Upgrade Time? CPU, Motherboard and RAM.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 12:23

My current PC has an i7-5820K CPU, Asus Rampage V Extreme Motherboard and 16GB's of RAM.

I have a 2080Ti as GPU so that is fine and game at 1440 on an ASUS 165mhz 27" screen. I wondered now FS2020 has landed should I upgrade the 3 bits above to maximise performance of the PC in that game? It is mainly a games machine so logic suggests Intel, but my questions are assuming you have freedom to spend...

1) Will upgrading these bits allow me to see noticeable improvements in performance?
2) Would simply moving my memory to 32GB help?
3) What bits would you suggest if you have no real budget cap, though don't just spec mad stuff because you can, balanced benefit / price please

Cheers
Housey

VortexA1 · 20 Aug 2020 at 14:06

Have you tried fs2020?
If you haven't get game pass it's I think £1.99 for the first month.
I am playing it. See what your graphics are like on it. It's more gpu intensive.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 15:11

I have yes and it's great but I find on Ultra it can slug along a little, hence why I am pondering the upgrade and if the value gained is worth the money spent.

mickyflinn · 20 Aug 2020 at 15:19

Housey said:
I have yes and it's great but I find on Ultra it can slug along a little, hence why I am pondering the upgrade and if the value gained is worth the money spent.

System with 16gb of ram gets maxed out in flight sim.

Adding more ram will make for a smoother experience quoted in some of the reviews, so it may be worth getting another 16gb.

Sparx · 20 Aug 2020 at 15:19

5820k still pretty good in terms of gaming, but newer CPUs will give you a decent performance boost.

Ryzen 3700X is about ~10% FPS boost. Although if it's for pure gaming, the Intel 10700k for comparison gets another 10% FPS increase in most games compared to 3700X.

32GB RAM really helps with FS2020 from what I keep reading as well.

Edit: Maybe something like this, if wanna go Intel for pure gaming/FPS performance. Make sure you have a good cooler for it too, I'd get a good AIO like Arctic's Freezer II 280mm, or air cooler the Dark Rock Pro 4, Scythe Fuma or Alpenfohn Brocken 3.

Edit2: Or the Ryzen equivalent with 3700X...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8GHz (Comet Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - OEM= £359.99
1 x MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk (Socket LGA 1200) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £194.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £95.99

Total: £650.97 (includes shipping: £0.00)

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £329.99
1 x MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £179.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £95.99

Total: £605.97 (includes shipping: £0.00)

VortexA1 · 20 Aug 2020 at 15:41

Housey said:
I have yes and it's great but I find on Ultra it can slug along a little, hence why I am pondering the upgrade and if the value gained is worth the money spent.

mickyflinn said:
System with 16gb of ram gets maxed out in flight sim.

Adding more ram will make for a smoother experience quoted in some of the reviews, so it may be worth getting another 16gb.

Yes going to 32gb would be the plan then. I would get that and see if fps is sufficient for you, if not send the ram back and do what Sparx has suggested.

You could load up a resource monitor and see how much RAM is being used when it's struggling. I know in Heathrow Airport it goes over.(probably not in the basic version). Obviously doesn't go over everywhere. If its also struggling in areas where its not using max RAM then you know that you'll need to go Sparx path.

Something else...
How's your Internet connection? Could that also affect the stuttering??

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 16:18

Thanks for the feedback gents.

Internet is fine, I have fibre to premise at 300mbps so no bottlenecks there.

I don't think swapping the processor and motherboard for a 10-20% uplift makes much sense, so will go with a memory swap and see how that works I think.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 16:32

So thinking of replacing my 2 x 8GB sims with this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...zen-tuned-ddr4-memory-dual-kit-my-4ck-cs.html

Should work in my mobo yes?

Thinking being I can move them to a new Motherboard if the upgrade does not provide enough of an uplift?

VortexA1 · 20 Aug 2020 at 16:39

Housey said:
So thinking of replacing my 2 x 8GB sims with this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...zen-tuned-ddr4-memory-dual-kit-my-4ck-cs.html

Should work in my mobo yes?

Thinking being I can move them to a new Motherboard if the upgrade does not provide enough of an uplift?

That would be good if it's works in your mobo. Someone else will help,im not sure tbh..

jigger · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:14

FS2020 seems a very CPU and memory intensive application.

Housey said:
Thanks for the feedback gents.

Internet is fine, I have fibre to premise at 300mbps so no bottlenecks there.

I don't think swapping the processor and motherboard for a 10-20% uplift makes much sense, so will go with a memory swap and see how that works I think.

Should be at least 4xDIMM's for best performance. X99 is a quad channel system.

Id just look for another set of what you currently have.

MichaelAwkward · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:25

Just FYI, Guru3D found no real effect going from 16GB to 32GB. The sim will use more memory if you give it more, but it doesn't require it.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pag..._graphics_performance_benchmark_review,5.html

I have 16GB DDR3 and it uses about half most of the time.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:38

MichaelAwkward said:
Just FYI, Guru3D found no real effect going from 16GB to 32GB. The sim will use more memory if you give it more, but it doesn't require it.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pag..._graphics_performance_benchmark_review,5.html

I have 16GB DDR3 and it uses about half most of the time.

Suggests its a pointless move then?

jigger · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:42

Housey said:
Suggests its a pointless move then?

Probably not if you only have 2 sticks installed currently.

MichaelAwkward · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:45

jigger said:
Probably not if you only have 2 sticks installed currently.

And depends on speed - replacing 16GB slow DDR4 with faster sticks will help I'm sure.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:51

So conclusion is maybe 4 x 8GB will work best in my current motherboard?

Current memory is Team-Elite-2400 and it is in 4 x 4GB format, so not 2 x 8GB as above stated.

mickyflinn · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:52

MichaelAwkward said:
Just FYI, Guru3D found no real effect going from 16GB to 32GB. The sim will use more memory if you give it more, but it doesn't require it.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pag..._graphics_performance_benchmark_review,5.html

I have 16GB DDR3 and it uses about half most of the time.

I'm confused because I read it's easy to max out 16gb especially at higher res.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:53

Tell you what, can you brain boxes decide what I should do and let me know.

MichaelAwkward · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:54

mickyflinn said:
I'm confused because I read it's easy to max out 16gb especially at higher res.

Not necassarily. I play at 1440p on the default High settings and usage was still around 8GB.

Housey · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:55

"I'd recommend an enthusiast-class graphics card for the highest resolutions, 32GB on the System memory and obviously and SSD. processor wise four cores work, but my recommendation sits at an eight-core configuration for best experience."

MichaelAwkward · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:59

Housey said:
"I'd recommend an enthusiast-class graphics card for the highest resolutions, 32GB on the System memory and obviously and SSD. processor wise four cores work, but my recommendation sits at an eight-core configuration for best experience."

Yeah, I read that in the conclusion but I thought it was at odds with the evidence in the rest of the article which shows little effect from adding more than 16GB. Perhaps he advises 32GB assuming you've got other stuff going on the background (streaming etc)?

Edit: some usage statistics flying around Seattle - https://imgur.com/a/7EWZyUZ

You can see the memory usage never goes above 12GB and then settles back around 8GB on the ground, less in the air.