Hi All,

Now that the price and availability for GPU's is finally starting to head in the right direction I was pondering about is it worth upgrading my trusty old 1080TI

Currently I have it paired with an i5 9600K @ 5Ghz and I typically see my CPU usage around 60% & GPU usage around 75% - 80%

I run MSFS 2020 on a TCL 43 inch TV at full 4K. I do run VSYNC "On" and FPS set to 30 in Nvidia Control Panel with the TV refresh rate set to 30Hz. My settings are basically High End with a couple of Ultra tweaks here and there. I have been amazed how well this 1080TI actually handles 4K@30. I did consider a 3070TI but I am a little concerned at the 8GB VRAM, I regularly see 8GB usage on my current setup (For instance right now I am seeing 8.5GB). This leads me to either a 10GB or 12GB 3080, I was wondering if my CPU will have any issues keeping up with a 3080, it does seem really solid and it overclocked right out of the box to 5Ghz with minimum effort & voltage and my temps generally sit around 55 - 60 degrees (I do have an awesome and very big Noctua cooler bolted on too the thing lol)

I may consider a CPU upgrade further down the road but for now the 9600K also does a great job.

I would be interested to hear any thoughts especially from anyone running a RTX 3xx card with the same CPU as mine

Regards

Richard

 

Edited March 29, 20224 yr by RJC68

Two questions:

1.) Why lock fps at 30 in NVCP when you have already selected vsync and set the tv at 30 Hz.

2.) What are you hoping to gain by replacing the 1080ti?

To continue running vsync and 30Hz refresh or fps lock of 30 fps you'll see no improvement with replacement. Even if you do replace and run no vsync or fps lock at 30 I doubt you'd see much improvement in fps over doing the same thing with the 1080ti. Maybe you'd be able to increase eye-candy a bit, but I suspect you will quickly become Main Thread limited. Maybe it's just my system, but I see many times that I'm Main Thread limited with CPU and GPU both at 60% or so utilization...will never understand it.

On 3/29/2022 at 5:41 PM, somiller said:

Two questions:

1.) Why lock fps at 30 in NVCP when you have already selected vsync and set the tv at 30 Hz.

2.) What are you hoping to gain by replacing the 1080ti?

To continue running vsync and 30Hz refresh or fps lock of 30 fps you'll see no improvement with replacement. Even if you do replace and run no vsync or fps lock at 30 I doubt you'd see much improvement in fps over doing the same thing with the 1080ti. Maybe you'd be able to increase eye-candy a bit, but I suspect you will quickly become Main Thread limited. Maybe it's just my system, but I see many times that I'm Main Thread limited with CPU and GPU both at 60% or so utilization...will never understand it.

Too answer questions:

1) I guess it is just habit to also lock the FPS in NVCP to 30, it really makes no difference if you leave them unlocked and turn Vsync on

2) This is really the million dollar question, The only real upgrade would be if I could maintain 60fps with my native TV resolution but I do not think that is achievable with any CPU/GPU combination right now. I am pretty sure if I did throw a 3080 in there the results probably would be a little disappointing and then of course we are into a new CPU, motherboard & RAM and for what in the end?

Like I said I was nervous at first when I switched to this 4K TV, I did lot's of experiments with 2K and while the results were OK you just cannot beat the crispness of the Sim at 4K, yes maybe the compromise is having to lock the fps @ 30 which I know some people just refuse to do but I can honestly fly pretty much anywhere in any aircraft and the Sim looks fabulous and is silky smooth.

It just goes to show with the right expectations even an older card like the 1080TI still does a marvelous job ! 

RJC,

I've tried NVCP locking at 30, vsync(MSFS) on, and the dev mode frame counter doesn't show vsync active. If I don't lock fps with NVCP and turn on vsync it then shows vsync active in dev mode frame counter. In other words, it seems NVCP fps lock can be active, or vsync(MSFS) can be active, but not both active at the same time. I'd be curious if you see the same thing.

The 1080ti is really a great card that I wish I had gone with when I had my pc built in 2016. It still is a very powerful card for raw fps even when compared to a 3060 or 3070. With 11GB it's still hard to beat considering most of the new stuff is 8GB. For 4K 8GB isn't going to do it, so you'd be looking at a 3060, 3080, 3080ti or 3090, and the 3060 benchmarks lower than the 1080ti. Sounds like about $1500 for a 3080 upgrade at best and you'd give up a GB of VRAM.

There are a couple of threads here that discuss benefits from upgrading to a 12700K or a 12900k as being fairly dramatic, as long as you have a solid GPU like the 1080ti. Might be worth considering that route as apposed to a GPU upgrade...and it would be considerably less expensive if you only upgrade MB and CPU.

Funny you also have a WD 4TB Black - I've got the same thing that I use for system image backups.

Let me know if you decide to upgrade - I might be interested in taking the 1080ti off your hands. With it and a move to a new MB and 12700K MSFS would run great for me at 2K res.

It appears to me that you have a balanced and capable system.  As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Also, if you do decide to buy a 3070 or 3080, you may need a new power supply as well.  750 watts may be the specified minimum, but these video cards sometimes spike their current draw and can fry a 750 watt PSU, trust me on that.  900 to 1000 watt PSU's are a far better bet as the 3070 and higher cards are power hungry monsters.

