Can someone recommend a decent graphics card

[Coldste]

So my PC currently runs on a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, and it looks like it‘s getting pushed to the max, can anyone recommend a decent one, in the UK or do I need to upgrade the CPU? The RAM is going to be updated to 32GB, here‘s my specs below and a screen shot of what I’m getting on medium settings, I mainly use my PC for Microsoft Flight simulator, I know next to nothing about PC‘s I know what parts do what but I wouldn’t Know a good card from a bad one

cpu is 11th Gen Intel(R) Core™ i7-11700K 3.60GH
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Ram 16GB speed 3001MHz

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/uploads/default/original/4X/c/8/f/c8f57155501e26b9ae77827dbda116178e652d32.jpeg

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome back

For our experts' convenience, here's the image you link to—looks like running at 4K resolution:

And Steam's specs:
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• MINIMUM:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i5-4460 | AMD Ryzen 3 1200
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 770 | AMD Radeon RX 570
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 150 GB available space
  • VR Support: SteamVR, Oculus PC, or OpenXR. Keyboard and mouse required

• RECOMMENDED:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 | AMD Radeon RX 590
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 150 GB available space

 

[Coldste]

Welcome back

For our experts' convenience, here's the image you link to—looks like running at 4K resolution:

And Steam's specs:
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• MINIMUM:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i5-4460 | AMD Ryzen 3 1200
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 770 | AMD Radeon RX 570
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 150 GB available space
  • VR Support: SteamVR, Oculus PC, or OpenXR. Keyboard and mouse required

• RECOMMENDED:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 | AMD Radeon RX 590
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 150 GB available space

Thanks for posting the link wasn’t too sure how to do it

 

[Alm]

I’m not a hardware expert, but I have a similar rig and it would also struggle at 4k. I think 4k gaming is something that is not going to get high refresh rates (hundreds of fps) on any card. You could get a latest high end graphics card, which could also require a new power supply and spend about a grand or more. Or maybe the best option would be to buy a decent 1440p monitor. Depending on what you want and your budget.

 

[Rolfil]

Are you using DLSS? I recently upgraded from a GTX1060 to an AMD 6700XT and FSR (similar to NVIDIA's DLSS) upscaling drastically improves my frame rates.

Basically they work by rendering images at a lower resolution and then use an algorithm to scale the resolution to your game's selected resolution.

I was actually pretty amazed as I could get Rise of the Tomb Raider running at 4k with 60fps.
I'd also

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I think you should be looking at your in game graphics settings. An RTX 3070 is still a strong card. Faster are available, but you would be looking at spending a lot of money to beat what you have as @Alm says.

Make sure the game is updated to the latest version first, as theyve improved performance over time,

Look into settings like DLSS @Rolfil mentioned above. Graphical settings often make a lot of difference to performance and some dont affect visuals much. It seems MSFS 2020 has a lot of granular settings that you would need to investigate to improve your performance. I dont play the game so I cant really help with that.

Theres a guide here for example:

[HOW-TO] Graphics Settings and Performance Guide (SU5 Complete Retest) (8/2/2021)

going to retest for SU11, have a bit more spare time on my hands now 👍 might be a while until i have time to pay attention to this again Here is a detailed analysis of each setting’s visual and performance impact. I’ve benchmarked the effects of multiple different settings in a sterile...

forums.flightsimulator.com

.

Alternatively if you have 1000 or more you'd rather spend to replace potentially your power supply and your GPU then that's another option. I strongly suggest you try and optimize your settings first though!

 

[Coldste]

Are you using DLSS? I recently upgraded from a GTX1060 to an AMD 6700XT and FSR (similar to NVIDIA's DLSS) upscaling drastically improves my frame rates.

Basically they work by rendering images at a lower resolution and then use an algorithm to scale the resolution to your game's selected resolution.

I was actually pretty amazed as I could get Rise of the Tomb Raider running at 4k with 60fps.
I'd also

enabled it, get mixed results, some places I‘m getting like 45+FPS, other times it‘s 20+FPS

 

[Coldste]

I think you should be looking at your in game graphics settings. An RTX 3070 is still a strong card. Faster are available, but you would be looking at spending a lot of money to beat what you have as @Alm says.

