CPU limited worth getting a 4090?

[Baltic Pirate]

I've actually figured out that already, but I think it is worth a discussion.

It seems that I am consistently CPU limited with DCS with good margin left on GPU. Alas I was wondering if there are any other compelling reasons to update from a 3090 to a 4090 than "I want one".

I am thinking that until DCS introduces the long waited multi-threading there really is no need for that and that I would wait and see what comes up with the Vulcan and other changes.

Any thoughts on this.

My current specs are as follows.

 i9-11900K CPU DARK ROCK PRO 4 silent high-end Air cooler  ASUS X570-P motherboard, T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 64GB 2x32GB 3200MHz Samsung 980 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 NVMe 5000/7000MBytes/sec Toshiba 1TB HDD RTX 3090 24GB Gigabyte Aorus P850W 850W 80 Plus Gold PSU be quiet! 

[MTM]

When I see the frame rates others are getting with a 4090 it starts feeling awfully tempting! Then I remember what the scalpers are charging and it’s suddenly much less tempting. 
 

What settings are you using? And what frame rates are you getting? Are you flying VR? Your signature says you have an 850W psu. You could probably get by with that, but if you’re going to throw $2000+ at a 4090, you ought to also get a 1000W ATX 3.0 power supply. So, you’re easily looking at over $2,500 for this upgrade. Personally, I’d hold off. You already have a great system. If you need more frames per second, there’s probably some optimizations you can do to squeeze out a little more (possibly a lot more) performance. 

[LucShep]

1 hour ago, MTM said:

(...) you’re easily looking at over $2,500 for this upgrade. Personally, I’d hold off. You already have a great system. If you need more frames per second, there’s probably some optimizations you can do to squeeze out a little more (possibly a lot more) performance. 

+1 (Ditto).

[EightyDuce]

What monitor are you running (resolution/refresh rate)? Honestly, unless you're going for 4K at higher-end refresh rate (90+) or are playing in VR, I'd hold off unless you have a burning desire to spend $1600+.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a monster of a card, I just picked one up to finally upgrade my 1080ti, but if you're CPU-limited on a 3090 you will be even more so on a 4090.

[Baltic Pirate]

12 hours ago, MTM said:

When I see the frame rates others are getting with a 4090 it starts feeling awfully tempting! Then I remember what the scalpers are charging and it’s suddenly much less tempting. 
 

What settings are you using? And what frame rates are you getting? Are you flying VR? Your signature says you have an 850W psu. You could probably get by with that, but if you’re going to throw $2000+ at a 4090, you ought to also get a 1000W ATX 3.0 power supply. So, you’re easily looking at over $2,500 for this upgrade. Personally, I’d hold off. You already have a great system. If you need more frames per second, there’s probably some optimizations you can do to squeeze out a little more (possibly a lot more) performance. 

VR only. Reverb G2. Frame rates are good enough. As I said, I am currently looking at consistently being CPU not GPU limited.  I've tweaked settings for NVIDIA and DCS based on what I have found from other users here on the forum and testing.  I'll take some screenshots later. 

I will wait a while and see how it develops with multi-threading etc. Performance has dropped somewhat with stable update 2.8. I run both Beta and stable versions on my laptop and  only stable on what I call the beast. 

10 hours ago, EightyDuce said:

What monitor are you running (resolution/refresh rate)? Honestly, unless you're going for 4K at higher-end refresh rate (90+) or are playing in VR, I'd hold off unless you have a burning desire to spend $1600+.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a monster of a card, I just picked one up to finally upgrade my 1080ti, but if you're CPU-limited on a 3090 you will be even more so on a 4090.

VR only. That is what I am thinking as well.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Baltic Pirate

[EightyDuce]

4 hours ago, Baltic Pirate said:

VR only. Reverb G2. Frame rates are good enough. As I said, I am currently looking at consistently being CPU not GPU limited.  I've tweaked settings for NVIDIA and DCS based on what I have found from other users here on the forum and testing.  I'll take some screenshots later. 

I will wait a while and see how it develops with multi-threading etc. Performance has dropped somewhat with stable update 2.8. I run both Beta and stable versions on my laptop and  only stable on what I call the beast. 

VR only. That is what I am thinking as well.

 

So, looks like there's a fairly long thread in VR section comparing 3090 to 4090, might be worth a read (I haven't gone through it). 

 

[FR4GGL3]

For DCS alone, I would say "not really worth it". But if you play other games and want to enjoy them in 4K with Raytracing and DLSS... well, for me it was worth it.

[BitMaster]

I would wait and see what 2023 brings in DCS optimization since you can't really enjoy any Dollar of your expense if you opt to do so.

If multi-threading frees up enough CPU that you will find yourself GPU-bottlenecked you could then upgrade, likely for a lower price.

If that won't really happen, hang on another year or opt for a CPU upgrade to fully utilize your 3090, once such CPU's are available.

 

I personally doubt that we will ever see a CPU who's single-core performance is powerful enough to lift all the heavy weight + VR,

that's why ED is really pushing the Multi-Threading feature, and Vulkan. Both address performance issues. Until that has been solved

and delivered, you can't really make use of all the cores modern CPUs have and as such GPUs can't run at max load.

 

 

 

 

[Baltic Pirate]

12 hours ago, BitMaster said:

I would wait and see what 2023 brings in DCS optimization since you can't really enjoy any Dollar of your expense if you opt to do so.

If multi-threading frees up enough CPU that you will find yourself GPU-bottlenecked you could then upgrade, likely for a lower price.

If that won't really happen, hang on another year or opt for a CPU upgrade to fully utilize your 3090, once such CPU's are available.

 

I personally doubt that we will ever see a CPU who's single-core performance is powerful enough to lift all the heavy weight + VR,

that's why ED is really pushing the Multi-Threading feature, and Vulkan. Both address performance issues. Until that has been solved

and delivered, you can't really make use of all the cores modern CPUs have and as such GPUs can't run at max load.

 

 

 

 

That is pretty much what I am thinking as well. Wait and see.

[Pilotasso]

On 1/8/2023 at 4:02 PM, Baltic Pirate said:

I've actually figured out that already, but I think it is worth a discussion.

It seems that I am consistently CPU limited with DCS with good margin left on GPU. Alas I was wondering if there are any other compelling reasons to update from a 3090 to a 4090 than "I want one".

I am thinking that until DCS introduces the long waited multi-threading there really is no need for that and that I would wait and see what comes up with the Vulcan and other changes.

Any thoughts on this.

My current specs are as follows.

 i9-11900K CPU DARK ROCK PRO 4 silent high-end Air cooler  ASUS X570-P motherboard, T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 64GB 2x32GB 3200MHz Samsung 980 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 NVMe 5000/7000MBytes/sec Toshiba 1TB HDD RTX 3090 24GB Gigabyte Aorus P850W 850W 80 Plus Gold PSU be quiet! 

Your CPU is fine for a 4090. It shouldn't be an issue unless you want to play shooters on 1080P competitively. At 1440p and 4K, it doesn't matter. On the other hand your 3090 is still a beast, not worth upgrading IMHO, unless you have money burning your pocket, then go ahead sure.

 

EDIT: BTW, if your PSU is not ATX 3.0 you should buy a 3rd party power cable for your 4090. Get rid of the adapter that comes in the box.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Pilotasso