Hello,

After serving me extremely well through 10 years, 3 homes and 4 different flight sims, my i7 4770K system is due retirement.

After reading horror stories about 13/14th gen Intels at the moment, and also that the current AMD chips are some of the best in their class for flight sim, I've specced a machine up based around the Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor.

I wondered if this spec looks good and if there's anything I should change/go without? It is right at the limit of my budget, but given my current machine has been going for 10 years, it's likely (and hopeful) that this will go the same way.

Case

CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)

Motherboard

GIGABYTE B650 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E)

Memory (RAM)

32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card

16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4080 SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR

Graphics Card Support Bracket

NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)

1^st M.2 SSD Drive

2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)

2^nd M.2 SSD Drive

2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)

Power Supply

CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable

1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)

Processor Cooling

PCS FrostFlow 360 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler

Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Card

ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT

USB/Thunderbolt Options

MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Operating System

Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

7 minutes ago, Tom Wright said:

1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)

...hope you got the enhanced version...

You'll want to change to 6000MHz RAM.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-confirms-ddr5-6000-ram-is-the-sweet-spot-for-ryzen-7000-cpus

 

1 hour ago, Greggy_D said:

You'll want to change to 6000MHz RAM.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-confirms-ddr5-6000-ram-is-the-sweet-spot-for-ryzen-7000-cpus

But you should make sure that the RAM is officially supported by the mainboard manufacturer & board type - especially when using RAM kits & EXPO / XMP profiles. :

Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE MEMORY SUPPORT

Out of interest. I have a 1080p monitor at the moment. I've specced a 4080 because I do intend to get a 1440p or 4K one at some point in the near future, but for at least the first few months I'll be using it at 1080p. Other forums suggest a CPU bottleneck in this scenario - will I severely hamper performance of the sim by running a 4080 at 1080p?

The memory issue has been duly addressed by the previous posters so please follow their advice on the speed and making sure the ram you pick is on your motherboards QVL list.

As to your question re the resolution. Yes you will be CPU limited at that resolution. Because high end GPUs are not at their max output at 1080p. For the card you are purchasing 4k would be the resolution that would best match the potential of the card.

1 minute ago, Maxis said:

The memory issue has been duly addressed by the previous posters so please follow their advice on the speed and making sure the ram you pick is on your motherboards QVL list.

As to your question re the resolution. Yes you will be CPU limited at that resolution. Because high end GPUs are not at their max output at 1080p. For the card you are purchasing 4k would be the resolution that would best match the potential of the card.

Understood - but that's not to say I would see a FPS INCREASE by running at 4k instead of 1080p though right? It won't perform worse at 1080 than at 4K?

10 minutes ago, Tom Wright said:

Understood - but that's not to say I would see a FPS INCREASE by running at 4k instead of 1080p though right? It won't perform worse at 1080 than at 4K?

No what you will see is that the CPU+GPU will be performing at its maximum FPS capabilities at 1080P because the GPU is more than capable to deal with 1080P. As the display resolution gets higher the frame rates typically go down as now the GPU load increases as there are more screen pixels to push so now the GPU has to perform and needs that little bit extra processing time to push pixels at 4K.

Edited August 15, 20241 yr by Maxis

21 minutes ago, Tom Wright said:

Understood - but that's not to say I would see a FPS INCREASE by running at 4k instead of 1080p though right? It won't perform worse at 1080 than at 4K?

No, it won't perform worse.

The ideal is to have a CPU that maxxes out pushing the video subsystem (GPU and monitor) right to it's limit--in this case the CPU and GPU are said to be well-matched, or the system is "balanced.". 

If the CPU is capable of sending frames to the GPU much faster than the GPU can process and send them to the monitor, then you are said to be "GPU-limited", which means that a faster video subsystem would increase your overall frame rate, since the CPU is still capable of sending frames faster than the current GPU can handle them.  A better CPU in this case won't help at all, as the video subsystem is already maxxed-out.

Conversely, if the video subsystem is capable of processing frames faster than the CPU can send them, you are said to be "CPU-limited", meaning that a faster CPU would increase your frame rate since the video subsystem is capable of processing more frames per second than are currently being sent.  A faster video subsystem (faster GPU, lower-bandwidth monitor) in this case won't help at all, as the CPU is already maxxed-out and can't send frames any faster no matter how fast the GPU can handle them.