Make sure the game is updated to the latest version first, as theyve improved performance over time,

Look into settings like DLSS @Rolfil mentioned above. Graphical settings often make a lot of difference to performance and some dont affect visuals much. It seems MSFS 2020 has a lot of granular settings that you would need to investigate to improve your performance. I dont play the game so I cant really help with that.

Theres a guide here for example:

[HOW-TO] Graphics Settings and Performance Guide (SU5 Complete Retest) (8/2/2021)

going to retest for SU11, have a bit more spare time on my hands now 👍 might be a while until i have time to pay attention to this again Here is a detailed analysis of each setting’s visual and performance impact. I’ve benchmarked the effects of multiple different settings in a sterile...

forums.flightsimulator.com

.

Alternatively if you have 1000 or more you'd rather spend to replace potentially your power supply and your GPU then that's another option. I strongly suggest you try and optimize your settings first though!

Thanks for this, always update games, plus with this sim there was a mandatory update a few days ago, that‘s when the trouble started, going to have a play around with the settings, used the Nvidia GeForce experience app to optimise the settings, so I’ll see how that goes

 

[Coldste]

I’m not a hardware expert, but I have a similar rig and it would also struggle at 4k. I think 4k gaming is something that is not going to get high refresh rates (hundreds of fps) on any card. You could get a latest high end graphics card, which could also require a new power supply and spend about a grand or more. Or maybe the best option would be to buy a decent 1440p monitor. Depending on what you want and your budget.

To be honest, not after hundreds of FPS, just want a stable amount that isn‘t going to drop and make it that noticeable, the only reason I use the TV is because I haven’t got any space for a dedicated monitor

 

[Coldste]

Did a little experiment, some places like London Heathrow and that area, the pc really struggling with, like 20FPS, but in other areas it’s like 30+FPS dips down to 27FPS, but not noticeable enough without being told, but my GPU memory goes to like 6.(somethin)GB/7.094GB so I don’t know if my card is being pushed to the limit. And my CPU memory is 8.906BG/15.769GB

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Thanks for this, always update games, plus with this sim there was a mandatory update a few days ago, that‘s when the trouble started, going to have a play around with the settings, used the Nvidia GeForce experience app to optimise the settings, so I’ll see how that goes

If this just started to happen with the last update, then its likely a software problem with the game or drivers. Have you updated to the latest Nvidia drivers as well?

 

[Coldste]

If this just started to happen with the last update, then its likely a software problem with the game or drivers. Have you updated to the latest Nvidia drivers as well?

As far as I’m aware everything’s updated, the Nvidia driver was done last week. the sim is due an update soon, I’ll wait to see if the next sim update brings stability, if not I’ll wait for a driver update (which ever comes first)

 

[DillonBlanch]

It's great that you're upgrading your RAM to 32GB, as that should also help with performance. I'm no expert, but I have heard some great things about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card. It's supposed to be the ultimate graphics card and should definitely help with pushing your PC to the max for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I found a review that you might find helpful https://finalratings.com/gpu/nvidia...rs-edition-review-the-ultimate-graphics-card/. Of course, upgrading your CPU might also be a good idea depending on your budget and needs.

 

[Brian Boru]

It's great that you're upgrading your RAM to 32GB, as that should also help with performance

If all other parts have been upgraded and optimized, and OP still has money left over, then yes, going from 16 to 32GB RAM can't hurt. But it's definitely back of the queue in terms of worthwhile upgrades for another few years.

 

[Colif]

Whether ram helps depends on the current usage.
Looking at a 3090 fe when 40 series exists seems backwards but based on the price, I can understand.
The only cards that run 4k well are 4090 and the 7900xtx, and unless it has changed in the last few months, they are hard to find at a good price. Choice depends on if you care about rt or not.
7900xt isn't really a 4k card but it is fine for 2k. It was fine for me.
Did you get a Windows update recently? That could effect performance. Shame you can't run games in safe mode