Question Should I buy the RTX 4080 or wait out the 4090 until next year?

[sergio8234]

Hi everyone! I have been recently been debating on which GPU should I get for my system. I have been looking closely at the RTX 4080 and 4090. Main reason I want to upgrade is because I fly flight simulators and my the two sims I use mostly now a days is MSFS 2020 and X-Plane 12. I do play other games such as COD, Battlefield, etc. For those of you who have used flight sims before you obviously know that with flight sims, you have the ability to add third party add ons to it such as scenery and much more complex aircrafts, obviously this comes at the cost of some performance. Well for me recently as I added much more add ons, particularly in MSFS 2020. I noticed the performance has began to degrade. I am always running in the low 20's doing everything I can to tweak my settings and try to pull out more performance unfortunately to no avail. DX12 for MSFS 2020 does not do the trick as it is clearly still not complete and who know when they will get that working well. As for X-Plane I am not really worried about that sim, currently in its state that it is, the developers have said they do know there is optimization to do on there so I am patiently waiting for those optimizations to come, but I am sure with a upgrade, I can see some increased performance for that sim.

DLSS 3.0 and the new Frame Generator seems to do wonders on the sim seeing many videos online with the RTX 4080 doing really well at handling the sim and obviously with he 4090 pulling more ahead with a bit more extra performance.

My main question is if I were to upgrade, would I be held back from my current PC specs and would it be worth getting the RTX 4080 over the 4090 since those a more widely available. Or because of how close they are in price and the 4090 obviously has a more advantageous performance gain over the 4080, should I wait until next year for the 4090 since NVIDIA has said they are planning on sorting out the stock early next year? Let me know what you guys think. I haven't seen any videos that kind of match my specs, most videos out there are either running a 5800X3D CPU or a next gen processor with DDR5 support.

Here are my specs:
AMD Ryzen 9 5900x 12-Core CPU
Corsair 32GB Vengeance @3600MHz
2x Samsung 980 Pro nvme SSD
AORUS X570 Pro WiFi Motherboard
Corsair RM1000x 80 Plus Gold PSU

 

[Darkbreeze]

It would be helpful to know what your current graphics card model is, what resolution you plan to game at and how many monitors you will be gaming on?

 

[Zerk2012]

That is always a question only you can answer.
Your first post next year could be do I buy the 4080 Super/ ti or wait for the RTX 5080.

 

[sergio8234]

It would be helpful to know what your current graphics card model is, what resolution you plan to game at and how many monitors you will be gaming on?

Current GPU is a EVGA RTX 2070 Super. It is like I said, the lowest I gone in my setting is the low end preset graphics setting but even then I am not able to break out of the 35 and experience major drops that causes a lot of stutters. It is like I said I have seen the RTX 4080 and 4090 in action with these heavy action add ons in play running pretty well.

My current resolution I am running on is 1440p, and there is two monitors on my setup both being the same brand and model. However I only use one monitor to run the sims and the other for using to bring up my charts, flight plans, moving maps, etc.

 

[sergio8234]

That is always a question only you can answer.
Your first post next year could be do I buy the 4080 Super/ ti or wait for the RTX 5080.

you are right, I just wanted to see if anybody in the forums also used flight sims and had somewhat similar specs to see what performance gains they got out of getting a 4080 or a 4090 and to see if my current specs would not bog down the 4080 or 4090 if I were to get one.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I haven't played in any flight sims in quite some time, but have recently been thinking about doing it again. Last one I did was FS 2006 I think. What is the refresh rate on those monitors and are they G-sync displays?

What is your general target FPS you are most happy with?

IDK if you came across this one already or not, but there is a somewhat informative conversation on the FS 2020 subject here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/anyone-with-an-rtx-4080-yet/559971

Obviously, nobody is going to have much to contribute regarding X-plane 12 since it's only come out a few days ago and it's very unlikely more than a handful of people have very meaningful insights on that yet. Just too soon I think.

