3440 x 1440 ultra-wide driven by GTX 1080 with I7-6700K vs old I7-920 @4.0GHz

[MileHiRyder]

I’m thinking about building a new I7-6700K based PC with a GTX 1080 GPU specifically to drive a 21:9, 3440x1440 ultra wide monitor for DCS. I’m hoping it would provide good fps minimums for smooth play of this sim. Does anyone have experience with a similar setup you can share performance info and advice on?

 

Also, I’m currently running an older core I7 920 Bloomfield CPU overclocked to 4.0GHz, hyper-threading turned off, 12 Gigs of DDR3 memory and a GTX 650TI Boost GPU that struggles a bit with DCS at 1080P. Keeping in mind the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard only supports up to PCI express 2.0 x 16 , any opinions regarding what I’d get simply dropping a GTX 1070 or 1080 into my current rig?

 

Thanks

Edited June 30, 2016 by MileHiRyder

[cichlidfan]

The CPU will probably bottleneck before a 1070/80 will get stressed.

[agrasyuk]

If budget is a concern then clocked 6600K will perform exactly the same as 6700K for DCS purposes. I would not build a system around anything older then sandy bridge at this point so put your first gen i7 on eBay to offset the cost somewhat (my old 950+platform fetched about 150bucks)

[Konovalov]

Hi MileHiRyder,

 

My rig as per signature is similar to yours as far as CPU/MB/memory and I also have it overclocked to 4.1Ghz with HT turned off. I previously had a old GTX460 which really struggled in DCS 1.5 at 1440p. Would have also struggled at 1080p. :smilewink:

 

I swapped out my GTX460 1GB card for a GTX970 and it brought significant improvement.

 

My suggestion would first be to look at replacing your GPU with the best that your budget allows and see what gains that brings. Then after that decide when you want to move to a completely new platform such as Skylake. Given that you are looking at a monitor with 21:9, 3440x1440 resolution a 1070 would be a good fit.

[BitMaster]

My findings are such:

 

CPU over GPU for 1.5.x

GPU over CPU for 2.x

 

Aim for somewhere way over 4GHz to drive any card like 970 or bigger to it's limits.

 

It's somehow impossible to flood my 980GTX in 1.5 but is easily done in 2.x. DX11 utilises then CPU just so much better that a fast CPU has the chance to flood a GPU..up to a certain sweet spot.

 

I have tested up to 5.250MHz on my CPU and it still wasnt enough for 1.5 MP 104th settings to flood the GPU. In 2.x 4.8GHz is enough to often drive the GPU towards 99% usage while having even better frames.

 

Seeing 2.x as the future, I would invest in a real high end 8GB card now and see how far Bloomfield carries you in 2.x. You can always swop the CPU/mobo/RAM underneath later on.

I'd buy the fastest CPU you can afford. Bottomline is the GPU can only show what the CPU can deliver first place. You just dont need a very fast card if you dont intend to drive your CPU towards or past 4.5 GHz as most who can do.

[Abburo]

The configuration in my signature is runnig 4k with everyting in full detail very smooth. From 50 to 180 FPS. Your resolution is even smaller than mine so it should run overall even better.

[adrianstealth]

I'm using an i7 2600k with 1080 with great results

 

firestrike bench 17233

 

i my cpu watercooled and overclocked at 4.6ghz

 

remember most titles including DCS only use 1 and a bit cpu cores and the i7 2600 has very good single core performance (benchmarks are good at utilising more cores)

 

the 6700k has also great single core performance, do get a good cooler for it so you can run some overclock

[Hadwell]

The first gen I7s have a lot less IPC than the sandy bridge, even running at 4GHz, it's rougly the speed of a 2600K at 3.5~ ghz, also the new 6600K actually is slightly slower than the 3930K, and that's even before overclocking, I believe the 3930K is a slightly better overclocker too...

 

the latest gen CPU's are basically intels entry into 14NM, very small dies, good efficiency, but we're going to need to wait for intel to make a big CPU using 14NM before it actually brings any performance gains...

 

TL: DR

 

the 6600K-6700K sacrifice performance for high efficiancy, there are older CPUs that are faster, though far less efficiant.

[Arctic]

I recently upgraded my old CPU (I7 2600K @ ~4,4GHz) to an new 6 Core I7 6850K which is not overclocked yet. It gave me better FPS especially in VR, where its about every ms... Only for 4K, which i have since a year or so now (with a 980 Strix at the moment), my old CPU was good enough. For the standard User, IMO, there's no need to upgrade an CPU like the 2600k... Better spend the money on an 1080 for 4K

 

And for Full HD a 980 or less is also enough for a decent experience in DCS...

[MileHiRyder]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll wait for the pricing to settle down on the new GTX 1080 cards then buy one and drop it in my current pc to see how it runs. I can later use it in a new build to fully utilize it's capabilities.

[MileHiRyder]

Well, I took the plunge got a GTX 1080 and dropped it into my current PC. It’s now driving an ASUS Rog PG348Q 34” 3440 x 1440 monitor. I wanted to see just how much my older machines performance would improve but also how much it might throttle the GTX 1080 prior to me building a new PC with the latest motherboard and CPU. After playing with it for about a month I must say I’m just confused.

 

I can get decent frame rates flying low over Vegas in DCS 2.0 (dropping into the 40’s at times) but in DCS 1.5 and on the tarmac at Nellis it struggles. For example at the beginning of a quick mission within DCS 1.5 on the ground my frame rate can be in the 20’s and gameplay is choppy. But when I look at GPU and CPU usage using MSI afterburner, my GPU is sitting around 40% and CPU is at about 50%. Why are my frame rates terrible when both GPU and CPU are coasting?? I have both the game and operating system on SSD’s and 12GB of 3 channel memory.

