New PC

[Vonrd]

I posted this on the IL2 forum:

 

Time for a new PC. I have a budget of about $3000 but can go up a bit if necessary. I've been doing numerous Partpicker build examples and also looking at pre-builds. My head is swimming. I built my last PC and would have no issue building this one but it seems that pre-builds might be a better deal initially. It seems that there are lots of companies out there. Does anyone have recommendations for reputable builders?

 

Also, I'm wondering about the 7900XTX coming out in Dec. I've always had Nvidia but they seem to be overpricing everything at this point (not to mention the melting connector fiasco... yeah, probably user induced by not fully seating the connector but their response has been not very reassuring). Seems like a good GPU for the price. Thoughts?

 

And the CPU... again, I've always been Intel but what about the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X? Looks good as well and has been recommended by others. I seem to recall an issue with IL2 and AMD though.

 

This will be a dedicated gaming PC with VR emphasized. Besides IL2, DCS and MS Flight Sim are the main interest. Because of DCS antiquated game engine, high end components won't make as much difference but I would think that MS Flight Sim would benefit. IL2 runs surprisingly well in VR for me as opposed to DCS. And DCS may, in the future, switch to a multicore engine.

 

Bottom line is that I'm now retired and on a fixed income so I need to future proof as much as possible. I may be able to do some upgrade in the future but this will possibly be my last all new PC.

 

I would greatly appreciate suggestions from those more knowledgeable about the tech involved than I am (I know you're out there since I've seen some really good posts on the subject). 

Any advise? @Snaggle I've also looked into NZXT as you recommended... thanks! I just want to check out all options.

[Klaiber]

I'm shopping for a new PC as well.  My budget is about the same.

I've been checking out NZXT, but haven't figured out whether I should do a custom build or do a pre-built.

[Flyboy]

I’m on my second MSI gaming laptop and MSI has been the best gaming laptops I’ve ever owned (this is my sixth). I recommend zTech computers as they did a great job helping me set it up including a clean windows install and extra heat sinks. 

[Flyboy]

ztecpc.com

They specialize in gaming rigs, located in Oregon and have a great warranty program. Were very helpful on the phone helping me personalize what I wanted based on my needs.

[Lipfert]

Kameraden,

Users seem to like these guys: https://www.originpc.com/

I'm told this is an amazing processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core/16-Thread 7nm ZEN 3 Processor - Socket AM4 4.5GHz boost, 100MB Cache, 105W 100-100000651WOF

S!

[Vonrd]

I'm leaning toward this:

https://www.newegg.com/p/3D5-000Z-000D9?Item=9SIA08CJ7U8104

But I'll be giving up being able to specify the actual components. I did a PartsPicker with the specs as close as I could estimate and came up costing about $600 more if I built it myself. 

[Vonrd]

2 hours ago, Lipfert said:

I'm told this is an amazing processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core/16-Thread 7nm ZEN 3 Processor - Socket AM4 4.5GHz boost, 100MB Cache, 105W 100-100000651WOF

It seems that there are still issues with AMD products and IL2. I think I'll go with Intel and Nvidia (but I'm holding my nose in doing so).

[Snaggle]

24 minutes ago, Vonrd said:

Intel and Nvidia (but I'm holding my nose in doing so).

I've never had an issue and that is all I've ever owned, since my first PC 1985, ouch that's a long time ago.

[Lipfert]

50 minutes ago, Vonrd said:

I'm leaning toward this:

https://www.newegg.com/p/3D5-000Z-000D9?Item=9SIA08CJ7U8104

But I'll be giving up being able to specify the actual components. I did a PartsPicker with the specs as close as I could estimate and came up costing about $600 more if I built it myself. 

I'd go with a RTX 3080 TI over a RTX 3090. 

S!

[Vonrd]

Pantherculese has the same rig and I found out some of the parts that are actually installed. The total on PartsPicker is actually $2775 so not as great a deal as I thought.

 

@Lipfert

9 minutes ago, Lipfert said:

I'd go with a RTX 3080 TI over a RTX 3090. 

What's the reason?

[Gus]

10 minutes ago, Lipfert said:

I'd go with a RTX 3080 TI over a RTX 3090. 

S!

The switch from a RTX 3080Ti to RTX 3090 made a difference to me. Well, not like a milestone difference, but noticable difference. The more VRAM pays off in DCS. You can´t have enough VRAM nowadays, I´d say. Surely depends also on the price difference of these cards, but if it´s not so much, I would invest that little more and go for the 3090. Also I would say, that  the 24GB VRAM of the 3090 will be longer sufficient in future.   

Don´t know the pricing of today, but maybe there´s a good offer on black friday sales this friday.

[Lipfert]

27 minutes ago, Gus said:

The switch from a RTX 3080Ti to RTX 3090 made a difference to me. Well, not like a milestone difference, but noticable difference. The more VRAM pays off in DCS. You can´t have enough VRAM nowadays, I´d say. Surely depends also on the price difference of these cards, but if it´s not so much, I would invest that little more and go for the 3090. Also I would say, that  the 24GB VRAM of the 3090 will be longer sufficient in future.   

Don´t know the pricing of today, but maybe there´s a good offer on black friday sales this friday.

Gus,

My apps never use more the 16GB of VRAM, feel like I've left 8GB on the table.

S!

[Lipfert]

30 minutes ago, Vonrd said:

Pantherculese has the same rig and I found out some of the parts that are actually installed. The total on PartsPicker is actually $2775 so not as great a deal as I thought.

