I am looking to bump up my memory and upgrade my GPU for MSFS 2020.  Based on my specs below, what are some suggestions that I could do in order to see a noticeable performance/visual upgrade? I was thinking of boosting memory to 32gb and getting a new GPU but wasn't sure what would be best for MSFS

 

Intel 6th Gen Core i7 6700K (4.6GHz Overclock) Quad Core//16GB Kingston DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz//Graphics Processor: RTX 2070 Super

I doubt you will get much of a benefit..

Are you planning to run MSFS @ 4K? Your GPU is relatively good. If you are still at 1080p, perhaps a CPU upgrade might make more sense.

32Gb of RAM is also nice to future proof, but generally I never use more than 16Gb.

Personally, I will wait for cheaper DDR5 modules and then upgrade my CPU to Meteor Lake or Zen 4.

Edited January 5, 20224 yr by GCBraun

Cant hurt unless done wrong. Some people claim MSFS uses more than 16 GB RAM. I have 32GB myself .Plus you are loading other sub programs while lrunning MSFS.

In my days, 1MB RAM was $50.

30 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

I am looking to bump up my memory and upgrade my GPU for MSFS 2020.  Based on my specs below, what are some suggestions that I could do in order to see a noticeable performance/visual upgrade? I was thinking of boosting memory to 32gb and getting a new GPU but wasn't sure what would be best for MSFS

 

Intel 6th Gen Core i7 6700K (4.6GHz Overclock) Quad Core//16GB Kingston DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz//Graphics Processor: RTX 2070 Super

What resolution are you running?  That's a decent PC - a little better than my 4790K 4.4ghz.  I got a 2k monitor a few months ago and it really made things nice from visual perspective.  

Aside from getting a new CPU I wouldn't do much to that build.  What settings are you running and roughly how's the performance?

I run high except sometimes LOD 400 in rural areas (no photogrammetry) and it's pretty smooth.  I drop the lod to 200 and it's very smooth.

41 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

What resolution are you running?  That's a decent PC - a little better than my 4790K 4.4ghz.  I got a 2k monitor a few months ago and it really made things nice from visual perspective.  

Aside from getting a new CPU I wouldn't do much to that build.  What settings are you running and roughly how's the performance?

I run high except sometimes LOD 400 in rural areas (no photogrammetry) and it's pretty smooth.  I drop the lod to 200 and it's very smooth.

I run my settings fairly high, but not maxed.  I have my LOD at 200.  I don't run a 4k monitor and typically fly the FBW bus.  I use photogrammetry and a bunch of 3rd party scenery/airports.  For the most part I can get "smooth" but get some hiccups/stutters, especially when I have a bunch of AI.  I use Ultra for texture resolution, terrain LOD, off screen terrain pre-cache (not sure what that does), and terrain vector detail.  Most everything else is high or off.  Glass cockpit refresh is medium.  With that being said, when I look at frames, generally on the ground they range 15-30 max.

What would upgrading the CPU do?  What CPU would I benefit from?

 

A whole new motherboard and CPU if ya swing it.  12700K or 12900K etc etc.

I'm not familiar with AMD offerings.  A 5700X might be nice too

3 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

I doubt you will get much of a benefit..

Out of curiosity, why do you think I wouldn't benefit from a higher end graphics card?  I'm not questioning you I am just not a very technical person 

14 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

Out of curiosity, why do you think I wouldn't benefit from a higher end graphics card?  I'm not questioning you I am just not a very technical person 

It looks to me that you have a nicely balanced system.. great for what you are flying.

Graphics cards are very expensive and unless you definitely want to fly at 4k resolution, I would not expect any dramatic improvements. 

I still fly with a 1070 at 1080 and am happy.. so a 2070 sounds like a good card to me.

4 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

I am looking to bump up my memory and upgrade my GPU for MSFS 2020.  Based on my specs below, what are some suggestions that I could do in order to see a noticeable performance/visual upgrade? I was thinking of boosting memory to 32gb and getting a new GPU but wasn't sure what would be best for MSFS

 

Intel 6th Gen Core i7 6700K (4.6GHz Overclock) Quad Core//16GB Kingston DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz//Graphics Processor: RTX 2070 Super

I basically have what you have though I don't OC my CPU that high (at 4.2GHz).  I do have 32GB RAM at 3000MHz, RTX 3070.  I'm really only fly the FBW A320.  The only time it stutters a bit is landing.  I don't notice it much taxiing or anything.  I play at 1440p.  I thought I wanted to upgrade but am going to wait until the fall and see what Raptor Lake (Intel) and Zen4 (AMD) have to offer.  With hopefully cheaper DDR5 RAM with better timing, etc.  If I win the lottery I'd consider a 4000 series GPU.  Haha!  I did notice things got better when i upgraded from 16 to 32GB RAM

32 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

Out of curiosity, why do you think I wouldn't benefit from a higher end graphics card?  I'm not questioning you I am just not a very technical person 

It's really going to depend on what resolution you're running at.  1080p is generally always CPU limited unless you have a really old GPU but in your case a 2070 is just fine for 1080.  On the other hand a CPU upgrade could be a big upgrade for 1080p if you're on something older like that 6700K.   If you're running 1440p or higher that's where the CPU become more irrelevant and the GPU is more important at least with today's tech.  I'm sure at some point 1440p will become the new "cpu bottleneck" resolution as GPU's keep improving.  Still, a 2070 should still be "ok" for 1440p depending on how much eye candy you're looking for.  For reference my 5950X, 2080 Super, at 3440x1440 (Ultrawide 1440p) can do about 45-48fps on the ground at Prem Deluxe EGLL in the FBW in heavy weather with mostly high a few ultra and a few medium options.

5 minutes ago, flyinion said:

It's really going to depend on what resolution you're running at.  1080p is generally always CPU limited unless you have a really old GPU but in your case a 2070 is just fine for 1080.  On the other hand a CPU upgrade could be a big upgrade for 1080p if you're on something older like that 6700K.   If you're running 1440p or higher that's where the CPU become more irrelevant and the GPU is more important at least with today's tech.  I'm sure at some point 1440p will become the new "cpu bottleneck" resolution as GPU's keep improving.  Still, a 2070 should still be "ok" for 1440p depending on how much eye candy you're looking for.  For reference my 5950X, 2080 Super, at 3440x1440 (Ultrawide 1440p) can do about 45-48fps on the ground at Prem Deluxe EGLL in the FBW in heavy weather with mostly high a few ultra and a few medium options.

I am running a Dell U3415W and I don't think that can do 4k.  Is there a setting in the sim or in my graphics card that I can utilize to reduce some of the stutters? 

Ah ok, that's the same resolution as mine.  Probably about the only thing other than turning down the general eye candy is to lower the render scaling from 100%, but that will introduce blurriness to everything as well.  A new GPU would probably be a best 1st choice for that resolution, but a new CPU at some point would help as well.  I'm not 100% sure since I've never tried to run MSFS on anything older than a 3700X (non OC 9900K equivalent) and 2080 Super.

I went from an i7 7700k to an i9 10900k and saw some nice improvements in performance.

5 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

what are some suggestions

I went from i7 3770k (OC 4.3) to i7 12700KF stock no OC, (had to upgrade mobo and memory too) left my old GTX1070, all I can say is that I made the right decision, the difference is night and day, incredibly enough my old 1070 handles ms2020 without a hiccup with quite a few ultra settings, AI all to the right, smooth as silk all around. Best money spent if you ask me.

Your card is good enough, you are definitely CPU limited for sure. Adding more memory will not give you smoother experience nor higher frames.