Advice to renew PC build for VR

[Derfel75]

Hi all, apologize for asking, but I really need help...I'm trying to figure out how to improve my pc build for DCS VR purposes (mainly F18 and A10C modules). My current build is:
- i7 9700k
- MB Gigabyte Aorus Elite Z390
- DDR4 32GB 3200Mhz
- RTX 3090
- SSD Samsung 860 EVO
- HP Reverb G2

My settings:
OpenXR
- 100% of render scale
- motion reprojection disabled

DCS
- 1.0 pixel density
- VR graphic preset with the exception of DDI resolution set to 1024 everyframe

With G2 set @60Hz (rather than play 90hz with motion reprojection activated I prefer to play 60hz without motion reprojection at all), everything run quite smoothly with all the single campaigns I've played 'till now (Serpent's head 1&2, Raven One). On a crowded super carrier deck, crowded airfield, or where there are  many units on the battlefield, the game stutters quite a lot. 
Compare to the past, the recent intro of MT had helped a lot, but I would like to ask for some advice how I can improve my build to avoid stutters in crowded scenarios, enjoy MT as best as possible, and maybe move from 60hz to 90hz with more or less same graphic settings I have right now.

I think that the bottleneck is the 9700k, do you think is worth to buy a used 11700k or is better to move on a more recent (but expensive) CPU like 13600k? 

Regarding the SSD, is worth to buy a more recent PCIe 3.0/4.0? Would it help to improve ingame performances and reducing stutters?

Thanks a lot!!!!

[howie87]

At the moment I think DCS is more bottlenecked by the engine than anything else. I've heard that the 3D cache chips such as the 5800X3D and 7800X3D are good though. I'm running on a 5700X which seems to be CPU bottlenecked at times. I'm hoping that further optimization of the multicore engine/scheduler will improve things down the line. If an 11700K is a drop in upgrade for you, it might be worth it, but I wouldn't bother upgrading to a whole new platform yet.

[TinyDancer]

One thing to think about with a 13th gen Intel processor is that it is EOTL for the socket, so no future upgrades. 
 

I’d say the 7800X3D is the way to go if you’re going to build a new system now. 

[Derfel75]

Thank you both for the precious advices. I'm not too worried to buy a platform nearly at the end of its commercial life, cause I generally update my system every 4/5 years. As howie said, I think that the engine is the real problem, but with MT introduction, after many years of waiting and tons of patience, we're almost there and the right machine upgrade can make the difference lighten our expectation.

I will have a look at the AMD 7800x3D as suggested by Tiny Dancer (even if I'm more Intel oriented, but we must be flexible ) and decide if upgrade or wait 'till next year, hoping that meanwhile ED will make some additional progresses into engine improvement/development.

I don' t understand if Vulkan development and implementation, can really be a game changer in terms of engine performances or not (especially in VR). Is anybody be so kind to briefly explain why Vulkan implementation seems to be so important?

Thanks again

[diego999]

5 hours ago, howie87 said:

At the moment I think DCS is more bottlenecked by the engine than anything else. I've heard that the 3D cache chips such as the 5800X3D and 7800X3D are good though. I'm running on a 5700X which seems to be CPU bottlenecked at times. I'm hoping that further optimization of the multicore engine/scheduler will improve things down the line. If an 11700K is a drop in upgrade for you, it might be worth it, but I wouldn't bother upgrading to a whole new platform yet.

What this guy says.

Throwing new hardware at the game won't solve the poor performance (specially in VR) for now. Let's wait for further MT development and Vulkan.