RTX 3090 on older hardware - first thoughts & screenshots

[Funky D 271]

Hey all,

After playing the chase-the-3080 game for the past few months, I finally caved and bought a 3090 instead as I was lucky enough to find one in stock. This is replacing a GTX980 in a fairly old i7-5960X system, and I was hoping the upgrade would tide me over until I'm ready to upgrade the rest of my system next year.

In short, I would say it accomplishes the task, although I am a bit more CPU bound than I expected to be. The 3090 basically gives me the same Flight Simulator performance at 3440x1440 that the 980 gave me at 1080p, so it solved the problem of being able to make use of my newer ultrawide monitor. Below are some screenshots of the Chicago area with the great FSDT O'Hare scenery, as well as a lone NY skyline screenshot. FS settings and full system specs are below. (Note: live traffic for O'Hare was pretty busy and definitely contributed to the low frames on final approach. Also, no, I did not set my altimeter 😄 )

 

Flight Simulator Settings:

Ultra defaults
Vsync disabled
Live Traffic
Default weather preset

System Specs:

i7-5960X @ 4Ghz
RTX3090 FE
32GB RAM
FS installed on Samsung 960 Pro 2TB SSD
1gbps internet connection

 

Hope this is useful for other folks looking to upgrade!

[Noel 4,501]

On 11/12/2020 at 4:21 PM, Funky D said:

I finally caved and bought a 3090 instead as I was lucky enough to find one in stock.

Alright, where did you 'find one in stock'?  Ebay?  I see the lowest price on Ebay was $1949 for Founders. 

[VeryBumpy 272]

Wow, top of the line card and still barely able to get 30fps.

[G-RFRY 1,712]

My 2080ti in 4K ultra can do better.

[chapstick 2,757]

 

3 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

My 2080ti in 4K ultra can do better.

You do understand what it means to be CPU bound, right?

[Noel 4,501]

6 hours ago, VeryBumpy said:

Wow, top of the line card and still barely able to get 30fps.

 

4 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

My 2080ti in 4K ultra can do better.

The i7-5960X that is driving the RTX3090 is roughly 57% slower in single-thread performance versus the i9-10900K, and around 42% slower multicore, so not a lot of wonder there.  Slap that bad boy into a top end box and watch your 2080Ti get left in the dust!

[G-RFRY 1,712]

39 minutes ago, Noel said:

 

The i7-5960X that is driving the RTX3090 is roughly 57% slower in single-thread performance versus the i9-10900K, and around 42% slower multicore, so not a lot of wonder there.  Slap that bad boy into a top end box and watch your 2080Ti get left in the dust!

Not at 1440p you need 4K top get the best out of the 3090 in flight sim.

Edited November 14, 2020 by G-RFRY

[Noel 4,501]

20 minutes ago, G-RFRY said:

Not at 1440p you need 4K top get the best out of the 3090 in flight sim.

Yes the OP now has what appears to be a 3440x1440 screen so will likely never get near the VRAM capacity, however should he decide to move to an 8K screen some day, or perhaps better a 21:9 version of it, he will be good to go.  I'm not fond of 16:9 after moving to 21:9 and near as I can tell textures themselves are the limiting factor for clarity for this pixel pitch and distance viewing which for me is around 24" from a 34" wide 3440x1440 screen.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Noel

[Funky D 271]

22 hours ago, Noel said:

Alright, where did you 'find one in stock'?  Ebay?  I see the lowest price on Ebay was $1949 for Founders. 

Best Buy. I was using the Nvidia Snatcher script for notifications and also a few discords. I missed the 3080's by about 5 minutes but the 3090 continued in and out of stock for another 20min or so. I also had a 10%-off birthday coupon which sealed the deal for me. Probably a better choice long term, as IMO 10GB VRAM isn't enough to future-proof for the next 3+ yrs, and I'm guessing the 3080TI's will come in at $900-1k.

I play other games, and so far the upgrade was worth it even with my slower CPU. My 980 was great until I went with the 21:9 monitor. Also MFS is completely enjoyable at the average 30fps I get with the new card. I'm hoping Intel has an answer to AMD next year at which point I'll bite the bullet and upgrade everything else (nothing against AMD but I use a Thunderbolt audio interface and the AMD compatibility with my device is sketchy at best).