What upgrades could I make for P3D?

[Robbie Garrett]

 

Hello All,

I don't think my PC is that bad, I think it just needs a clean and a upgrade. I am thinking of transitioning to P3D either now or when it goes to 64 bit (If it ever does).  So what upgrades could I do to get a Matt Davies style setup without fawking out millions?

 

Current parts since 2012 -

• Antec 902 V3 Gaming Case
• Intel i7 3770K 3.5GHz (OC to 4.6Ghz) 8MB Cache
•  Asus P8Z77-V PRO
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• Corsair Pro AX750 750W PSU 80plus Gold
• 2 x Kingston 240GB HyperX 3K SSD
• WD 2TB Green HDD 
• BeQuite CPU Cooler for OC
• ASUS GTX680 DirectCU II 2GB GDDR5.

[N_i_k_l_a_s__G_i_e_r_s_e]

How much RAM do you have ?

I recommend you get a better GPU. I have a GTX 1060 which is a really nice card for its price

The CPU should be fine.

Happy landings !

[Jonathan Fong]

As @NGisi said, how much RAM do you have? Your CPU looks like it'll be able to hold up, so unless you want to it's not an absolute necessity right now. I'd suggest getting a better GPU like a GTX1060 or 1070.

[Robbie Garrett]

On 27/01/2017 at 0:26 PM, NGisi said:

How much RAM do you have ?

I recommend you get a better GPU. I have a GTX 1060 which is a really nice card for its price

The CPU should be fine.

Happy landings !

 

On 27/01/2017 at 1:24 PM, fcisuperguy said:

As @NGisi said, how much RAM do you have? Your CPU looks like it'll be able to hold up, so unless you want to it's not an absolute necessity right now. I'd suggest getting a better GPU like a GTX1060 or 1070.

So you reckon GTX1000 series is the best to get and an upgrade of my ram to maybe 16gb?  Money is no object, just I refuse to upgrade an already decent PC.   Would I need Windows 11 or is Windows 7 the same performance?  I have Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Kit.   Pretty good ram!

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/blt8g3d1608dt1tx0

[Jonathan Fong]

Just now, Robbie Garrett said:

So you reckon GTX1000 series is the best to get and an upgrade of my ram to maybe 16gb?  Money is no object, just I refuse to upgrade an already decent PC.   Would I need Windows 11 or is Windows 7 the same performance?  I have Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Kit.   Pretty good ram!

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/blt8g3d1608dt1tx0

I suggested a GTX1060 as it's the newest option - you'd get comparable performance (albeit with increased power consumption compared to the 1060) with a GTX970. Windows 10/7 shouldn't affect performance that much, though Windows 10 is coming out with a 'Game Mode' later this year which may increase performance (not necessarily). Your RAM looks fine; I personally would recommend 12GB or above though if you have the money to spare, especially if you run lots of applications in the background while simming.

[N_i_k_l_a_s__G_i_e_r_s_e]

8GB of RAM are fine, as P3D is 32-Bit and can therefore only use 4GB

I would recommend you get a GTX 1000 series card as they offer the best price to performance.

If I were you I would go GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060 6GB.

Have fun!

[Robbie Garrett]

On 28/01/2017 at 3:10 PM, NGisi said:

8GB of RAM are fine, as P3D is 32-Bit and can therefore only use 4GB

I would recommend you get a GTX 1000 series card as they offer the best price to performance.

If I were you I would go GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060 6GB.

Have fun!

Thanks for the reply. So is there any performance benefit of Windows 7 64bit vs Windows 10 64bit?

Also I'll probably get a 1080GTX when the newer model comes out  and it goes down in price. 

Any recommendations on 16GB of RAM? Preferabbly DDR4, best speed and CAS Latency. 3000MHZ DDR4 is faster than 1600MHZ right?

[Robbie Garrett]

BUMP!

[Sang Hyun Yoon]

FSX and P3D doesn't require lot of RAM more than 4GB since they are 32bit.

Just get a good VGA and better CPU.  

[Andrew Wilson]

Guys - and this goes to anyone building a new FS rig: I would seriously recommend at least 32Gb of memory. 

When things do go 64bit - I honestly believe that 16gb will be limiting. 

[Marcel Semelka]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Guys - and this goes to anyone building a new FS rig: I would seriously recommend at least 32Gb of memory. 

