3090 or 4080

[104th_Money]

Just recently put together a new pc build and I would like to upgrade my video card now but the 4090 is just a bit too far out of reach. My 2080Ti just isn't quite keeping up with the new i7-12700k/64gb ram. 

I have read more than I care to about the 3090 vs the 4080 and by all accounts and every other game out there, the 4080 has newer technology that compensates for the 50% less Vram and makes it the better choice.

But I only have my pc to fly DCS and we all know that its a different beast than all others. So my question is, for DCS specifically...

Will I benefit more from the 3090 with its 24gb of vram or the newer tech 4080 with its 12gb vram?

Thanks for any input!

[unlikely_spider]

Watching this topic. Btw the 4080 has 16gb ram.

[104th_Money]

Thanks unlikely_spider, not quite sure why I said 12gb. Maybe its all the numbers and specs getting tossed around in my head over all the possible graphics cards...Went through the same thing before pulling the trigger to buy my new pc parts, took 2 weeks to clear my head from that mess lol.

[brain_delay]

Can you even find a 3090 for a decent price? At this point the 4080 is the only (new) option between those two. If you only play DCS I would recommend the 7900 XT or XTX which would both satisfy the vram needs with excellent performance at a lower price. 
 

[104th_Money]

Hi brain_delay,

The used 3090 market prices are really coming down now but my main concern is not really getting a used/new card. 
 

I just want to get the best card for DCS but not sure if the 4080 is better than the 3090 solely for DCS. 
 

im just not willing to put up the cash to get a 4090 yet and need a short/medium term interim card to hold me over for 6-8 months. 
 

If either the 3090 or 4080 satisfy me with good fps/eye candy I doubt I would even want to upgrade to the 4090. 
 

[104th_Money]

Just asking the question again since I didnt get any feedback...

[diego999]

If the price is similar, I'd say go for the 4080.

[104th_Money]

12 hours ago, diego999 said:

If the price is similar, I'd say go for the 4080.

Diego,

Thanks for the response. Prices are similar for a 3090 Ti to a 4080 but there is something about that 24gb vram vs 16gb vram that has me wary of pulling the trigger on the 4080 when the 3090 or 3090 Ti may or may not be a better choice.

[Beau1969]

I have the 3090Ti, and am able to achieve 100-120+ (vsync on in Nvidia Control panel) fps at 4K with highest settings, including all sliders at maximum; I do use the most recent shadow optimization setting in DCS files. Using FPS monitor, VRAM is usually over 19GB.

I am happy with the performance. Note that I am running the multi thread version on open beta.

Also running opentrack, aitrack and voiceattack with vaicom pro.

I lean toward 3090Ti over 4080 or lower tiers of 40XX unless more vram is added.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Beau1969

[diego999]

3 hours ago, 104th_Money said:

Diego,

Thanks for the response. Prices are similar for a 3090 Ti to a 4080 but there is something about that 24gb vram vs 16gb vram that has me wary of pulling the trigger on the 4080 when the 3090 or 3090 Ti may or may not be a better choice.

An important detail is at what resolution are you playing.

For 4k or VR you might be better with a 3090 as it has more VRAM to pull those high resolutions, as the guy above me said.

For 1080p or 1440p the 4080 might be a solid choice.

But, as I understand, for now in DCS both cards are comparable and will give you good performance.

 

[Hector45]

As far as I know DCS is going to allocate every bit of VRAM you have no matter what. I can say at 3440x1440p I'm getting well above 100FPS with no stuttering on a 3080Ti 12GB VRAM card near max settings. My vote is for the 4080, 16GB is a lot of VRAM.

[104th_Money]

I appreciate the input from all of you.

My current screen resolution is 2560x1440. My current DCS settings with 2080Ti are not bad at all but I really want to bump up the sliders as well. I am also leaning toward going VR in the very near future as I now have access to an Oculus Quest 2 to try out for free.

Im curious to know what CPU you guys are running as well.

[diego999]

If you're considering going VR I think a 3090 is the better choice.

I'm running VR with an i5 10400F - 3060ti and a Quest 2 with med-low settings and I'm pretty happy with it. You will be able to crank the setttings much higher with your PC.

Any decent CPU will run DCS fine, more so when playing at high resolutions (4k, VR) where the bottleneck will always be the GPU.

 

As a side note, don't get discouraged by the frustrating rabbit hole that VR represents (at least for the first time setup and config). I took me month to find the perfect settings for my hardware. But the reward was worth it. Ask around and people will help.

