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Hi all,

 

My PC can handle 1.5 like a dream, but struggles with 2.1. I'm thinking about an upgrade in a couple months, but I have no idea what would be worth it.

 

My system:

i7-920 @ 3.2

GTX960

16G RAM

HDD

 

I reckon my graphics card is my most modern part of the equation, so I wouldn't touch it.

 

Plan A) Buy a new processor. If so, which one? Wouldn't that make a new motherboard needed too?

 

Plan B) Buy a 512 SSD. Should I reinstall windows on it as well as DCS? I've heard they are not very durable...

 

Plan C) double the RAM

 

Plan D) any combination of the above.

 

I don't have much more than 400 bucks for the whole project.

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

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... I reckon my graphics card is my most modern part of the equation, so I wouldn't touch it.

 

Plan A) Buy a new processor. If so, which one? Wouldn't that make a new motherboard needed too?

 

A current i7 processor is twice as fast as your current one, but it will require a new mobo and new ram as well, since the current motherboards use ddr4 memory rather than the ddr3 you have now.

 

I would discard this option, since it costs way more than us$400 (unless you can purchase it second hand, in which case a slightly older motherboard would allow you to keep your ram.

 

Plan B) Buy a 512 SSD. Should I reinstall windows on it as well as DCS? I've heard they are not very durable...

 

This option would greatly reduce loading times, but will not affect your current fps on DCS ... its nice to have, but its probably the last enhancement you would have. The early samples were not very durable, but that was solved long ago.

 

Plan C) double the RAM

 

You cant go double, since your current mobo tops out at 24 GB. It would not increase your fps in DCS, tough it would probable reduce stuttering.

 

Plan D) any combination of the above.

 

I don't have much more than 400 bucks for the whole project.

 

With that budget, I believe that the best option is actually to change your vga .. a gtx 1070 is twice as fast as your current card and it fits the budget. It would actually almost double your current fps. Afterwards, you could sell your used 960 and with that money buy 8 more GB of ram to top out your rig.

 

:)

 

For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra

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Interesting, thank you! So perhaps I should just wait perhaps half a year, and save up for a new PC?

 

New MoBo, a new i7 processor, a GTX 1070, new RAM and an SSD? Damn, I have to win the lottery :D

 

To be honest, if I only played 1.5 I wouldn't even think about this, I'm more than happy with the performance. I imagine they will improve its performance too in the upcoming months.

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You could always purchase the GTX1070 now and upgrade the rest later, rather than be performance short during 6 months.

 

 

I did just that with my own rig, upgraded to a GTX970 a couple months ago and kept using the old processor .. I sold my previous GTX-770 and saved the money towards a new cpu+mobo+ram later in the year. In the meantime I can use DCS 2.1 with very reasonable performance.

 

For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra

For Gaming: 34" Monitor - Ryzen 3600X - 32 GB DDR4 2400 - nVidia GTX1070ti - SSD 1.25 TB - HDD 10 TB - Win10 Pro - TM HOTAS Cougar - Oculus Rift CV1

Mobile: iPad Pro 12.9" of 256 GB

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I would hold off if you can for a few months. Intel are releasing there high end X299 very soon and then followed later in the year by Coffee Lake for the mainstream.

 

But there are things you can do now with your existing system to squeeze out some better performance while you wait:

 

1. If you have a decent CPU cooler I would have a go at overclocking that i7-920 up to 3.8Ghz - 4Ghz.

2. Buy an SSD to put your OS and main apps/games on.

3. Get the best GPU you can afford. GTX1070 offers great bang for buck and is perfect for up to 1440p gaming.

 

Then in the coming months once you have made your decision on motherboard, memory and processor you can move across the SSD and GPU into your new rig.

Intel i7-8700K | Asus Maximus X Formula | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 GLH | Samsung 960 EVO NVMe 1 x 250GB OS & 1 x 500GB Games | Corsair RM750x 750W | Corsair Carbide Air 540| Win10 | Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz | Custom water loop: CPU EK-Supremacy EVO, GPU EK-GTX JetStream - Acetal+Nickel & Backplate, Radiator EK-Coolstream PE 360, Pump & Res EK-XRES 140 Revo D5, Fans 3 x EK-Vardar 120mm & 2 x Corsair ML140 140mm

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I suggest follwing priority:

1. Upgrade GPU, 1070 at least. IMHO 1060 is not worth the money compared to 1070.

2. Get SSD, don't worry about their durability. You'll change your PC before it dies. Install OS on it and if you want also DCS.

