Tech advice for desktop (used)

Hey guys, I could use some tech advice. Its been a while since I was in the tech loop when it comes to DCS World. (Single core performance vs multi, threads, etc...)

Early this year I bought an Asus laptop to use on the road and such.

I have been using it for DCS and I am quite happy with the performance. But I have now decided to get a second hand desktop to use as a dedicated DCS / FS2020 machine. Mainly because I have TM warthog, 3 MFDs, Other panels and such+ external screens.

I feel I cant justify spending good money on a new desktop so I will get a used one.

My question is whats a good processor combo to get. It has to match or be better than my Laptop in terms of DCS performance.

My current laptop

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S GX502GW

(Core i7-9750H, RTX 2070, 32 GB ram)

:helpsmilie:

For example is this any good?

Intel i7-5820K LGA 2011-3 med Noctua CPU vifte

Asrock X99 Pro4-3.1 LGA 2011-3

EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 SC 8GB GDDR5 !!!

32GB DDR4

From what it seems that desktop is a downgrade from your laptop.

I run a 5820 in a server, it's not really the CPU for DCS. The clocks are too low and the cores dont help.

It was a nice system for Desktop, some AV editing, maybe other games, but for DCS I'd look for a faster clocked chip, sadly.

Thats a beefy laptop you have. A cheap second hand desktop isnt going to beat it.

Lets start with GPU; I looked up the mobile 2070 and was genuinely surprised its really only a hair slower than the desktop one. 10-15% slower than a desktop 2070 and that is still fairly high end and not something you will find second hand very often. A 1070 will be slower, not by much, but it will be. So for a (modest) upgrade you'd need to look for a 1080 really.

There there is the cpu. You have a coffee lake with a boost frequency of 4.5Ghz. Most modern desktop cpus will outperform that in benchmarks that use all 6 (or more) cores. because a laptop is power limiited and will need to clock down. But DCS is essentially single threaded, and I would expect your CPU to maintain its boost speed on one core and you are doing to struggle to find anything that is meaningfully faster than a 4.5Ghz coffee lake. Especially second hand.

The only area where you can have a non trivial advantage is the memory. I looked it up, your laptop has DDR4 2666 MHz. In my testing (on an AMD ryzen) I found performance scales almost linearly with ram speed. The effect might be smaller with intel cpu, but I would still expect a desktop with good 3200 - 3600 DDR4 to give you a very decent boost. But that its still top of the line stuff, not what you are going to find in a dumpster.

Bottom line; a desktop that will just match your laptop is going to be pricey and no amount of money is going to give you something that is >30% faster. Maybe you should just buy a docking station or something?

FWIW, I'm using an old i7-3770K and 2070 Super based system. It has 32GB of 1600MHz DDR3 RAM. It is very playable/usable with decent settings (not VR).

That said, after finding/starting with DCS in December I am now "all in" and a new 10700K based system is being picked up today.

I'd suggest looking for a used system that uses a top of the line CPU of the era it was new. Pair with a new GPU like a 2060S/2070S or a 5700XT. If you can find a good deal on a used 1080Ti that would be good but at that point a new GPU starts to make more sense since they are still expensive (no potential old hardware problems - 2070S is roughly equivalent to the 1080Ti minus the VRAM).

16GB is fine to start - it's not big deal to throw a few hundred bucks at it for RAM later - that's what I did (16GB -> 32 GB).

For me I ended up with two machines for DCS in the end but now the older machine can be turned into a dedicated Assetto Corsa machine and back seat in the L39/Yak52. Hehe.

I guess it depends how much of a priority this is with respect to how much you want to spend. Another option is to price out a new system based upon the AMD 3600X and 5700XT to see how far away you are on the pricing with respect to used equipment. So many options.

Btw, if you are new to DCS and don't have a TrackIR-like device then add that to your budget - that is "game changing" and I would make it a priority when juggling your costs.

HTH

Thanks guys for all your input. It is much appreciated.

Tomorrow im going to look at a used PC with the following specs:

- Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake Prosessor with Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo

- ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING, Socket-1151 motherboard.

- RAM: PRO GAMING HyperX Fury DDR4 2133MHz 16GB

- MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming

All for 750 bucks!

Buy this setup.

Change the CPU cooler to something insane and overclock it to 4.0 Ghz +

Upgrade the ram to 32 GB 3200 mhz

Sounds like a good plan?

- Intel Core i5-6700K Skylake Prosessor with Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo

AFAIK there is no such thing as an i5-6700K. There is an i7-6700K and an i5-6600K.

Im gonna assume its the 6600K. Either way, seems like a fair price, and you will get something that is comparable to your laptop. I wouldnt bet it performs better, but at least it wont be far.

-

 

AFAIK there is no such thing as an i5-6700K. There is an i7-6700K and an i5-6600K.

Im gonna assume its the 6600K. Either way, seems like a fair price, and you will get something that is comparable to your laptop. I wouldnt bet it performs better, but at least it wont be far.

My bad, typo. i7-6700k is the correct name.

Shouldnt be hard to overclock that to 4Ghz, given that its base frequency ;).

Still for comparison, using local euro prices incl 21% VAT

Ryzen 3600: 170

AM4 motherboard: ~60 euro

RTX 2070 : 450 euro

case+psu : 60

total: 740

Using a core i3 10300 its about the same price and for DCS may even be faster (for FS2020 Id rather have the extra cores on the ryzen). And faster than that i7. May need to add a cooler though, but you where going to buy that anyhow.

.

Then there is ram and storage, but looks like you would need to buy that anyhow too.

hmm. seems those new i3s are limited to DDR4-2666 unless you pair them with overpriced motherboards. In that case, Id scrap that suggestion and stick with ryzen. Or a i5-10400F which is only marginally more expensive, and give you 6 cores too.

FWIW,

That said, after finding/starting with DCS in December I am now "all in" and a new 10700K based system is being picked up today. HTH

Man!, congrats for that decision.

Please make a new thread with your impressions when you feel comfortable enought to give data. Many people will be glad to know.

I was thinking about putting something together. We'll see if I get the cycles to do it.

The clocks are too low and the cores dont help.

Why do cores not help?

Why do cores not help?

Because back in the day when this CPU arrived 6-cores were not the norm and that CPU on X299 was more or less a workhorse CPU for Servers and Workstations.

DCS does not make use of those cores and threads in a way that enough cores can be a GHz substitute. You need enough single core performance...and then multiply that with as many cores as you like and need in your scenario.

Ok. Thanks. It makes sense now, also I have the feeling that DCS uses more Cores after the Performance Update a few weeks ago. I was able to increase my details quite a bit, yet the FPS stayed stable.

Edit: in VR, I should mention.

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