Speccing a new gaming PC
- Thread starter firestorm
- Start date
Update
Got it up and running.
The Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD 2TB is drive C. It came with the latest firmware to fix some ageing issues. I've set over-provisioning to 10%.
I bought a Crucial P3 Plus SSD as 4TB drive D and I'll be using it a fast backup drive.
The things is very quiet at idle. The PSU can be interrogated by software.
I've bought it for my Xbox X. It took a while to work out how to get MSFS2020 running on my new PC, found out that there are two methods, Steam or the PC Xbox app. I went with the latter.
The Zotac RTX3090 gets very noisy with MSFS2020. I've got it working over 3 monitors, but not properly tuned.
From what I've seen, it is very smooth at 1440p with everything on ultra.
I haven't connected up the yoke, quadrant or pedals yet.
Got it up and running.
The Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD 2TB is drive C. It came with the latest firmware to fix some ageing issues. I've set over-provisioning to 10%.
I bought a Crucial P3 Plus SSD as 4TB drive D and I'll be using it a fast backup drive.
The things is very quiet at idle. The PSU can be interrogated by software.
I've bought it for my Xbox X. It took a while to work out how to get MSFS2020 running on my new PC, found out that there are two methods, Steam or the PC Xbox app. I went with the latter.
The Zotac RTX3090 gets very noisy with MSFS2020. I've got it working over 3 monitors, but not properly tuned.
From what I've seen, it is very smooth at 1440p with everything on ultra.
I haven't connected up the yoke, quadrant or pedals yet.
x21
pfm Member
The Cray II actually used 3M Fluorinert.I'm wary of introducing water inside my new PC and will run it dry first to see what it's like.
Mid-range CPU comparison with Cray II from 1985
Cray II - 1.9 Mflops
RTX 3090 - 35 TFlops
5800x3D - 380-5000 Mflops depending on benchmark
Why the Cray II? It water cooled ISTR, plus was very well regarded at the time
MarkW
Full Speed & Pagan
I have been pondering a new rig - not so much for gaming because I don't do much, but for running my upsampling process.
Currently I have an Intel set up running a 17 9700k on a ASUS mb, 128gb ram and a 2080ti. It's OK but the AIO pump is noisy AF when the upsampling software is doing its thing. I thought it was a dodgy fan on the radiator, but it's definitely the pump.
I would prefer an air cooler like the Noctua but quiet is key. I see claims of <30dba for both AIOs and aircoolers but I am pretty sure that if I go for a Ryzen 9 7950 or similar that's not going to be the real world sonic experience.
How are your water-cooled systems for noise (as much as I'd like to offload the heat on the other side of a wall, that's not an option)?
Currently I have an Intel set up running a 17 9700k on a ASUS mb, 128gb ram and a 2080ti. It's OK but the AIO pump is noisy AF when the upsampling software is doing its thing. I thought it was a dodgy fan on the radiator, but it's definitely the pump.
I would prefer an air cooler like the Noctua but quiet is key. I see claims of <30dba for both AIOs and aircoolers but I am pretty sure that if I go for a Ryzen 9 7950 or similar that's not going to be the real world sonic experience.
How are your water-cooled systems for noise (as much as I'd like to offload the heat on the other side of a wall, that's not an option)?
Graham B
pfm Member
If you want an air cooler, go with either be quiet! or noctua. Both are effective and quiet, with much, much better fans than most other manufacturers. Go for the largest you can fit in the case with the biggest fans for best airflow at lowest revs.
The be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 includes a 140mm fan and a 120mm in a much smaller package than the Noctua 15, and is 24db at full chat, seems good performance and value for around £90 and it comes in AMD or Intel specific versions.
Personally I’ve never had any problems with liquid cooling, and it can perform better than air coolers over long periods of intense processing. It can add it’s own problems with pump and liquid noise, although some are refillable and serviceable (including be quiet! once again), whereas many are not.
I have a Corsair liquid cooler which has performed very well and has ok control and monitoring software, although it doesn’t work well with other makers programmes. It was only fractionally more expensive than the air cooler I mentioned above, although I did have to throw an extra £20 at it to replace the appalling Corsair fans. They’re really noisy!
The be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 includes a 140mm fan and a 120mm in a much smaller package than the Noctua 15, and is 24db at full chat, seems good performance and value for around £90 and it comes in AMD or Intel specific versions.
Personally I’ve never had any problems with liquid cooling, and it can perform better than air coolers over long periods of intense processing. It can add it’s own problems with pump and liquid noise, although some are refillable and serviceable (including be quiet! once again), whereas many are not.