3. As already noted changing CPU would be quite expensive in your case as you'll need a new motherboard and RAM. If you still want to upgrade CPU get i5 instead of i7 and invest saved money in 1 or 2.

4. 16 GB RAM is ok for the moment for DCS

F/A-18, F-16, F-14, M-2000C, A-10C, AV-8B, AJS-37 Viggen, F-5E-3, F-86F, MiG-21bis, MiG-15bis, L-39 Albatros, C-101 Aviojet, P-51D, Spitfire LF Mk. IX, Bf 109 4-K, UH-1H, Mi-8, Ka-50, NTTR, Normandy, Persian Gulf... and not enough time to fully enjoy it all

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Because DCS has migrated to Dx11, you need more video ram (6G). No need of a Hyper-Threading CPU, get an i5 7600K, a CPU cooler, Z270 and RAM, and a lottery ticket. What is your resolution?

A GTX 1060 6G for 1080 lines, a GTX 1070 for more.

Attache ta tuque avec d'la broche.

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I would hold off if you can for a few months. Intel are releasing there high end X299 very soon and then followed later in the year by Coffee Lake for the mainstream.

 

But there are things you can do now with your existing system to squeeze out some better performance while you wait:

 

1. If you have a decent CPU cooler I would have a go at overclocking that i7-920 up to 3.8Ghz - 4Ghz.

2. Buy an SSD to put your OS and main apps/games on.

3. Get the best GPU you can afford. GTX1070 offers great bang for buck and is perfect for up to 1440p gaming.

 

Then in the coming months once you have made your decision on motherboard, memory and processor you can move across the SSD and GPU into your new rig.

 

+1

EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming | i5 7600K 3.8 GHz | ASRock Z270 Pro4 | Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 16 GB | PNY CS2030 NVMe SSD 480 GB | WD Blue 7200 RPM 1TB HDD | Corsair Carbide 200R ATX Mid-Tower | Win 10 x64
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Hi all,

 

My PC can handle 1.5 like a dream, but struggles with 2.1. I'm thinking about an upgrade in a couple months, but I have no idea what would be worth it.

 

My system:

i7-920 @ 3.2

GTX960

16G RAM

HDD

 

I reckon my graphics card is my most modern part of the equation, so I wouldn't touch it.

 

Plan A) Buy a new processor. If so, which one? Wouldn't that make a new motherboard needed too?

 

Plan B) Buy a 512 SSD. Should I reinstall windows on it as well as DCS? I've heard they are not very durable...

 

Plan C) double the RAM

 

Plan D) any combination of the above.

 

I don't have much more than 400 bucks for the whole project.

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

The video card should be fine. The problem lies in upgrading your CPU. It would be better to try to squeeze out what you can from it overclocking. If you get anything new, it's a new chipset, so it's a new processor, motherboard, and since you're on DDR3, you'll have to buy new memory as well. Before that though, I'd recommend to deactivate your modules, because you'll probably have to wipe your drive jumping chipsets. In that case, you may as well buy an SSD as well.

 

Get some really good thermal compound and the best CPU cooler you can. That's about the only performance jump that'll be under your $400 mark

 

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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  • 1 month later...

I made some budget calculations, and concluded that I can possibly invest into a new PC around January. I'm not sure if what I chose is worth it - I can't afford to spend much more though.

 

Processor:

i7-920 @3.2 -> i5 7600K @ 3.8 (Would an i7-6700K @ 4.0 be worth the extra money?)

Is it worth the upgrade? Will I be just fine with the new one?

 

GFX Card:

GTX960 2G -> GTX 1050Ti 4G (Maybe a 1060 6G?)

Is it that much of an improvement, or should I save for something better? I need something that runs the F-14 in 2.1 on highish settings just fine with at least 60 FPS.

 

RAM:

I'll stick with 16, is that OK? Would I be safer with 32 on the longer term?

 

HDD:

I can only afford a 240 G SSD. According to my calculations that's plenty enough for Win 7, DCS, P3D and Rise of Flight. I'll keep my current 1TB drive to store stuff.

 

Any advice along the lines of "don't buy that, buy this instead", or "you don't wanna go lower than this and that in order to be safe" would be very welcome.

 

Thanks!