As for the choice between the two cards, without knowing what your goals are in terms of FPS, refresh rate, etc., I'd say that regardless of those things the RTX 4080 has on average about a 50% higher 3d performance than the RTX 2070 Super, but only about an 11% lower 3d performance than the RTX 4090, yet the cheapest 4080 is only about 1250.00 while the least expensive 4090 is about 1799.00. I honestly can't see paying an extra 550 dollars to gain 11% performance unless you REALLY need that extra 11% AND have savings that you are just dying to part with. Especially not when you're only running a single 4k display and a 4080 is more than capable enough to handle 60fps or more, especially if you're willing to be a little bit flexible with some of the settings.

If what you have now is even acceptable at all, I can't see how having 50% better performance and saving 550 dollars would seem like a bad idea.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Neither, get a 7900xtx and save some money.

 

[mjbn1977]

Neither, get a 7900xtx and save some money.

He is playing mostly MS flight simulator. In that game the dlss 3 frame generation is actually magic and I would strongly recommend a 40 series Nvidia card in that case. That game is so intensely cpu limited that the only thing that can really improve anything is a real fast (single core) cpu or real large cpu cache (think Amd 3DX), or Nvidia a frame generation technology .

 

[mjbn1977]

I play a lot of flightsimulator. This game is mega CPU limited. DLSS3 frame generation of the 4080 and 4090 really really helps in flightsimulator. Get the 4080 and invest the savings over the 4090 in a super fast cpu. For flightsimulator that would be the correct approach. The 4090 can’t really do much more than the 4080 since everything is held back by the cpu. But at least the 40 series have frame generation and that is perfect for this kind of simulator and improve the experience buy a lot.

 

[sergio8234]

I haven't played in any flight sims in quite some time, but have recently been thinking about doing it again. Last one I did was FS 2006 I think. What is the refresh rate on those monitors and are they G-sync displays?

What is your general target FPS you are most happy with?

IDK if you came across this one already or not, but there is a somewhat informative conversation on the FS 2020 subject here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/anyone-with-an-rtx-4080-yet/559971

Obviously, nobody is going to have much to contribute regarding X-plane 12 since it's only come out a few days ago and it's very unlikely more than a handful of people have very meaningful insights on that yet. Just too soon I think.

As for the choice between the two cards, without knowing what your goals are in terms of FPS, refresh rate, etc., I'd say that regardless of those things the RTX 4080 has on average about a 50% higher 3d performance than the RTX 2070 Super, but only about an 11% lower 3d performance than the RTX 4090, yet the cheapest 4080 is only about 1250.00 while the least expensive 4090 is about 1799.00. I honestly can't see paying an extra 550 dollars to gain 11% performance unless you REALLY need that extra 11% AND have savings that you are just dying to part with. Especially not when you're only running a single 4k display and a 4080 is more than capable enough to handle 60fps or more, especially if you're willing to be a little bit flexible with some of the settings.

If what you have now is even acceptable at all, I can't see how having 50% better performance and saving 550 dollars would seem like a bad idea.

My ideal goal is at least 60fps stable, I would prefer very little dips as I have notices it causes a lot of stutters and freezing, then again it can be because of the CPU that is struggling too. The monitors I have are a LG 27GN850-B monitor. It does support G-Sync. Like I mentioned I have seen many videos where the RX 4080 is more than capable in doing that with DLSS 3.0 and DLSS Frame Generator.

I will take a look at that link you sent as I have not read it yet, I am pretty active on the forums over there but the only big topic I've seen over there is always about the 4090. Will take a look into it, thank you!

 

[sergio8234]

Neither, get a 7900xtx and save some money.

Like it was mentioned before, I want the NVIDIA card because of the frame generation feature. A lot of videos out there that has shown major improvement gains over the 7900XTX in the sim. I have no doubt the AMD side will be amazing as well, if they had a similar technology feature like Nvidia had, I would have opted for it in a instant.

 

[sergio8234]

I play a lot of flightsimulator. This game is mega CPU limited. DLSS3 frame generation of the 4080 and 4090 really really helps in flightsimulator. Get the 4080 and invest the savings over the 4090 in a super fast cpu. For flightsimulator that would be the correct approach. The 4090 can’t really do much more than the 4080 since everything is held back by the cpu. But at least the 40 series have frame generation and that is perfect for this kind of simulator and improve the experience buy a lot.

Hey! Awesome! I have been reading a lot from others that the AMD 5800X3D with the vertical V-Cache is a game changer for many when it comes to the sim because of the way the cache layout is set. If this is the case, it can be possible to go the RTX 4080 and the 5800X3D seeing that it is only $349 and my motherboard should already be compatible with it without having the need to upgrade the RAM and Board.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Neither, get a 7900xtx and save some money.

