Bossco82

Hi TED, If it was my money I would definitely wait to see what price and performance the new AMD 5700x has to offer. Failing that if you cant wait, I would buy a good used AMD 3700x cpu, boxed and everything. Then sell it in the new year and upgrade to one of the new AMD cpu's. A mid range X570 motherboard. I use the MSI X570 Gaming Edge Wifi. That a personal choice. AMD also dont change the motherboard socket as much as Intel. The motherboard is a personal preference. You could go with a B550 motherboard but the price difference is so small I would buy X570. Put some AMD tuned Corsair DDR4 with that I find 32gb at 3200mhz is more than enough. As for an SSD AMD supports the fastest Pcie4.0x4 for NVME drives. I have a 1tb Sabrent Rocket and its great I am really happy with it. You can get them for a great price new. As for a GPU you can have a Nvidia 3080 or the new AMD 6900xt when it comes out. Again with AMD it will be future proof with the Pcie4.0. PBO is precision boost overclocking. You use software called Ryzen Master from AMD and it prioritises the best cores along as you have decent cooling. A 240 AIO cooler should handle this just fine. It all goes together with the same principals as an Intel system. I had been an Intel fan for ten years straight. I switched in March this year and haven't looked back. My current system is, AMD 3600 running PBO (I get about 4250mhz single core and loads to about 70% in DCS) MSI X570 Gaming Wifi, never had a problem. Corsair AMD 3200Mhz 32gb, (DCS uses about 20gb on Persian Gulf less on other maps.) Sabrent 1tb NVME SSD, improves loading times, slightly! The OS is super fast. MSI 2080ti, more than enough for DCS 4k DCS and all my games run as smooth as silk at 60fps using a 50" 4k TV and Track IR.

Hi, Straight away I wouldn't get an Intel 10900k, I would get a 10700k if your stuck on buying Intel and put the saved money towards a better GPU. The problem you have with Intel is that even Z490 motherboard do not support PCIe x4 for the new GPU's. That is not a deal breaker now but if you want to future proof you need PCIe x4 and you only get that with AMD right now. So AMD have new CPU's launching in October. I was an Intel man but now I use AMD. AMD really is install and forget now. So I would buy. Whichever new AMD CPU has the highest clock speed and 6-8 cores that is released in October. If you are in a rush and want to buy now an AMD 3700x or at a higher cost 3800xt will be fine. Cool this with any 240mm AIO cooler and you will get high single clock speeds. Probably some AMD tuned Corsair 3600mhz DDR4 32gb will be more than enough. Any AMD X570 motherboard that suits you. I have the MSI X570 Gaming Edge Wifi, its great. Again AMD are launching their Big Navi GPU's very soon see what they are like in reviews. Failing that probably a nVidia 3080 when stocks are back. Then just install AMD Ryzen Master, enable PBO mode and forget about it. If it was my money at the moment I would wait until mid October and watch the reviews of the new kit. Right at this moment would be a bad time to buy. As an example I have an AMD 3600, X570 mobo, 3200mhz 32gb ddr4 and a 2080ti. I use DCS at 4k all graphics settings are maxed out. I get a solid 60fps sitting on the Supercarrier on a loaded deck. I also tried an Oculus Rift S recently and had no problem with FPS on slightly tweaked High settings.

I just used Acronis to clone a smaller ssd with OS and and game files including DCS. I cloned a 250gb ssd to a 1tb nvme. I had no problems at all. Very important point though. Once you have cloned your OS drive. DO NOT boot up with BOTH drives installed. Only boot up with one of them at a time. So my procedure was as follows, Clone OS drive to new drive using Acronis following instructions, took about 10 mins. Shut down PC completely, Remove original drive from motherboard/sata connection, Boot up with the new drive and run it for a few days to check everything is there and its ok. Wipe old drive in bios only if you want to use it for something else. Everything ran exactly as before OS all programs and games. No licensing issues with anything.

Thanks for the reply Hansangb. I was tempted by the rift because a guy at work has offered me one boxed for £200, he knew I had been thinking of trying VR for ages. As for Facebook, I could not care less what data about me is collected. I am not worried about that at all. Like you say all companies do that to some extent. I have never got into social media because I just don't like the concept. I like to live a more private life. If I can use Facebook set it to private, not add anybody and nobody knows I am there. Then I am ok with that. I didn't know you could do that. As for VR itself I wanted to try it as cheap as possible first because I don't know if I will even like it long term. I also get motion sickness at odd times. I driven go carts and rally cars in amateur teams but I get ill on rollercoasters! So if I but it and don't like it I can just stick it on eBay.

