CPU Upgrade Advice.

[captainbluesky 3]

Hi flyers

I currently have an Intel i7-8700k processor with an MSI 2080 graphics card and 32gb DDR4 ram and am looking to upgrade.

I have read various articles and have shortlisted either an Intel i7-13700k (if the price is reduced vs i7-14700k) or i7-14700k (not much FPS gain) or an AMD Ryzen 7 7800 or Ryzen 9 7900 or similar. Then waiting for the Nvidia 4070Ti Super in c. Jan 2024 plus add some 32gb DDR5 ram then an appropriate motherboard i.e. 1700 or AMD5.

I would welcome your thoughts on what you think of my above shortlisted 'core' components for the best price/performance point. I know the upgrade route on an AMD5 motherboard may give more upgrade years re: new AMD processors.

Appreciate the 4070Ti is not released yet but processor advice much appreciated. Mainly a gaming pc with occasional photo and video editing in terms of more 'demanding' software. 

[F737MAX 5,738]

12 minutes ago, captainbluesky said:

I have read various articles and have shortlisted either an Intel i7-13700k (if the price is reduced vs i7-14700k) or i7-14700k (not much FPS gain) or an AMD Ryzen 7 7800 or Ryzen 9 7900 or similar.

CPU preference already discussed here:

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/639101-consensus-on-intel-14th-or-amd-x3d-for-msfs/

 

[turbomax 3,304]

all major bench markers/youtubers came to the conclusion that AMD 7800X3D in 5 nm process structure is currently the best CPU for MSFS due to its larger cache, runs @ nearly half the required watt of Intels older 10 nm structure CPUs.

[Ixoye 1,837]

AMD 7800X3D 32GB DDR5 and Nvidia 4090 or AMD 7900XTX is the best options for MFS today.

[turbomax 3,304]

29 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

or AMD 7900XTX is the best options for MFS today.

AMD 7900XTX : FSR3 FrameGeneration coming next year for MSFS?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX are the flagship GPUs for team green and team red, respectively1. Both are designed for 4K gaming, but the RTX 4090 is the better card for performance. It has more shader cores and many more AI and ray tracing cores. However, the RTX 4090 also has a higher power draw and a higher price than the RX 7900 XTX. NVidia FrameGeneration on RTX 40xx has been here since last year.

 

[Mike_CFII_MEL 797]

Hi,

I've look at numerous articles before purchasing my latest upgrade. For MS2020 I can run SEVEN screens/monitors off of ONE computer. three @ 4K and four at 1080P. I have the following hardware.

Gigabyte X670E motherboard

AMD 7950X3D CPU

64GB DDR5 @ 6000

Samsung 990 Pro NVME @ 2TB

Asus 4090 Tuf Video board

I also found using DLSS 3.5 over 2.4 that comes with MS2020 is better for my setup.


 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Mike_CFII_MEL

[sonny147 582]

all these top end CPU's are blazing fast , the only one i wouldn't suggest is the 7900x3d , personally i went with 7800x3d with the 4090, as its a great performer and energy efficient

[AnkH 2,282]

2 hours ago, captainbluesky said:

I currently have an Intel i7-8700k processor with an MSI 2080 graphics card and 32gb DDR4 ram and am looking to upgrade.

Appreciate the 4070Ti is not released yet but processor advice much appreciated. Mainly a gaming pc with occasional photo and video editing in terms of more 'demanding' software. 

If you want to "budget" and stick to the 4070Ti, you can do as I did: I replaced my 8700K with a 13600K plus a Z690 DDR4 Mainboard that allows BIOS flashing without CPU. This allows you to re-use the 32GB DDR4, with around 10% performance loss compared to good DDR5 RAM. Thanks to Frame Generation, I have a wonderfully smooth MSFS now, and also thanks to FG, the difference to a 14700K/14900K build with DDR5 and e.g. a 4090 is marginal in 1440p, the resolution I am using. 

But also consider a full AMD build if aiming for the future, as others said. If I am not entirely mistaken, driver based FMF (the AMD frame generation) already works pretty well in MSFS. You just have to accept that there is only one single beta-driver available for AFMF in MSFS so far, if you not only use the rig for MSFS, it might not be the perfect choice. 

I did not switch to AM5 because at that moment, the X3D processors weren't available yet and the 7600X as intermediate CPU was not attractive enough, besides higher cost. AM4 was no option because of the outdated platform and still pretty expensive mainboards.

[Lucky38i 1,106]

51 minutes ago, turbomax said:

but the RTX 4090 is the better card for performance.

That's because the 7900XTX is more suited to be compared to the 4080. There is no consumer card on the market that is aimed at competing with the 4090. The 4090 is truly a league of it's own.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

I am still on the 7950X, Not going to bother going to the 3D, don't think it's worth the cost. 

[F737MAX 5,738]

At the moment, the only answer is the Ryzen X3D CPUs for MSFS. The extra onboard cache makes it a much stronger performer for flight sims than other CPUs. The rest aren't worth considering unless you have specific other use requirements for your PC.

 

Apparently, my last gen 5800X3D wins out against the i9-13900K.

The AM5 platform provides for the ability to upgrade your CPU without changing the motherboard until 2026.

 

The only question is, with MSFS2024 envisaged as being a cloud-heavy game, how much client-side performance will actually be required?

[Ixoye 1,837]

54 minutes ago, sonny147 said:

all these top end CPU's are blazing fast , the only one i wouldn't suggest is the 7900x3d , personally i went with 7800x3d with the 4090, as its a great performer and energy efficient

I chose the 7800X3D too, great cpu, it boosted my pc's performance alone by 20fps compared to my old I9 10900k with the same settings.

[Ixoye 1,837]

24 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

I am still on the 7950X, Not going to bother going to the 3D, don't think it's worth the cost. 

X3D is flightsim Nirvana 😉

[captainbluesky 3]

Thank you all for your replies - very helpful.

I have always owned an Intel based PC and am very tempted now to go for an AMD 7800X3D or 7900X3D or 7950X3D, though the FPS gain with the latter two appears to be minimal.

Any recommendation for a very good AM5 motherboard e.g. budget, middle and high end?

[Ixoye 1,837]

3 minutes ago, captainbluesky said:

Thank you all for your replies - very helpful.

I have always owned an Intel based PC and am very tempted now to go for an AMD 7800X3D or 7900X3D or 7950X3D, though the FPS gain with the latter two appears to be minimal.

Any recommendation for a very good AM5 motherboard e.g. budget, middle and high end?

I'm very pleased with my ASRock X670E.