When things do go 64bit - I honestly believe that 16gb will be limiting. 

Do you guys know more then we do. Cause as far as I know there hasn't even been an official statement that a 64 Bit Version of P3D is in the works... only rumors...

In my opinion there should be an announcement at least a couple of months beforehand, so that Add On developers can adapt, recompile etc.toget ready for this major update.

But as far as I know there is no SDK available yet for developers, so I personally I don't expect anything before maybe summer/winter  2017...

[Robbie Garrett]

On 09/02/2017 at 4:34 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

Guys - and this goes to anyone building a new FS rig: I would seriously recommend at least 32Gb of memory. 

When things do go 64bit - I honestly believe that 16gb will be limiting. 

Hi Andrew,

Ive not upgraded yet, and was discussing this with a colleague that 32GB wouldn't make a difference. But if it does? 

 

Whats your our latest thoughts as I'm in line to update a) Windows 7 64 bit to Windows 10 64 bit 2) 8GB ram to 16GB but you suggest 32GB?

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Robbie,

If you can go with 32Gb, I'd certainly recommend that. I do think 16Gb might be a bottle neck in years to come. 

[Robbie Garrett]

1 hour ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

If you can go with 32Gb, I'd certainly recommend that. I do think 16Gb might be a bottle neck in years to come. 

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply. What DDR3 32GB ram would you recommend, I.e. The fastest my mobo can take along with the best CL to hook up with Windows 10.  My graphics card will be a further upgrade once the 1080 goes down in price a little.

 

[Andrew Wilson]

It's more to do with your CPU - what do you have, or plan on getting? 

Personally, I prefer G.Skill - their new Trident Z RGB seriers is optimised for Kaby Lake (i7700K).

[Robbie Garrett]

18 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

It's more to do with your CPU - what do you have, or plan on getting? 

Personally, I prefer G.Skill - their new Trident Z RGB seriers is optimised for Kaby Lake (i7700K).

Will the Intel i7 3770K keel over? I was thinking P3D 64 bit would be more memory and graphics intensive?

I shall look at those. Full current specs are at top of page. I guess parts wise, the only thing I can salvage are the following in bold. Would need a new mobo/processor/ram/cooling and later a GPU?

Quote

• Antec 902 V3 Gaming Case
• Intel i7 3770K 3.5GHz (OC to 4.6Ghz) 8MB Cache
• Asus P8Z77-V PRO
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• Corsair Pro AX750 750W PSU 80plus Gold
• 2 x Kingston 240GB HyperX 3K SSD
• WD 2TB Green HDD 
• BeQuite CPU Cooler for OC
• ASUS GTX680 DirectCU II 2GB GDDR5.

 

[Robbie Garrett]

On 2017-5-28 at 8:48 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

It's more to do with your CPU - what do you have, or plan on getting? 

Personally, I prefer G.Skill - their new Trident Z RGB seriers is optimised for Kaby Lake (i7700K).

Hi Andrew,

Was just looking into the new Trident Z RGB series, and was wondering what MOBO can run the 2 x 8GB @ 4266MHz  or would you recommend getting something slower and 4 x 8GB? I guess I could get two more of those Trident's in the future.

 

I am looking at the following upgrades.

 

Quote

 

Intel Core I7-7700K 4.20 GHz Socket 1151 8MB

Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM

G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB Kit DDR4 4266MHz RAM

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 4 Heatpipes/1x120mm Fan CPU Air Cooler

Asus GTX 1080Ti ROG Strix OC 11GB GDDR5X Graphics Card

 

 

 

[A-n-t-o-i-n-e_L-e-b-ou-r-g]

Hello @Robbie Garrett, @Andrew Wilson, FSLab community,

I'm also thinking to move on such high-end upgrade to welcome P3D V4, as I can see the limitations of my current configuration with FSX. I know that for sure my entry level GPU is a weak point. But for CPU (i5 3450 @3,10GHz), I'm wondering if it is really worth to move up to 4Ghz+. On P3D website, they only recommend 3.5GHz+.

By googling here and there to find information about components, I saw that Intel is about to release their 8th CPU generation, Coffee Lake, somewhere in 2nd half of 2017 (August ?). From what I read, the i7 7700k should be replaced by a 15% (or 30%, depending the sources) faster 6-core one. The compatibility with previous should be kept (LGA1151) with a new Chip 370. Is it worth to wait for this new generation (maybe 3 or 4 months) ? Or it won't make any difference for P3D usage ? As least it should cost down to the current 7700k.

