I feel old and rusty by asking

[Getback]

Don't know about current ones but mATX also used to be of thinner materials. For sure ATX has more space around components to allow better cooling.

Good point!

[hazmatt]

Usually a CPU upgrade won't make much of a difference especially in older games that don't utilize a bunch of cores.

I had a system with 12100/1070 with a quest 2 that I upgraded to a 4070 super. I got a good boost in performance but the internet and all the bottleneck calculators said that my 12100 was bottle necking the GPU by a massive amount so I upgraded to a 10700. The performance difference was minimal.

Most of the older games are not going to benefit from a bunch of cores that they can't utilize. Based on this if I were in the market for a CPU (and that's really what you need and not a better GPU) I would look for the best single core performance for the price.

Games like AH3 IL2 and WT are not going to use all those extra cores even if you spend the money on them. I can't speak about DCS as I'm not familiar with it, however I suspect like IL2 that even though it can use more then one core that the bulk of the processing runs on one thread.

[icepac]

Don't forget to check "per core" when reading performance specs since some processors have a bunch of weaker cores making "performance numbers" hard to decode.   

I'm still using a 555 X2 black edition processor with "X2" meaning sold as 2 core processor but was able to get all 4 cores up and for about 10 years but it's back down to 2 cores now and time for a new rig.   

[AKIron]

Don't forget to check "per core" when reading performance specs since some processors have a bunch of weaker cores making "performance numbers" hard to decode.   

Intel did that but I've read they won't be doing it again. AMD never did. There are some workarounds for the Intel core issues.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/bitsun-coredirector-intel-cpu-e-cores

[Masherbrum]

I had just built my current PC:

9800X3D
Noctua DH-15 Chromax Black
MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk
64GB G Skill Flare X5 6000Mhz RAM
Corsair RM1000e 1000W PSU
2TB 990 Pro for a boot drive
Lian Li 011D EVO RBG Case.

Currently using my 2080 Super and will circle back around to get a 5080 eventually.    I'm playing MWO, WoT, Escape From Tarkov on max settings.

Drove up to Charlotte Micro Center two days after the AMD release and was one of the first to risk it at the time.   Shortly after I built this, everybody started to snatch them up.   If you can get one?   Get one.   

[Brooke]

Being semi-retired I can't afford to stay on the bleeding edge anymore. I'm hoping the RTX 5000 series will drop the prices on the 4000 series. I'd gladly buy a 4070 Super/TI for around $350.

Not yet they aren't.  GPU prices are currently even more insane now.  4070 Ti Super is currently -- get this -- about $1300.  (If you actually want to buy it.  Any lower prices are for stuff that is sold out, so not a real price.)  Demand is way higher than normal supply, and availability is only from little places that have moved their prices to the stratosphere.

I was putting together a package for a friend just over the past few days.  Ended up buying a whole system from ibuypower.com instead of building from parts because the gpu cost for individual parts is so laughably high.

[Brooke]

Usually, I build a system myself.  But because it was cheaper to build a system through ibuypower.com than from individual parts, entirely because individual graphics cards are so ridiculously priced currently, I went with ibuypower.com.

I've never used that place before.  Their builder functionality on their web site is quite good.  Prices were good.  (Except for RAM, for which their prices aren't good -- so I bought machine with lowest ram I could, and will just swap in ram I want from Amazon.)

I'll let folks know what the machine ends up being like.

[Getback]

If you purchase a case with aRGB fans make sure you purchase a motherboard that also has aRGB headers. However, if you don't there are aRGB controllers.

[xanax]

Usually, I build a system myself.  But because it was cheaper to build a system through ibuypower.com than from individual parts, entirely because individual graphics cards are so ridiculously priced currently, I went with ibuypower.com.

I've never used that place before.  Their builder functionality on their web site is quite good.  Prices were good.  (Except for RAM, for which their prices aren't good -- so I bought machine with lowest ram I could, and will just swap in ram I want from Amazon.)

I'll let folks know what the machine ends up being like.

This will be interesting, thanks.
I have my friend and neighbor back into AH again and we currently take turns on my PC in the garage. He's looking to buy one for AH and bunch of other games I'd never contemplate but he knows nothing while I know very little as we're both Mac dweebs. This Ibuypower place looks pretty compelling.

[Brooke]

I can suggest a system from ibuypower if you tell me what games he wants to play.

A machine to run AH is inexpensive (unless you want VR).  The other games are the ones that need more horsepower.