Wow

I just came back from a long time being away from DCS. Played Lockon and DCS 1.0.

Figure my current old PC is a stutter fest and takes forever to load.

So I started to see what it would cost to build a new PC + everything else.

Case Existing

Motherboard MSI Z390-A PRO LGA1151 $129.48

Power Supply CORSAIR RMX Series, RM850x $123.97

Ram Corsair LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz C16 DDR4 $144.99

CPU Intel Core i7-9700K $392.99

CPU Fan Corsair H115i $139.99

GPU NVIDIA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition $1,199.00

HD Samsung 970 EVO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface SSD $179.99

OS Windows 10 $85.00

Keyboard Existing

Mouse Existing

Monitor $600.00

TrackIR $170.00

Pedals

Throttle + Stick $700.00

Grand Total $3,865.41

I think we all are crazy to play this "game". Now I have to figure out how to get this built without my wife knowing how much I will spend.

I just came back from a long time being away from DCS. Played Lockon and DCS 1.0.

 

Figure my current old PC is a stutter fest and takes forever to load.

 

So I started to see what it would cost to build a new PC + everything else.

 

Case Existing

Motherboard MSI Z390-A PRO LGA1151 $129.48

Power Supply CORSAIR RMX Series, RM850x $123.97

Ram Corsair LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz C16 DDR4 $144.99

CPU Intel Core i7-9700K $392.99

CPU Fan Corsair H115i $139.99

GPU NVIDIA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition $1,199.00

HD Samsung 970 EVO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface SSD $179.99

OS Windows 10 $85.00

Keyboard Existing

Mouse Existing

 

Monitor $600.00

TrackIR $170.00

Pedals

Throttle + Stick $700.00

 

Grand Total $3,865.41

 

I think we all are crazy to play this "game". Now I have to figure out how to get this built without my wife knowing how much I will spend.

Hehe, we feel your (first world) pain

If you start with nothing, it's indeed a huge investment (I know, because I started with nothing 2,5 years ago :P). But after that, you will only have to occasionally spend a little bit on upgrading. Some items (throttle/stick) will even last for over a decade (I still occasionally use my ±15 year old TM Cougar, to fly the Viper)

Anyway... Let me help you save a little bit of money while increasing your DCS experience by a mile!:

• Step onboard the future train and lose the pancake (monitor) and TrackIR (saves you $770,-) and find yourself a decent used HP Reverb G1 as soon as the G2 comes available (I bought mine for about $600,- a few months ago)
  
• HOTAS and pedals don't necessarily have to cost you $700,- (you can enjoy DCS for much less than that)
  
• Also, and some might disagree with me on this one, you don't have to spend $80+ on Windows10 Pro (I legally bought an activation key for $10,- about 2,5 years ago and it never failed me).
  

Hehe, we feel your (first world) pain

If you start with nothing, it's indeed a huge investment (I know, because I started with nothing 2,5 years ago :P). But after that, you will only have to occasionally spend a little bit on upgrading. Some items (throttle/stick) will even last for over a decade (I still occasionally use my ±15 year old TM Cougar, to fly the Viper)

 

 

Anyway... Let me help you save a little bit of money while increasing your DCS experience by a mile!:

• Step onboard the future train and lose the pancake (monitor) and TrackIR (saves you $770,-) and find yourself a decent used HP Reverb G1 as soon as the G2 comes available (I bought mine for about $600,- a few months ago)
  
• HOTAS and pedals don't necessarily have to cost you $700,- (you can enjoy DCS for much less than that)
  
• Also, and some might disagree with me on this one, you don't have to spend $80+ on Windows10 Pro (I legally bought an activation key for $10,- about 2,5 years ago and it never failed me).
  

Agreed with all 3 alternatives but would include 2 more:

Motherboard and CPU I'd go with a new B550 and a current Ryzen 7/9 series even tho the nextgen Ryzen chips are probably less than one year away.

I'd hold off on the 2080ti as the 3000 series cards are releasing and will be significantly better.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I'd hold off on the 2080ti as the 3000 series cards are releasing and will be significantly better.

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

That, and the 2000 series prices will probably make an interesting drop

+1 for the AMD solution.

A B550 seems a good choice for a sleek system with GPU being the only AIB.

If you intend to add more cards or connect multiple PCIe_v4 NVMe's then maybe a X570 is the better choice for bandwidth. look here i.e. https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-b550i-aorus-pro-ax-review,1.html

I'll be contrarian (just because) and suggest do Z490+10[6,7,9]00K. Intel still rules single core.

I would agree on holding out on the GPU. For now maybe buy a 5700XT or a 2060/2070 Super with the intention to sell it down the road when the new shiny is available.

FWIW, if you buy a 3080Ti/6900XT do you want to buy an NVIDIA/AMD one or whatever before the other vendors to put out their AIB versions?

Personally, I'd wait for the vendor cards so that means it's much further out than this fall and you might want to buy something decent but not top of the line right now.

I'm happy with my 2070 Super Gaming X OC from Gigabyte for now - I'll look at the equivalent card in the next generation when it's available. Likewise if you decide AMD GPU I'd wait for the Sapphire 69?0XT Nitro - good value for AIB I think (it was between these two cards when I bought the 2070).

Just some things to consider.

Please let me know if you managed to hide THIS from your wife and how you did it :smilewink:

If you are sticked to intel you should consider to go for the new 10x00 CPUs. They use a new socket and it might be more future proof.