MSFS - GPU (and possibly CPU) advice

[bonchie 2,305]

Haven't simmed really since the MSFS beta. Busy with real-life flying. Kind of have the itch again.

My system is definitely derelict on the GPU side with a GTX 970. And my CPU is a now getting old with a 8600K at 4.8Ghz.

Obviously, the GPU has to be upgraded. Is the CPU decent enough to put off for a while? As to the GPU, don't want to break the bank, so the highest I can get with Nvidia is a 3070. Highest with AMD is an RX 6800. Kind of worried about the Nvidia only having 8GB of memory, but do AMD cards work well with MSFS?

[Maladoror 89]

On 5/20/2022 at 5:36 PM, bonchie said:

Haven't simmed really since the MSFS beta. Busy with real-life flying. Kind of have the itch again.

My system is definitely derelict on the GPU side with a GTX 970. And my CPU is a now getting old with a 8600K at 4.8Ghz.

Obviously, the GPU has to be upgraded. Is the CPU decent enough to put off for a while? As to the GPU, don't want to break the bank, so the highest I can get with Nvidia is a 3070. Highest with AMD is an RX 6800. Kind of worried about the Nvidia only having 8GB of memory, but do AMD cards work well with MSFS?

I started MSFS 2020 with an 3930K/980Ti - great at 1080 med/high settings. Then I upgraded to a 9700F with a 2070s and simmed at 4K (70% render) with a mix of high and ultra. I would think that a 2070 super would be best card you could get without bottlenecking your cpu too much. In my opinion you should stick with that cpu for two more years with an upgraded gpu. With a 2070s I started at 1080 and was cpu bound. I upped the resolution to 1440 and was less cpu bound. I found that 4K with 70% render resulted in being just slightly gpu bound. The sim looked better and I gained fps. You have to find a balance (resolution and settings) were the gpu is not sending data too often to the cpu and causing it to bottleneck. Make the gpu work a little harder and it will send data less often to the cpu.

At 4K (70%) the 2070s never used more than 7 point something Gb. Was not a problem. Even with a 3080Ti at 4K (100% and everything maxed), I rarely use more than 8Gb.

I am not currently familiar with AMD's card. 

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

On 5/20/2022 at 4:36 PM, bonchie said:

Obviously, the GPU has to be upgraded. Is the CPU decent enough to put off for a while? As to the GPU, don't want to break the bank, so the highest I can get with Nvidia is a 3070. Highest with AMD is an RX 6800. Kind of worried about the Nvidia only having 8GB of memory, but do AMD cards work well with MSFS?

I use an AMD, no real issues except in DX-12 beta there are some texture anomalies sometimes, works fine otherwise AFIK.

I haven't had it that long though, but there aren't that many "AMD specific" issues in games anymore, it happens now and then, but you can also get Nvidia specific issues in games. The problem is just everyone always thinks in terms of "Oh AMD had an issue" and that tends to stick in peoples heads, whereas when it happens on Nvidia it is blamed on the game/platform, but in reality some issues can happen on both.

That said, many game developers take longer to resolve AMD specific issues than Nvidia specific issues, because usually their testing department or devs are using more NVIDIA than AMD, so sometimes you have to wait a little longer when an AMD issue arises.

The other issue is AMD doesn't have DLSS, but you can get better visuals without it by enabling other stuff on a faster rendering card. Hence, yes DLSS can increase performance, but if you go for an AMD, you get higher performance by default for the same cost as Nvidia.

If you can find a good enough deal, the AMD is the better value, but Nvidia is the slightly safer default purchase.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Alpine Scenery