Upgrading from an RTX 3080 to 3090 for DCS VR – My Experience & Performance Gains

[rikietje]

Hello everyone!

With all the new GPU launches, I decided to grab a bargain on the Dutch second-hand market. I found an RTX 3090 for €600 and sold my RTX 3080 12GB for €450, meaning my net upgrade cost was only €150.

I mainly play DCS in VR  Quest 3 with resolution maxed at 130% and benchmarked the upgrade in the AH-64D on Syria with all settings maxed out. My FPS increased by 50%, which was a massive improvement. The extra 24GB VRAM really helps in VR, and I no longer get stutters in heavy scenarios.

I also managed to get a Ryzen 5700X3D for €150 and sold my 5600X for €85—another great deal. The extra L3 cache seems to help in CPU-bound scenarios.

Some Observations:

• VRAM Usage: Before, my 3080 often maxed out at 12GB; now, DCS uses up to 17-18GB.
• Overall Experience: Way smoother in VR, especially in multiplayer and dense missions.

If you're on a budget and looking for a cost-effective upgrade, the RTX 3090 and 5700X3D combo is fantastic for DCS VR!

Happy flying!

[Dogmanbird]

ive also been through the 3080 / 3090 tests but there wasn't much in it for me. The difference was something like 33fps v 35fps at the time. Maybe the recent DCS updates or driver are now making better use of what's on the 3090? 

Either way, I'm glad it's made a difference for you

[LucShep]

I'm still perfectly happy with my RTX3090 and won't be upgrading anytime soon. 

That said, and even though there's the much larger VRAM buffer at 24GB surely helping with DCS (being the VRAM guzzler it is) and especially in VR, I'm not so sure it's that big of a jump from an RTX3080 (~15% performance difference at 4K).

 

[Aapje]

Nvidia made a big mistake by making the 3080 so powerful compared to the 3090. They more than rectified that with the 4090 and 5090.