Recommendations for PC Build for MSFS2020?

[vortex681 806]

2 hours ago, ckyliu said:

Yikes, I'm on a 2500K (albeit overclocked to 4.5 GHz from 3.3) and GTX980, am I screwed? 🤣

Not necessarily, we really don't know anything yet. You may just have to accept that, on your system, it probably won't look like the trailers and videos?

Edited November 13, 2019 by vortex681

[Noel 4,542]

On 11/10/2019 at 7:07 PM, Avidean said:

The $1500 will get you the 2080ti. Whats the budget for the rest of the system? 😁

I'm in a similar boat w/ wanting to assemble a new system as my current system is about 6y/o now.  Tell me if you have some insight into this question which will help me decide how much to spend on a new video card.

Right now my original GTX Titan is almost exactly half the performance (PassMark) of an RTX 2080Ti.  With my Titan, paired w/  SB-E 3930K at 4.32Ghz HT enabled, I'm unable to manage hardly any terrain or cloud shadows if I'm in any kind of busy area as they drive CPU utilization up to 100% and there goes smooth flight, so I'll just uncheck those shadows to get around that and to be frank I hardly notice the difference with or without those shadow features anyway.  What will doubling GPU performance driven by something like I9-9900K really get me?  Will I be then able to run shadows full on, or what really?   Any other features like Dynamic Lighting that really make it worth the high cost of a 2080Ti? 

Thanks

Edited November 13, 2019 by Noel

[Quasimodo 505]

To be brief. Until about 6 months ago, I was running the system I built in 2013. I7 4770k at 4.8ghz which originally had a GTX 780 but by the time I was itching to build a new system it already had a 1080ti. Here is what I did. I bought an open box 8086k of a shady bloke of the internet. And a used Asus Maximus X Apex of a very nice guy that I found in a local buy and sell site. I splurge on 16gb of 4400mhz DRAM and 3 x 1 TB Samsung Nvme M.2 SSD's. Everything else was recycled from the old system. It cost me about CAD$2400. I cannot remember the exact cost. The CPU runs a 5.3ghz on all cores. I would say that all in all its about 20% better performance than the previous system. I would say that had I gone down the road of building a complete new system from scratch with the latest hardware It would be a CAD$5000 budget and I would have got a lot less bang for the buck.

Given the announcement of MSFS2020, I wouldn't build anything until its released and we have some idea of the system required to run it at its best.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Avidean

[Noel 4,542]

I'm only looking for guidance on what a 100% increase in GPU performance will get me with respect to GPU-related sliders such as terrain and cloud shadowing, dynamic reflections, etc.  I know the GPU plays some role in autogen rendering and perhaps other.  So right now I'm using a GTX Titan, and an RTX 2080Ti approximately doubles the processing power over my old Titan.  I just don't how that translates to impacts on GPU related sliders.   

The 20% increase in performance sure seems paltry.   I calculate I should see around 34% increase from my current SB-E machine.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Bottom line: don't buy hardware today for software that you intend to run tomorrow.  Wait until the software is out and buy the fastest hardware you can afford at that time, because chances are, there will be something faster by then.

[pgde 571]

If you do a lot of video rendering, the Ryzen 3900X or 3950X blows away the Intel 9900 series. There are a number of benchmark videos on Youtube showing this. So, I think you will need to determine what your requirements are -- i.e. how much Flightsimming versus video versus office apps. There is no question today that the new Ryzens do great for video and productivity apps. And they have a much lower TDP than the 9900 series.

Good luck making a decision!

 

[Kilo60 660]

On 11/13/2019 at 11:27 AM, Noel said:

I'm only looking for guidance on what a 100% increase in GPU performance will get me with respect to GPU-related sliders such as terrain and cloud shadowing, dynamic reflections, etc.  I know the GPU plays some role in autogen rendering and perhaps other.  So right now I'm using a GTX Titan, and an RTX 2080Ti approximately doubles the processing power over my old Titan.  I just don't how that translates to impacts on GPU related sliders.   

The 20% increase in performance sure seems paltry.   I calculate I should see around 34% increase from my current SB-E machine.

I would like to know this answer as well but you might have to start a new topic on it to get a decent response as it’s off-topic posted here and you might not get a response at all.

[Noel 4,542]

On 11/14/2019 at 11:25 AM, TechguyMaxC said:

Bottom line: don't buy hardware today for software that you intend to run tomorrow.  Wait until the software is out and buy the fastest hardware you can afford at that time, because chances are, there will be something faster by then.

