DCS Will my system hack it, I'm a rank newbie

Flight Sims
21

Well… So far nothing has worked, completely. I updated the ram to 32GB but it become unresponsive after different places.

In training
For the A-4 it goes Black with the little hash marks right after sound is enabled.
For the TF-51 the cockpit comes up and I have not control. Same problem with Free Flight in Instant Action
in all cases [ESC] does nothing.

I should have an i7-4770 Tuesday but, I’m coming to the conclusion that I simply cannot play DCS without a major new system, and that is a non-starter for me.

It may be that a discrete graphics cards is required because the Intel on board Graphics can’t hack it.

The i7-4770 has Intel HD 4600 Graphics but I don’t know it that will add anything significant to the mix.

I’ll update at that time, perhaps what I learn will be useful to someone else.

22

Oh, do you not have a discrete card of any type installed currently?
Yes, I think it’s safe to say the integrated Intel CPU graphics ability is not at all sufficient for DCS World.

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23

Oh yeah, you won’t get far with an onboard display adapter.

There are plenty of $500 gaming pc videos. I might be worth watching a couple for perspective.

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24

OK looking at GTX1080 one has 11GB and the other has 8GB is an extra 3GB worth an Extra $100?

Do I need that extra 3GB?

25

Need it? Don’t think so. As mentioned above, I run it on a 1080 (not a Ti model) with 8GB and it works okay.

It even runs in VR but I have to put all the eye-candy at low/medium-low settings - still fine, really. Note I’ve not run it in VR in a couple of years on that PC so it may actually be better than pre-MT days.

In 2D you should be alright, esp. if you’re just getting your feet wet with DCS.

I’m surprised you can find a 1080 card, at least for a reasonable price, anymore (no idea what they would go for now-a-days).

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26

Amazon has some GTX 1080 ti 11 GB $299. They are refurbs with 90 days free return. If it survives 90 days running DCS it’ll probably last forever. :slight_smile:

The reviews were really back, written, mostly, by folks that had no clue.

They also had a few GTX 1080 fe 8GB at $260 (misread the prices) 3 GB for $40 sounded too good to pass up.

At 71 and on a fixed income this was a major investment for me.

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27

A GTX 1080 should not limit you, assuming you are gaming on a single monitor/tv at 1920x1080 pixels or thereabouts.

But:

  • It does use a lot more power, which means:
  • …generating more heat
  • …and noise
  • …and electricity bills
  • An older card will be in worse condition (cooling paste dried out, wear on the components)

At $250, I would instead buy this card.

RX 6600 XT

It has the same performance but is much more efficient, which means cooler, quieter, and cheaper to use.
Being more recent also means it is in better condition, and better supported in terms of drivers and game optimizations.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6600-xt-rx-6600-xt-mech-2x-8g-ocv1/p/N82E16814137691?Item=N82E16814137691

(Btw, I might have been wrong about the CPU. The i7-4770 does have hyperthreading, which means it could help a lot in multithreading, as you have 8 threads instead of the 4 you have now.)

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28

In the past I have had major headaches with Radeon Cards, I’d prefer an nVidia

Have cancelled the 1080 ti in favor of an RTX 3060 though it will be limited to PCIe 2.0 bus speeds by MoBo

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29

I really want you to succeed, because that would allow me to cast off the stigma of being the oldest person regularly posting at Mudspike :grin:. Congrats on the 3060.

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30

You are already saved :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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31

FWIW, concerning my statement above, I looked at my numbers a bit more while running latest DCS 2.8 version (waiting a bit to D/L 2.9) as I debug my code and given:

  • Windows 10
  • i6700K @ 4.00GHZ
  • 32GB memory
  • Spinning Harddisk (old-school)
  • nVidial 1080 8GB
  • Mutli-Threaded version of DCS
  • In a Window with 2560x1440
  • Google Chrome running (like to watch YT while I work)
  • MS Visual Studio Code running (scripts)
  • 50 - 100 ‘objects’ active (generated by the scripts)
  • No clouds (just the default high, wispy stuff)
  • Mid-day
  • Syria Map
  • F/A-18 at 16,500 MSL

DCS Settings (all low except Visible Range - some things I want to see from further away):

image
image1213×763 51.5 KB

I’m getting a solid 165+ FPS

Other than Chrome and VS Code running I try to keep my system bloat-free (there are tools to help you win the never ending war with MSFT adding bloat to your install).