[Robbie Garrett]

10 hours ago, A-n-t-o-i-n-e_L-e-b-ou-r-g said:

Hello @Robbie Garrett, @Andrew Wilson, FSLab community,

I'm also thinking to move on such high-end upgrade to welcome P3D V4, as I can see the limitations of my current configuration with FSX. I know that for sure my entry level GPU is a weak point. But for CPU (i5 3450 @3,10GHz), I'm wondering if it is really worth to move up to 4Ghz+. On P3D website, they only recommend 3.5GHz+.

By googling here and there to find information about components, I saw that Intel is about to release their 8th CPU generation, Coffee Lake, somewhere in 2nd half of 2017 (August ?). From what I read, the i7 7700k should be replaced by a 15% (or 30%, depending the sources) faster 6-core one. The compatibility with previous should be kept (LGA1151) with a new Chip 370. Is it worth to wait for this new generation (maybe 3 or 4 months) ? Or it won't make any difference for P3D usage ? As least it should cost down to the current 7700k.

I've heard this CPU will be $2000USD or there-about on release.  Like you say, it might be worth waiting for as even with 6 cores your PC will be faster if you use multiple things like AS16, FS Real Time, FS LABS, EZDOK, FS2 Crew, VATSIM etc

[Andrew Wilson]

18 hours ago, Robbie Garrett said:

Hi Andrew,

Was just looking into the new Trident Z RGB series, and was wondering what MOBO can run the 2 x 8GB @ 4266MHz  or would you recommend getting something slower and 4 x 8GB? I guess I could get two more of those Trident's in the future.

Hi Robbie,

I'd get something slower and 32Gb. I went for the G.SKILL F4-3866C18Q-32GTZR and have it clocked at 3600MHz. I do think 16Gb will give you a bottleneck next year on V4. 

Also - I'd recommend a CPU/GPU AIO cooler - my temps are very low (60/30) with my CPU clocked at 5GHz.

[M_i_k_e_V_o_g]

2 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

I'd get something slower and 32Gb. I went for the G.SKILL F4-3866C18Q-32GTZR and have it clocked at 3600MHz. I do think 16Gb will give you a bottleneck next year on V4. 

Also - I'd recommend a CPU/GPU AIO cooler - my temps are very low (60/30) with my CPU clocked at 5GHz.

Andrew,

Just out of curiosity, what do you think would be the consumers of all that memory?

Photo scenery? dense autogen and such? or is it going to be aircraft addon modules?

[Andrew Wilson]

I think scenery mostly, and weather. I can't see aircraft using more than 2Gb. 

[Robert Stephan]

Hi ! Im still using my old pc ( i7 Lynnfield 860 3,2 ghz overclocked, an Asus gtx 960. 850 ssd Samsung and 16 GB G Skill Memory).

Was ok for me with P3D v3 and no more issues now with v4, Framrate about 20-25 in high density aeria. Settings moderate, Framerate with FSLabs around 20.

Lets see how fast x64 FSLabs will go

[M_i_k_e_V_o_g]

On ‎06‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 2:51 PM, Robert Stephan said:

Hi ! Im still using my old pc ( i7 Lynnfield 860 3,2 ghz overclocked, an Asus gtx 960. 850 ssd Samsung and 16 GB G Skill Memory).

Was ok for me with P3D v3 and no more issues now with v4, Framrate about 20-25 in high density aeria. Settings moderate, Framerate with FSLabs around 20.

Lets see how fast x64 FSLabs will go

just as fast as it was on other platform I'd assume

[Robbie Garrett]

On 05/06/2017 at 4:02 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

I'd get something slower and 32Gb. I went for the G.SKILL F4-3866C18Q-32GTZR and have it clocked at 3600MHz. I do think 16Gb will give you a bottleneck next year on V4. 

Also - I'd recommend a CPU/GPU AIO cooler - my temps are very low (60/30) with my CPU clocked at 5GHz.

Hi Andrew,

What do you think of these parts?

