26 minutes ago, Luke said:

If you're having slow boot times, look for "Memory Context Restore" under the memory timings. That will get your boots nice and fast since it doesn't need to re-benchmark the RAM each boot. My 7800X3D now boots faster than any of my Intel machines did.

Cheers

I did enable that when looking into slow boot times, and that did speed up my boot times with EXPO disabled, but enabling EXPO slowed them back down again.

I'm also about to build a new system. Replacing my old i7 7700K with 14700K. Why Intel ? Well because I also use the machine for photo en video editing and then Intel outruns AMD by a mile. If just for games, yes then go for a X3D. (or wait a few months for the new 9 series)

28 minutes ago, Cognita said:

Great topic! I am also looking to change out my system in the next couple of months. My 10700K is getting old and I am having intermittent power issues with random shutdowns from time to time.

I have also been an Intel customer for a very long time, having had one very bad experience with an AMD chip back in the early 2000s but agree with the general sentiment here that it is best to avoid 13 and 14 generation processors at this time. I would stick with Nvidia, however. And, yes their 5000 series cards are in development but have also been rumored to have problems and the commercial versions have been pushed back to the first quarter of 2025; so who knows when the gaming versions will become available and if they will be stable.

For those of you with the 7800X3D, how is it with other tasks, not flight simulator related? I have heard these chips struggle with productivity software but I am not sure what that means. I have one computer for everything and use it extensively for work -- offices, databases, PowerBI, etc. Is there any drawback using it for these kinds of tasks over Intel?

I do use Lightwave 3D, and did a sample test render on my old system before disassembly (10900K on an Asus Z490 Hero board, 64mb DDR4 ram, 3090), it came out at 33 seconds. On my new 7800X3D, X670E board with 64mb DDR5 and same 3090, it was 24 seconds, bearing in mind that I was still using the old windows install for the test. I've since done a clean windows install. Not done any testing with other programs though, but seems plenty fast enough.

58 minutes ago, Cognita said:

Great topic! I am also looking to change out my system in the next couple of months. My 10700K is getting old and I am having intermittent power issues with random shutdowns from time to time.

I have also been an Intel customer for a very long time, having had one very bad experience with an AMD chip back in the early 2000s but agree with the general sentiment here that it is best to avoid 13 and 14 generation processors at this time. I would stick with Nvidia, however. And, yes their 5000 series cards are in development but have also been rumored to have problems and the commercial versions have been pushed back to the first quarter of 2025; so who knows when the gaming versions will become available and if they will be stable.

For those of you with the 7800X3D, how is it with other tasks, not flight simulator related? I have heard these chips struggle with productivity software but I am not sure what that means. I have one computer for everything and use it extensively for work -- offices, databases, PowerBI, etc. Is there any drawback using it for these kinds of tasks over Intel?

They don’t struggle with productivity softwares, but they are outperformed by other similar in price CPUs (like Intel CPUs and Amd non-3d cache CPUs), because they have lower clocks. 
 

If those softwares are important for you, maybe it would be better to choose another cpu. 

23 minutes ago, willy647 said:

Well because I also use the machine for photo en video editing and then Intel outruns AMD by a mile.

With which software? I honestly doubt that any Intel CPU "outruns" an AMD 7950X3D by "a mile". If yes, please show me some benchmarks supporting this claim. 

I mean, it's still an 8c / 16t very efficient and fast chip, it'll be pleeeenty for most people's 'productivity' tasks. Working with a few databases, some charts and light office work does not require a 32 core monster. And if you desperately need the cores, there's always the 7950x3D that comes with the caveat of a light added workload in making sure whatever you're running is on the 3D cache cores.

I'll echo others who have recommended trying to fix your current machine to stick it out a few months. Come November, there is a good chance we'll have NVidia's 50-series GPUs, and if you do want to stick with Intel, the new Core Ultra desktop line should also be out this fall with a new socket.

1 hour ago, willy647 said:

I'm also about to build a new system. Replacing my old i7 7700K with 14700K. Why Intel ? Well because I also use the machine for photo en video editing and then Intel outruns AMD by a mile. If just for games, yes then go for a X3D. (or wait a few months for the new 9 series)

Please, before you enter a world of stress

 

6 hours ago, Lucky38i said:

I want to stress to avoid Intel like the plague right now, they're 13th and 14th gen are inherently faulty products awaiting a microupdate to fix the amperage surge from oxidisation that they're currently experiencing.

I hate to be the "umm, actually" guy, but these were two separate issues... the oxidation was the result of a manufacturing defect in early revisions of 13th gen processors and was corrected for later 13th gen and all 14th gen processors. The amperage surge affected both 13th and 14th gen processors and is being corrected with microcode updates. Both can affect the stability of the processors, but only the second is correctable with the microcode update (if no damage already exists).

I have some hope for Intel in the future, but it probably won't be until next year that their desktop chips can better compete with AMD on both power and performance. 

FWIW:
Given the current issues Intel with the 13th and 14th generation, and their lack of proper response, I would stay miles away from any Intel processor.
About a year ago, I build a system around the AMD 7800X3D and the GTX4090 and never regretted it.

3 hours ago, Cognita said:

For those of you with the 7800X3D, how is it with other tasks, not flight simulator related? I have heard these chips struggle with productivity software but I am not sure what that means. I have one computer for everything and use it extensively for work -- offices, databases, PowerBI, etc. Is there any drawback using it for these kinds of tasks over Intel?

I don't notice anything.  But then again I do not compile with this machine...

I don't do any encoding etc. where I'm sure something like a 7900X or 14900 would be faster.  But if building primarily for MSFS, the 7800X3D is the one.

I'm also on the market for a new PC for MSFS, and have specced this up. I've been out of the hardware game for a long time and am pretty sure that for me the 7800x3d with a RTX4080 is the way to go. I'm not sure however about the M2 drives or cooler, or whether going for 6000MHz RAM is worth it or not?

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)

Get 2 Games with select AMD CPU & GPUs!

Motherboard

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

Memory (RAM)

32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card

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

Buy select GeForce RTX 40 Series*, get Black Myth: Wukong

Graphics Card Support Bracket

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

1st M.2 SSD Drive

1TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)

2nd 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

Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com

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

19 hours ago, Av8ing1 said:

I was an Intel user for many years as I saw the CPUs as solid, reliable and less troublesome. Of late though Intel has lost its way. I think the AMD choices should seriously be considered. I built a 7800X3D machine paired with a 4090 recently and it does very well with MSFS. I think the CPU is the best choice for the sim at the moment. Enough cores and the extra cache just does an excellent job. The PC is rock solid, very fast and responsive and I have zero issues. 

OK. Much thanks and appreciation for taking the lead on this.  Based on the "choir" I am going with your recommendation. 

Topic is SOLVED 

@Tom Wright. I would see if a USB C port is available to add cheaply.

9 hours ago, Fielder said:

@Tom Wright. I would see if a USB C port is available to add cheaply.

Theres already a 10GB USB C port on the motherboard he selected.