Video card upgrades are just ridiculous right now--I'm not going to pay 3080 prices for a 3070, if I could even find one--so I decided to go with a CPU/mobo upgrade as I've heard really good stuff about new-gen Intel chips. Getting an i7-12700k to replace my 9700k along with the associated mobo which tacks another $300 on.
Unlike previous Intel ships going back to the Core 2 Duo, all the cores are no longer the same in new gen. You have P(erformance) cores and E(fficient) cores, there are 8+4 in the 12700k. The single thread performance is up over my 9700k which has 8 identical cores, so I should see improvements all the way around. I am sticking with my 32GB of DDR4 for now. DDR5 is supported if I get a different mobo but it's far more expensive and hard to get and I don't find it worth it. I can always swap mobo/RAM in the future if I find the supply/price improves.
In addition, my sticks from Winwing have new grips that came out this week. I've already got the Hornet throttle and stick grips for my Orion base, and now I've ordered the F-16 throttle and grip. It's a little more involved than plug-and-play, so I won't be swapping them back and forth in one DCS session, but I can do it say once a week I think.
At the same time, I finally got the damper for my MFG Crosswind pedals for $50, I've heard they make them move so much smoother and if you take the spring out you can easily use them in helos where you leave them off-center for long periods. So that's two different controller upgrades, for the HOTAS and pedals.
All this together comes out to almost $1000, or the cost of an RTX 3070 IF I could find one.