Except when hardware failure happens before the sofware you intend to run tomorrow debuts!

 

11 hours ago, Kilo60 said:

I would like to know this answer as well but you might have to start a new topic on it to get a decent response as it’s off-topic posted here and you might not get a response at all.

Good idea Chris I will, thanks

[TechguyMaxC 516]

23 hours ago, Noel said:

Except when hardware failure happens before the sofware you intend to run tomorrow debuts!

 

Good idea Chris I will, thanks

If you're building a PC today for a game that's going to come out a year from now and you experience a component failure, that component is going to be covered under warranty.  So that idea doesn't really apply.  

If you think that buying parts over time as you set aside enough money to buy each component individually is a good idea - it's not.  I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people do that and lose out on some great part, and be past the return period so they either had to sell a part (and lose money) or live with having made a bad decision.  

[Noel 4,542]

Sure whenever you purchase anything something else will surely arrive that is a better deal that goes w/o saying.  What matters really is over what period of time are we looking at.   If it's over 6 months to a year or so then this sort of concern isn't very relevant.   I don't have plans to by parts piecemeal though I have been tempted to swap out my GTX Titan for a 2080Ti if this would buy me sufficient improvement in being able to increase GPU-related sliders on my existing old box.  I know the 3930K won't drive it as well as something faster but again if I saw a significant different in GPU related attributes I might do it.  I already conclude RTX 2080Ti offers double the performance (Passmark) over my Titan and I am confident that will be good enough for next year's sim.  What I don't know is how much it will do for me over the short term in my current machine.  Plus, on a big purchase I don't mind spacing out the charges it will certainly help keep the peace w/ my better half :o)

Edited November 18, 2019 by Noel

[TechguyMaxC 516]

3 hours ago, Noel said:

Sure whenever you purchase anything something else will surely arrive that is a better deal that goes w/o saying.  What matters really is over what period of time are we looking at.   If it's over 6 months to a year or so then this sort of concern isn't very relevant.   I don't have plans to by parts piecemeal though I have been tempted to swap out my GTX Titan for a 2080Ti if this would buy me sufficient improvement in being able to increase GPU-related sliders on my existing old box.  I know the 3930K won't drive it as well as something faster but again if I saw a significant different in GPU related attributes I might do it.  I already conclude RTX 2080Ti offers double the performance (Passmark) over my Titan and I am confident that will be good enough for next year's sim.  What I don't know is how much it will do for me over the short term in my current machine.  Plus, on a big purchase I don't mind spacing out the charges it will certainly help keep the peace w/ my better half :o)

All major technology vendors are on a yearly release cadence.  Since releases are offset, that means you can expect that a new, better product will be available in at most 1 year, sometimes it's only a difference of a few months or weeks.  

Wait.  Save your money.  When MSFS is finally released, we'll have a much better idea of its performance characteristics and requirements.  Maybe it's a heavily parallelized application that will actually run best on an HEDT platform and buying a gaming CPU today would actually be a huge mistake.  The bottom line is: we don't know, so any actions taken now are made in the dark.  

Edited November 18, 2019 by TechguyMaxC

[Noel 4,542]

47 minutes ago, TechguyMaxC said:

All major technology vendors are on a yearly release cadence.  Since releases are offset, that means you can expect that a new, better product will be available in at most 1 year, sometimes it's only a difference of a few months or weeks.  

Wait.  Save your money.  When MSFS is finally released, we'll have a much better idea of its performance characteristics and requirements.  Maybe it's a heavily parallelized application that will actually run best on an HEDT platform and buying a gaming CPU today would actually be a huge mistake.  The bottom line is: we don't know, so any actions taken now are made in the dark.  

Well no matter what works best on it I will be buying an I9-9900K or a competitive model from AMD when it's time to upgrade.   Remember--my 6y/o 3930K and Titan may be close to the end of life so if she blows tomorrow I will be purchasing parts for a new build right away.  The other reality is that changes year to year on CPUs and GPUs are rather paltry when you get right down to it.   6 years later this box still runs P3D quite well because I'm comfortable adjusting settings, flying in locales, that work well on my system.  Thanks

Edited November 18, 2019 by Noel

[MatthewS 761]

The newly released AMD 3950X seems to be the best option.... Intel will take a while to catch up.... Check out all the reviews on Youtube!

[Noel 4,542]

Kewl thanks I will look into 3950X ;o)

[MatthewS 761]

2 hours ago, Noel said:

Remember--my 6y/o 3930K and Titan

I'm still using a 3930K and 970GTX...  I'd be interested to know details of your new build when you do it.