I have a Corsair liquid cooler which has performed very well and has ok control and monitoring software, although it doesn’t work well with other makers programmes. It was only fractionally more expensive than the air cooler I mentioned above, although I did have to throw an extra £20 at it to replace the appalling Corsair fans. They’re really noisy!
Graham B
pfm Member
Sounds promising! There is no difference between the Steam and MS Store / XBox app versions of MSFS. Check in Profile > Content Manager if you have the latest version. There have been 12 sim updates and 12 world updates since launch, so you may have some extra packages to download. I have some marketplace add-ons plus a lot of extras in the Community folder, and my copy is just under 300GB currently.
In Options > Experimental, there is a setting for background low power, which turns off the background animations when you’re in the menus and significantly reduces cpu and gpu usage (and therefore noise) while you’re not actually in the air. Once you hit ‘Ready to Fly’ everything ramps up as per normal. Turning off Live Traffic and Live Weather also reduces the workload and improves frames rates.
x21
pfm Member
Fluorinert is a liquid that is used in submersion cooling. They actually submerged the chips.
Here's a video with a similar coolant called Novec.
EDIT: Found one using Fluorinert.
EDIT2: Turns out Novec mostly replaced Fluorinert do to the tendency for Fluorinert to break down into Perfluoroisobutene.
anything with fluorine atoms in it worries me when it breaks down, though I'll happy brush my teeth with it ...
whenever I fire up MSFS the fans on the GPU and it sounds like a 707 in TOGA.
I'll persevere with it a while longer to see if the headphones I use blocks off enough of the noise with my Sennheiser cans. I'll see if I can get hold of thfew funny sized GA mic jack plugs/sockets to make an adapter.
whenever I fire up MSFS the fans on the GPU and it sounds like a 707 in TOGA.
I'll persevere with it a while longer to see if the headphones I use blocks off enough of the noise with my Sennheiser cans. I'll see if I can get hold of thfew funny sized GA mic jack plugs/sockets to make an adapter.
3090 is noisy when the graphics when flying. I couldn't resist trying VR, got a Pico 4 headset on the way. Some say that it really shines with a 4090 and a few have got good results with a 3090, we shall see.
I'm still re-calibrating the yokes and other controls to make it closer to the real thing.
Graphics-wise for VFR, PC with a half-decent GPU is the way to go with the map mod to use Googlemap data instead of MS maps/bing. I've got a long list of plugins I'd like to try.
I'm still re-calibrating the yokes and other controls to make it closer to the real thing.
Graphics-wise for VFR, PC with a half-decent GPU is the way to go with the map mod to use Googlemap data instead of MS maps/bing. I've got a long list of plugins I'd like to try.
jay
built for speed
Not heard of that. What is it?
Graham B
pfm Member
It’s a mod you can apply to the game to make it stream data from google maps instead of Microsoft / bing maps. In some areas the visual quality of the google maps are a lot better or more up to date. It’s a free download from flightsim.to that runs alongside MSFS. Do check user reviews and note that ms (obviously) do not recommend its use. I haven’t tried it and cannot verify if their story of it causing issues are correct, but there are happy users of it and unhappy ones. The process to remove the mod and restore the sim to bing maps looks straightforward enough, but I would guess this is the source of most complaints that “it messed up my sim” and “I had to reinstall the whole thing”.
If you read the faq and the user info and you’re confident then give it a try.
Graham B
pfm Member
That sounds excellent, hours of fun to be had!
I tried my son's Quest 2 headset and had mixed results with my 3070 ti - obviously the immersion and the head tracking are fantastic, but the visual quality, smoothness and field of view was a significant step down from my monitors, and it was a massive faff to get it up and running each time - start Oculus VR and / or Steam VR, then MSFS, then spend some time tweaking and adjusting for best results before getting in the air. It was inconsistent too, so I mostly use the screens.
I have a 4090 here which might help, but I haven't installed it as yet because my Intel CPU is so hopelessly bottlenecked with MSFS that it won't make any difference - I'm saving it for a complete rebuild in a couple of months, which will also update the CPU, mobo and RAM. Once I have made those changes, I may look again at a different headset.
How do you find the google maps mod? I know there have been some reported issues but most seem happy users. I'd like to try it, but I am slightly cautious about how it would work with navigation and my lots of other add-ons.
Speaking of add-ons, if you like to add some realism, these have been my favourites so far:
PuffinFlight 'We Love VFR' - Regions 1,2 & 3, all free from flightsim.to. Adds thousands of VFR-friendly objects e.g. communication, radio, and tv antennas, chimneys, cooling towers, radar domes, construction cranes, and satellite/radio telescope dishes.