 

I would like to understand where the bottleneck is prior to spending money on a new build. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Demon_]

But when I look at GPU and CPU usage using MSI afterburner, my GPU is sitting around 40% and CPU is at about 50%.

 

Try CPUID HWMonitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

[MileHiRyder]

Try CPUID HWMonitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

 

Ok, thanks. I downloaded it and used it and find the same thing. When frame rates hit the floor [20's], GPU usage can sometimes be around 40% and CPU around 50 to 60%. Many times my frame rates are fine and gameplay is smooth with this gsync monitor but I'm focusing on trying to understand the times they're not. What might I be missing?

[Demon_]

Mine with DCS 1.2 at 3240x1920.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Demon_

[tintifaxl]

Ok, thanks. I downloaded it and used it and find the same thing. When frame rates hit the floor [20's], GPU usage can sometimes be around 40% and CPU around 50 to 60%. Many times my frame rates are fine and gameplay is smooth with this gsync monitor but I'm focusing on trying to understand the times they're not. What might I be missing?

 

As DCS uses only two cores if the cpu, @50% your cpu is maxed out for DCS. Apparently the CPU is so busy calculating stuff, it doesn't provide enough updates for the GPU to render more than 20 fps.

[BitMaster]

When you get that 6700k, watch out when overclocking...apparently I just fried one :(

 

Intel is involved so if I am lucky they replace it, if not...I will go for a 7700k...WHICH YOU SHOULD DO TOO !!!

 

DON'T get a 6700k if you still hold the bucks in your hand, get the 7700k, far better overclocker from all reviews that are already out. 5GHz is well doable on most with 1.30-1.35Volts, whereas the 6700k rarely clocks beyond 4.7 stable and 5GHz is like winning the lottery millions. Dont bet on such luck my friend !

 

The 6700k and 7700k both run in Z170 and Z270 boards, just for the 170's you need a Bios update.

 

From all reviews they did, they said the CPU is the crucial part in overclocking, not the board so much anymore. rather get a 150$ board and a 400$ CPU than taking money from the CPU for a bigger board if you are on a budget ( who isnt ?? ).

 

Just my findings after 6 weeks working on a 6700k and 2 Z170 boards that drove me crazy

[Konovalov]

Pretty much what Bit said above as far as advise goes. Only pay more money for motherboard if there are extra features/connectivity options that you need. Cheap Asus Prime Aurora Z270 overclocks to 5ghz new Kaby K CPU's just like the far more expensive ROG boards.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xWARGOx]

I will be receiving half my new components for my new build. Asus Formula 270, 7700k, EVA 1080FTW ect.... I would like to get the ASUS Rog PG348Q as mentioned above basically for DCS/BMS and wondering what to expect out of it. Hope to have the build up and running in about 2 weeks once everything comes in. Been debating on monitor for soooo long now. Just want some feedback

[alieneye]

You can take a look at the performance flight in Nevada, that I made a month ago. GTX980ti, rest of the specs in sig.

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by alieneye

[MileHiRyder]

So I flew the SU27 from Creech to Las Vegas to somewhat emulate Alieneye's flight above and it was nice and smooth. Frame rates went from the high 90's and dropped into the high 40's flying low over the Vegas strip. Checking the CPUID HWMonitor I found that all 4 cores of my CPU had hit a max of 100% sometime during the flight which is interesting.

 

It seems that my old system is throttling my GTX1080 quite a bit based on others experience so a new build is in the works. Most likely with the latest 7700K CPU/Z270 board combo.

 

xWargox; please report back regarding your performance with your new build and don't hesitate getting the Asus Rog348Q. It's a beautiful monitor and Gsync works great smoothing things out even when frame rates drop into the 30's with my old system.

[splash]

Mine is a i7 920 overclocked at 4 GHz and GPU load is normally under 50% and CPU Core #4 around 70% (DCS appears to have more affinity for that core) and sometimes fps drop into the 30-40 range, specially in Nellis Air Base. Yesterday I upped the BCLK to 200 and clocked to 4,2 GHz with no gain. Probably my processor is bottlenecking my GTX 1070, but I supposed that would happen when CPU usage were above 90-95%.

[Konovalov]

That's one reason why I am retiring my I7-950/X58. My 1070 just isn't feeling the love.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[splash]

A 6600K/6700K/7700K is the way to go. Higher clock frecuency is better than more cores (5820K, 6800K), at least for DCS.

[MileHiRyder]

Well I pulled the trigger on the new build and the parts should be arriving tomorrow. This is what I ordered:

 

CASE: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass

MB: Asus Rog Maximus IX Hero Z270

CPU: I7 - 7700K

MEM: Gskill TridentZ RGB 16GB DDR4 3200

Drives: Samsung 960 EVO M.2 500GB and Seagate BarraCuda 3TB Hard Drive

Cooler: NZXT Kraken X62

PS: Corsair RM750X

OS: Windows 10 Home

 

I’ll drop my MSI GTX1080 into this build.

 

Can someone tell me exactly what folders I can copy from my old PC to my new one to salvage my control settings if this is even possible?

 

Also, should I unactivate my old DCS installation before I install and activate my new one or does it not make any difference.

 

Thanks

Edited February 2, 2017 by MileHiRyder
spelling

[MileHiRyder]

Is 7700K way better than 4790K (4.4GHz) today?

I was hoping to hold on to it 2 more years.

 

I'd hold on longer if I were you but then again I waited over 7 years with my I7-920 before upgrading to the build listed above. :D