Best upgrade option for i7 6700k/GA-Z170X-GAMING 6

[Rei-sen]

With 3.001 update I've noticed some performance decrease on my set up. Not that terrible, but I'd like it to be smoother.

 

What would be the best option for an interim upgrade now given the fact that I'm thinking of a complete new build in about 1.5 years or when we get a new generation of VR devices with better resolution?

 

I see 2 options here:

- Get a liquid cooling kit and overclock my 6700k

- Purchase 7700k, liquid cooling kit and overclock

 

Which one would make more sense given the fact that it is a "temporary" upgrade and the fact that I don't want to buy a new motherboard and swap my 1080 with 1080Ti?

 

Any opinions are appreciated

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Buying a 7700K does not make sense unless you find a very good price because Coffee Lake would only cost you a motherboard. 

 

7700K has better overclocking capabilities than 6700K, but likely not by much. I would recommend that you acquire a good cooler (not necessarily liquid) and push your 6700K as far as possible. Maybe you hit 4.8 GHz and be satisfied for now. If not, you can reevaluate your options.

 

Sadly, even the ideal 5+ GHz Coffee Lake often doesn't deliver perfect Il-2 performance. It would make sense to look at some other threads on this forum to create reasonable expectations. 

[Rei-sen]

Yeah, I know that even with overclocked 8700k it won't be 100% ideal. So I guess I'll just squeeze the maximum out of my 6700k then.

I'm in LA, it's too damn hot here in summer, so delidding and liquid cooling would make sense, just to be on the safe side.

[A_radek]

Like Mitthrawnuruodo mentioned it's the radiator doing the cooling not the liquid  So aim for something nice rather than a small liquid cooler for the sake of going liquid.

Unless I failed to notice and you already wrote it, what cpu frequency are you running now? if it's stock 3.4 you will get a very nice boost just by going above 4.0 preferably to ~4.5. I suspect the 6700 is capable of 4.5 without straining much.

Also make sure that 3200 ram of yours is really running at 3200. If you built the rig yourself and didn't tweak a thing chances are it's not.

Edited March 29, 2018 by a_radek

[Rei-sen]

@a_radek Yeah, I'm running stock frequency. I've set up the XMP profile in the BIOS so the RAM runs at full speed.

 

As for the cooler I have NH-U14S. Do you think it would be enough for overclocking at 4.5?

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

13 minutes ago, Arthur-A said:

@a_radek Yeah, I'm running stock frequency. I've set up the XMP profile in the BIOS so the RAM runs at full speed.

 

As for the cooler I have NH-U14S. Do you think it would be enough for overclocking at 4.5?

At stock, the 6700K should Turbo to 4.2 GHz. You'll easily reach 4.5 GHz with that cooler.

 

However, 4.5 is very conservative. I would aim for 4.7 GHz. Your cooler should still be sufficient (though this can vary with your particular CPU, preferences, and environment). 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Mitthrawnuruodo

[Guest deleted@134347]

I oc'ed my 6700k to 4.9 using a corsair water aio water cooler... Honestly I didn't any difference in Il2 performance between 4.7 and 4.9..

 

then I went to 8700k at 4.9ghz (pre il2 patch v3), and it just improved the performance during the crowded campaign scenes.... improved as in it became flyable, but not like it was a "wow, it's butter smooth 90fps" improvement.. maybe gained 10-15fps at most.

[A_radek]

49 minutes ago, Arthur-A said:

@a_radek Yeah, I'm running stock frequency. I've set up the XMP profile in the BIOS so the RAM runs at full speed.

 

As for the cooler I have NH-U14S. Do you think it would be enough for overclocking at 4.5?

The other boys gave you good info and I really can't say. Depends on your in/out chassis airflow, temp expectations, OC voltage and much else. The U14s is by no means an OC enthusiasts cooler but it is a quality unit. So worth a shot!

Do check with cpu-z or similar what frequency your cpu is holding when il2 is running. I'm unsure of how the boost works at stock settings. That is, if it only takes one core to 4.2 or all of them. AVX offset also affects il2. Best gains in performance will like moosya said be the jump from below 4 (if that's where your at) to ~4.7. While 4.7 to 5+ not so much.

[BeastyBaiter]

I recommend aiming for 4.7 GHz with 0 AVX offset, that should be doable from what I've heard with a halfway decent AIO (either a traditional 240mm or a push/pull double thick 120 like I have). With the 8700k, there is a bit to be gained by pushing from 4.7 to 4.9 but the big jump is from 4.5 to 4.7.  4.7GHz gives 90 fps in quick missions for the most part and a never below 45 fps experience in the new career at high-ish detail settings (provided your GPU matches). Grabbing a moderately priced AIO also has the advantage of being something you should be able to reuse later on when you do a full rebuild.

[Rei-sen]

Well, I've delidded my 6700k, installed liquid cooling system, overclocked the CPU at 4.7 GHz. I've also overclocked my GPU using MSI Afterburner. Tried career with medium settings and haven't actually noticed any difference. Maybe it is the Afterburner that affects the performance and could be the reason I haven't noticed the difference. It's actually pretty smooth especially with ASW on. I'm sure there's a difference in FPS numbers but it's not quite noticeable with a naked eye.

 

I guess the best strategy for an upgrade would be to wait for the real 2-gen VR devices to come out and then the next generation of CPUs and GPUs after that (and hopefully devs would optimize the game better in the meantime). Only then it would make sense to upgrade in terms of significant improvement.

[BeastyBaiter]

You aren't going to see a difference if you have ASW on. ASW is going to lock pretty much any system to 45 fps in BoX. If you turn it off and turn on the in game fps counter (backspace), you will likely notice a jump from 50-ish fps to 80-something provided you aren't gpu bottlenecked.

[katdog5]

Yeah I have basically the same system. was rocking close to 90fps before 3.  Just waiting. Have you messed with the cloud mod yet.  Might be something to check out.  Im using it

 

Also use dynamic resolution factor. cant play without it

Edited April 17, 2018 by katdog5

[Rei-sen]

The GTX 1080 shouldn't be a bottleneck.

 

Yesterday I've checked Steam VR and my supersampling was at 184%. That's why I didn't notice any improvements in performance. I've set it to 100% ran a quick mission in Kuban with 8 planes and it was pretty good. Then I've set supersampling at 160% - it's a sweet spot for me. The fps was around 70 with occasional drops to low 60s. But if you don't focus on the fps counter, it actually feels pretty smooth. I'd say it's as smooth as in 20012 version. That's enough for me to wait for better VR headsets and PC hardware.