BlueCanary

I'm in pretty much the exact same situation, it'd be interesting to see what you eventually decide on. Advice I've got so far has been largely: - Definitely get an SSD - Get a 4gb graphics card, 2gb isn't really enough to be happy with DCS (ouch, right in the budget...) - I've been told to avoid Gigabyte motherboards due to various reliability issues, although that might not apply to all models. - Avoid AMD cpus, apparently they don't work so well with DCS as it's not optimized for using lots of cores (which, again, means spending lots more money). http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=156203

What about using rudder input to increase roll rate, especially at low speed? Are there times where this is a bad idea?

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll try and bite the bullet and go 4gb VRAM then, I guess it'll be better than buying a 2gb one now and maybe having to get an upgrade soon after. I was looking at a GTX 960, which I guess will be not too much worse than yours if I turn some settings down? Ram looks like the place to make cuts then, if I get 8gb now it'll just be a matter of adding, not replacing, if I want more. I don't suppose anyone knows a cheap way to get an OS? Is there any way to run DCS on linux or something?

I'm definitely going i5, it's just that while an AMD build would comfortably slide neatly into my budget pretty much perfectly with an OS thrown in, an i5 one pushes well over it even without the OS. You mention skimping on graphics and ram, is this likely to cause problems? I've been told that anything under a 4gb card is not really DCS suitable, is that true? I guess if I go for less ram I can always easily add more later, although I won't be able to save a huge amount that way.

So I guess this means my best bet is wait until I have more money to spare or an Intel CPU is on special offer and I can get it for a nice friendly AMD style price?

Wait, what's wrong with AMD CPU's? Are they unreliable or something? I am strapped for cash though (an AMD build would fit my budget just fine, intel kicks it to pieces and leaves it crying in the corner).

I'm looking to build a new pc mainly so I can finally actually play DCS, but I'm struggling to decide what CPU to get. According to PassMark on my budget AMD cpu's offer better performance for much less money, but it also says they have far worse single core performance than intel. I can't find anything recent on how DCS uses cores, so I'm unsure if it would be worth getting an 8 core AMD cpu or if 4 of those cores would go to waste and a 4 core intel would be a better choice? Also, would choice of CPU affect what I should choose in other hardware (other than motherboard)? Would an AMD cpu work better with an AMD Radeon graphics card?

Thanks for the advice everybody, so what I'm looking at at the moment is: Intel 4th Gen Quad Core i5 4460 3.2Ghz Motherboard I have no idea, the one I was looking at was a GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-SLI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) Motherboard but the very first comment in this thread says "stay away from gigabyte boards so... The cheapest 16gb ram set I can get GeFore GTX 750Ti 2GB GDDR5 - a lot of the replies here recommend 4gb cards but any more than 2 will completely go over my budget, is 2gb enough if I drop settings a bit? Would a 120gb SSD be enough for an OS, probably 2-3 DCS modules and a few other (much smaller) games and programs? Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6GB/s 8.5ms 7200rpm for everything else. Are there any obvious problems with that list?

I want to build a PC so I can finally actually play DCS instead of just staring at screenshots, and I have an absolute maximum budget of around 600 pounds/890 dollars (including operating system, but I already have a monitor, keyboard etc.) Seeing as the main reason I need a new PC is to be able to play DCS I was wondering if there are any DCS specific things I should try to do hardware-wise. Should I go for more cores or clock speed? Also, how much does RAM matter compared to CPU/GPU? When choosing a graphics card. what are the important things I need to look for? Is getting an SSD worth it? By the looks of it DCS takes up massive amounts of space, so would I need a big one? Does it matter what operating system I get? I was planning either windows 7 or 10, whichever is cheaper. I have little PC building experience, do you have any general tips?

So the F-14 will need drogue type refuelling instead of boom, do you think this will be done just with a drogue attachment to existing tankers in the game or do you think Leatherneck might go all out and make an AI tanker especially for it, maybe a KA6D or an A3 or S3 or something? Also, what about buddy tanking? I don't know if the F-14 ever used it, but it might make for a fun system if they did.

Thanks for the answer, lots of interesting stuff there. About assymetrical wing sweep though, I was thinking more that it would be a thing that happened due to combat damage than something you'd do deliberately, like if you took hits to one wing that for some reason left it stuck swept back (IIRC that was what the assymetrical sweep tests were actually about) it would be quite interesting having to return to the carrier with one wing messed up, do you think that would be more likely to be modelled or would it still be unlikely?

I was wondering about the Tomcat's wing, was it something pilots had to pay a lot of attention to? Or could they just set it to auto and forget about it most of the time? Also, were there trim changes from the center of pressure changing as it moved? I've read that it was shown in testing that if a damaged it could with one wing swept back and the other forward, do you think this will be modelled? I'm probably being stupid, but could there feasibly be a situation where the flight controls were damaged to the point where the pilot could fly only with engine thrust and wing sweep for control?