4k 2k, explain and advise

[wain71]

I am looking to at some time next year buy a complete system, I normally build my own but not sure yet. I only use one screen. I don't do vr but sometimes use TrackIR. 2560 x 1440 is what my monitor res is set at and I use HDMI connection.

 

Sims I use are XP11 and p3d, currently have v4.5 and v5 installed...XP has all the TE available but only SD, P3D has all scenery but not TE as I like the seasons.

Mostly fly in XP TOLISS, Flight Factor and all Just Flight stuff, in P3D it's mostly Aerosoft, QW, Just Flight and Carenado.

I use Active sky in both sims for weather and always fly LIVE weather.

 

Now do these sims / addons work with 4k? Is there a benefit visually and if so is the difference between 2k and 4k that big? Or am I just better to look at running 2k with a better system and clicking up the settings a bit? I am not an FPS person, I do check them but for me it's about smoothness.

 

I guess what I am really asking is should my new system be aimed at 4k or is it not worth them money.....

 

I welcome all suggestions, points of view and sharing of your experiences, just trying to set a budget and see what people are doing / finding out there. I know in 6 months tech will be completely different so not really looking at things yet, more how much RAM? Self build or prebuilt? biggest vram card or is that not so important? SSD or HDD? 

 

Thanks

Wayne

[tigermothpilot]

Hello,

 

I've been waiting for somebody more qualified than I to reply, but here's my situation. Up until a year or so ago, I was flying P3Dv4 and X-Plane 11 in 2K, 1920x1080, but hankered for 4K. I was impeded by my lack of a 4k monitor and my venerable, but very reliable Nvidia GTX 680. 

The demise of the 680 then led me to a 1080ti, and, then, an ASUS PB287Q 28-inch 4k monitor.

For me, it's another world. As I have 32GB RAM, (being upgraded today to 64GB), I've been able to run P3D, X-Plane, and now MSFS in 4k, at quite high settings. MSFS especially, is, quite simply, beautiful in 4k, from the world outside to cockpit textures.

I'm going to order an Nvidia 3080, and eventually, upgrade my processor, currently an i7-7700k, to give me a system that hopefully, will serve me well for some years to come.  My primary drive is a 1TB M.2 SSD, but funnily enough, I don't have any flight sims on it. In fact, my Orbx Library is on an external drive. That being said, I do plan to replace all of my optical drives with SSDs as funds permit.

I bought bits as I could afford them, motherboard, GPU, RAM etc, and kept them until I could install them.

There will be those who will say don't waste your time and money, but for me, go for it!

[wain71]

@tigermothpilot sorry for the delay but thanks for your input.....hoping to upgrade late 20212 but want really to run all 3 sims in 4k so all what you have said sounds very positive.....all runs very nicely at the moment in 2K but will need changing for the step up......My m.2 is just used for my OS and I have no SSD, never really been sure that SSD to HHD is worth the change...

[Donka]

47 minutes ago, wain71 said:

@tigermothpilot sorry for the delay but thanks for your input.....hoping to upgrade late 20212 but want really to run all 3 sims in 4k so all what you have said sounds very positive.....all runs very nicely at the moment in 2K but will need changing for the step up......My m.2 is just used for my OS and I have no SSD, never really been sure that SSD to HHD is worth the change...

I suspect we'll have new sims running 512k and much more powerful hardware by then... 

[BernieFlyer]

I run P3Dv4.5 at 4K and it does look great. I have an nVidia 1660 Super and despite only 6gb ram it runs very well. My processor is an old 4790K but it handles quite high settings for all but the Cityscapes and largest Intl airports, where settings have to be reduced somewhat to get smooth frames. Reduced anti-aliasing settings and graphics are needed for those but it still looks very nice indeed. Way better than 2K that is for sure!!