Need a little advice here gentlemen. I am quite aware that my system is in the outdated category, but I will not be trying a new build until next year most likely.
So my question is: Would an EVGA GTX1080 8GB be worth me purchasing now and using until i do a new build? The physical dimensions of a 1080 will fit
in my full tower case. I have PCIE 2.0 expansion slots in my Mobo. I am a little confused if I have the right power connectors to connect this GTX1080 to
my power supply. From what I am reading, it should work. Could someone confirm this??? I am attaching the Mobo, CPU, Memory, PS and Monitor specs I have
now. Any help and/or advice would be appreciated from some of you hardware Gurus out here. Any opinions on whether this purchase would help my performance
even in this old system? Again, thanks in advance for any feedback.

S!Blade<><

My Current System:
MB =Asus M4A79T Deluxe
CPU = AMD Phenom II 955 X4 Black Edition (running @ 3.4GB in my setup, no overclocking but Turbo mode enabled)
Memory = Corsair Vengeance 4 x 4Gb sticks = 16GB total 1600 MHZ
PS = Corsair 750w : The box says 4 x PCI-E 6 pin & 8 pin compatible
GPU = EVGA GTX770 4GB
Monitor = Asus PB278q

This might help you:

https://pcpartpicker.com/

move away from AMD and get intel cpu...they are much faster/better.

I had an old AMD and was never realy happy with its performance. It didn't matter what nvidia card I bought, sims just ran slower.

I do not see your monitor resolution listed.

Depending on your monitor resolution, once you get to a certain point in your video card, you will not see a difference in your FPS with WOFF.

With your CPU on the other hand, the faster the CPU, the higher your FPS in WOFF because CFS3.exe is very CPU dependent.,

An example, using the same video card (GTI 980Ti), and monitor (2560x1440) with my original i7 3970X (4.0 Turbo) CPU, I averaged 55+ FPS landing and 85+ in the air.

Using the exact same video card, and monitor (2560x1440) with my new i7 7700K (4.5 Turbo) CPU, I average 70+ landing and 100+ in the air.

To try and be as brief as possible (and I will gladly elaborate if desired):

I have an example of that exact motherboard (my wife's PC, in fact). And it's fitted with the Phenom II x4 965 'black edition' CPU -which is close to what you have.

I also own one of the same Corsair power supplies (*IF* you're referring to the HX-750, though I suspect any Corsair 750 will be roughly the same). They are generally all great units, BTW.

My opinion is that, while the 1080 will possibly perform at least somewhat faster/better in that setup than the 770 you're using now (if I followed)...your CPU/motherboard will definitely be choking that 1080 to death. That's an opinion, mind you, no specific data on that exact combination of hardware, but as I mentioned above I do own/run almost daily some of the exact same components.

No doubt the PSU will be fine, there are 4x "6+2" style connectors on it - again, great unit. I used one to power (2) GTX-570's for a while and it never missed a lick. More than good enough, provided it's been kept clean/not overheated.

Where I draw my opinion from: I have, over time, collected benchmarks on *hundreds* of PC configurations, all built in my shop, first-hand. I have kept a database of well over 100 builds specifically tested for DirectX 11 performance (Windows 7). This includes CPUs from old Core2 Duos to the 6th-Gen Skylake i7, as well as a few AMD CPUs, including the Phenom II and FX models, using both Nvidia and AMD GPUs - from the older 8600GTs all the way through the GTX400s, 500s, 700s, 900s and even a couple 1060s. Most of these later models I have on hand right now.

Yes, I know benchmarks are 'synthetic' - but the biggest reason I ran and kept records for all these tests is for comparative analysis, which is OK doing benchmarks for. I can tell, on a given platform, how well this GPU setup will do with that CPU, for example, compared to a different GPU on the exact same board/CPU. And, after you collect enough of these, there is progressively more opportunity for reasonably accurate inference based on data for setups I have tested, even if I don't have an exact specific combination.

You'll likely be disappointed in what you get out of that 1080 for what it costs if you match it with that hardware. You need to upgrade. That said, if you can stand it until you *do* upgrade, you'll already have the 1080. There will likely be some bump in performance, I'm just really afraid it won't be much.

On the other hand - if you just wait - that GTX770 you already have is honestly *more than enough* for the system you have...it's possibly already at the point where the rest of your system is holding the 770 back, TBH. You can gain memory on a GPU, but it won't matter much if the system overall is bottlenecked by the CPU - which yours is painfully close. And, if you wait, one thing's for sure, the 1080's will only get cheaper.

That's my $0.02, for what it's worth

Thanks to each of you for sharing your knowledge and advice in trying to help me make a good decision
as to whether I should upgrade my GPU or wait. Panama Red, I edited my OP to show my monitor, and thanks
for all of your hard work to make WOFF_UE as AWESOME as it is, I really enjoy it. kksnowbear I PMed you
a couple more questions. Thanks again to all.

S!Blade<><

Get a decent cooler and pump your CPU up to 4ghz.

edit here something on older cpu vs vcards it is in Dutch so use google translator, sorry no old AMD cpu, but can give an indication.

part 1

part 2

And since I see you have a 2560x1440 monitor, you will eventually need a stronger video card to maximize your pixels on that monitor.

I can't imagine it looking any better than it does already, but I have not seen what the New Gen GPUs from Nvidia can do.
I have decided to start saving to build a New/Rebuild rig. It seems I have stretched this old AMD Rig I built to its limits. Well, now
for the fun of researching and dreaming and saving for a new build.

S!Blade<><

I do not see that big difference between my old HD7970 overclocked and my GTX1080 at 2560x1440. Only the 1080 is stable to the adjusted 60hz limit, 60fps. While the HD7970 did drop in fps.

I think the 1080 is somewhat overkill for WoffUE not for Bos or RoF Channel map btw. My advice for only WoffEU would be the mid range AMD 580 or the Nvidia Gtx1060.

Like I said and dutch confirmed, to have a constant 60 FPS or above, with a 2560x1440 monitor, you need a stronger video card in the future after you have upgraded your PC.

But first he need to power up his CPU, I'm sure one core is always 100% load.

Edit I think the choice for the duel core Pentium with HT, like at your posting at the Bos form I did read, would be not my first choice. While I do not know If Bos or Clod support HT, I know Rof did not, so here you will face its limit and maybe even your aged Phenom can out perform it.

I fly ROF also. So what do you do if you have an i5 or i7 with HT? Do you turn HT off to fly in ROF?

S!Blade<><

I did have an i5-2500k no HT and without doing OC, it did not have any problems in running RoF.

RoF is not as CPU bound as WOFF / CFS3 for three major reasons.

1. CFS3 is still a 2002 ".exe" designed when the CPU's were stronger than the GPU's and used M$'s Windows DX8, thus the "exe" used the strongest component of the PC back then. This is where AnKor's Shaders help, because Ankor has managed to move some of the CPU's load over to the GPU using DX9 Shaders.

2. RoF uses more modern game engine that pushes more of the game load over to the GPU and off of the CPU, plus it uses a more modern DX.

3. RoF does not has as many things happening outside your vision as WOFF / CFS3 does since it was designed from the beginning to be Multi-player Dogfights and not Solo Campaign like WOFF / CFS3, so the CPU does not have to keep track of all these things in RoF as it does in WOFF / CFS3.

The result of all this is you do not need as strong a CPU to run RoF as you do WOFF / CSF3 to get the same FPS in the game.

I found over the years, if you can run WOFF / CFS3 at a good FPS (60+) with maxed out settings during one of the major offensives, you can run any other Flight Sim out there with ease because they are not as demanding as WOFF / CFS3 on you PC.