Thanks for the reply Taz. Guys please excuse my ignorance here. If you can fill me in on one thing. Is there a difference between having a Facebook account for boring the world to death and having one just to access a few games. I ask because I do love my flight sims but I quite like the look of the upcoming Sniper Elite and Medal of Honour VR games. I only stay away from social media because I had an ex who was obsessed with it to the point I felt like I was living in the Truman show. I'm not joking I built a shed. If you can have an account to just access games without taking part in the rest of it. I'm not that bothered and I will get a rift s on eBay. It sounds like its all going that way no matter what. Makes you appreciate DCS and this forum, Ed has made quite the little haven here. :thumbup: Thanks for all the advise guys, I really was clueless on this one to be honest.

Thanks for pointing that out Leaderface! I had no idea I would need Facebook to play Sniper Elite VR. Its about the only first person shooter I really like. I do keep up with computer tech. However I will be a new user to VR and relatively naïve about it. I understand the refresh rates and resolution specs but I have no experience of the software that relates to it all. I dont have any problem with Facebook I just dont use social media. I remember the days before mobile phones! Whatever pointless data about me Mr Zuckerberg would like to glean from my life he is welcome to. It was Sniper Elite VR being released soon that gave me the idea to VR out. I am actually quite happy playing DCS at 4k with a track ir. I might need to re think my options as my budget was up to about £400 used off eBay. Thanks for all the replies guys, this really is one of the more polite and helpful forums. :thumbup:

Thanks Sirrah, just to confirm I have ddr4, ddr2 was a typo! :doh:

Hi thanks for the reply, system is as follows mate. Amd 3600 cpu X570 mobo 2080ti gpu 32gb ddr2 3200mhz I'm definitely going to be looking to the used market. I was going to buy an Oculus Rift S but the idea of needing a Facebook account puts me off. I literally have no social media accounts at all.

Hi guys, After watching videos on YouTube I'm tempted to check out what owning a VR headset is like. I have a system that can run one. However I have never used one, none of them. I don't have a Facebook account either or use any social media so anything by Oculus is out as far as I am aware. What are my options, what are the specs to consider when buying a VR headset specifically for flight sims. I'll also be getting Sniper Elite VR when it is released. Any helps appreciated. Cheers.

I use a 50" 4k tv. Running at that resolution makes spotting aircraft much harder. I tested it a while ago scaling up lower resolution. 1080p looked terrible (on my 4k tv) however I could spot aircraft at about 40km, but it was just a black dot. 1440p scaled up ok for everything that was close but distant buildings looked fuzzy. I could spot aircraft at about 25-30km. Running at my native 4k resolution everything does look stunning, the scenery even at distance looks incredible. However I can only see aircraft at about 10-15km. Dogfighting with another fighter using trackir its much harder to spot your enemy. On the flip side if you do get your eyes on them and get into a proper chasing dogfight the detail is impressive. I would recommend a 4k tv over 40" for DCS anything smaller get a 1440p monitor.

Hi guys, By reading this you will no doubt get the idea I sometimes have to much time on my hands. However this one really has me curious. Since getting a smart meter I check my energy usage when I make a change to my PC with a watt meter. This regards gaming in full screen vs non full screen but both using the full native resolution of the screen. Here are my system specs, AMD 3600 X570 mobo 2080 ti 32gb ddr4 3200 dram 750w gold psu Windows 10 pro 64, recent install. I checked what my PC uses to run DCS and was pleasantly surprised to see it using about 250watts. Went on another mission with roughly the same scenario and it showed 380watts. This triggered my curiosity. After much trial and error I tried alt+enter to check if it was in full screen even though I have full screen checked in the graphic options. Hey presto my energy consumption was back to 250watts. I checked this with other games like Sniper Elite, Battlefield and Call of Duty. All gave the same results, on average 100watts more electric is consumed in non full screen vs full screen even though the games resolution is set to the screens native. I checked this against the gpu clock with riva tuner. Full screen its at about 1350mhz windows full screen/resolution it maxes out at 1950mhz. So its the gpu usage and core clock thats being effected. However the visuals of the game look exactly the same and the fps is still 60 (vsync). I'm not saying I have a problem or a fault but does anyone know what could be causing this. Its not a problem with other games. They stay in full screen when I have the option checked. However when I am running DCS with a DCE campaign it seems that DCS switches in and out of full screen despite it being checked on the options page. Answers in a postcard..... :huh:

Not likely, its a barn find 1972 Jenson Interceptor Mk3 so you can imagine the quotes he had from garages. I think welding up a passenger floor pan, boot well and engine mounts is more than enough. I dont know who got the better deal but getting a 2080ti for £300 is a steal. Plus, I know he got it from a main UK retailer this year and only has time for gaming at the weekend. Seemed ok, considering you could buy one off eBay and you don't know its history. So far so good with DCS. I always wondered what the FA-18 valley run mission looked like in 4k 60fps. You also get to see how much work went into the Super Carrier, properly impressive.