Edited by Reflected
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My suggestion would be:

 

Processor:

Go with i5. Based on a really quick price lookup it seems that i7-6700K is 50% more expensive than i5-7600K. Unless you have an unlimited budget it's a waste of money IMO. If you have that cash, invest it into any other component like GPU for much more price/performance gain.

 

GPU:

Try to save up at least for GTX 1070. That would be IMHO the first priority. From a longer time perspective a GPU will be the first thing to age and start bottlenecking the system. You’ll get around with not so fresh processor but GPU you should get as best as you can as it’s the fastest aging component.

 

RAM

16 ok for the moment.

 

HDD

Should be fine.

 

However till January the things will for change, for sure prices for hardware currently available will drop as also new equipment will show up.

F/A-18, F-16, F-14, M-2000C, A-10C, AV-8B, AJS-37 Viggen, F-5E-3, F-86F, MiG-21bis, MiG-15bis, L-39 Albatros, C-101 Aviojet, P-51D, Spitfire LF Mk. IX, Bf 109 4-K, UH-1H, Mi-8, Ka-50, NTTR, Normandy, Persian Gulf... and not enough time to fully enjoy it all

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Unlikely, I expect them to be $370-ish until they are no longer relevant. This is based on how it normally goes. It might get dethroned by an AMD card by then though as they plan to release some higher end GPU's in the next couple of months. The 1060 is already a pointless product given the existence of the RX480/580. We'll have to see what the upcoming cards and prices are like.

System specs: i5-10600k (4.9 GHz), RX 6950XT, 32GB DDR4 3200, NVMe SSD, Reverb G2, WinWing Super Libra/Taurus, CH Pro Pedals.

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Honestly I would go Ryzen 1500 (4 cores/8 threads) on a B350 Motherboard and an RX 580 and forget about 4 thread I5 CPU's. In the long run it will be better than the I5, and youll be able to do cheap CPU upgrades. Intels platforms are dead at birth upgrade wise and are horribly overpriced right now.

[sigpic]http://forums.eagle.ru/signaturepics/sigpic4448_29.gif[/sigpic]

My PC specs below:

Case: Corsair 400C

PSU: SEASONIC SS-760XP2 760W Platinum

CPU: AMD RYZEN 3900X (12C/24T)

RAM: 32 GB 4266Mhz (two 2x8 kits) of trident Z RGB @3600Mhz CL 14 CR=1T

MOBO: ASUS CROSSHAIR HERO VI AM4

GFX: GTX 1080Ti MSI Gaming X

Cooler: NXZT Kraken X62 280mm AIO

Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2+6GB WD 6Gb red

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog + CH pro pedals

Monitor: Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD Freesync HDR400 1440P

 

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I made some budget calculations, and concluded that I can possibly invest into a new PC around January. I'm not sure if what I chose is worth it - I can't afford to spend much more though.

 

If you are looking to purchase in Jan 2018 then the CPU landscape probably would have changed a little. Intel will have likely releases Coffee Lake CPU's to replace the current Kaby Lake such as i5-7600k and i7-7700k. Coffee Lake is meant to come with 6 cores in response to Ryzen.

 

I also echo the thoughts of Pilotasso and the vast majority of hardware enthusiasts that the i5-7600k 4 core / 4 thread is a dead end moving forward. If you are only going to play only a few old games and none of the new and future stuff and/or don't use any productivity software then by all means however the i5-7600k is going to date seriously quickly and is almost as much as pointless purchase as on of those Krappy Lake X CPU's. What the hell were Intel thinking with those?

Intel i7-8700K | Asus Maximus X Formula | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 GLH | Samsung 960 EVO NVMe 1 x 250GB OS & 1 x 500GB Games | Corsair RM750x 750W | Corsair Carbide Air 540| Win10 | Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz | Custom water loop: CPU EK-Supremacy EVO, GPU EK-GTX JetStream - Acetal+Nickel & Backplate, Radiator EK-Coolstream PE 360, Pump & Res EK-XRES 140 Revo D5, Fans 3 x EK-Vardar 120mm & 2 x Corsair ML140 140mm

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Honestly I would go Ryzen 1500 (4 cores/8 threads) on a B350 Motherboard and an RX 580 and forget about 4 thread I5 CPU's.

