CPU advice please

[Darpa]

I am in the process of buying an Intel/Nvidia based PC and would like some knowledgeable CPU advice please. I currently have a i9-9900K/2080ti setup and I am looking at a i9-11900/3090 combination. The question is do I want a 11900F or 11900KF? The KF is obviously faster but requires liquid cooling in the solution I am looking at. The KF does multi-threaded better but single-threaded performance seems fairly comparable. The 2 sims I use most are  DCS and MSFS 2020 (single? multi? threaded). So would either of these sims take serious advantage of the KF or would the F be a reasonable choice.  Input is appreciated. Thanks

[Lange_666]

If you have no intention to overclock your CPU, there's no need to go the KF road. K means the CPU has an unlocked multiplier so you can get it's revs up. The non K version has a fixed multiplier.

[Pilotasso]

Just buy the 3090, don't bother with a new CPU, you won't notice a difference if your playing at or above 1440P anyway.

 

You're brave to buy a new GFX now. I tried, the prices exceed the investment i made for my whole build.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Pilotasso

[manashttu]

I have an 8700k overclocked to 5.2 and a 10900kf overclocked to 5.2, and have tried out a 3090 in DCS in each of them.  Identical . . . I mean identical . . . performance in 2d (I run triple 1440p monitors).  This tells me your 9900k, clock for clock, would be no different.  It is still very much a solid CPU (the same chip as a 10700k). Maybe VR would be different---but I would be surprised, as the core DCS is still very heavily single-core dependent.

 

It does appear from marketing literature and some reviews that the 11xxx may have some single core IPC improvement over the 10900k . . . but I've yet to read a comparison of 10 series and 11 series chips in DCS.

 

Now . . . all that being said---buying a prebuilt with a 3090 seems to be the most cost-effective way of acquiring a 3090 these days (hence my having an 8700K and 10900KF right now).  Got my "Same Day Ready" ibuypower 10900kf, 32gb RAM, 3090, with a nice motherboard and Lian Li case for just a couple hundred more than a scalper priced 3090.  I prefer to build my own---but the components in the ibuypower system are off-the-shelf, quality parts. 

 

Crazy times.

Edited April 21, 2021 by manashttu

[Darpa]

Thanks for the good comments...

I cycle my machines so my 9900/2080ti machine will become my 2d desktop machine (replacing my 1080 based machine) and the new machine becomes my VR machine (attached to a cockpit etc.). So the 9900 will still be in action just not with DCS anymore and I will need a new CPU. Your comments do clarify that I may not gain a bunch CPU-wise from the 11900 however, as manashttu pointed out, there may be some single core advantage. Is it correct that DCS is still pretty much dependent on single core capability (please correct me if I am wrong). As a DCS user (and a MSFS 2020 user) buying a new VR machine and the only options listed are 11th gen processors it seemed to me that it was a choice between the F and KF. 

 

Also, in the past I have not OC my machines so, as LANGE pointed out, the F model may make sense even though it looks like its single and multi core performance out of the box is a little below the KF 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Darpa
update

[reece146]

I'll be a broken record saying this...

 

If you have any intention of recording your flights and don't already have a capture card, then getting the non-F variant gives you the Intel iGPU upon which you can install Intel QuickSync and use that as a capture device in OBS and not affect your dedicated GPU's FPS.

 

JAT

[BitMaster]

I#d take the iGPU too, if the big GPU has problems you just switch and can bridge the time until you fixed the big GPU. Also for later use, an iGPU always makes a nice&quiet HTPC.

 

 

[Aluminum Donkey]

On 4/20/2021 at 10:59 PM, Darpa said:

I am in the process of buying an Intel/Nvidia based PC and would like some knowledgeable CPU advice please. I currently have a i9-9900K/2080ti setup and I am looking at a i9-11900/3090 combination. The question is do I want a 11900F or 11900KF? The KF is obviously faster but requires liquid cooling in the solution I am looking at. The KF does multi-threaded better but single-threaded performance seems fairly comparable. The 2 sims I use most are  DCS and MSFS 2020 (single? multi? threaded). So would either of these sims take serious advantage of the KF or would the F be a reasonable choice.  Input is appreciated. Thanks

 

If you're going to be spending an outrageous amount of cash, I don't know why you'd ever consider getting anything but a K processor.

 

Even if you don't overclock it, the K ones are still faster because they have higher default clock speeds. And, in the future, you can overclock them a bit if you want (easy to do, and no point not doing it at least a little.)

 

Don't bother with fixed multiplier (non-K) processors for gaming rigs. For the same money, or possibly less, get an i5 or or i7 K version and you'll have a better-performing computer overall.

 

I'm still using my ancient i5-6600K (4 cores, 4 threads) and it actually runs DCS and everything else surprisingly well, the only thing it doesn't like is MSFS 2020 which I don't play anyway.

AD

[Skwirl865]

The higher the resolution, the less important the cpu will be. VR is very high resolution. You will be completely gpu bound just as everyone is with 4K. 
My 2080 super is the bottleneck and I’m running a ryzen 2700x. The cpu stays around 40-50% and the temps never gets over 44 degrees. 
also idk about intel but on ryzen, with “smt”(hyper threading) enabled, dcs only uses 2 cores/threads but with it disabled, it’s spreads pretty evenly across all 8 cores which is why the cpu% stays so low. None of my cores average over 55%. They’re all between 35-50 generally in vr. 
 

now at 1080p, the whole thing flip flops and I’m cpu bound

[Dangerzone]

FWIW - I'm running 2080 super and the CPU is the bottle neck for me.

 

I'm running with conservative graphic settings. it's my understanding that saying GPU or CPU will be your bottle neck is being presumptive - because it will largely depend on what missions you are flying as well. For me - it's multiplayer with very heavy missions / many units.

 

With DCS - do yourself a favor and give yourself as much room with both GPU and CPU as you can - so my advise is get the 'K'.

[DocSigma]

GPU. I moved to a 5800x and haven't seen any real difference at 2k. If GPU's were not the cost of an entire new build I would have invested in a GPU over the CPU.

[KoN]

I would wait until prices on GPUs drop .