14 hours ago, somiller said:

RJC,

I've tried NVCP locking at 30, vsync(MSFS) on, and the dev mode frame counter doesn't show vsync active. If I don't lock fps with NVCP and turn on vsync it then shows vsync active in dev mode frame counter. In other words, it seems NVCP fps lock can be active, or vsync(MSFS) can be active, but not both active at the same time. I'd be curious if you see the same thing.

The 1080ti is really a great card that I wish I had gone with when I had my pc built in 2016. It still is a very powerful card for raw fps even when compared to a 3060 or 3070. With 11GB it's still hard to beat considering most of the new stuff is 8GB. For 4K 8GB isn't going to do it, so you'd be looking at a 3060, 3080, 3080ti or 3090, and the 3060 benchmarks lower than the 1080ti. Sounds like about $1500 for a 3080 upgrade at best and you'd give up a GB of VRAM.

There are a couple of threads here that discuss benefits from upgrading to a 12700K or a 12900k as being fairly dramatic, as long as you have a solid GPU like the 1080ti. Might be worth considering that route as apposed to a GPU upgrade...and it would be considerably less expensive if you only upgrade MB and CPU.

Funny you also have a WD 4TB Black - I've got the same thing that I use for system image backups.

Let me know if you decide to upgrade - I might be interested in taking the 1080ti off your hands. With it and a move to a new MB and 12700K MSFS would run great for me at 2K res.

I always used to turn on Vsync & 30fps in the sim and prior to SU8 it worked beautifully. For some reason after SU8 even with the same settings I found the fps to be erratic and they were bouncing around all over the place so I turned everything off in the sim and instead turned on Vsync and set 30fps in NVCP. This brought back the stability so I have just left it this way for now.

The more I think about this the more I feel that for now upgrading is just not really worth it, My CPU is never pegged. My system really is probably classed as a mid range PC by today's standards but the i5 9600K is a beast and I did ton's of research at the time and everything I read was correct, It was a great fit for X-Plane 11 at the time and I still marvel at the beauty of MSFS 2020.

In the past when I have been thinking about upgrading it was always a no brainer lol

3 hours ago, stans said:

It appears to me that you have a balanced and capable system.  As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Also, if you do decide to buy a 3070 or 3080, you may need a new power supply as well.  750 watts may be the specified minimum, but these video cards sometimes spike their current draw and can fry a 750 watt PSU, trust me on that.  900 to 1000 watt PSU's are a far better bet as the 3070 and higher cards are power hungry monsters.

You are absolutely correct, when I rebuilt this a few years ago I wanted a balanced system and the i5-9600K pairs nicely with the 1080TI. 

I too have thought many times that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" you know us flight simmers are a different breed, always chasing the fps holy grail lol 

I would also need a new power supply as I do have a 750W at the moment. For me I want to spend whatever time I have that I can devote too my hobby, flying and not constantly tweaking like the good old FSX days is a priority. My PC was custom built originally in 2012 for FSX and has been upgraded over the years, it doesn't light up like Vegas during a power surge but it does run cool thanks to the effort I put in to building it and all the Noctua hardware I have. More to the point it is stable, it never crashes and the 5Ghz OC has been there since the moment I put the 9600K in which I have to say was the easiest OC I have ever done in my life. I only use this PC for MSFS and some occasional video editing with Davinci Resolve.

I have learned how to adjust the settings in MSFS to get the best from my system and as I mentioned before when I upgraded my old 42 inch 1080P TV to this 43 inch 4K I never thought in a million years I would actually be able to run the Sim in true 4K with my rig but here I am.

I guess the moral of this story is be thankful for and appreciate what you have. I am leaning towards some upgrades down the road but just not right now.

Richard

A 3090Ti benchmarked on a 850W PSU.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X review - Test Environment & Equipment (guru3d.com)

And they are selling in the UK for under 2000 that`s cheaper than the 3090 was a few weeks ago. And Nvidia have sorted the cooling on ram by moving it.

RJC,

I feel you have made a mature decision! Your system IS quite powerful, and yes a 12900K with a 3080, 3080ti, or 3090 would be even better for MSFS...but I think for most of us the improvement would be considered incremental relative to the $3500 - $5000 it would cost to make that move - that is of course unless money is no object for you.

Cheers to you!

15 hours ago, somiller said:

RJC,

I feel you have made a mature decision! Your system IS quite powerful, and yes a 12900K with a 3080, 3080ti, or 3090 would be even better for MSFS...but I think for most of us the improvement would be considered incremental relative to the $3500 - $5000 it would cost to make that move - that is of course unless money is no object for you.

Cheers to you!

Thank you,

I think for the time being I’m going to sit on the sidelines and see what happens with hardware later this year. The cost to upgrade my CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM & power supply definitely doesn’t justify the significant investment I would have to make here in Canada right now. I have a friend who is on his way to getting his commercial license and he’s interested in my hardware when I do decide to upgrade. 
 

Yesterday I tried my first long haul in MSFS 2020 (EGLL - CYYZ) in the Heavy Division B787 and it was silky smooth the whole way. The only issue was the ridiculous icing effect on the cockpit window as I was on finals. The outside temp was -1 degrees and it froze up completely resulting in me having to turn live weather off.

Blue Skies to you all