If Reflected can afford a i5-7600k then may as well plump for a Ryzen 5 1600 over the 1500. Here in Australia a Ryzen 5 1600 costs sub AUD $300 which also includes a decent air cooler in the price. The Intel i5-7600k costs AUD $335 and does not include any cooler. Throw the motherboard into the equation and it just gets worse for Intel. The most expensive AMD B350 board I can find in Oz is the Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming for AUD 189. On the Intel side the Asus Strix Z270F Gaming retails for AUD $289 or the lesser Asus Strix Z270H Gaming for AUD $235. Any way you cut it, the AMD platform allows you to attain similar or better CPU performance while allowing you to put more money towards the GPU which is the most important part of any gaming rig.

Intel i7-8700K | Asus Maximus X Formula | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 GLH | Samsung 960 EVO NVMe 1 x 250GB OS & 1 x 500GB Games | Corsair RM750x 750W | Corsair Carbide Air 540| Win10 | Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz | Custom water loop: CPU EK-Supremacy EVO, GPU EK-GTX JetStream - Acetal+Nickel & Backplate, Radiator EK-Coolstream PE 360, Pump & Res EK-XRES 140 Revo D5, Fans 3 x EK-Vardar 120mm & 2 x Corsair ML140 140mm

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  • 2 months later...

I'm picking up my new PC tomorrow! :pilotfly::joystick:

 

Ryzen 1600X @ 3600

MSI B530 Gaming Plus

Corsair Vengeance 2x8192 3000 MHz

MSI Geforce GTX 1070 Armor 8G OC

Samsung PM961 512 GB PCI-E 3 SSD

Plus my old HDD with all my files

 

Then I'll spend the whole day installing Windows 10, all my programs, DCS, restoring settings, etc....

 

I really can't wait to see how DCS 2.0 works on a proper PC.

 

:smartass:

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....... What the hell were Intel thinking with those?

 

Do you actually assume they really THINK ?

 

I actually don't anymore, too much crap & a too high nose

Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X 

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You won't believe...as it turned out this MoBo+CPU is not compatible with this RAM set...unbelievable, the PC just refused to start at the store. The guy investigated, tested for hours and then it turned out it was the 3000 MHz RAM. Now he ordered in different ones that are supposed to work with it.

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3000Mhz strap doesnt exist in the Ryzen platforms. Either 2933 or 3066.

 

The Guy at the shop has not made his homework TBH, he should have known this.

 

But I hope at least you will get a better kit (SAMSUM B die) this time.

[sigpic]http://forums.eagle.ru/signaturepics/sigpic4448_29.gif[/sigpic]

My PC specs below:

Case: Corsair 400C

PSU: SEASONIC SS-760XP2 760W Platinum

CPU: AMD RYZEN 3900X (12C/24T)

RAM: 32 GB 4266Mhz (two 2x8 kits) of trident Z RGB @3600Mhz CL 14 CR=1T

MOBO: ASUS CROSSHAIR HERO VI AM4

GFX: GTX 1080Ti MSI Gaming X

Cooler: NXZT Kraken X62 280mm AIO

Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2+6GB WD 6Gb red

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog + CH pro pedals

Monitor: Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD Freesync HDR400 1440P

 

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Man, my new rig arrived, I installed windows and everything in a blink of an eye, then came DCS. It runs like a dream almost all maxed out! Unbelievable!!! :O

 

The only negative surprise is that loading times aren't that much shorter from an SSD. I mean they are less than half of what I had before, but not like 1-2-3 done. Oh well, I'm very happy now, thanks for all the help and advice! :)

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NICE !

 

Now fire it up & enjoy:joystick:

Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X 

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The SSD is waiting for the CPU to decompress because its a single core task. Thats why it still takes a long time but its not because of the SSD itself. ED really need to take DCS to the multicore era.

[sigpic]http://forums.eagle.ru/signaturepics/sigpic4448_29.gif[/sigpic]

My PC specs below:

Case: Corsair 400C

PSU: SEASONIC SS-760XP2 760W Platinum

CPU: AMD RYZEN 3900X (12C/24T)

RAM: 32 GB 4266Mhz (two 2x8 kits) of trident Z RGB @3600Mhz CL 14 CR=1T

MOBO: ASUS CROSSHAIR HERO VI AM4

GFX: GTX 1080Ti MSI Gaming X

Cooler: NXZT Kraken X62 280mm AIO

Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2+6GB WD 6Gb red

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog + CH pro pedals

Monitor: Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD Freesync HDR400 1440P

 

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