aleader

The only way to know for sure is if you get stuttering. I tried the same DCS settings on my son's PC (1660 super) compared to my PC (was a 1070) and in each case it was 'using' almost all of the RAM, but gameplay was the same performance, no stuttering. If Nvidia is releasing with 8GB/10GB of RAM it's because they are confident that that's all that you need. This obsession with more and more VRAM is getting as stupid as the 12 blade razor nonsense. :doh: There will be dummies though buying used 1080/2080 ti's and paying ridiculous prices just because they have 11GB of RAM. The 3070 will beat or meet the 2080ti for $499. What kind of simple-minded idiot then buys a used 2080ti for more than $300 at this point? Suckers born every minute I guess...

I'm not sure where you shop, but the 2070 Super can be had new on Newegg for as low as $679 CDN with shipping (nice Gigabyte card...still way overpriced IMO). I think people are out of their minds spending so much on used cards, and so does this guy (skip to 4:45): That 1080ti *should* only be worth about $300CDN in a month if the 3060 meets the projected specs ($400) and performance of the 2080 Super. An extra 3GB of RAM is not so important that's it's worth paying MORE than new prices for inferior tech. I've never needed even the 8GB on my (now gone) 1070, even at 1440p high settings in DCS. The 3060 may have more than 8GB as well, and who knows what AMD is going to come out with.

I just set up my Cougars on an 11.6" monitor (used A10C Virtual Cockpit Server). The A10C and F18 work perfectly without any input from me, but the Harrier exports are slightly bigger than the other two, placing part of the labels under the frames. Anyone else have this issue? I suppose I could just do a separate file for the Harrier. Also, does anyone know where to get a profile for the buttons so I don't have to manually set them all?

This thing is obviously dead now...doesn't work.

Check Costco too. Every once in a while it will pop up on there, but doesn't last long (like less than the day). I procrastinated and missed out but could have got them for $529 CDN ($389USD).

It depends almost exclusively on what the AA is set at really. I ran it without stutter at 1440p on my 1070, but I could only manage 2X MSAA with the other AA turned off. My low though fps was 37 (down low on the map), 40 - 72fps (I have it capped) up higher and over cities. A 1080 would be probably 10 fps better? That would be good enough for me too. That's on an NVME drive, R5 3600, everything else up high. I would have to turn the shadows to flat over heavily treed areas (i.e. mission 2 of the Ka 50 Deployment campaign, trees at 85%) to smooth it out.

That's a pretty good monitor from the reviews I've seen. I'm curious to know how you like it if you'd like to come back and post in a few months after you've used it for a while?

I have a 32" 1440p/75Hz Freesync monitor...this one: https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_700_1429&item_id=134807&language=en I only paid $269 CDN ($199USD) for it from Costco. It's been a really nice upgrade from my 24" 1080p BENQ as I sit a ways back in my home-built sim chair. My son just bought this one LG 27GL63T-B.ACC: https://www.costco.ca/lg-27gl63t-b.acc---27in.-ultragear-fhd-gaming-monitor-(1920-%c3%97-1080).product.100664794.html It looks fine for games even though it's only 1080p, but it is quite noticeably 'grainier' in pretty much everything else. I've had to drop my resolution to 1080p while I wait for the new cards to arrive and there is a noticeable difference in DCS. I personally wouldn't go any bigger than 27" for 1080p, and would prefer 1440p even for a 27", but you will need at least a 1070 (what I had up until a few days ago) to get decent framerates in DCS with high-ish settings. Your 5600XT should be fine.

I'm still surprised by what people are willing to pay for used stuff, but that was a really good card in mint condition that still has warranty, so I guess we both did well. If not for DCS (and maybe MSFS) I wouldn't have even considered a new card as it was more than fine in every other game I play. The 1060 is slower for sure but I noticed right away how light and quiet the card is (idles at 35C) and only a 6 pin connector. No biggie for me, it gives me a chance to start playing Workers & Resources and Heliborne again (both just had big updates), not to mention 100 other games in my Steam account that I haven't played in ages that the 1060 is plenty for. And I have a tractor to get running that's been sitting out on my property for 7 years now :music_whistling: The wife will be happy... I like spending a lot of time looking for the best deal, so I probably won't buy anything until the Black Friday sales. By then hopefully the new cards are out, reviewed and actually in stock. I'd need that Sapphire 5700XT card to drop to AT LEAST $425 CDN for it to be a serious option at this point (currently at $549).

If anyone's interested, I sold my 1070 (EVGA 5173KR) for $280 CDN. Only took me a day and I got what I asked for it, which surprised me a bit. Plopped in my old ASUS 1060 3GB and now I wait to see what goodies AMD and Nvidia have for us! I'd still like to know if anyone uses a 5700/XT with multi-monitor in DCS in case a great deal comes up in the interim.

I have been on a few of them (40+). I still never see higher than 14GB. I suspect it's only certain servers that have that issue, but like the vast majority of DCS owners, I don't play much multiplayer...I only dabble for testing purposes usually. Again, it's well documented that RAM 'usage' is a mix of used and 'allocated'.

I never see usage over 14GB, but I haven't touched the pagefile. I'm actually seeing higher usage right now playing MSFS (up over 15GB) which is the highest usage I've ever seen. There seems to be a 'line in mid-air' in DCS where when you drop below a certain altitude (over a city) the framerate just drops and that's when I see the terrain stuttering. Mine sits at a steady 37fps down low for some reason.

I see that terrain stuttering even at high frames at 1080p which leads me to believe it's a DCS engine issue that a GPU won't fix until they fix DCS (Vulkan?). I have it on an NVME SSD and 32GB RAM (bought because RAM is so cheap right now, not because it's actually needed) and that annoying stuttering is still there. It's subtle, but I even see it in videos of those with a 2080ti (i.e. Wags videos).

The 2070 Super would be my first choice for sure, but I just can't justify that cost so close to the release of new cards. The prices drop for a bit and right now again are up to $756 for the MSI Ventus card...$185 more than the Sapphire 5700XT. I really wonder if the 3070 won't be closer to $1,000, but I guess that depends what AMD comes in at and if they can get their driver mess sorted. I've listed my 1070 at $300...we'll see what happens and I'll take it from there.

I looked, and there isn't much common sense going on on Ebay for those either. People are paying $500 for USED 5700XT's. I can get the Sapphire Pulse 5700XT all in for $560 CDN brand new on Newegg. I don't get it...:dunno:

There's plenty of 1080ti's on Ebay.ca for around that price...okay, about $650 with the stupid amount of shipping some charge. There are a few on my local sites for about $600. Why would I spend $600 on a used card though when I could get a new 2070 Super for about $50 more or a Sapphire 5700XT for $70 less? Or better yet, take the $650 and put it towards the new 3070? Just because it shows lots of VRAM usage doesn't mean it's actually using it. Similar to system RAM, some of that is merely allocated. Stuttering is the key indicator that you need more (which I had with my 3GB card, but not my son's 6GB 1660 Super). I haven't run into another game that uses over 6GB (of my 145+ Steam game 'collection'...i.e. I don't play most of them). I realize people have man-love for the 1080ti for some reason :love:...which I suppose is good for them when they go to sell it, but I wouldn't pay that much for used. I know it's a good card (way overpriced when new though), but I've watched all those Hardware Unboxed videos, and even he says never pay more than $350 USD for one (about $495 CDN). To me, used cards need to be REALLY cheap to make it worth my while. I wouldn't pay more than $400 for one personally.