Edited April 16, 2023 by diego999
typo

[104th_Money]

Ok so I pulled the trigger on the 3090 today, found a brand new in box unopened EVGA RTX Nvidia 3090 FTW3 Ultra for $800. Hoping this will be a beast for me at more than double the Vram from the 2080Ti, faster memory and PCIE 4 instead of PCIE 3. 

About to head into DCS and start moving up the settings. I'll post back with settings updates later...

Thanks again for the input from you all!

[104th_Money]

Ok so got settings dialed in for custom fan curves and then started maxing out DCS settings. This thing is a beast. I think the only 2 I dont have set to max is the 2 top right dcs settings. Those are at like 80%. Then I couldnt stand the lack of anti-aliasing so I went into the Nvidia control panel and set power to maximum performance and anti-aliasing to 8x.

This took care of pretty much everything, no jagged edges like before but couldnt push those settings with the 2080Ti. I am Vsync'd at 60fps and it doesnt budge from there. In the FPS counter I see it saying GPU bound in green with theoretical fps between 145 and 240 fps. Havent tried to uncheck Vsync yet to see if I get screen tearing.

So far its been worth every dollar, DCS just looks amazing now!

[rapid]

14 hours ago, 104th_Money said:

Ok so I pulled the trigger on the 3090 today, found a brand new in box unopened EVGA RTX Nvidia 3090 FTW3 Ultra for $800. Hoping this will be a beast for me at more than double the Vram from the 2080Ti, faster memory and PCIE 4 instead of PCIE 3. 

About to head into DCS and start moving up the settings. I'll post back with settings updates later...

Thanks again for the input from you all!

$800 very very good price.

[Beirut]

34 minutes ago, rapid said:

$800 very very good price.

 

Amazon Canada - not third party seller - has a Zotac 3090 at $1900 US dollars.

 

Add another $300 US in tax and you got yourself a 3090. 

[Beau1969]

Congratulations on your purchase. A great card at a great price.

I use an 11th generation i9 (11900K), GPU bottlenecked as set above. CPU on multithreaded exe is around 5%.

[Hector45]

17 hours ago, 104th_Money said:

Ok so got settings dialed in for custom fan curves and then started maxing out DCS settings. This thing is a beast. I think the only 2 I dont have set to max is the 2 top right dcs settings. Those are at like 80%. Then I couldnt stand the lack of anti-aliasing so I went into the Nvidia control panel and set power to maximum performance and anti-aliasing to 8x.

This took care of pretty much everything, no jagged edges like before but couldnt push those settings with the 2080Ti. I am Vsync'd at 60fps and it doesnt budge from there. In the FPS counter I see it saying GPU bound in green with theoretical fps between 145 and 240 fps. Havent tried to uncheck Vsync yet to see if I get screen tearing.

So far its been worth every dollar, DCS just looks amazing now!

Try using the "vsync fast" option in the Nvidia control panel and turn off vsync in game setting. This eliminated screen tearing for me while allowing high FPS.

[104th_Money]

18 hours ago, Hector45 said:

Try using the "vsync fast" option in the Nvidia control panel and turn off vsync in game setting. This eliminated screen tearing for me while allowing high FPS.

Thanks for the tip Hector, I will try that when I get home from work. 
 

I’ve been loving all the extra detail and clarity with the 3090. Overall it’s been performing way above expectations.

Just finished retuning gpu fans through Precision X1 and Asus Armory Crate for the cpu to keep the temps at around 50c deg. 
 

It’s crazy how much better the trees look, having shadows from objects, visible draw distance at extreme and the cockpit global illumination on. Really increases the immersion level for me.  
 

I’ve found only one instance of an issue at Incirlik air base in the Apache. I get some stuttering/fps drop when I’m looking towards the buildings but I think that might be from the Military Aircraft Mod planes textures which I have multiple statics near that area causing it.

Another thing that I’ve noticed, and I’m not 100% convinced that what I am experiencing is directly attributed to this but it really seems as though my control inputs seem a bit smoother with a few different aircraft. 
 

Almost like having better fps is giving a more condensed or higher control input count allowing just a bit more precision if that makes sense. I noticed it mildly in the F-16, F-18 and the OV-10 Bronco mod but it is definitely more noticeable in the Apache for sure, especially during landings. 
 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by 104th_Money