New PC

[Buggyman]

Time is approaching when I will be changing my 8 year old PC for a new one which is getting a bit cranky and liable to cause things to close down/black screen.

Now, my problem is I am no longer up to date with the latest technology so I would be delighted to have your - yes YOU! - thoughts on what is best. Although I don't 'fly' as much as I used to I have most simulators on my current PC. Although I use P3D v6 the most, I have X Plane v12, MSFS, P3D V4 and 5, Aerofly FS4, FS World and Steam FSX. Plus all the usual Add-ons from Orbx.

To date I have always used an Intel based PC but I am open to change if it is the best way. In respect of price, I have been putting money aside for a few years now to replace/repair, so I am not price constrained - within reason. A super Kray would stretch the budget somewhat.

Next question is who, where is best to buy. i.e a bespoke system or off the shelf?

Any help would be much appreciated, meanwhile I am going to lie down now as all this thinking is hurting my head.

ATB


Allan

[Airspeed]

Hi Allan,
Like you, I'm not up with the latest, but I do know that the new "hard drives" look like the old memory sticks, but they plug in at the end, not the long edge. They are supposed to be very fast.
Personally, I would find a local computer technician, and ask him to build to my requirements. Off-the-shelf units may be OK, but probably have stuff that is there to meet a wide target, and that may not be you. Our Grandsons have desktops that look like carnivals, with changing coloured lights etc, which would send me crazy.
You may/may not want multiple screens, and the video card needs to match your wants; no point in buying one that will support 4 screens if you only want one.
I could go on, but I think I've made my point.


btw, re model making, have you come across Citadel water based paints? We're trying some here.

[Buggyman]

Thanks Mike.
Once I know what it is I need for the job I will see who can build it for me. I already have one of the new memory sticks as my C drive and it is very fast. My other 3 drives are SSDs and I would hope to transfer them across to the new unit. Flashing lights? No thanks, I have some on my present unit but they are turned off.

I have heard of Citadel paints and they have received good write ups. I use Tamiya Acrylic water based paint on all my models and won't be changing anytime soon due to the amount I have in my store.

ATB

Allan

[Charlie Bravo]

Hi Allan,

Some would say it's a good time to upgrade and some would say wait, as Intel are releasing their Arrow Lake series of processors in October, AMD releasing their Zen 5 series of processors in the next 2-3 weeks and then on the graphics card front, both AMD and Nvidia are due to release their new cards either at the end of this year or beginning of next.

That does of course mean that there are good prices to be had on the current generation of hardware although it'll shortly be the last generation.

Processor wise, if buying now I'd go for the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
It offers performance and value that Intel doesn't seem to be able to match plus there seem to be a lot of stability issues with current Intel processors that Intel have so far failed to get on top of.
If you also do photo/video editing then I'd also consider the 7900X3D.
If you want to save a bit, the non X3D chips also offer great performance but the increased level 3 cache they offer provides a real boost in some applications.


Graphics card wise, Nvidia offer more features than AMD such as DLSS, Frame Generation, game filters etc BUT their value is awful.

The 4060 and 4060ti are no better than the 3060ti although some cards do offer 16gb VRAM as opposed to 8gb (which is now showing its shortcomings in games).

The 4070 is so so but only has 12gb VRAM and whilst the 4070 Super is faster, it still only has 12gb VRAM.
The 4070ti is faster still but again only 12gb whereas the 4070ti Super is a touch faster and has 16gb VRAM. A 4070ti Super will relieve you of £800 though.

Up from those, the 4080 Super offers a further increase over the 4070ti Super but doesn't offer an increase in VRAM with it again having 16gb. That'll set you back a smidge over £1000.

At the top of the Nvidia tree is the 4090. An absolute powerhouse with 24gb VRAM, and a speed increase that seems to be larger than any offered between the models mentioned previously.
It requires a juicy power supply and £1700 of your hard earned.


Over in the AMD world, the 7800XT comes in at around £430 with 16gb VRAM although it does offer similar performance in some titles to the 4070 Super which starts at £580.

Above the 7800XT is the 7900 GRE which offers a small speed bump and again 16gb VRAM.

Next in line are the 7900XT and 7900XTX which offer larger speed increases and a bump in VRAM with 20gb and 24gb respectively.


AMD also have their own version of DLSS called FSR although it isn't quite as refined.
The cards themselves are more power hungry than their Nvidia counterparts and when it comes to anything using Ray Tracing, they don't cope very well at all with a collapse in frame rates.
Having said that, you need a fairly decent Nvidia card to run well with Ray Tracing enabled anyway.

I believe Microsoft have said Ray Tracing will feature in the next iteration of MSFS but as with most titles that use it, you can probably turn it on and off.

I've been looking at pricing whilst composing this message and certain AMD cards seem to have very little stock available. Maybe a sign of how close the next series is?


Btw, I'm always in favour of building your own as opposed to buying pre built. It's usually better value and you get a longer warranty on components.

Rgds
Chris

[Buggyman]

Thank you, Chris.

Certainly plenty of food for thought there. To a large extent, money isn't a problem - no, I didn't win the lottery - I put away a set amount into the 'PC' account from which I buy all IT kit for myself and the boss. As such it isn't a bone of contention when the day comes to splash out the cash.

As there is no time limit, I might wait a few weeks/months to see what the reviews new Intel chip gets.

Nothing in this world is simple, especially when dealing with technology. My brain hurts, time to lie down.

Thank you once again. I will publish details of my new PC in due course.

ATB

Allan