9 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

I have never seen it maxed out at 4k 70% scaling (for me to hit a solid 30 fps), and with a mix of high / ultra settings.  I would have to check, but I seem to remember 8.5 to 9 Gb in use.

I see I never answered you question properly/directly..."does VRAM go up when sliders are identical, and the less amount of 8Gb being the reference point?"

I don't know the definitive answer to that other than some people have said it will take advantage of what is there.
So like I said above, it may not need to use 12Gb and only need 8Gb in a certain scenario. 
But if it doesn't need to flush out old data to make room, it may hang on to that data in VRAM in case it comes in useful again (cached) and only clear it out when it needs more room.

My RAM issue was similar.  When I had 16Gb it always used about 13 - 14Gb.  When I upgraded to 32GB, at the same settings, it now uses about 24 - 26Gb!  

Sure.  In the end what matters is maintaining 30fps for me.  I have to assume, rather safely I'm convinced, that 47% greater GPU and 50% greater VRAM should equate to signifcantly less inability to maintain 30fps w/ my chosen settings.  Thanks!

 

6 minutes ago, Noel said:

Sure.  In the end what matters is maintaining 30fps for me.  I have to assume, rather safely I'm convinced, that 47% greater GPU and 50% greater VRAM should equate to signifcantly less inability to maintain 30fps w/ my chosen settings.  Thanks!

Sure - exactly the same priority for me!    

9 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

Sure - exactly the same priority for me!    

My priority is to oscillate my way into maintaining 50hz/50 fps  😀

It's neat that my monitor can refresh at 50 hz.  It has 29 hz/30hz/31hz/50hz/60hz.  

The thought is that eventually, I'll have some hardware that maintain 50 fps in most situations.  I'm holding out for the 4-series graphics cards from nvidia, but I'm tempted to ditch the 1080ti...I just can't bring myself to do it since I can pull a smooth 30/30 with it.  That's all I need, I keep telling myself.

3 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

It appears the 24Gb is only really needed for video editing high resolution files etc. 

Or VR apparently.

Also possibly for 8K monitors not that many people actually own one yet.

The other one that might push the friendship is multiple 4K screens once we get multi-monitor capability. No idea on that front.

All those items Glenn just mentioned are on point.

I went with AMD this round (Yes very unpopular around these parts yet for me it runs like a champ and better than a 3080 at my resolution) Because I dont have a 4k Monitor and i wanted a bit more than 8 to 10Gigs of Ram. If im upgrading then its 6900xt or 3090.. the paranoia is still there considering we are still at the early stages of this sim and the textures seem to be increasing in size and resolution by third party developers.

 

DX12 will shift more load from the CPU towards the GPU.

That is what we saw with P3Dv5.

Here each pc has a 3090 and while it is more than enough I sometimes see 15-16 Gb on my server (2x 4K as one wide view).

 

10 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

While it would be nice to have a shiny new 3080Ti with 12Gb of VRAM (I want one as well! ), it might be unwise to dive in before the sim update on the 27th, as they showed quite a drop in both the RAM and VRAM usage on the twitch feed, and not just a little bit!

VRAM usage is going down?  Oooo I missed that, thought it was just improvements to CPU usage and RAM usage.  I might actually be able to hold out more comfortably now with my 8GB 2080 Super then.  Generally it does ok except some heavy airports/cities (usually addons like EGKK) where I can easily go past VRAM and tank GPU usage and FPS because of it.  

5 hours ago, flyinion said:

VRAM usage is going down?  Oooo I missed that, thought it was just improvements to CPU usage and RAM usage.  I might actually be able to hold out more comfortably now with my 8GB 2080 Super then.  Generally it does ok except some heavy airports/cities (usually addons like EGKK) where I can easily go past VRAM and tank GPU usage and FPS because of it.  

This is well worth a watch from around 8 minutes if you want to skip the rest (although the bit about improvements to tree LOD was interesting ).

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1072488104

Basically, for the same settings, over New York with photogrammetry turned on, ultra settings, 4k at 40% scale, 9700K CPU, RTX 2060 Super, 32 Gb Ram...

Before Sim Update 5:         FPS approx. 35, VRAM usage approx. 5.5 Gb, RAM usage approx. 16 Gb.

After SU5 (due 27th July):  FPS approx. 55, VRAM usage approx. 4.3 Gb, RAM usage approx. 5.5 Gb.

Impressive gains whichever way you look at it - Some are nearly unbelievable, but it is all on video!  I cant wait to try it myself. 

Different PC's will respond differently of course, and I could never use 40% scaling, but I believe he was trying to demonstrate overloading the CPU rather than the GPU.

 

Edited July 14, 20214 yr by bobcat999

7 hours ago, GSalden said:

Here each pc has a 3090 and while it is more than enough I sometimes see 15-16 Gb on my server (2x 4K as one wide view).

I have one 3440x1440 display.  Do you think 3080Ti w/ 12Gb would be sufficient to drive 30fps in most scenarios? 

I have Vsync on & locked at 30FPS.

To get the 7/27 FPS improvement, do I need to go to Vsync off & FPS unlimited?