Being CPU or GPU limited does not necessarily translate to having poor (or great) frame rates--it just means that one side of the CPU-GPU pair is faster than the other.  The overall frame rate can't be faster than the weaker of the two, so the stronger side has unrealized/wasted performance potential.  You can have a well-balanced system with an ancient CPU and GPU and get a paltry 12 fps, or you can have a well-balanced system with a 7800X3D and a 4090 and get 80fps. 

Awesome. Thanks for the explanation guys. Think I will go for it and upgrade my monitor in due course! Good to future proof it in my view.

System looks superb!  I don't know what the next nvidia GPUs will bring - I'd almost hold off on buying a 4080 at the moment.  I think the 4080 supers are better for a similar price.  I have a stock 4080 and its been fabulous... bought it kinda near the end of covid so it wasnt cheap hehe.  However, if you have ANY thoughts of doing VR I'd absolutely consider the 4090 or holding off and seeing what the 5090 brings or whatever the next flagship nvidia RTX card is.  Otherwise if you have zero desire for VR a stock 4080 at 1440p will be superb.  At 4k, I could see the benefit to upgrading to a 4090 too but the 4080 will be fine.

I have a similar case (the older Corsair 5000x, similar to the 4000 and 5000D) - it's been an awesome case.  One of my case fans died and corsair replaced it pretty quickly.  The fan controller though is kinda meh, it's their basic one - so I'd perhaps consider upgrading to their premium fan controller - CORSAIR iCUE COMMANDER CORE XT - its about 60 USD.  

I'm running a 12700K and 4080, 4 sticks of 5600mhz ddr5 ram, and 2x M.2's along with some older SSDs.  I've got an evga 850w psu - and using Kill-A-Watt, even under load, this system barely tops 400w.

P.S. I'm a bit jealous of your CPU.... the 12700K was kinda the bees knees cpu then shortly the AMD 5800x3d came out and just dominated it haha!  Previously I had a similar system to yours...  4790K / 1080Ti / 32GB ddr.  I first upgraded the system sans the GPU...and then when I added the 4080, when using frame generation, I almost quadrupled my MSFS frames LOL.  I use VR too so I'd love to have the power of the 7800x3D if I could... and potentially a better GPU (and a VR headset.... only another 4k USD lmao)

Anyway!  Enjoy your beast of an upgrade!  And don't forget to at least pick a new monitor that supports G-sync - as a bare minimum you want G-sync compatible otherwise you get some weird flashing and vsync issues when you use frame generation with your new 4080.

Congratulations on your new build. Like others have pointed out I would recommend that you check the RAM for AMD EXPO profiles compatibility (check logo on box) and get a 6000MHZ capable one with CL 30 latency. I myself have just upgraded my PC to a spec similar to yours last week albeit with an older RTX 3080 and a GB X670 Gaming AX V2 motherboard. Link to RAM https://www.gskill.com/qvl/165/390/1661410135/F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR-QVL

On 8/15/2024 at 6:28 AM, Tom Wright said:

Hello,

After serving me extremely well through 10 years, 3 homes and 4 different flight sims, my i7 4770K system is due retirement.

After reading horror stories about 13/14th gen Intels at the moment, and also that the current AMD chips are some of the best in their class for flight sim, I've specced a machine up based around the Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor.

I wondered if this spec looks good and if there's anything I should change/go without? It is right at the limit of my budget, but given my current machine has been going for 10 years, it's likely (and hopeful) that this will go the same way.

Case

CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)

Motherboard

GIGABYTE B650 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E)

Memory (RAM)

32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card

16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4080 SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR

Graphics Card Support Bracket

NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)

1^st M.2 SSD Drive

2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)

2^nd M.2 SSD Drive

2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)

Power Supply

CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable

1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)

Processor Cooling

PCS FrostFlow 360 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler

Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Card

ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT

USB/Thunderbolt Options

MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Operating System

Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Hi Tom,

If you haven't built this yet maybe consider a different case, I built a 12700K & 3090 system with the Corsair 5000D case a couple of years ago and found it was a little snug and temps were a little higher than I would have liked. I ended up selling that system for a profit and building another this time with a 4090. I opted for a Fractal Design Torrent case, it is bigger but man it was a dream to build, the power supply is at the top and there are 2 massive intake fans at the front (240mm I believe) and 3 fans under the GPU. I run a Noctua air cooler on my 12700K and it never breaks into a sweat.

If you have already built the system I hope you are enjoying the huge upgrade !