Now that NVIDIA 3080 and 3090 specs are out the offerings look like 10 GB for the 3080 and 24 for the 3090. My 1080 at 8GB is really  not up to the task anymore. This begs the question, what do we really need? I know 24 GB is better but do we need it.

Greg

3 minutes ago, gregmorin said:

Now that NVIDIA 3080 and 3090 specs are out the offerings look like 10 GB for the 3080 and 24 for the 3090. My 1080 at 8GB is really  not up to the task anymore. This begs the question, what do we really need? I know 24 GB is better but do we need it.

Greg

There may also come a 3070ti with 16GB, but its not confirmed now.

It all depends on your graphic settings. And of course of the things P3D developement will bring.

 

Theoretically there's no limit to what you need: One of the problems with P3D is that because of the way DX12 functions, it doesn't have a really good way to keep a lid on the data it is sending to your GPU all the time. but, if you don't go insane with the options, you can temper this so that what data the GPU dumps doesn't get overwhelmed by what data is coming in.

Personally, so long as one is 'prepar3d' to not go mental with the graphics sliders, I've found you can hold it at the 5.5 to 6Gb mark for GPU usage with sensible graphics options which still look pleasing and get a decent frame rate, meaning an 8Gb GPU is what I personally would say was the pragmatic minimum.

More VRAM is better of course, but don't bottleneck your PC by only upgrading one bit massively and leaving everything else untouched, it is better to do a mild upgrade to several things than to go insane with one component and leave everything else behind. So keep in mind that RAM, PSU and cooling fans might all also need some love if your GPU is upgraded and you want the system to still be stable.

For me I have 10.1GB available typically and run in 4k.  In the sim I turn texture down to 2048.  VRAM crashes are rare for me, but not unheard of.  FSDT ORD / LVFR MIA can test it.  If I have a ton of vatsim traffic, a heavy vram airplane it's possible to get close.  So I guess it depends on your resolution/settings.  Just my opinion here.  But there is lots of talk that MSFS will go DX12 sometime in the future.  So if you believe you will be going to it in the future you will want a good amount of VRAM on hand to deal with it.  

24 minutes ago, micstatic said:

there is lots of talk that MSFS will go DX12 sometime in the future

This is pretty much inevitable I would have thought, if not even DX13 or 14 whenever those show up.

Keep in mind also that all the VRAM in the world won't help if the CPU isn't capable of feeding it. It's really easy to bottleneck the system by a big CPU-GPU mismatch.

This is why i will probably wait till next year, to check the real test and a rumoured 3080 20GB next year, some think the big gap in price will be filled next year you have 699 then 1499. Just right for a 999 priced GPU.

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/a-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-with-16gb-gddr6-is-listed-at-lenovo.html

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by G-RFRY

@gregmorin What CPU do you have now?  Assuming it's not that old a bottleneck shouldn't be a huge concern right now.  

1 hour ago, Chock said:

Theoretically there's no limit to what you need: One of the problems with P3D is that because of the way DX12 functions, it doesn't have a really good way to keep a lid on the data it is sending to your GPU all the time. but, if you don't go insane with the options, you can temper this so that what data the GPU dumps doesn't get overwhelmed by what data is coming in.

Personally, so long as one is 'prepar3d' to not go mental with the graphics sliders, I've found you can hold it at the 5.5 to 6Gb mark for GPU usage with sensible graphics options which still look pleasing and get a decent frame rate, meaning an 8Gb GPU is what I personally would say was the pragmatic minimum.

More VRAM is better of course, but don't bottleneck your PC by only upgrading one bit massively and leaving everything else untouched, it is better to do a mild upgrade to several things than to go insane with one component and leave everything else behind. So keep in mind that RAM, PSU and cooling fans might all also need some love if your GPU is upgraded and you want the system to still be stable.

Thanks Alan

I am running a I7 8700 K with a 850 watt PSU and lots of cooling. I have only 16GB ram so that might need improvement as well.

The answer to your question is as much as you can afford.  I dont want to have to lower my settings or VR resolution when the rest of my system can handle it just because of VRAM.  I will be getting a 3090 or waiting for the 20GB version of the 3080, just for the VRAM.

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by Pilot53

16 minutes ago, micstatic said:

@gregmorin What CPU do you have now?  Assuming it's not that old a bottleneck shouldn't be a huge concern right now.  

 

Just now, gregmorin said:

I am running a I7 8700 K with a 850 watt PSU and lots of cooling. I have only 16GB ram so that might need improvement as well.

Greg

@gregmorin I thought I read somewhere that the 8700k wouldn't be bottlenecked by the new GPU's.  

3 hours ago, gregmorin said:

Now that NVIDIA 3080 and 3090 specs are out the offerings look like 10 GB for the 3080 and 24 for the 3090. My 1080 at 8GB is really  not up to the task anymore. This begs the question, what do we really need? I know 24 GB is better but do we need it.

Greg

re: your mention of bottlenecking -- current sims like v5 are using the GPU and multicore a lot more, so the old "bottleneck" issue is less of an issue today.  

The drawback I see in hardware today IS exactly the vram thing.  No matter the sim I can see all of them requiring more vram going forward, as various features and things like DX12 get implemented.  Eventually we may see 8K res proliferate, too. 

I also have 8700K @5000Mz. Do I need to change it to 8 or 10 cores? Or just buy a 3090 with a new motherboard?

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by BMW969

2 hours ago, BMW969 said:

I also have 8700K @5000Mz. Do I need to change it to 8 or 10 cores? Or just buy a 3090 with a new motherboard?

I think you should be fine with the 8700k overclocked at 5Ghz, provided you are stable. I have two systems, a 7700k @ 4.9Ghz with a 1080Ti and a 9900KS with a 2080ti, and find substantial multi-core usage on both systems limited to 4-5 cores. However, it seems impossible to ascertain exactly how the lower percentage usage cores impact the performance overall. If you do decide to upgrade, for “future-proofing,” I recommend going with the 9900KS, if you find a discounted price. 

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by ssair1