Drizzle

Thanks Tony, I had heard that the 5900x was a terrific chip for simming, too. So this pronouncement really stunned me. Just looking for more opinions from multiple bases of experience in order to gain the most helpful perspective... My current CPU is an old i7-6700K. (In my 'signature'.) Running VR, there are always struggles to squeeze out a better balance of eye-candy vs FPS and smoothness. It seems logical to me that such an old CPU is at least one of my culprits. (I imagine that my 3000MHz RAM is something of another....) Just looking to eliminate my bottle necks. But if DX12 will be a big game-changer that might render my upgrade quickly obsolete, then maybe I am wiser to 'keep limping' for now, and wait until more is known...?? I'd love to hear from someone who actually has a 5900x (or 5950) and uses it in VR... Thanks for the insight! Drizzle

Having recently upgraded to a decent 3090 GPU, I am now looking to upgrade my old 6700k CPU to something that is likely to keep me happy for as many years to come as possible. I have been waiting for the new Ryzen 5900x to become available to anyone but the bots, having identified that as the most likely candidate for what I'm seeking. FWIW, I ONLY USE THIS PC FOR SIMMING, and will very likely only be using MSFS for the next several years. So I'm looking for hardware to maximize my experience in THAT program -- and am not interested in any compatibility with any other 'gaming' platforms. I was very surprised just now when a user on a FB thread told me that he felt the 5900x is a poor choice for MSFS. Does anyone here yet have experience with that chip? Are there other options that EXPERIENCE proves would be a better option for me? One thing I am keeping in mind is the hopeful possibility that MSFS will soon make use of DX12 -- where the extra cores (12) in the 5900x might prove useful. Thoughts??

I built a simulator a while back for a flight school located at the airport where I work. A few months later, they acquired a BE55 Baron and wanted to add that plane to their simulated hangar, complete with double-throttle config, so I ordered a pair of Saitek throttle quadrants for them. Four months later, they were still "coming in a couple of weeks", as they had been since my first inquiry following non-receipt... I finally reached someone at MadCatz who admitted that they have switched manufacturers and were having trouble with quality control (as if it could get any worse, IMHO...). At that time, I was told it would be about four months, IIRC, till they were expected to begin shipping again. I think that was at least five months ago....

So you would recommend the 6700K for use on a system that ONLY does P3D V3? Any "gotchas" to be aware of? Any issues to watch out for, like problematic MoBo's or other incompatibilities?

Very helpful Westman! Thank you! Are you using the 6700K in P3D?

Thank you Martin! That was EXACTLY the kind of info I'm looking for! I guess the reason I've not been seriously considering Skylake is that the folks who use their systems exclusively for P3D (as I do) seem to generally feel that there is still an advantage tipping in favor of the 4790K -- specifically for P3D. But I will explore that a bit more before choosing my path forward. That single-core performance is very important to us, as P3D still seems to be largely single-core-bound.

Yashigashi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think most of your questions about my system load are answered in my signature. And my basic problem is that my 2500K isn't cutting the mustard any longer. I just need to learn whether investing in its replacement will move my performance marker forward enough to justify the cost... SpiritFlyer, those are good resources -- thanks for posting those. I wish I was better at reading them -- I'm still finding it hard to discern whether there would be a large gain in the 4790K over the 2500K -- when they are both stretching their legs and operating at the peak of their built-in boost speed -- which I believe is 4.4GHz for both. Those comparisons SEEM to be posting the performance results for each chip at their native baseline clock-speeds -- 4.0GHz for the 4790K and 3.3GHz for the 2500K. If that's so, then I don't seem to have a way of accounting for how much of the 4790K's better performance is merely due to the difference in clock-speed (4.0GHz vs. 3.3GHz), and how much of the difference is due to those OTHER factors I'm trying to learn about... I am a modest overclocker, and it looks like I'd get a similar OC speed out of the newer chip as I have from my old one. If, at those speeds, there wouldn't be a noticeable difference in performance, then there's no point wasting my money. I think there would/will be a noticeable difference. But I just feel its necessary to be sure before dropping that kind of coin...

I have a sim rig I only use for Prepar3D V3.3 in VR. Ever since I built it a few years ago (starting with FSX and moving up through the generations of P3D), I have had excellent luck with my i5-2500K OCed to 4.5GHz. Even during the past several months while I've been using the DK2, my bottleneck appeared to be more GPU than CPU. But moving up to the CV1 seems to have changed that. My Core 0 is running pegged to 100% virtually ALL the time I'm flying, and all other cores look like they're living between 85-100% at all times (flying). The CPU is clearly working harder than it's been used to doing. Furthermore, I'm experiencing rather frequent blurries, VR drop-outs, and crippling FPS drops at virtually all ORBX airports I've visited so far. A big change from what I've been experiencing previously. While there likely a multitude of other tweaks and issues to address that will probably result in incremental improvements along the way, I think I need to face trying to resolve what has suddenly appeared to be a significant CPU bottleneck. Which brings me to a simple question that I'm struggling to find an informed answer to... Are there differences in the underlying architecture between the 2500K and the 4790K that will produce a significantly different result in my experience? If I'm getting a solid 4.5GHz from the 2500K, and it doesn't look like I'll likely get much if any GHz increase from the 4790K, are there other differences that will produce a noticeably different result in P3D? So far I'm getting a lot of "yeah, that sounds like a good idea" responses to my question. But no voices of experience enlightening me as to whether it's a FACT that I'd enjoy better performance. And if so, why... My bottom line: If I make this upgrade, it's going to cost me around $600-700 (CPU, MoBo replacement because it's a different socket, and I feel it would be important to upgrade my RAM from 1333 to 2400). I don't mind doing that if it will result in a NOTICEABLE change in my results. But I'm not eager to throw that kind of cash out the window for little or no increase in CPU headroom. Thoughts?

Just wanted to give a shout-out to DylanM for posting this! After four failed install attempts (at around four hours each!!), I was starting to get more than a little frustrated!! You might not have saved my life, but I think you saved my sanity!! :wink: