Rhinox

IIRC X800 (and X700) used trick called "hyper-memory", where part of RAM was assigned as GFX-memory. It was done on bios-level. That way X800/X700 could "have" up to 2GB (even if it had typically 128 or 256MB on-board). It could even be completely without own memory and cut everything it needed from RAM...

...and I doubt they will ever be (at least not so effectively as for DX10/11). It is simply not worth the effort. New (today's) GFX-cards are rarely benchmarked (and used) in DX9. And if some compromises had to be done when doing chip-design, I think they'd sacrifice some of DX9-performance for higher DX10/11 score. It is not rare that new GFX has equal (or slightly lower) performance in DX9, than the previous-gen GFX...

Unless really forced to do it (or having some advantage), no real fighter pilot is so stupid to engage alone two (equally good) opponents. And it does not matter if it is one Su-27 against 2x F-14 (in usa retired, aim54 even longer, in iran questionable) or one F-16 against 2x MiG-29... In DCS (SP), you can try it, and even survive (once you learn pattern AI fly), but in MP your chances are very low...

Just one note: DCS is still DX9-based app, but today's new GFX are not optimised primary for DX9-performance. Then it is quite possible that in *some* scenarios DCS might play better on 1-gen older high-end GFX, than on the very new graphic card. But I suppose EDGE will switch to DX10/11 and *then* you might profit from new GFX more...

OMG, what next? Su-27 against SR-71? Or BMG-109 Tomahawk? Think AT LEAST a little realistically. AIM-54 was developed for protecting carrier-groups against Tu-22s with anti-ship missiles and afaik was never "fired in anger". Why should Su-27 engage F-14? That's about as real as F15 fighting MiG-25/31 with R33/R37...

No, it can not train me a sh*t. First and foremost, such a situation (2xF15 against single Su-27) has nothing to do with reality. Moreover, after you find how AI "thinks" you can defeat them easily. Even 3xF15. You know why? Because there is very little (read: none) "randomness" in their behaviour. You can quickly learn AI's attacking pattern. And they do not deviate a lot from it. In MP, when two F15 (I mean human players, of course) are attacking me, the best I can do is run. If they are as good (or bad) as me, I'd have no chance to put them down both...

I'd say it makes a big difference if you are figting AI, or human player. AI "cheats", but on the other side is incredibly stupid. Training with AI is imho not worth the time spent. It does not prepare you for MP... Next, DCS changes from patch to patch. Missile effectiveness is adjusted again and again, and I'm not sure always in the right direction. Right now, ET is again "revenge weapon" with detection range close to its maximum flight range (and that in head-on engagement!). Over-effective in mp. AIM120 has been "downgraded" to the point it is like bamboo-stick you carry under your arm. But this might change in the next patch, and (nearly) all the tactics you learn now will be pointless...

I think the proper way now is to create file: C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\DCS\Config\autoexec.cfg And include in it: options.graphics.render3D = false At least that's how I did it. Advantage over previous solution is this stays there even after DCS-update.

GTX 780Ti is about 5-10% faster than R9-290X (and not always), but ~25% more expensive, so it has clearly worse price/performance ratio...

There is no need to use pass-through GFX, if you disable 3d-rendering. Concerning lock-out, I do not understand what you mean...

1. As of now, there is no such a thing as "dedicated server" for DCS 2. DCS-World & VPS/VM has been extensively discussed here.

Just checked prices here (at in €): GTX 770: >280 GTX 780: >435 GTX 780 Ti: ~680 (pre-order) GTX Titan: >870 R9 280X: >260 R9 290: >345 R9 290X: >480 Just a month ago I was decided to go for GTX 770 (~340 at that time). Thanks heaven I decided to wait! I'd bang my head against a wall had I bought it. Now for the ~same price I get R9-290 and that's exactly what I'm going for. I'm just waiting for models with better non-standard cooler. Or if I get impatient, I'll buy it anyway and switch cooler for i.e. Arctic Accelero Xtreme III myself. I love the competition! :-)

None of those beniboy's links work. All I get is: Invalid Attachment specified.

