WolverineHusky

Picked up a VPForce Rhino FFB base and thought I'd give a review and initial impressions after a day with it. Why? Always wanted FFB and chose the VPForce Rhino over the FFBeast and Moza. I went with VPForce because of the software; I’ve heard great things and rarely read anything negative about it, so I figured it was a safe bet. I actually considered buying it years ago, but it was like a 1-year wait back then so I passed. I primarily fly with a VKB Gunfighter Mk.IV. I’ve got 1000+ hours in MSFS and DCS each, and I fly pretty much everything... rotos, fighters, GA, and airliners. Ordering Easy enough to order online. The website is straightforward and not fancy. Paid with PayPal. If you are in the USA, be prepared for some serious sticker shock as the dollar is weak. They asked me to verify myself and confirm my order via email, and then shortly thereafter (maybe a week) I got the shipping number. Then came the first bit of heartburn: I received an alert from UPS that my order was in customs and I needed to pay some absurd "tariff fee" to get my package. An unexpected expense, irritating, and it was a MATERIAL amount. I paid it, but I wasn't happy with the surprise charge. Is what it is. It took about a week to arrive. Initial Impressions It is a beast. Big and heavy. Looks very well-made and high quality. I ordered a VKB conversion kit so I could attach my Gunfighter grip, and an extra mounting plate (I probably didn't need the plate... more on that later). My first suggestion: READ THE ONLINE MANUAL. This thing is expensive, so I took my time and didn't just plug and play. I definitely learned some things regarding setup and configuration by slowly going over the manual. I also watched a few YouTube videos which were helpful. The software is a bit intimidating, but eventually, I understood the basics and confirmed I was good to go. Installing my grip was easy. It’s very much plug-and-play, but again, read the manual and ensure you have the latest firmware (mine came with the latest) and have the power settings dialed in. I set the "strength level" knob to 50%, which seems about right for my tastes. Mounting This is a challenge. I couldn't find anything online that made sense for my setup, so I ended up taking a janky "MacGyver" approach. I went to Home Depot, got a 4x4 and a fence post mount, and just built a sketchy little mount that I attached to the floor lol. Not a permanent solution, but it works. This thing MUST be mounted firmly; due to the force, if the base moves, everything feels off. I will probably get a quick-detach plate eventually and search the earth for a mount that works. I didn't want an extension, so I just eyeballed a height that worked for me and secured the Rhino. Do your research on mounts (and feel free to share what you find!) as the size, height, and power of this thing are no joke. Flight! Powered up DCS and jumped into the MiG-29A FF. This thing shines with that plane. First, when you cold start, it goes through a trim reset process and moves the stick around. I was giddy watching my physical stick mirror the one on screen. So awesome. Flying it takes some getting used to when moving from a spring-based VKB to the Rhino. It feels VERY different, but awesome. The stick gets stiffer if you hit the afterburner. If you engage autopilot or set trim, the stick stays in place or moves as the avionics dictate. The immersion is incredible. If you slow down significantly, the stick softens up. It reacts realisticaly. It makes landing a lot easier, especially in the MiG-29A which takes some finesse. Also note: in the 29A, the stick rests fairly far forward with zero trim. I thought I had a config issue, but after some research, apparently, that’s just how the real plane is. Again, awesome for immersion. It's also a game-changer for rotors. I’ve flown the Apache, Huey, and Hind. It makes the Apache and Huey feel so much more intuitive. I still need to practice with the Hind as I was all over the place (even though I can usually handle it easily). It just takes a different kind of muscle memory. When cruising in the Huey at 110 knots with the nose down, that stick gives you a workout! Slow down and pull back, and you feel the tension loosen. Just great. Haven't flown in MSFS yet but will eventually. (Remember to click "FFB" in the Misc settings in DCS, btw). Final Thoughts I won't sugarcoat it: it ain't cheap. But I fly enough that I'm willing to buy top-end equipment. I own a Yoko+, Ruddo Pedals, and an NQ6+ engine control unit, so I'm happy to invest in a hobby I've been at for 10+ years. I think it’s going to be well worth it. Once I get the mount situation sorted, I'll be even happier. As an aside, I don't notice any annoying motor sounds or anything. It just works.

Hmm...I have a very nice ship on Star Citizen but I was so tired of the bugs and such I haven't flown it in ages. Will need to check it out.

I have on OnAir account and undecided on whether to renew. The missions do give you the incentive to visit small airports which gets you out of the rut of always flying the same routes. You make cash and purchase new planes and such. I’m just not sure I fly enough to justify the cost. If I was retired and flying hours each day then I’d keep it. I’d give it a B grade though. Has good depth but at times feels like a spreadsheet simulator outside the cockpit.