I don't think you understand the benefits of DLSS in this instance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

He is playing mostly MS flight simulator. In that game the dlss 3 frame generation is actually magic and I would strongly recommend a 40 series Nvidia card in that case. That game is so intensely cpu limited that the only thing that can really improve anything is a real fast (single core) cpu or real large cpu cache (think Amd 3DX), or Nvidia a frame generation technology .

Actually, it isn't. There are a number of settings, that when increased, can SERIOUSLY put the CPU to use. But are mostly at very minimal levels by default. As noted also in the conversation that I linked. There are also others but people who are invested in these titles likely know or are already aware of those, much more than I am that can probably expand on that.

 

[mjbn1977]

Actually, it isn't. There are a number of settings, that when increased, can SERIOUSLY put the CPU to use. But are mostly at very minimal levels by default. As noted also in the conversation that I linked. There are also others but people who are invested in these titles likely know or are already aware of those, much more than I am that can probably expand on that.

What isn’t? In Highend settings which is not the highest setting in the game, in 1440p, with a Studie level airliner at a hand drawn airport (LAX) with live traffic you getting even with a 4080 only 40s fps. When you run in developer mode you can see that the frames are cpu mainthread limited. By activating DLSS 3.0 game runs in at almost 90fps in this situation with any noticeable lag. This is a big quality of live feature in this specific game.

 

[mjbn1977]

Hey! Awesome! I have been reading a lot from others that the AMD 5800X3D with the vertical V-Cache is a game changer for many when it comes to the sim because of the way the cache layout is set. If this is the case, it can be possible to go the RTX 4080 and the 5800X3D seeing that it is only $349 and my motherboard should already be compatible with it without having the need to upgrade the RAM and Board.

That is an option. Just keep in mind even so this the X3D performs very well in many (not all games) due to the big cache, it really sucks in any kind of productivity work due to its core and frequency limitations. So if you also want to use this computer for processor heavy productivity applications, it’s not ideal. Consider the X3D a gaming CPU only.

 

[sergio8234]

That is an option. Just keep in mind even so this the X3D performs very well in many (not all games) due to the big cache, it really sucks in any kind of productivity work due to its core and frequency limitations. So if you also want to use this computer for processor heavy productivity applications, it’s not ideal. Consider the X3D a gaming CPU only.

In all honesty the only productivity I do on my PC would be school work when I have to use Microsoft Word on Powerpoint, heck even online Google Docs and such. I do not see myself doing resource intensive productivity items on the PC. Just pure gaming,

 

[mjbn1977]

In all honesty the only productivity I do on my PC would be school work when I have to use Microsoft Word on Powerpoint, heck even online Google Docs and such. I do not see myself doing resource intensive productivity items on the PC. Just pure gaming,

Then you should be good. I just said to keep that in mind. Just to let you know. AMD is releasing new X3D processors soon. But you might not be able to use them with your socket.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Then you should be good. I just said to keep that in mind. Just to let you know. AMD is releasing new X3D processors soon. But you might not be able to use them with your socket.

Not "might not". More like "will not" because they are not compatible with the AM4 socket. Anything newer than 5000 series requires a new motherboard. But let's be honest here, we are ALL being pretty elitist, which of course IS ok if you can afford it and want to be when it comes to your hobby. There are no laws against being hardware snobs in this regard. LOL.

However, we also have to realize that the 5900x they have was the absolute best gaming CPU you could get not long ago, just prior to the 5800x3d and some of the 12th gen releases for Intel. So, the idea that the CPU is going to be the limiting factor when you have a 5900x is not just 1st world problems, it's kind of silly. It's still among some of the best possible configurations.

And while we hear a lot about how the X3D is better at gaming, SOME gaming, which I won't argue about, it is neither better in single core performance NOR threaded performance, in general. So, you could almost assume that like most things it really depends on what SPECIFICALLY is in play and that it won't apply across the board. That being said, the 5900x they already have is better than what probably 80% of the gamers in the world are using, so pretty fracking good.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3870vs4823/AMD-Ryzen-9-5900X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-5800X3D