AMD Upgrade Advice

[Mark Lam]

Budget (including currency): $2,000 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: MSFS Flight Simulator 2020

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

• Current build:
  • Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite WiFi Mobo
  • AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU
  • Gigabyte Radeon 5700XT OC GPU (8 gigs vram)
  • 32 Gigs GSkill RAM (2x16 gigs) DDR-4 3600
  • Windows 11 Pro, updated weekly
  • 3 1440p monitors, all Freesync compatible
    • One is connected directly with DP, the other two use DP -> HDI converters as they only support HDI and I only have one HDI port on the 5700XT
• Cooling is not an issue - running an open air case with very little dust, plenty of headroom on temps (20+C headroom for both CPU and GPU)
• I'm not an overclocking genius, so I use XMP (no DCOP in my BIOS) profile 1 for RAM, AMD's Precision Overboost is enabled in BIOS, and the AMD Radeon Software's preset OC for the 5700XT. One day I'd love to build a new system with a custom loop etc., but that's probably something beyond my capability for now.
• Lastly, this was a custom-built rig so no extra bloatware from an SI.

Issue to solve: The problem I'm trying to solve is stutters in MSFS, which is nominally considered a CPU-bound game. When using more advanced DLC for the game, I run into stuttering/hitching around 90 minutes into flight.

 

Options I'm considering:

• Upgrading CPU to a Ryzen 7 5800X or 5800X3D
• Upgrading 5700XT to ???? Radeon video card
• Switching from Radeon to Nvidia for video card

Options I'd prefer to avoid:

• Switching to Intel - would cost more as not only would a new CPU be involved, a new mobo would be required as well. And now that Intel is moving into DDR-5 territory, I would hesitate to buy a mobo based on DDR4. So, cost becomes a limiting factor.
• Waiting for next-gen AMD Ryzen - same reasons as above - while DDR4 would likely work, would need a new CPU and mobo to make it work. And if I'm going to wait for all that, I might as well invest in a whole new system.

Bottom Line:

 

I'd love to get your opinions on what the best route would be to eliminate hitching and stuttering in MSFS 2020. The other games I play are World of Warcraft (which probably would run on a 486 still), and military strategy games that aren't hindered by system performance (think Civilization 6-style turn-based games). I don't do content creation or video editing or anything else. I want to fly in MSFS2020 for longer periods of time (3 - 5 hours in a single session) without hitching/stutters, while running YouTube on one of the other monitors in 1440p playback.

 

It seems that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D might be the best option for a CPU, given that a) it'll work with my mobo (which has the latest bios update about 30 days old) and b) it has more cache RAM (apparently, I'm still a little unclear whether cache memory will help with hitching/stuttering) and b) it looks like it's the pinnacle of the socket AM4 CPUs, so it should work well for the next few years while the next gen CPUs and mobos go through their paces and become more commonplace. But, will a CPU upgrade alone help? Should I upgrade both the CPU and the GPU? And if so, what GPU should I consider? AMD seems to be the best value for the money, but their software seems a bit more unstable than Nvidia's software. DLSS vs. FSR etc. isn't as much of an issue for me at 1440p or even 1080p. This is a flight simulator, not these dark and dank FPS games LOL. FPS games make me motion sick so I'm not worried about that type of improvement.

 

I'd love any and all feedback you have - thank you for reading!

 

Mark

[worm.with.a.perm]

Have you tried using HWMonitor or some other diagnostic tool to determine your CPU is being pushed to the max? Perhaps maybe some sort of RAM frequency issue. 

[Bianks84]

I use a fairly similar system:

• 32GB 3200 MT/s
• ASUS TUF Gaming x570
• 3800XT
• 5600XT

I think you'd get a big improvement with just going to AMD 5000 and I'm considering the same.

If you lower your overall resolution in Flight Sim to maybe 1080p or 720p and see similar FPS or hitching then you know it's the CPU that can't keep up.

 

Also lemme know if you wanna get rid of your 5700XT to get some more budget for a new GPU

[Mark Lam]

9 minutes ago, worm.with.a.perm said:

Have you tried using HWMonitor or some other diagnostic tool to determine your CPU is being pushed to the max? Perhaps maybe some sort of RAM frequency issue. 

I have - based on Riva Tuner Stats I'm usually around 60% utilization with both the CPU and GPU (though of course it varies from time to time). So that doesn't appear to be the problem. Also, I did fail to mention that MSFS is installed on a dedicated NVEm drive that's plugged into the PCI 4x NVMe slot, in case that matters. It's a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe drive.

 

Thanks!

[Mark Lam]

8 minutes ago, Bianks84 said:

Also lemme know if you wanna get rid of your 5700XT to get some more budget for a new GPU

LOL will do - stay tuned! Thanks!

[GeorgeMKane]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hM4fmr

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($395.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black 82.51 CFM CPU Cooler  ($99.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB LHR 10 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING LHR Video Card  ($866.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.84 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.84 @ Amazon) 
Custom: Cable Matters (2-Pack) PWM 2-Fan Splitter Cable - 4 Inches  ($7.49 @ Amazon) 
$1590.09

 

You don't have to get the 1000W PSU model, but I would definitely recommend the 850W, at minimum.

 

 

[Guest]

The 5800X3D might be a better option due to the bigger L3 cache.