 

@Lipfert

What's the reason?

I keep getting beat by RTX 3080 ti in my 3DMark scores, I'll see if I can track down some specs.

S!

[Lipfert]

1 hour ago, Vonrd said:

It seems that there are still issues with AMD products and IL2. I think I'll go with Intel and Nvidia (but I'm holding my nose in doing so).

Bang for the buck, but I hear a few of the 12th Gen intel are good. Stay away from 11 Gen.

S!

[Vonrd]

How does this look?

Copy / paste from here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/rkdodge/saved/#view=KxDPJx

Component		Selection		Price
CPU			Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor	$459.00	Buy
CPU Cooler			Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$159.99	Buy
Thermal Compound			Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste	$7.49	Buy
Motherboard			Asus ROG STRIX Z690-G GAMING WIFI Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$322.99	Buy
Memory			Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory	$134.99	Buy
Storage			Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$99.99	Buy
Video Card			NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24 GB Video Card	$1449.00	Buy
Case			Phanteks Eclipse G360A ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.99	Buy
Power Supply			Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$179.99	Buy
Operating System			Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit	$99.99	Buy
Case Fan			Cooler Master SickleFlow 62 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack	$59.99	Buy
Total:				$3063.41

[Gus]

@Lip: I didn´t measured anything on the 3090 / 3080 Ti, but have read in the DCS forums, that some guys mentioned, that DCS sometimes uses all of the 24GB VRAM, sometimes only half of it. I think the longer you stay in a DCS session, the more VRAM get used, but that´s just an assumption. What I can say for sure, is, that the more memory you got, the easier and faster it is for the app to address the blocks within the available capacity, means the app does not have to figure out the available free blocks on the RAM to write on, what costs performance, but could flood the RAM randomly very fast, if enough of it is available. But that´s all I know about VRAM.   

Von, you could get a Win10 License key for 20 bucks or less and just download the official win10 installer on a USB stick and fill in the license key later.

[Vonrd]

The folks ay NZXT Discord were extremely helpful. This is what Typhanie came up with. Very convincing argument regarding AMD CPU. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/rkdodge/saved/#view=MCBXRB

[Vonrd]

59 minutes ago, Gus said:

Von, you could get a Win10 License key for 20 bucks or less and just download the official win10 installer on a USB stick and fill in the license key later.

Yeah Gus, I just found this out at the NZXT Discord. Great and helpful people there.

[Vonrd]

1 hour ago, Vonrd said:

The folks ay NZXT Discord were extremely helpful. This is what Typhanie came up with. Very convincing argument regarding AMD CPU. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/rkdodge/saved/#view=MCBXRB

I decided to order. 

[Etzel]

Well, it's anyhow too late now and I cannot tell too much on all the GPU stuff, but regarding the CPU: I have an AMD 7 5800X, did cost 480 € (1.5 years ago) and that CPU is doing a real great job; recogniced that in IL2 Single Player Campaign missions, where on my old client when many AI planes appeard the game turned slow motion and when an enemy plane passed me heads on he flew by with 3 screens...felt like 2 FPS. Flying a mission with dense activity in my new one (large bomber formatins with 12 planes, inkluding 4 or more escorts and at least 6 friendlies around) => no perfomance issue at all!

We also had few Co-Op-Missions for the european group with some AI activity running on that machine without any issue.

So regarding the CPU I am really happy with my Ryzen and I see no reason to step back to intel any more...

[Gus]

11 hours ago, Vonrd said:

I decided to order. 

That will be a Monster PC! 

[Lipfert]

Good comparison video:

 

[Lipfert]

I've never heard of that PSU, can you get a SeaSonic instead?

[Lipfert]

On 11/21/2022 at 4:23 PM, Vonrd said:

I'm leaning toward this:

https://www.newegg.com/p/3D5-000Z-000D9?Item=9SIA08CJ7U8104

But I'll be giving up being able to specify the actual components. I did a PartsPicker with the specs as close as I could estimate and came up costing about $600 more if I built it myself. 

Ouch, bad review of SkyTech.

 

[Vonrd]

All right, the machine is built and running but not without some heart stopping incidence.

At first boot there was no signal to the monitor... completely black ... and the VGA light was on on the MoBo. I did all the usual troubleshooting... pulled the GPU and checked the PCIe slot and GPU, checked all connections, tried with one RAM stick and then the other with no joy. I connected the monitor directly to the MoBo and was able to enter BIOS. Installed Windows. 

While searching for troubleshooting I came across this:

Not having display output with latest nVidia 4000-series graphics cards

A: If you are not able to have a display output from the brand-new purchased system components (motherboards in specific), please find below suggested resolution steps:

1. Temporarily move your monitor’s display signal source to the motherboard side. Seek for graphics cards’ product page for firmware update and follow suppliers’ update instructions.

Sure enough, on Nvidia support site...

NVIDIA GPU UEFI Firmware Update Tool

Yep, that fixed it. I suppose Nvidia isn't broadcasting this more because of the poor press on the 4000 series cards.

 

Anyway, I've updated all drivers, messed around with Windows settings and just did a fresh install of DCS which took overnight and more to DL all the modules.

Now to DL IL2...

I have to do some cable management tidying and rearranging my desk to allow two PCs to run.

 

Does anyone remember which files to port over for control bindings in both DCS and IL2?

 

I'll try to make tonight's DCS practice but will probably still be on my old machine.