitor?  Screen size?  Refresh rate?

Ben Q GW2270 1920x1080p monitor @60Hz.  21.5".

 

11 minutes ago, w6kd said:

What priority do you place on image quality vs frame rate performance vs fluidity?

By "fluidity" do you mean how fluid the camera movements are? If so then fluidity.

11 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Is your CPU overclocked, and if so, to what clock frequency?  If you upgrade the CPU, do you plan on overclocking it, and how aggressively?

My CPU is overclocked to 4.5Ghz, I can take it to 5Ghz but my cooler doesn't cool it properly.  I have a BeQuiet Bk009. But I really want to overclock my CPU to 5Ghz, I need a better cooler though. 

 

Cheers, Ollie.

Edited April 21, 20197 yr by ols500

59 minutes ago, ols500 said:

Which one affects performance the most. Personally, I think its th CPU, but others disagree. Its very annoying... Why isn't there is a simple answer.

There is a simple answer - are you CPU-bound or GPU-bound? Which is at 100%?

Cheers!

Typically my CPU usage is higer than my GPU. Sometimes the gap is 80% CPU or 90% and 30-40% GPU. 

The first thing I'd do is get a new CPU cooler and get your 8600K running stable at 5 GHz.  It's a cheap performance upgrade, and you'd need a high-end cooler anyway if you put a 9700K in even with a moderate overclock.

Honestly, I don't know that a 2070 is going to do all that much for a small HD (1920x1080) display.  Are you running aggressive SSAA or SGSS anti-aliasing together with dynamic lighting at night, by any chance?  At night I dial my AA back to 4xMSAA because it makes little sense to spend all that GPU power doing AA on things I can't see.  And make sure to disable shadows at night, too...like cloud shadows, for example--another GPU performance sinkhole for things you can't see when it's dark. 

Those settings changes, particularly not running SSAA together with DL, make a big difference, even on an overclocked 2080Ti.

Last, a 30 Hz display might prove a better choice than a new video card...ever since I started running with VSync+TB on a 30Hz display, the sim has never been smoother.  A smallish 4k TV, say in the 32" range, most of which do 30Hz, would be relatively inexpensive, and as long as you keep the display fairly small, you don't need much AA if any at all due to the very tight pixel matrix.  A 1060 can drive a 4K display if you're not loading it up with AA.

So there you go, the answer isn't A or B, it's C, and maybe D too.  🙂

Regards

3 minutes ago, w6kd said:

The first thing I'd do is get a new CPU cooler and get your 8600K running stable at 5 GHz

I have an AERO 800 windowed gaming case, can you recommend a cooler that will fit this. If not this, is watercooling better than air cooling. I have looked at the Corsair H115i, will this do? I know it fits my case because I have seen it on youtube. 

 

7 minutes ago, w6kd said:

A 1060 can drive a 4K display if you're not loading it up with AA

So a 4K display would not affect FPS if I tuned of AA?

 

7 minutes ago, w6kd said:

smallish 4k TV, say in the 32" range, most of which do 30Hz

Can you recommend a high-quality one?

 

Thanks, Ollie.

20 minutes ago, ols500 said:

I have an AERO 800 windowed gaming case, can you recommend a cooler that will fit this. If not this, is watercooling better than air cooling. I have looked at the Corsair H115i, will this do? I know it fits my case because I have seen it on youtube.

So a 4K display would not affect FPS if I tuned of AA?

Can you recommend a high-quality one?

I don't know anything about that case...in general, a good air cooler like the Noctua NH-D15 is going to be large, and can pose a problem fitting into smaller cases, or onto some motherboards if you're using RAM modules that have tall oversized heat sinks.  An AIO water cooler is usually pretty flexible w/r/t making it fit...the H115i or one of the 240-360mm Kraken coolers should do the job.

A 30Hz display used with VSync imposes a hardware limiter on the sim's core at 30 fps, and it takes a fair bit of load off the CPU as a result of no longer attempting to crank out display frames as fast as possible.  Without the load of AA, with a 30Hz 4K display you'd probably see better performance--smooth at 30 fps with lower average CPU load, leaving it more headroom to absorb workload peaks.  A 5 GHz hex-core 8600K should be able to hold 30 fps unless you're just slamming it with high autogen or traffic loads, which certainly can be managed.

I can't recommend a particular TV...that technology changes almost monthly, and my last deep-dive into it was more than 3 years ago when I got my current display, a 55" Samsung JS8500.  It's also going to be region-specific, depending on what retailer options are available near you. 

Regards

With a 30Hz display can I change it back to 60Hz for running a game for example?

34 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Noctua NH-D15 is going to be large

I've check this cooler doesn't fit, so I'm going to use the 280mm H115i. 

21 minutes ago, ols500 said:

With a 30Hz display can I change it back to 60Hz for running a game for example?

Usually, but you'll want to make sure in the specs. 

I'm not sure how well a 1060 is going to push 4K at 60 Hz, though.  You shouldn't need AA for a game on a small 4K display, either, so the 4x increase in bandwidth going from HD -> 4K is offset to some degree by not needing AA.  The ideal would be to borrow a 4K TV and do some experimenting with all the applications you use.  My gaming PC has a 2560x1600 UHD display, which needs about half the pixel bandwidth as a 4k display, and I ran with a 970 (fairly equivalent to the 1060) for some time, and even with moderate levels of AA it worked acceptably well with FPS games for casual gaming.  So 4k at 60Hz with no AA might work.  If that's important to you I'd find a way to test it, or be prepared to go for the 2070 if it doesn't work out.

Regards

1 minute ago, w6kd said:

So 4k at 60Hz with no AA might work.

So if I just run at 30Hz I should be fine? I have 4K TV downstairs, so I'll try out. 

11 minutes ago, ols500 said:

So if I just run at 30Hz I should be fine? I have 4K TV downstairs, so I'll try out. 

There's nothing better to answer that question than some good old operational testing.  Remember that when viewing on a smaller screen later, jaggies apparent on a bigger screen will diminish or disappear.

You'll need to change the refresh rate to 30 Hz in the nVidia Control Panel, and set P3D to run with VSync and Triple Buffering on, and target frame rate to unlimited.

Regards

Cheers, I will try it out.