Yea, the native flight planning and autopilot in the Starship at first seemed intimidating but it is pretty easy to use so I do use that. I hear ya on the Garmin stuff. Kinda a "mood" quality of life thing where I'm just feelin' garmin avionics and flight planning. Some days in the mood for BAe 146 (amazing plane and systems), but other days I want to be lazy and gravitate towards EZ mode garmin stuff.

I eventually want to go to VATSIM but didn't feel comfortable diving into it, so I picked up SI. I think it is a decent training for newbs to ATC "basic" (and I should stress basic) communication but that's about it. It serves my purpose for IFR (haven't used for VFR, which I hear isn't that bad). Perhaps it is a setting issue but it never redirects me due to traffic in the area or anything when flying IFR. Still seems in its infancy and will see how fast new features and bug fixes go. But again, will ditch for VATSIM within a year most likely.

One of my favorite planes and BSQ NEVER disappoints. Though I can effectively land 95% of all aircraft in MSFS, the Starship gets away from me a bit at less than 100 feet from touchdown as the rudder/pedal inputs seem slow and it seems really floaty. Could be a calibration issue with my pedals? The location of the Garmin is a pain in the butt as so low in the center console, even with TrackIR. Seriously considering a hardware solution (like the RealSimGear Garmin panel) just for this plane. But otherwise, amazing plane with solid view from the cockpit.

I'd go Heatblur F-14 as the non-weapons fidelity is incredible. I have it in DCS as well but also in MSFS. Different sims and world give it a whole difference experience when flying the Tomcat in such a huge MSFS world.

I originally wanted a 5090 (came from a 2080 TI) but of course couldn't get one. I got super lucky and got a 5080 1 day after release (pre-tarrif price) so I snagged it, figuring I could easily sell it (and get my money back). For me I just really really really wanted 32 GB of VRAM. The 5080 was very nice, but being candid the 16 VRAM was problematic for me. MSFS 2024 improved drastically with the 5090, and I typically play AAA titles (MH Wilds, Black Myth, etc.). Though funny when I got the 5090 I started thinking maybe I should find some use for the 5080. Thanks all for some really good responses to my questions. Seems like in the short term for civ sims I can simply leverage existing stuff, though some noted those are pay to play or subscription. Also after thinking about it perhaps the AI would be better for DCS (I basically play DCS as much as I do MSFS), as I'm not aware of any robust AIs that provide real-time system information for miliary aircraft, but perhaps that exists as well.

So I've resisted the AI bandwagon thing for philosophical reasons, e.g., I still want to think for myself and I'm not jazzed about contributing to Skynet eventually becoming self aware Terminator style. That said, I was dealing with a work issue recently and a colleague of mine said, "let's see what an AI thinks" and honestly, it gave a pretty good answer lol. So here I am. I have asked my AMZN Alexa, "what is the approach speed for [insert plane here]" occasionally. That's about it to date. So I replaced my RTX 5080 with a 5090. Still have the 5080. I also have some decent PC stuff from my old PC, e.g., a very good 360 radiator (hardware labs), various water cooling supplies, 2x Corsair pumps/reservoirs, etc. Even still got my 2080 ti and i9-9900 collecting dust in the basement. I started to think, "ya know, that 5080 would probably be decent for a dedicated AI machine...." So now I want to explore making a standalone rig that is solely used as an AI. The primary purpose would be for flight sim stuff (MSFS 2024 and DCS). Checklists, trip planning, troubleshooting, airplane info, etc. Would be super helpful in DCS for quick questions about systems (I own a lot of modules and just so hard to remember everything as I like to switch aircraft a bit on multiplayer). I envision it being an HAL of sorts where I can verbally ask questions while flying in DCS or MSFS, and getting helpful information. I frequently google weapon information ("What is the ceiling range of a SA-11 SAM") while playing DCS, and would be cool to get that info from an AI co-pilot of sorts. The questions: 1) Has anyone done this? 2) Where the heck do I start? I've been building my own PCs for 20+ years (just wrapped up a 19-14900KF/5090 build for my flight sims and work). I did the Google thing but just so much information. I'm looking for concise, trusted content that people have referred to get started. Any suggested youtubers or content providers? 3) Thinking about a linux machine? I've dabbled with Linux many moons ago and didn't seem all that intense, so willing to get back into it if it makes sense. 4) Hardware requirements? I'm not spending what I spent on my main rig or I'll be panhandling and missing mortgage payments. Do I have to go with a i9-14900 or high end AMD CPU? Re-use my i9-99000 which was a beast for 5 years, but I decided to upgrade it. I'd like to keep it under $2K US (already have the GPU as I'll use the 5080).; Frankly, any advice, suggestions (yes, I will do a lot of Google and YouTube searches) appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Little bit of a different build, but i9-14900k and 5090 with 64 GB ram and I just use the optimized settings from Nvidia app and pretty much run everything on high and ultra and the sim runs incredibly smooth and I'm constantly saying, "@#$@$, this looks good" (MSFS 2024). I don't use autoFPS anymore just don't think I need it now.