Remember, some missiles have smokeless (or near-smokeless) engines, so you can not see plumes of smoke. This holds true for some A2A as well as G2A missiles...

If I wanted to play tank-commander, I'd start "World of Tanks". I did not buy DCS for that...

I'm not so sure. We tested this many times and A-10A was always at advantage. And we used Su-27 (better turn-ratio than MiG-29). Of course 27/29 could simply run away, but once it decided to accept gunzo-challenge, it had big problems. Immense firepower and large ammo-mag coupled with small turning-radius (while able to sustain heavy damage) of A-10A proved to be quite dificult task for Su-27...

Trees are pretty much non-existent in DCS. Choppers/jets can fly through them, and AI sees through them. They represent some problem only for human players (spotting units), but even that can be partially eliminated by gfx-settings... I remember "Gunship 2000" heli-sim with thousands of trees, where collision-model (albeit very simplified) has been included, as well as masking effect. And that was ~20 years ago! I wonder what EDGE is going to be like, but honestly, heli-sim without proper tree-modelling is not a sim...

Me neither. I do not like it, because I'm constantly missing important info. I see all on HUD only when I have my head perfectly "in the middle" (using TrackIR). As soon as move my head a little, I loose something (be it heading, speed, altitude, or weapon-info). And one more thing: icons on hud are now very small! I have to move my head far forward to see anything (but then, canopy-frame seems huge). Also some instruments have pretty distorted perspective (i.e. RWR). A side info: I had the possibility to test military MiG-29 sim (basically cockpit of real MiG-29), and I have been sitting in Su-27 too. While it is not much, from my very little "real-life" experience I feel image on hud-screen in reality does not move so much as it is in DCS/6dof cocpit. Also ratio between icon-size (on hud) and "cockpit-size" is different. I did not have to move my head so much forward. And I could follow HUD and RWR at the same time (that is nearly impossible for me in DCS)...

Oh, really? You working for ED or what? Because until now I never heard anything official concerning EDGE release-date. So I am "a little" surprised you know it already. Maybe if you have so good insider-info, you might tell us more about it...

Really T-frog for navi-challenge? Not the pure 25 one as in 2011?

Even A-10(C/A)? I'm looking forward to it! :-D

I'm not sure what you mean with "dogfight compo" (gunzo?), but once we organised a "WVR-tournament" (only full load of short-range IR missiles). It was placed in Caucasus-region of the map, with a lot of deep valleys to hide, flying low, looking for and chasing each other, firing sidewinders or r73 in vertical-/helmet-mode. It was not so energy-sensitive as gunzo (one wrong turn and you are sitting duck), but it was a hell of fun!

Seems they have heard me, and price-war is on the way: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gtx-780-price-drop,24886.html (and many other web-sites report the same) GTX 780Ti: $699 GTX 780: $499 /was $649/, so now it is $50 less than R9-290X GTX 770: $329 /was $399/, here R9-280X for $299 is still cheaper Long live the competition! :-D

No, you are wrong. First, F-15C & AIM-120 are good, but also in real life. Their performance is simulated as accurately as simplified flight model allows. The same holds true for russian birds... Second: ED tweaked performance of R-27ET recently (maybe even overrated its "miraculous" detection range a little for the purpose of better in-game ballance), so now it is formidable weapon once again. Even Su-27 (as it is in DCS right now) has very good chance against F15+AIM120, and MiG-29C with 4xR77+2xR27ET stands even better. You just have to learn strongpoints and weakpoints of every jet...

Some time ago I have spent a lot of time with FC2 as I tried to run it on VM. It was tough work, because FC2 contained that "true" hard-to-debug StarForce ring0-library. I'm not sure which version was it (5.0?) but *that* protection library had extremely strong VM-detection routines. And it was a few years ago... That's why I'm pretty sure: If StarForce Technologies wanted to prevent running some SW on VM (of *any* kind, be it VBox, VMware, KVM or whatever), they could do it with ProActive too (even without ring0). Such a protection would be very effective and extremely hard (if not impossible) to circumvent. So if it is possible to run DCS-World on VM (without any tweaking!), then it's because they did not disable it intentionally (or maybe it was on request of ED). Not because they forgot to do it...