If memory serves, the Single Threaded version (before MT came out) was getting about 120 under similar conditions. Maybe even less.

3 Likes
32

PS: My general rule-of-thumb (with DCS 2.8 and earlier) for VR performance was to take the 2D FPS values multiply by 0.4. Assuming you’re interested in VR.

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33

A 3060 is a great card for DCS now because they’ve implemented DLSS so that can take advantage of it and give you better performance.

Just set upscaling to DLSS in the video config menu when you get the card installed (and its drivers of course) and it will run great.

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34

Learned that an i7-4770 will NOT replace an i5-3470 the 4770 is LGA1150 and the 3470 is LGA1155.

I knew my eyesight was weak! Ordered a new i7-3770 which is LGA1155.

My bad…

35

it’s not just the mainboard you have to worry about,

Putting a new generation GPU in an old mainboard, will the CPU be capable of processing commands fast enough to feed it.

I had to do a full rebuild for my brother, as he bought a 6950XT (well he bought a 6800XT, and they shipped him a 6950XT), to replace his RX590,

His FPS Dropped like a rock and his CPU usage in games went from 20-40% to being pegged at 100%, Games dropped 20-40% FPS while GPU Never was utilized more than 25%.

I told him this would happen, even though the GPUs are BWC with older slots, the CPUs of that generation could not process the commands for the new GPU’s fast enough.

I had to do an entire re-build, which basically left his old system in tact w/ the RX590 as a backup.

AM4 5800, 64GB DDR4, NVMe and the 6950XT,
He sees more than 5x the FPS in some games, while going from LOW to MAX GFX Settings,
20-35°C Cooler Temps, and overall 120w Less Power Usage at the wall. *Them Old RX590s sucked a good 300w when overclocked, and don’t even get me started on DDR3 Ram and the FX-9590s).

Had the same situation with one of my local friends, had an older DDR3 Board and a Early iCore CPU (don’t remember if it was 3rd or 4th i7 ( I think it was an Ivy-Bridge, as he had upgraded his DDR3 Board to the Best chip possible a while ago).

He had the same problem, CPU Couldn’t Process the Commands fast enough for the new GPU, Bus wasn’t Fast Enough either.

36

I expect a performance hit. After all PCIe 2 will be far below the card’s PCIe 4.0

That being said, my goal right now is to just get enough going to familiarize myself with the game.

Just getting the engines started and do training. If my system does that I’ll be happy… For Now.

I’ll probably get a refurb’d Desktop and move the Graphics over to it.

Right now I have no frames per second at all, so anything is an improvement. I’ll post what happens.

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37

Putting that card in PCIe 2.0 will also limit it’s bandwidth to 25%

38

OK, my old system is playable. Started with a Dell Optiplex 7010 with an i5-3470 and the game still would not do diddly with 32GB ram. Added an nVidia RTX3660 and got a Passmark 3D graphics of 14123 and the game is playable.

Needless to say I wanted more, and tried to add an i7-3770 which turned out to be bad and after many insertions and removals during testing the 1155 socket died,

Both the 7010 and 9010 MoBo support PCIe 3.0 and I ended up with my son’s 9010 MoBo with an i5-3550 which dumped the 3D to 13946 Which is still good enough.

When my new (used) 9010 Boards comes in I’ll mount the original processor or try to get another i7-3770.

As for VR I am not really interested in VR, at least not at this time, Just about every further improvement is beyond my budget at this time.

When my skill level approaches “passable” I’ll go online and see how limited this system is.

I suspect my fiber internet will help with that.

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39

Welcome aboard!

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40

Different multiplayer missions will be more or less playable, depending on the number of scripts involved.

For example, Through The Inferno (PvE co-op with a few scripts running to make it interesting) should be playable.

However, the Frontlines mission that Burning Skies uses caused even my machine to have problems.

Don’t just try Burning Skies and assume you can’t do MP. The simpler missions, and the dogfight arenas, should still work for you!

3 Likes