I don't like Comcast, however, Xfinity (which is sub of comcast I believe and what they call it in my area) does have and unlimited plan with its fastest speeds. I was on the 1 TB plan and as you pointed out, yes, it sucked as I reached those levels mid month (I work from home so that contributed). Got weekly texts, "you're over your limit so you owe us more money" I finally just bit the bullet and went with the unlimited fast speed line which wasn't that bad. Could be coincidence as I changed around the time MS was updating the sim a lit, but I replaced my old router (which the person on the phone laughed at as it was so old), got the new router, was on the new fast unlimited plan, and MSFS has been running exponentially better, so I'm generally happy., Only downside is Xfinity/Comcast customer services sucks and they have quite a bit of outages with very little communication to customers.

Nvidia driver 576.40 (released a few days ago) is very stable for my 5090 and since your driver they definitely have done some MSFS specific tweaks so consider getting the latest driver. Before that driver I was on 572.83 (due to crashing in Monster Hunter Wilds, which was fixed with the latest driver). Could try that.

So did one more flight last night, this time with a plane instead of a roto and at elevation. Flew out of Cape Town South Africa via free flight with the COWS DA-42. From free flight menu instantly went to the airport with the plane. Seems like the "load in hang is most apt to happen in heavily trafficked areas. African airports aren't as popular so thought I'd try flying down there. Pretty incredibly quite honestly. I didn't IFR/Navigraph for this trip as I suspected it would take me over the ocean and I wanted to be over land to sight see and also test performance better . 140 FPS the entire flight at 10,000 feet. Absolutely gorgeous everything. Super smooth panning with TrackIr, external and internal cockpit views amazing. I was thinking sometimes, "wow" just taking in the scenery and detail of the plane. Few bugs that deserve to be mentioned: 1) The Cape Town airport runway seemed to have foliage and such on the runway. I was wondering if that is just normal that they don't have a pristine runway down there. The plane recognized the foliage and did bump a little on takeoff. Thought that was odd and maybe a bug? 2) Of the three times I started the sim yesterday, once, when I "quit to desktop" nothing happened after a minute or so. I just closed on Steam but that was odd. So far so good. As an aside, those are the longest patch notes I've ever seen for any game EVER.

My experience (computer specs in sig). - Install of update and start of sim through sim. No issues. - Menus and such. No issues. - Free flight. Still a problem loading into. I picked the default G2 helicopter. Tried to launch hot on KRNT (Renton, WA just south of Seattle) and it would just hang. Tried my normal tricks (zoom in and try, zoom out and try), and wouldn't do it. I suspect the sim is under heavy load as everyone is playing with the new update. I then went to KEUG (Eugene Oregon) and after 2 tries it worked and I started hot. - FPS. Definitely an improvement. Pre-flight scene at 130 FPS. For 95% of the flight saw 80-130 FPS. All under 1,000 feet. For about 5% of the flight I did drop to 30 FPS and some slight stuttering, but not the ground breaking stuttering to 10 FPS that I've seen before. Just a few flights but encouraging. - Fidelity. Max Max style scenes and wonky trees still a big issues around KEUG. The Oregon Duck football stadium looks worse in 2024 than 2020, can't deny it. They still have some work to do in areas which didn't get special treatment. - I tried KBFI, a Boeing airport in Seattle not far from my house. Got in after 2 tries so that was good. An aftermarket airport (drz designs) and happy with the result. 80 FPS on take-off, and back to 80-130 under 1,000 feet. Flew to the city and landed at KRNT in Renton, WA and no stuttering whatsoever. Fidelity looked better, e.g., trees, building, etc., as Seattle area probably got the special treatment when it came to rendering the city. Quite happy as usual Seattle area has a big hit on performance. This looked good. - Still issues with docs and boats being under water. Just 2 flights in a default roto, but encouraging.... All settings were at max or ultra btw...

