Hi all, 

I am planning to upgrade my computer step-by-step. Currently I am limited by main thread with my old 8700K. Both in 2D and VR. My first plan is to upgrade my CPU and mobo to something fresh. Thinking 13900K. Even though my 1080 ti is an old GPU I am hoping the CPU upgrade alone will give me many more FPS!

But what about VR? Do you think I will see some improvements there as well? I am sure the GPU will be the new limit after this upgrade but since my CPU always was the bottleneck then I don't really know how much the 1080ti can do in MS VR.

What do you think?

Ps. In about a year or so I will upgrade the 1080 to 4090 when (hopefully) the price is lower.

 

Hi there,

I updated my rig from a 9700K to the 13900KF along with a 4090...

as for VR, it is chalk and cheese... no more hunting or tweaking the system endlessly for better frames... VR is smooth without using OXRTK...my HP Reverb G2 is perfectly fine until i get more funds to get the aero etc...

The upgrade is WELL worth it on all levels...

 

You might want to check out the post below and run a bottleneck calculator. The issue with Vonduck's post is he upgraded to a 4090 which will skew what you are seeking.

 

Nope waste of money. You need a better graphics card first.

 

MSFS is very GPU dependent, especially in VR so I wouldn't expect to see any real improvement changing the CPU since the 8700k is actually fairly decent. If you fly MSFS then I would upgrade the 1080Ti first and make sure you get something with plenty of VRAM.

On 1/3/2023 at 7:50 AM, Garys said:

Nope waste of money. You need a better graphics card first.

 

Right, I was just thinking - since I am limited by main thread today at around 30-ish FPS I will still be around that performance with a better GPU right? Since the CPU will be the bottleneck?

21 hours ago, simfan1983 said:

MSFS is very GPU dependent, especially in VR so I wouldn't expect to see any real improvement changing the CPU since the 8700k is actually fairly decent. If you fly MSFS then I would upgrade the 1080Ti first and make sure you get something with plenty of VRAM.

Yes, true. But also as I mentioned to Garys just now;  since I am limited by main thread today (according to MSFS dev mode) at around 30-ish FPS, will I not be more or less around that performance with a better GPU? Since the CPU will be the bottleneck?

I was hoping for some more FPS with a 13900K and upgrade GPU when they are a bit "cheaper" but I guess I need to bite the bullet. Or wait 🙂

26 minutes ago, flightsim1818 said:

will I not be more or less around that performance with a better GPU? Since the CPU will be the bottleneck?

I'm not sure if I'm honest if it's worth just upgrading one and if so which is the better choice, my gut feel is GPU but this could be wrong. It's inevitable that if you upgrade GPU the CPU will then be the bottleneck. The 8700k and 1080Ti are well matched and the 8700k is overclockable up to around 5 GHz if you have good cooling and know what you are doing. You can also overclock the 1080Ti - I used Asus GPU Tweak to do this (I have Asus mobo). You can also overclock the RAM a bit if you have decent memory and mobo and don't go too far. If all your temps are currently good, go for a 5% overclock on everything, if that is stable try increasing things one at a time - 10% shouldn't create too much heat, but you have to watch temps and keep testing for stability.

I use Process Lasso for P3D and it makes a decent difference because you can make sure the logical corers used by P3D are kept clear of other non FS processes but I have read that Process Lasso doesn't work well with MSFS for some users.

Have you got hyperthreading enabled on your CPU in BIOS and is it overclocked at all? Make sure you have XMP memory profile enabled in BIOS so that your RAM is running at the rated speed.

I have a 1080Ti and  an 8700k similar to you.  This Christmas I took advantage of sales and started building a new pc.  My new setup is a 12900k and eventually a RTX4090 (It's on the way).  As such currently I have my 1080ti in there.  I have noticed some improvement in performance at a few busy or less optimized airports such as FlyTampa's KBOS.  I think as others have mentioned the 8700k and 1080ti are a perfect pair for each other.  Jumping several generations for a new GPU or a new CPU will make one or the other potentially bottleneck.

If you do the CPU, maybe look to get a used 2000 or 3000 series GPU and sell your 1080ti?

On 1/2/2023 at 4:24 AM, flightsim1818 said:

Hi all, 

I am planning to upgrade my computer step-by-step. Currently I am limited by main thread with my old 8700K. Both in 2D and VR. My first plan is to upgrade my CPU and mobo to something fresh. Thinking 13900K. Even though my 1080 ti is an old GPU I am hoping the CPU upgrade alone will give me many more FPS!

But what about VR? Do you think I will see some improvements there as well? I am sure the GPU will be the new limit after this upgrade but since my CPU always was the bottleneck then I don't really know how much the 1080ti can do in MS VR.

What do you think?

Ps. In about a year or so I will upgrade the 1080 to 4090 when (hopefully) the price is lower.

 

Not sure about many more fps but you'll see a difference I'd imagine.

Last Feb I went from a 4790K/1080 Ti -> 12700K/1080 Ti - got about double the fps at 1440p resolution.  Last month I swapped into a RTX 4080 - double the fps minimum - but sometimes triple or more if you enable frame gen and or dlss3.

in Jan22 I had a 9700k with a 1080ti. In April I upgraded to a 3080Ti paired with my 9700k, It was a great improvement but was still struggling approaching heavy density airports with AI activated. Also, I was somehow restricted only to DX11 since DX12 was giving me issues when VRAM was exceeded with artifacts plus FPS down to the 20's.

Last month I jumped from 9700k (and DDR4) to 13900K (and DDR5), I can say I increased LOD to 200, and running almost everything at ultra, but the 12GB of my 3080ti was still holding me in DX11 which in my opinion didn't unleashed all the cpu capacity.

Last week I decided to switch to 4090 to replace the 3080ti and man!!! I have never experienced the satisfaction of landing in inibuilds EGLL with the Fenix, everything at ultra, LOD 300, AI live FSTL activated, DX12, on LG C1 48" 4k, VRAM at 19gb, Frame generation ON and TAA, and my FPS never dropped 60 from the approach until the touchdown.

I would suggest to go for the 4090 first and keep your current setup, I am pretty sure you will be able to get a lot from that 8700k and current setup a least for a year. Maybe the 7950X3D would be the next king in Flight sim processor.