I would, but I suspect that will bring a whole new set of drivers for AMD to deal with. One would hope they've ironed out the bugs and would want to avoid all the lost sales that brought them. Maybe the alignment with the console release will improve things. I've been at this for 24 years now, but even I have gotten used to plug-and-play with Nvidia cards. I do have a GTX 1060 3GB sitting here that I could use I suppose while I wait...:hmm: DCS will be out of the question at 1440p, but I could always reduce to 1080p. I'd look at the 1080ti but a used one is over $600 CDN which makes no sense to me.

I would aim at the 3070 but at at least $800 CDN and then getting less for my 1070 (say $100 less??) the difference is $650. If I sell now at what I figure is the lowest I could get ($250...maybe even $300 after I checked local prices that are listing at $400) and get an RTX 2070 or 5700XT for $575 CDN all-in, I'm paying at most $325, so half. I don't plan on upgrading my monitor anytime soon, so anything over 75 fps is a waste IMO. DCS is the only game I play that struggles at 1440p at all. Everything else the 1070 is still plenty. I could then sell the 2070/5700XT later on down the road I guess. I'm also a little concerned about the power requirements of the new cards. I'm sure they'll have adapters or whatever, but I'm a little skeptical when power requirements go up and efficiency down...seems backwards (like the AMD 500 series cards). Now I'm not so sure I want to wait...may have to see what I can get for the 1070 first.

Wow, thanks for the excellent, detailed reply! I am waiting on the new cards no matter what, but figured if I could snag a really good deal on a 5700XT (like $425 CDN or less...$310 USD), I'd take the leap. The only reason I'm even considering the upgrade is that I have a 32" 1440p monitor (I sit back a ways in a custom-built chair I put together) and performance is considerably lower than it was at 1080p with the same settings. The monitor is Freesync @75Hz, but my down-low FPS of 37 (why it's locked at that I have no idea) kicks it out of Freesync, so I'd like to get that min up over 45 consistently. I know the 5700XT is more than capable of that. I'd love though for the 3070/3060 to be released at a reasonable, non-gouge price, and then it's a no-brainer for me. I'm so busy in the summer and fall I don't really play any games anyways, so I can certainly wait and just skip this gen entirely. I like my GPU purchases to be 10 years if possible. The only other thing I'm thinking is that selling my 1070 now would get me about $250 CDN. Waiting until the new ones release will surely drop that significantly.

Was this with multi-monitor? That's my real concern.

Yah, RAM speed upgrade would be a huge waste of cash. What is you video card and what resolution do you play at?

I know new cards are coming, but I have my eye on deals that may shake out because of it. I have a 1070 right now (1440p, Freesync, 75Hz) and wanted a 2070 Super, but they are over $180 CDN more than a Sapphire 5700 XT...ridiculous. I am though concerned about all the driver issues with AMD that still appear in August reviews on Newegg. I am running 32" and 11.6" (for TM Cougar MFDs) screens. I know a lot of the issues with the AMD drivers seem to be for those running multi-monitor. Anyone have any experience with the 5700xt and multiple monitors in DCS? I will wait to see what comes of the new cards this fall first, but might grab a 5700 if there's a deal I can't pass up...

Agree completely. The weather in DCS is sad as is and needs to be upgraded significantly. It doesn't have to be the epic system that MSFS has, but even half as good would be a massive improvement. Yah, it may affect multiplayer, but less than 10% of DCS players play MP, so let's keep the 90% happy first.

Yah, funny you say that as when I gave up I assumed GOW would be harder (because it's listed 2nd) but tried the first mission and found it a lot 'better/easier' than Deployment. Why is it also in 3 parts though? Mini-campaigns of the larger version? The wingmen are utterly useless in both and refuse to do anything but get shot up. They really need to fix this if a dynamic campaign is going to be of any use to us.

I didn't know that about FD, thanks. I usually just hold trim, but find myself letting go when frantically trying to get shots on target. I also think I'm maybe not far enough away on approach, and am trying to be too precise. It gets annoying having to fly all the way there, wait for the ambush, immediately get shot up and have to do it all over again. A save point would sure be nice in this game. I'll give all of this a try, thanks.