Resurecting my Maximus V!! Formula need advice on a GPU

[RickSinGA]

This Flight Sim build has been sitting idle for a few years and I have decided to get back into another flight sim, XPlane 11. After upgrading to Win 10x64 and the latest BIOS I cannot get my Maximus VII Formula/4790K w 16G Ram to run above 4.8g at 1.26v around 65 degrees in RB. I suspect that should be fine and It runs XP fairly well but not at a great resolution and FPS's.

So, my question is what would be the best bang for the (reasonable) buck as far an upgrade to increase my XP experience? I assume a bump in the GPU would be the most beneficial and least expensive option but would love some input. XP looks like it runs the best with an 8g card but anything over my current 4g would likely work too. Would like to stay under $500, $400 would be better.

Thanks
Rick S.

[RickSinGA]

What, no one has an onion here?

Just looking for ideas from some of you that know about GPU's. What is a decent upgrade without killing the bank for a Maximus VII Formula/4790K @4.8 combo with a GTX-980 today. Refurb and used could be options but new is always better. Under $500 would be desirable.

Thanks for any and all replys.

[mboogie]

It used to be that flight sims were more dependent on the CPU, certainly with FSX. X-Plane hopefully is better in that it can make fuller use of the gfx card.
It would be very useful to check out your current system by running your flight sim along side a CPU/GPU monitoring tool e.g. Afterburner (https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html). Check out the GPU and CPU usage as you play with different gfx settings. You should quickly see if there is any bottleneck, and if yes, where to spend money on an upgrade. Of course, the game resolution you play at will be important.

Before upgrading post a few questions in the X-Plane forum (and any other flight sim forums out there) - they should be able to quickly answer any questions regarding how far you could upgrade and still see a benefit.
On a side note, I see that Microsoft are releasing a long-awaited update to their fsx flight simulator. Check out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDDgFfWlS4
- looks damn impressive!

[RickSinGA]

I was not aware of that utility mboogie, thanks for that, I will check that out.

I have watched the released content on the new FSX and it does look sharp but I understood it to be released on XBox and had to be run through some sort of XBox portal on the PC. As I said in another thread, this box was built for FSX somewhere around 5 years ago and it did an outstanding job with FSX but I am ready to move on, biting the bullet with all of my old add-on's. I had gotten into other hobbies and it has sat for the past several years without even being turned on.

Thanks again.

[flyinion]

RickSinGA wrote:
This Flight Sim build has been sitting idle for a few years and I have decided to get back into another flight sim, XPlane 11. After upgrading to Win 10x64 and the latest BIOS I cannot get my Maximus VII Formula/4790K w 16G Ram to run above 4.8g at 1.26v around 65 degrees in RB. I suspect that should be fine and It runs XP fairly well but not at a great resolution and FPS's.

So, my question is what would be the best bang for the (reasonable) buck as far an upgrade to increase my XP experience? I assume a bump in the GPU would be the most beneficial and least expensive option but would love some input. XP looks like it runs the best with an 8g card but anything over my current 4g would likely work too. Would like to stay under $500, $400 would be better.

Thanks
Rick S.

Holy flashback lol, I've been putting together a new build and a few weeks ago I was going through my old posts looking for our back and forth when you were giving me watercooling ideas for my 4790K on that board. I never made it to water, and I'm still running that rig as my daily PC right now, but am really close to buying parts for a new build (just debating 9900K vs Ryzen 3xxx series) and actually will be doing my first custom loop on it.

I'm running a GTX1070 (EVGA SC black edition) currently with the 4790K at 4.4Ghz on air. However I was told that a 2080 or even 2080Ti could potentially work decently with it due to the clock speeds. I was looking at maybe buying a new card while I waited for Ryzen 3xxx info a couple months ago, but I'd have been moving it to the new build eventually. Anyway, yeah your best bet is probably check the x-plane forums. I haven't been in FSX in a while. My system just can't keep the FPS up with the eye candy I want at 1440p with REX and ORBX and PMDG stuff running lol. That's on the Steam release which actually performs better than the CD + patches version.

I'm interested to see where that new flightsim goes. I haven't read anything since the original teaser but it sounded like it's going to be a PC release and more of a real flightsim product than the MS Flight bomb was. I think they're just using their XBox store platform through windows to sell it. Like it will probably be bought through the Microsoft store thing in Windows 10 vs a traditional download etc. Myself I was looking into Pr3pared or x-plane until I saw the teaser. I'm just kinda waiting now to see where things go.

[RickSinGA]

I remember that thread and glad to hear you found it helpful. Not sure if XPlane will be the "IT" for me but am at least giving it a shot. Looks like another build is in my future but hope to be able to use at least some of my current rig along the way.

I am not sure about the the 2070 and 2080 series compatibility with my current MB so I just posted a request for info before I saw your response. It looks like a 2070 can be had for under $500 and if it will work it should still be current enough for a future build.

I am getting low but decent frames at 1920x1080 (60hz) today but want to run at Native 3840x2160 (60hz). My current system FPS really sucks at that resolution. Hopefully the 2070 or 2070super can improve on that problem.

[flyinion]

RickSinGA wrote:
I remember that thread and glad to hear you found it helpful. Not sure if XPlane will be the "IT" for me but am at least giving it a shot. Looks like another build is in my future but hope to be able to use at least some of my current rig along the way.

I am not sure about the the 2070 and 2080 series compatibility with my current MB so I just posted a request for info before I saw your response. It looks like a 2070 can be had for under $500 and if it will work it should still be current enough for a future build.

I am getting low but decent frames at 1920x1080 (60hz) today but want to run at Native 3840x2160 (60hz). My current system FPS really sucks at that resolution. Hopefully the 2070 or 2070super can improve on that problem.

Don't know how helpful it is, but I just caught a thread on AVSim where someone went from a 4790 (didn't mention K model or not) and a 980 to a 2080 with 9900K and went from 30-60 fps to 50-120fps (no mention of addons) for X-Plane 11. I don't know how much of X-Plane is currently affected by CPU vs GPU though. Definitely makes me excited for my own upcoming new build regardless of sim 🙂

[RickSinGA]

That looks like a good combo and should do very well with XP. A new MB, CPU and memory are pretty far off for me right now but I might be able to swing a 20?0 something GPU in the near term. One step at a time.

I have gotten the 4790K back up to 4.9g (45 degrees) in XP error free and 5.0g for short stints (1 hr) in RealBench, more work needed there.

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