So I managed to get a MSI RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC from the MSI website directly. Was a dumb bundle with a $200 power supply that I don’t need, but I’ll just sell the PSU or use it in another build. My initial impressions grade: A-. Ordering process and delivery. I just randomly checked the MSI shop website and saw it available so total impulse buy. Took less than a week to get to me. (I'm in Washington and was shipped from California.) The box had “MSI” branding on it which was kinda stupid IMHO (invites thieves), but alas, it was in the box. Driver just left it on my porch even though he should have got my signature. Box was heavily taped, but the two boxes (PSU and Card) were haphazardly put in a large box so they could shake around. Didn’t think it was a great job of packing, but the card is fine. First Observation. @#$@#$@, it is HUGE. Like a substantial amount bigger than the 5080. The Rig and Installation Installed on a MSI Z790 ACE motherboard with a water cooled i9-14900KF and 64 GB of RAM. Just air cooling the 5090 for now. Used a vertical riser cable but used a PCie 4 riser instead of 5. Heard there were some issues with using PCIe 5 risers so didn’t risk it as a negligible performance hit. So a “on its side” mount with the fans facing the front of the case. Run a 3 monitor set-up, the main being a 45" 240Hz OLED at 3440 x 1440. 2nd monitor an old ultrawide LG and the third is a tiny hardware monitoring screen that is part of my case. Booted up the machine and worked out the box. I immediately checked my ROPs with GPU-Z and all there. Loaded up the Nvidia app and had the latest driver, but also installed the hotfix that was released earlier today (was hoping it fixed my Monster Hunter Wilds issue with the 5080 - more on that later…). Idles at 38C to 53C (using Riva Tuner and AIDA 64 for hardware monitoring). Like the MSI 5080 fans don’t come on until under load. Under load it actually runs cooler than the 5080. I have never exceeded 65C while playing DCS, MSFS 2024, Civ VII or Monster Hunter Wilds. Impressive cooling. MSFS 2024 Performance. Ummmm…wow. So with the 5080, MSFS 2024 ran “alright” butt honestly a little disappointing. Suffered from stuttering and such in career mode sometimes, or in heavily congested areas. 80% of the time pleased, but had to dial back some graphic settings and still dealt with 99% VRAM usage and related issues. The 32 RAM makes a HUGE difference it seems. I “optimized” the 5090 for MSFS in the Nvida app, which basically made it ultra and high everything. Once I hit the menu, everything was noticeably crisper and faster. Loading into the plane from the “free flight” worked, whereas before about 10% of the time it would hang. Once the plane showed up the sim ran well with no stuttering. Started out at KRNT and flew over Seattle to Vancouver, BC, which is usually a little choppy as a a lot going on and traffic. Sim ran as smooth as ever, over 60 FPS on the ground and over 140 FPS at 10,000 feet. Track IR was smooth, the sim ran great. With the 5080 I’d sometimes get 10 FPS on taxi in busy airports. 5080 was fine at altitude generally, but sometimes would still dip in the 20s-30s. Definitely saw much larger power draws on the 5090. The 5080 would draw usually 125W to at most 250W. The 5090 a different beast, and saw 240-390W pretty consistently. Temps were pretty much the same as the 5080 though runs a little cooler. I think the MSI Gaming Trio is pretty quiet as well. I did notice that my motherboard and memory got a few Celsius warmer, likely due to the massive size and warm air coming out of the card, but well below pain thresholds. Then took the G2 helicopter and flew around recently updated Denver. Again, the rig purred like a kitten and was just easy on the 5090. Generally stable at low altitude and basically smooth sailing at less than 2,000 feet. Landed on a helicopter pad at a hospital in downtown Denver. I still get that wonky sound and stutter issues from time to time, but not as bad as with the 5080. Just seems to be a VRAM issues and clearly the 32 GB helps. I'm thinking it is more of an MSFS problem instead of a Nvidia problem. Other Games… The 5090 handles DCS with ease, though in fairness the 5080 handled it well too. My one major disappointment is Monster Hunter Wilds crashed while I was playing on the 5090. This is not new, as the latest driver from Nvidia did something and my 5080 also crashed MHW (a well documented issue on reddit). Works flawlessly for MSFS, but really annoyed that Nvidia messed up the MHW compatibility (or Capcom). I guess the only thing is it was better. The graphics were leaps and bounds better than what the 5080 put out which is impressive (yes, it is noticeable), but when I used the latest drivers the game would crash within 30 seconds of getting in the game with the 5080. I thought I was in the clear with the newest hotfix and the 5090. Ran around the Gathering Hub, ran some errands, no issues. But did a multiplayer hunt and about 13 minutes in the game crashed. So better, but still annoyed. I rolled back to the March driver and no crashes in MSW. I'll just need to wait for a patch that works for MHW. Conclusion So is it worth the money? Well depends. For me, probably yes, as I pretty much fly something 5 days a week (DCS or MSFS) and I’m an avid gamer who will put thousands of hours in the card over a 5 year period. The price is still obscene, but I guess I look at it that for the thousands of hours of use, it will probably cost me less than $.50 cents an hours, So no regrets. As for the power cord issues, I of course used the cord that came with my PSU and the GPU and properly seated so I don’t anticipate any issues. Happy to answer any questions.