New Parts

• Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Full Tower case - Black -  £129.95
• ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi) Intel Z370 (socket 1151 (DDR4 ATX) - £269.99
• Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHZ (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - £379.99
• Corsair Hydro Series H115i Extreme Performance Liquid CPU cooler - 280mm - £134.99
• GeForce GTX 1080Ti ROG Strix OC 11264MB GDDR5X - £799.99
• Trident Z RGB 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 RAM - £548.99
• Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit - £94.99
• Corsair RM Series RM750X 80+ Gold 750W Modular Power Supply - £127.99

Existing items I'll transfer across once clean and written over 

• 2 x Kingston 240GB HyperX 3K SSD
• 1 x 2TB WD external hard drive
• 1 x Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

[Andrew Wilson]

Looks very good Robbie, that'll be a nice build. 

The only thing I would add is a fast disk. The new Samsung 960's (M.2/Mz's) are probably the best - but they're a bit pricey. I'm on an 850 Pro and very happy - I would suggest you get something with as much capacity as you can afford. If you've got the cash, the Samsung 960 Pro 1T would compliment your build very well!

You might find 250Gb a little limiting - especially in a 64bit environment where textures are increasing in quantity and size.

[Robbie Garrett]

9 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Looks very good Robbie, that'll be a nice build. 

The only thing I would add is a fast disk. The new Samsung 960's (M.2/Mz's) are probably the best - but they're a bit pricey. I'm on an 850 Pro and very happy - I would suggest you get something with as much capacity as you can afford. If you've got the cash, the Samsung 960 Pro 1T would compliment your build very well!

You might find 250Gb a little limiting - especially in a 64bit environment where textures are increasing in quantity and size.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the response. I would probably have to do that, although I was looking at the motherboard I am getting and maybe an external hard drive via the USB C output? I need the space for the 4K footage from my GoPro flying videos. Nothing wrong with running P3D on a Western Digital 4-8TB drive?  https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-X-HERO-WI-FI-AC/

Maybe a drive set-up like this? I am not sure how well it'll work with all those drives, but surely it won't slow me down at all?

Drive 1 - Kingston Hyper X 3K - 240GB -  Windows 10

Drive 2 - Kingston Hyper X 3K - 240GB - All programmes and utilities

Drive 3 - Western Digital Passport - 2000GB (2TB) - for P3D V4

Drive 4 - Western Digital 4-8TB?* - For GoPro footage and Archive**

*/** - Yet to purchase

 

 

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Robbie,

There’s very little point in building a high-spec system if you’re then going to put P3D on a slow, external (!?) hard drive. You’ll get stutters everywhere.

With your setup, at the very least, P3D v4 needs to be on an internal SSD - and I’d either recommend the 850 Evo Pro or the newer 960’s.

[Robbie Garrett]

2 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

There’s very little point in building a high-spec system if you’re then going to put P3D on a slow, external (!?) hard drive. You’ll get stutters everywhere.

With your setup, at the very least, P3D v4 needs to be on an internal SSD - and I’d either recommend the 850 Evo Pro or the newer 960’s.

Hi Andrew,

I'll have to put on my 240GB till I get the cash for one of those.   At least 1TB needed? As I understand the more space on an SSD the longer they last.  This upgrade/new PC has set me back £2.5k

[Robbie Garrett]

On 16/01/2018 at 7:41 AM, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

There’s very little point in building a high-spec system if you’re then going to put P3D on a slow, external (!?) hard drive. You’ll get stutters everywhere.

With your setup, at the very least, P3D v4 needs to be on an internal SSD - and I’d either recommend the 850 Evo Pro or the newer 960’s.

Hi Andrew,

Just a quick technical question, as I can't seem to find the correct answer on Google.  I've got Windows 7 on one of my SSDs.  If I plug this into my new PC, will the ASUS BIOS boot first and letting me secure delete this or wipe? Rather than booting Win 7 and all the drivers for my OLD PC? Or is it something I need to do when shutting down my OLD PC before removing the SSD?

I think I've explained that well.

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Robbie,

If you boot from the Win 10 disk (DVD?) - it'll then ask you which drive you want to install your new Windows 10 partition on. You can then point this to your old Win 7 SSD. It will simply wipe the disk and install Win10 - so make sure you've got everything you need from it first. I'd also recommend only having the one SSD connected when you install the OS - just to avoid any possibility of wiping your other disks by accident. 

Hope this answers your question?

