New PC - hardware recommendations

[Warchild214]

Hello Pilots,

 

I am looking into purchasing a new PC to be able to play Il2 Great Battles on MAX settings.  I am looking right now at these stats:  Ryzen 5 1600 6-Core 3.2 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, 1TB HDD, 16GB DDR4, AC WiFi, Windows 10 Home 64-bit (16GB Version)

There is an option to get the NVIDIA 1660 but the RAM drops to 8 instead of 16.

What is the most important hardware in flight sims?  Processor?  Vid Card?  RAM?

Thank you for the help.  My brother and I want to get flying!!!

Warchild

[Jaws2002]

You won't play at max settings with that. The video card is weak and has too little memory. Dropping memory to 8GB will also hurt performance and the CPU is also pretty dated. The first gen Ryzen were not that great for gaming. Save a bit more and get the Ryzen 3600 and a graphics card with more video memory. It will make a difference.

[RedKestrel]

I have a video card with 3 GB and it is definitely a problem.

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by RedKestrel
F****** auto correct kept changing GB to go

[TheOldCrow]

You can probably get away with a faster 8 gb ram stick for now. But, the two issues are the CPU and Graphics card. For max settings at 60 fps a Ryzen 3600 and a card equivalent to a 1080 8gb is going to get you there. If you want just High performance for cheaper id go for a Ryzen 5 2600 (equivalent intel would be  I-5 8600k) and something like a Radeon Rx 580 or 590 alternatively you could go nvidia and get a 1660 or 1070 all should be 8gb vram. 

Edited March 3, 2020 by TheOldCrow

[Warchild214]

Thanks guys!

[RedKestrel]

10 hours ago, TheOldCrow said:

You can probably get away with a faster 8 gb ram stick for now. But, the two issues are the CPU and Graphics card. For max settings at 60 fps a Ryzen 3600 and a card equivalent to a 1080 8gb is going to get you there. If you want just High performance for cheaper id go for a Ryzen 5 2600 (equivalent intel would be  I-5 8600k) and something like a Radeon Rx 580 or 590 alternatively you could go nvidia and get a 1660 or 1070 all should be 8gb vram. 

I think the 1660 only has 6GB of VRAM from what I have seen.
 

23 hours ago, Warchild214 said:

Hello Pilots,

 

I am looking into purchasing a new PC to be able to play Il2 Great Battles on MAX settings.  I am looking right now at these stats:  Ryzen 5 1600 6-Core 3.2 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, 1TB HDD, 16GB DDR4, AC WiFi, Windows 10 Home 64-bit (16GB Version)

There is an option to get the NVIDIA 1660 but the RAM drops to 8 instead of 16.

What is the most important hardware in flight sims?  Processor?  Vid Card?  RAM?

Thank you for the help.  My brother and I want to get flying!!!

Warchild

I assume you are looking to buy a PC outright, you're not looking to build your own? 

For most important component, it really depends on what you're doing. I have another thread going right now about upgrading my existing machine. Some really good advice there from people who know more than me.

I have an i5 7500, a GTX 1060 3GB, and 8 GB of Ram. I've been monitoring performance while playing. Sometimes the processor gets used hard, other times its the GPU - if there's a lot of AI and/or fighting going on, the CPU will get stressed, whereas if you're in a built up area and there's lots of smoke, clouds etc. then your GPU gets hit.
But the VRAM is almost always at full capacity and the RAM is usually very close too. This causes stuttering on my machine. I believe that if I had better memory on my GPU my RAM might not get hit as hard, so that is a consideration if you have to choose between more RAM and a better video card.

 

If I had to take a guess I would get the 1660 version with the 6GB memory and take the hit on RAM, if only because upgrading RAM later is probably going to be much easier.

Oh, and try and find out what the motherboard is that computer is using, sometimes that can come back and bite you - right now my motherboard is limiting my RAM speed and my processor selection, complicating my upgrade process. 

 

[Warchild214]

I have read a bit on your thread RedKestral.  Thanks for the link.   Understanding a bit more now.   So, this one seems to be better, yea had to go up $300 but dont want stutters and plan on getting into DCS in the future.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, 2TB HDD, WiFi Ready & Win 10 Home (GMA8860CPGV2, Black)

Edited March 3, 2020 by Warchild214

[SeaW0lf]

9 minutes ago, Warchild214 said:

CyberpowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, 2TB HDD, WiFi Ready & Win 10 Home (GMA8860CPGV2, Black)

 

Look for the GTX 1660 Super as well. Depending on the location, you might get a deal for the same price of the 1660, and the Super is a bit better.

[RedKestrel]

38 minutes ago, Warchild214 said:

I have read a bit on your thread RedKestral.  Thanks for the link.   Understanding a bit more now.   So, this one seems to be better, yea had to go up $300 but dont want stutters and plan on getting into DCS in the future.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, 2TB HDD, WiFi Ready & Win 10 Home (GMA8860CPGV2, Black)

That is basically the specs I am looking to get to. And yeah, if you are looking at getting into DCS then from what I have heard it is even more of a performance hog than Il-2. 

[kendo]

Agree that the 1660 Super is MUCH better than the standard 1660 for not much more money (it uses GDDR 6 memory and has much higher memory bandwidth as a result)

[Redwo1f]

2 hours ago, kendo said:

Agree that the 1660 Super is MUCH better than the standard 1660 for not much more money (it uses GDDR 6 memory and has much higher memory bandwidth as a result)

 

...and it also easily overclocks to be the equivalent of a 1660 Ti as well. I have one and am happy with it.

[LLv34_Flanker]

S! 

 

DCS being a resource hog is not entirely true. I tested IL-2 and DCS after latest patches and results favored DCS in certain aspects. I tested by taking a plane and map available in both sims: FW190A-8/Caucasus. I flew both planes over Novoryssiysk area at same conditions and monitored for stutters etc. 

 

In IL-2 there are intermittent/random stutters and hickups now and then. I noticed None in DCS except when loading into cockpit. After that smooth at all times. Easiest way to see the stutters is to look 90deg left or right towards ground/town/forest. 

 

Back to topic, the second setup looked better. 

[Alonzo]

On 3/3/2020 at 7:14 AM, Warchild214 said:

8GB DDR4

 

That's going to be only just enough for IL2, and definitely not enough for DCS.