Having recently upgraded to a decent 3090 GPU, I am now looking to upgrade my old 6700k CPU to something that is likely to keep me happy for as many years to come as possible.

 

I have been waiting for the new Ryzen 5900x to become available to anyone but the bots, having identified that as the most likely candidate for what I'm seeking.  FWIW, I ONLY USE THIS PC FOR SIMMING, and will very likely only be using MSFS for the next several years.  So I'm looking for hardware to maximize my experience in THAT program -- and am not interested in any compatibility with any other 'gaming' platforms.

 

I was very surprised just now when a user on a FB thread told me that he felt the 5900x is a poor choice for MSFS.  Does anyone here yet have experience with that chip?  Are there other options that EXPERIENCE proves would be a better option for me?  One thing I am keeping in mind is the hopeful possibility that MSFS will soon make use of DX12 -- where the extra cores (12) in the 5900x might prove useful.

 

Thoughts??

I cannot really comment on the Ryzen 5900x but I just upgraded my CPU to the i9-10900K. Turbo clocked to 5.2 Ghz.  With MSFS, it will use all cores fairly evenly, but I have not been able to max out the CPU with it yet. Running with a RTX 2080Ti

 

I'm jealous of your 3090 Gpu.  

1 hour ago, Drizzle said:

I was very surprised just now when a user on a FB thread told me that he felt the 5900x is a poor choice for MSFS.  Does anyone here yet have experience with that chip?  Are there other options that EXPERIENCE proves would be a better option for me?  One thing I am keeping in mind is the hopeful possibility that MSFS will soon make use of DX12 -- where the extra cores (12) in the 5900x might prove useful.

Drizzle,

This, I believe, hits the nail on the head.  I have heard (do not know where) that the 5900x is a great flight sim performer.  I have the AMD 3900 and I am happy with it. However, as you point out, DX12 is the unknown and I personally think a CPU upgrade to the latest and greatest at the moment could be a mistake, although a minor one.  It would be hard to deny that the best of Intel or the best of AMD are not adequate for the now as I believe they are both quite exceptional.  

DX12 has created fairly major problems and shortcomings in P3D for some, and this could be very relevant for MSFS.  

You do not say which CPU you currently have and whilst my initial reaction to your post is to wait for some mainstream reviews, mainly because you may have something entirely satisfactory for now, I personally believe that 12-16 multi threaded cores are going to be entirely satisfactory, for the near future at least.

If what you currently have is problematic, then I would go so far as to recommend the 5950x in lieu of the 5900 (if the extra cores are all important.) Either way, you will be well served to opt for the top of the line (or close) of either AMD or Intel.

For me, I am very happy with my 3900 but I may have to upgrade for MSFS DX12.  It is currently an imponderable.

It will be interesting to get some further input (without fanboi influence) on this.

Regards

Tony

32 minutes ago, himmelhorse said:

Drizzle,

This, I believe, hits the nail on the head.  I have heard (do not know where) that the 5900x is a great flight sim performer.  I have the AMD 3900 and I am happy with it. However, as you point out, DX12 is the unknown and I personally think a CPU upgrade to the latest and greatest at the moment could be a mistake, although a minor one.  It would be hard to deny that the best of Intel or the best of AMD are not adequate for the now as I believe they are both quite exceptional.  

DX12 has created fairly major problems and shortcomings in P3D for some, and this could be very relevant for MSFS.  

You do not say which CPU you currently have and whilst my initial reaction to your post is to wait for some mainstream reviews, mainly because you may have something entirely satisfactory for now, I personally believe that 12-16 multi threaded cores are going to be entirely satisfactory, for the near future at least.

If what you currently have is problematic, then I would go so far as to recommend the 5950x in lieu of the 5900 (if the extra cores are all important.) Either way, you will be well served to opt for the top of the line (or close) of either AMD or Intel.

For me, I am very happy with my 3900 but I may have to upgrade for MSFS DX12.  It is currently an imponderable.

It will be interesting to get some further input (without fanboi influence) on this.

Regards

Tony

Thanks Tony,

 

I had heard that the 5900x was a terrific chip for simming, too.  So this pronouncement really stunned me.  Just looking for more opinions from multiple bases of experience in order to gain the most helpful perspective...

 

My current CPU is an old i7-6700K.  (In my 'signature'.)  Running VR, there are always struggles to squeeze out a better balance of eye-candy vs FPS and smoothness.  It seems logical to me that such an old CPU is at least one of my culprits.  (I imagine that my 3000MHz RAM is something of another....)  Just looking to eliminate my bottle necks.  But if DX12 will be a big game-changer that might render my upgrade quickly obsolete, then maybe I am wiser to 'keep limping' for now, and wait until more is known...??

I'd love to hear from someone who actually has a 5900x (or 5950) and uses it in VR...

 

Thanks for the insight!

Drizzle

I can tell you that I gained a few FPS swapping from a ryzen 5 3600 to a ryzen 7 5800 (i never ran ultra before and still dont. A mix of high/medium. I prefer FPS over marginally better visuals), but MSFS still needs optimization for VR and has been lacking some of it since the VR beta. In order to get acceptable frames Ive had to dial back the scaler, so while its nice to have the photo scenery the trade off is a lack of sharpness in comparison to say vr in P3Dv5. I find myself going back to v5 for my VR flying due to this and of course the much higher FPS which translates to a massively better overall VR experience for me.