[Robbie Garrett]

On 17/01/2018 at 11:30 AM, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Robbie,

If you boot from the Win 10 disk (DVD?) - it'll then ask you which drive you want to install your new Windows 10 partition on. You can then point this to your old Win 7 SSD. It will simply wipe the disk and install Win10 - so make sure you've got everything you need from it first. I'd also recommend only having the one SSD connected when you install the OS - just to avoid any possibility of wiping your other disks by accident. 

Hope this answers your question?

Hi Andrew,

Yes - all works fine.  Running Win 10 on my old OS drive.  I just did an XMP profile on the ram, it's all working solid.   Adobe Suite works like a dream so I'll probably invest in Prepar 3D V4 very soon.  Is there any tweaks I can do to Win 10, or the standard package is fine?

Cheers

[Markus Burkhard]

On 1/19/2018 at 12:54 AM, Robbie Garrett said:

Hi Andrew,

Yes - all works fine.  Running Win 10 on my old OS drive.  I just did an XMP profile on the ram, it's all working solid.   Adobe Suite works like a dream so I'll probably invest in Prepar 3D V4 very soon.  Is there any tweaks I can do to Win 10, or the standard package is fine?

Cheers

Windows 10 is a pretty solid operating system. I'm not aware  of any necessary critical tweaks. Turn down your UAC protection settings if your environment allows, and don't destroy your shiny new installation by installing some of that trash AV software out there! Windows Defender is perfectly fine for regular users.

[Robbie Garrett]

On 1/15/2018 at 3:48 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

Looks very good Robbie, that'll be a nice build. 

The only thing I would add is a fast disk. The new Samsung 960's (M.2/Mz's) are probably the best - but they're a bit pricey. I'm on an 850 Pro and very happy - I would suggest you get something with as much capacity as you can afford. If you've got the cash, the Samsung 960 Pro 1T would compliment your build very well!

You might find 250Gb a little limiting - especially in a 64bit environment where textures are increasing in quantity and size.

Hi Andrew,

Wish I had of listened to you regarding the M.2's, my SSDs seem to be getting slower and slower.   I am looking at two of the Samsung 970 PRO Series - 1TB PCIe NVMe - M.2, as I would like one for the OS and one for the simulator, with Adobe Cloud software's for my YouTube channel being on the OS drive.  

On my motherboard, would it be worth keeping the two SSDs for GoPro footage/storage?  Or doing away with them completely?   I am presuming no harm done in a clean install of Windows 10 onto the new NVMe?

 

Cheers

[Lefteris Kalamaras]

@Robbie Garrett I'd be careful to double-check if the motherboard would support the second M.2 disk, as not all motherboard / CPU combinations can (due to the channels required).

Other than that, I'd say go with those two plus keep the older ones you have for storage - they don't hurt anything.

[Robbie Garrett]

13 hours ago, Lefteris Kalamaras said:

@Robbie Garrett I'd be careful to double-check if the motherboard would support the second M.2 disk, as not all motherboard / CPU combinations can (due to the channels required).

Other than that, I'd say go with those two plus keep the older ones you have for storage - they don't hurt anything.

Hi Lefteris,

I read the following for the ROG Maximus X Hero DDR4.  That you can use both?

Quote

 

1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*2

1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
 

Quote

 

*2 When the M.2_1 socket is operating in SATA mode, SATA port 1 will be disabled.

*3 When the M.2_2 socket is operating in PCIEX4 mode, SATA port 5. 6 will be disabled.

 

 

However I don't understand point *2 and point *3  - am I able to tell what SATA port my SSDs are in via Device Manager, or for the 970 the above is irrelevant? 

 

[Lefteris Kalamaras]

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?103247-Maximus-X-Hero-M-2-and-SATA-questions

[Ramon De Valencia]

these M.2 disable 2 Sata ports, My Gigabyte z390 has the same config, 4 out of the 6 sata are disabled because they are being used by 2 M.2 sticks. only 2 satas available 2 SSD hard drives.

[Robbie Garrett]

4 hours ago, Ramon De Valencia said:

these M.2 disable 2 Sata ports, My Gigabyte z390 has the same config, 4 out of the 6 sata are disabled because they are being used by 2 M.2 sticks. only 2 satas available 2 SSD hard drives.

 

7 hours ago, Lefteris Kalamaras said:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?103247-Maximus-X-Hero-M-2-and-SATA-questions

 

That's fine by me, I have two SATA's in use and would wipe them clean for whatever I need.

Presumably both M.2. will work at the same speed with no bottleneck?