Mamudesign 'Powerlines and Solar Farms' - free from flightsim.to. Adds solar farms worldwide and powerlines to link up all the electricity pylons that are missing from MSFS.
Mamudesign 'Project litfs' - free from flightsim.to. Adds worldwide cablecars, gondolas and chairlifts.
Mamudesign 'Marinas' - free from flightsim.to. Global scenery that appropriately places a wide range of static boats and piers in marinas, sea, lakes and rivers.
'Floyds Epic Clouds' - free from flightsim.to. If you don't want the FPS hit of live weather (and frankly, the occasional inconvenience of fog etc.) this gives over 60 preset atmospheric conditions and looks WAY better than the standard in-game clouds. This one was a game-changer for me - because the cloud coverage is so realistic, it drastically improves the overall lighting too, making any bright or over-saturated colours look far more like real life from the air. You can tweak the wind settings as you see fit too.
Tatami 'Ground marks fix' - free from flightsim.to. Improves the colour of airport ground markings, so the yellow and white lines don't all look freshly painted.
Zinertek 'Enhanced Airport textures' - £8 from the in-game marketplace. Makes every runway in the world look realistic, with better textures and lots of tyre markings instead of looking like virgin concrete.
Thanks for the tips Graham - there are so many options and plug ins, it’s useful to have recommendations.
I’m guessing my setup will be gpu bound above 1440p at ultra settings, though at the moment I’m using triple 1440p monitors and it’s very smooth with everything set to ultra. I’ll probably need to tweak things for the headset as that’s 4k combined.
I’m guessing my setup will be gpu bound above 1440p at ultra settings, though at the moment I’m using triple 1440p monitors and it’s very smooth with everything set to ultra. I’ll probably need to tweak things for the headset as that’s 4k combined.
Graham B
pfm Member
No problem. There is a thread about rating add-ons on the MSFS forum, and the above are all well rated there. Please share if you find any other good ones!
I think the 3090 should still be excellent in vr - plenty of people use them with 2 or 3 4K monitors, although you will still take a bit of a hit, it’s just a case of getting it tweaked and balanced for the best mix of smooth performance and visuals. There are different graphics settings within the game for vr, which is something else to contend with.
I would really like to get vr running properly, and there are a few YouTube channels and fb groups that might be useful, but my experience with the Q2 wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Do let us know how you get on with the Pico though, I live in hope!
Kylian
Member
Congratulations on your new RTX 3090 GPU! Your planned build looks like it will be able to handle MSFS 2020 and your three QHD monitors with ease.
The MSI MAG X570S TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI motherboard provides full support for PCIe 4.0 and WiFi 6, plus it's fast and reliable. The AMD 5800x processor is a powerful choice that will keep up with the GPU easily, while the Corsair 2 x 16GB 3600 C16 RAM has plenty of memory to go around. You can count on the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD for lightning-fast storage, and the Noctua NHD15 will ensure adequate cooling for your CPU. The Corsair HX1000i PSU is overkill for this build, but it's nice to have a bit of headroom for future upgrades. Lastly, the Corsair 4000D case is a spacious option that provides generous space for components.
Overall, you have yourself an amazing PC setup that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it! Enjoy!
The MSI MAG X570S TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI motherboard provides full support for PCIe 4.0 and WiFi 6, plus it's fast and reliable. The AMD 5800x processor is a powerful choice that will keep up with the GPU easily, while the Corsair 2 x 16GB 3600 C16 RAM has plenty of memory to go around. You can count on the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD for lightning-fast storage, and the Noctua NHD15 will ensure adequate cooling for your CPU. The Corsair HX1000i PSU is overkill for this build, but it's nice to have a bit of headroom for future upgrades. Lastly, the Corsair 4000D case is a spacious option that provides generous space for components.
Overall, you have yourself an amazing PC setup that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it! Enjoy!
@Kylian - yes it works very well, not the top-of-the line spec in the GPU department and the CPU has been chosen to align with the 3090. I'm expecting this setup to be good for a while for what I want to do with it. I'm taking a gamble with it that it'll work with the VR gear, although 3 x 1440p is over 9 megapixels and the Pico 4 is very similar. I went for the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB in the end, it already came equipped with the latest firmware as there were known problems with it for the 990 and 980 range. It was serious enough for them to offer some significant cash back to sooth people's fears.
I'll skip a generation of AMD x3D CPU and see what Intel come up with in a few years time.
I'll skip a generation of AMD x3D CPU and see what Intel come up with in a few years time.