T45

52 minutes ago, Noel said:

I have one 3440x1440 display.  Do you think 3080Ti w/ 12Gb would be sufficient to drive 30fps in most scenarios? 

Tomorrow I will test with my server in windowed mode on just 1 4K display and report back.

1 hour ago, Noel said:

I have one 3440x1440 display.  Do you think 3080Ti w/ 12Gb would be sufficient to drive 30fps in most scenarios? 

I don't think anyone can honestly answer that until the sim as been optimized and a good number of third party stuff has been added in.

Ram Allocation for my card goes along the lines of

4K Ultra - busy areas 10-14GB (e.g LA, London, NY)
4K Ultra - Normal 8-12gb
4K Ultra - Less busy areas 6-10 gb Vram

Those numbers taken from a user with a 6900XT but our settings and findings are the same and i am on 3440x1440 with 110% render scaling

3 hours ago, Maxis said:

I don't think anyone can honestly answer that until the sim as been optimized and a good number of third party stuff has been added in.

^^^  This, and as also mentioned, the arrival of DX12 could also ramp VRAM usage way up.

I think for the short term, VRAM-intensive updates and add-ons are probably unlikely, as doing that in the environment of a global GPU shortage would just make a whole lot of people hopping mad that they hit (or rather got driven into) the wall.  In the longer term, though, there hasn't been a step forward in computer capability yet that wasn't met by software that used every bit of it and still wanted more.  It is the way of the world.

I would have a hard time going for a new 11-12GB GPU right now if I had something like a 2000-3000 series 8GB GPU that worked, albeit with a bit of prudent slider management.  I think 16GB+ is where we will be headed eventually.  I'm still really underwhelmed at the decision to put just 12GB on the 3080Ti, given that the 1080Ti and 2080Ti both came with 11GB.  16GB would have been my call had I been running the show over at nVidia HQ.

It's okay guys thanks for chiming in.  I lost patience and took the plunge based on the following factors for me personally:

1. I'm never going to go to 4K with the current PC build--I love my 30hz capable 34" 3440x1440 curved display too much and how the sim functions w/ vsync to 30Hz.  Plus, I've visually sampled render scaling at even 130 and quite frankly the difference was zero to paltry, so ultimately not worth the very substantial cost to the GPU, at least for my eyes.  And then there's this reality:  the native textures themselves, the actual detail and clarity of photogrammetry and other, may in fact be lower than what the extra pixels will render.  Put another way for this extreme rhetorical:  what do you gain by taking a native 800x600 image and displaying it at 4K?  Major processing overhead, but it's still an 800x600 image.
2. My [email protected] all cores seems 'just right' to drive an RTX 3080Ti.  Won't need a new PSU, and will keep the entire box another 4+ years.  So cost/year, for all parts, for how much I love this hobby, is really pretty reasonable and affordable.  I have nice 2Tb m.2 NVMe drives as well.
3. If the optimizations are as purported, this will bring in a whole new level of headroom, especially vis a vis my 2070 Super.  If PMDG's DC6 is at all indicative of performance demands for something like NG, the impact should be tolerable.
4. Per Passmark's GPU benchmark 3080 Ti actually beats 3090 and 6900XT by a whisper for each.  More often than not GPU utilization gets me before VRAM w/ my 8Gb, so the new card should really be perfect for my particular PC configuration.
5. I'm often perplexed by just what Ultra brings to the table, or doesn't as the case may be.  Initially, I had most settings on Ultra, and LOD at 200/200.  What I don't understand is why I can dial back Object LOD to 120 from 200, and really don't see a difference.  Maybe it's 1440p and the age of my eyes.  Same same for Trees.  I do keep grass/bushes at Ultra because you're close to them during taxi.  I def *try* to keep clouds at Ultra and do 85% of the time. So..when the new card goes in the box I won't be dialing up several sliders as bang for buck is truly weak.
6. Last, which may not translate well but interesting to ponder:  Xbox Series X allocates only 10Gb of its 16Gb of VRAM for GPU functioning.  Xbox One X much less.  So dedicated 12Gb seems decent in light of the fact the MS/Asobo is clearly coding to make this work on those consoles, and that would also incorporate DX-12 implementation, one would be probably safe to assume.

Anyway, should know in about a week!  I'll take the plunge pre-optimization based on all of the above considerations.

Here is an example of just what vsync to 30hz does at 1440p.  The first example is just run open, w/o vsync, w/ my display set at 60Hz, which isn't relavent for this but that's what it was set at.  Note the cost to the GPU and CPU for that matter:

Now vsync to 30Hz.   I'm amazed at how many discount this massive impact on hardware--they do it very likely without observing what it's actually like.

I would give anyone $100 if, while watching these two examples on my display, that they could tell which was which.  In fact, I am pretty certain most would believe the first example was the one at 30Hz/30FPS, provided of course they could not see the RTSS OSD.  And that because the GPU is hammered to get to that 45fps.  

Edited July 14, 20214 yr by Noel

3 minutes ago, w6kd said:

16GB would have been my call had i been running the show over at nVidia HQ.

Me too Bob, but alas it didn't happen.