Worth upgrading a 6700K cpu?

[Remontti]

I currently have 6700K cpu @4,8GHz, 16Gb DDR3 2666 and RTX 2080Ti. Playing with Reverb.

 

PWCG campaigns run nicely with higher graphics settings but quick missions (Bodenplatte, 8 p51 vs 8 bf110g)  and the scripted campaign Sea Dragons give me trouble. At medium preset, medium clouds, medium shadows, no ss, 2 x fxaa I can't maintain 90 fps.

In quick mission it runs around 80 fps with drops down to 60 fps when the furball starts.

In Sea Dragons it is 90 fps until I get close to target area and fps drops down to 50-60.

 

With Low preset the performance is 15-20 fps higher so I use it at the moment.

 

Altough the cpu overclocks nicely, it's getting old. Do you think there would be performance increase if I would change it to 10600K (specs say 4,8GHz in turbo mode)? So without overclocking the Ghz would be same but will it be faster just because it is newer design? (I would oc the heck out of it if I get it).

 

I would also upgrade memory to faster DDR4. I think my current mobo supports DDR4 so I could also just upgrade the memory in case cpu upgrade is not worth it.

 

Only interested in IL-2 VR performance.

 

[WheelwrightPL]

Here is my hypothesis: at Reverb's 4k resolution the CPU performance doesn't matter in IL2-Sturmovik.

Here is the corresponding argument: Look at any CPU/GPU benchmark and THEY ALL say the same thing: at 4k gaming you are ALWAYS limited by the GPU, not by the CPU.

So this begs the question: Is IL2 somehow an exception ? I don't think so: play IL2 replay tracks, they have no physics, AI or plane-systems calculations, etc:, therefore their CPU workload is close to zero. Those replay tracks consist of nearly 100% GPU processing, however you're still getting the same slowdowns when viewing them in Reverb, as when flying missions based on which they were originally recorded, so effectively no net performance gain by eliminating a need for CPU processing.

So my conclusion is that IL2 is not an exception: it is just as GPU-bound at high-resolutions as any other game.

[dburne]

You would get a marginal increase going with a new CPU/MB to get 5-5.2 GHz and DDR4 3200-3600 MHz ram.

Whether that would be worth the cost to you would be subjective.

 

[Charlo-VRde]

I also have the 6700k running at 4.8 Ghz, though using what I assume to be a less-demanding Oculus Quest as my HMD. I really enjoy my IL-2 VR flying experience right now, though I’d like less screen door effect, of course.

 

I am on the fence as to what and when to upgrade - a 3080 video card would be very tempting when they are released, though I’d wonder if that would be pointless without also upgrading my cpu, which means a new motherboard because of the older socket used by my 6700k. Perhaps I should wait until a noticeably better HMD is released to then drive my upgrade process.

[Remontti]

Thanks for the replies. I think I can resist the temptation of upgrade now.

[chiliwili69]

17 hours ago, WheelwrightPL said:

I don't think so: play IL2 replay tracks, they have no physics, AI or plane-systems calculations, etc:, therefore their CPU workload is close to zero. Those replay tracks consist of nearly 100% GPU processing

 

How do you know that IL2 recorded track doesn´t do physics, AI, Damage model, etc?

I think that the recorded track only record the actions performed by the pilot (just a theory) since the CPU workload is very similar to actual game play.

I demostrated that here:

 

I was going to upgrade my 4790K at 4.8GHz this year, but with the last game update the CPU frametimes are much lower than before, so it is less a bottleneck.

You can see that during actual play game using fpsVR app (really cheap).

 

Perhaps the only thing that I would upgrade in your case would be faster memory. This is something you will keep if you upgrade Mobo+CPU later.

On the benchmark the memory played a significant role. According to the greif correlation for monitor you will get +1.7 fps per 100MHz in memory upgrade.

 

Using the same greif correlation (based in performance previous to last game update) the gains you will get for chaging CPU or RAM would be:

 

- Going from CPU 4.8Hz to CPU at 5.2GHz, delta is +0.4GHz so 0.4*18.8=+7.52 fps in monitor, so about +4fps on VR.

 

- Going from RAM 2666Mhz to RAM 4400Mhz, delta is 1734Mhz so 1734*0.0167=+29fps in monitor, so about +14fps in VR

 

I don´t know if you Mobo can support such speed, if not you can make your own calculation.

 

That 4400MHz of 2x8Gb cost just 150€:

https://es.pcpartpicker.com/product/vVVD4D/patriot-viper-steel-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-4400-memory-pvs416g440c9k

 

RAM latency should also play a role, but we saw that freq was more important than latency.

Also, just keep in mind that this is just a teoretical calculation based on a correlation made with tests using benchmark previous to last game update. So you actual results could be very different. But whatever gain you get I think would be worth since you will keep the RAM for future PC upgrades.

[Alonzo]

I find some of the scripted campaigns and PWCG can be actually quite heavy on a system. There’s lots to look at but all the AI processing is heavy.

 

Try the dogfight areas on the Combat Box training server. This will give you a decent amount of planes all in one area, but the AI processing load won’t be on your PC. See how it feels there.

[Dutch2]

On 6/24/2020 at 8:40 AM, chiliwili69 said:

 

 

 

Think what you did was an hell of a job and for MOST VR users THE guide to bring in better performance. 

Sure We have both have other opinions about bench marking and determine the results. As an sample I do not believe in recordings and straight frametimes are for me the holy grail not FPS, but as long 1c does not publish an benchmark this will always happen and discussions thats always good for extending the knowledge. 

But still stands your effort in making this game more enjoyable in VR. 

A Very Big Thanks

Edited June 25, 2020 by Dutch2

[Bernard_IV]

VR is just tough on any system.  If you can get faster dram it will help.  I run the G.Skill 3200 CL14.  I upgraded from 2800 CL15 and noticed a nice bump.  For the CPU I'd water cool it and try to get more clock speed out of it.  I delidded my 7700k to get more and I'm now going to try to direct die cool it to see if I can run IL2 at 5.2ghz.  Turn hyperthreading off.  The big CPU upgrade will come when they come out with the DDR5 systems in a few years and smaller transistor sizes.  Otherwise they've been selling the same CPUs with more and more cores for the last several years.