When I said silly price, £300 UK. That's why I got it. It was in exchanged for some welding I did on a classic car my mates restoring. Its an MSi Gaming X version. I will probably sell it on at xmas and get a Nvidia 3000 or wait to see what AMD Navi 2 has to offer. I was eyeing the Msi 3080 after Nvidias release news. I did really like my 5700xt Nitro but a 2080ti for that price and I knew its history I couldn't resist.

Hi guys, So a mate of mine with far more disposable income than me offered me his immaculate MSi 2080ti for a ridiculous price, just plain silly. That being said I still financially skinned myself to buy it. After watching some you tube videos of DCS running on these I had to. My setup is mostly high end, an AMD 3600 with X570. However, mostly used off eBay or open box stuff. For the past few months I have had an AMD Sapphire 5700xt Nitro. I cant complain about it for my WW2 FPS games it does a grand job. DCS on the other hand is a mixed bag. It can play high/medium settings in 4k and manage 60fps except for down low, that's to be expected. Or high settings with some 2xAA and 60fps everywhere on 1440p. To be fair on my cheap reconditioned Hisense 4k TV it does scale up 1440p so well you can hardly notice. The drivers are still a pain though. The 2080ti however smashes everything in its way 60fps no matter what. No fiddling with driver settings either, just plug in and play. That's not what surprised me. Whenever I build a new PC I do check the power it pulls from the wall in watts. Just so I don't get a shocking electric bill. Bought the 2080ti then thought about this afterwards and checked the power coming from the wall fully expecting it to be over 400 watts based on my usage checked with the 5700xt around 300-330 watts. I was so shocked I double checked. It uses less, not only that it uses less at 4k high settings against my 5700xt at 1440p. I knew Nvidia were good. These 2080ti's really are amazing bits of kit. On average I use about 30-50 watts less at 4k with the 2080ti against the 5700xt at 1440p. Just thought that was worth sharing.

Thanks again Lucshep. I have been an Nvidia user for the last 10 years. I had a GTX 1080 but I thought I would give AMD a try after being impressed by my Ryzen 5 3600. I initially bought a plain 5700 but it was DOA. So I Picked up the 5700xt Nitro at a steal as an open box. Its took a few weeks to get my head around the settings. Quite happy with it so far, it manages 4k as I use a cheap TV as a monitor. 1440p upscaled also looks good with some more eye candy turned on. DCS really comes alive when you can turn the settings up a bit!

Hi Guys, Quick question? Are your ground/air kills suppose to be recorded in DCE campaigns. I just noticed after a few missions of the latest "Hornet over PG Supercarrier". They dont get recorded on the campaign page or the logbook. If this is normal, thats cool. If not what could I have done wrong? Thanks.

Thanks Lucshep, It was driving me mad. You even replied to a post of mine about Alt+Enter at the beginning of a mission. I was trying anything I could think of to bring some stability. Nothing would work really. The most noticeable map was Persian Gulf with the GPU clock going from 1400-2000ish mhz almost constantly regardless of whether you were at altitude or sitting on a runway/carrier . The behaviour really did make no sense, it was almost like the game was rendering twice etc. I very nearly switched back to Nvidia because of it, I began looking for 2070 supers on eBay! This one setting on its own sorted it. I have set "use application settings" to global graphics now. This has even meant I can turn up settings in other games. Hope this helps someone out because I found this by accident through random trial and error.

Hi guys, I recently reset Windows 10 and did a fresh install of DCS after installing my new Sapphire Nitro 5700xt. However I was getting unstable gpu clock usage and fps. I know this is a common complaint but it was really up and down. After constant tinkering and testing I changed this setting in Radeon Adrenalin, I changed tessellation from "AMD Optimised" to "Use Application Settings". Now its stable. I checked this with Radeon Adrenalin 20.4.2 and with the latest 20.8.3. I play at 60fps with vsync on using a 4k TV, all settings are high but with AA=Off, AF=x4 and shadows turned off. I get 60fps even sitting on the Supercarrier or landing at Dubai. This was my fix to unstable gpu usage on AMD.

Hi Guys, I'm running the latest stable version of DCS with the latest DCE campaigns. I just noticed that my air/ground kills dont get recorded on the campaign page or in my logbook. The flight time is just not anything achieved in the mission. Is this normal at the moment or do I have a problem somewhere? Its a relatively fresh install as I reset Windows 10 last week.

Hi Guys, This is not a FPS problem request. If I press Alt+Enter at the beginning of every mission my fps performance is just fine. Is there a full screen bug in DCS I am not aware of? I have the option enabled in my graphics options but I think the actual mission is loading in windowed mode. Also I am running an AMD 5700xt with the very latest drivers. I also use vsync enabled as I use a large 4k TV so tearing is obvious. If it is in windowed mode it causes a fps performance drop and the framerate halves to 30fps which is how vsync works. If I press Alt+Enter to go into full screen, my fps is perfect with the exeption of say landing at Dubai, even then its only just before touchdown. The fps does not go down to 30fps as I would expect, its the actual fps and only drops to around 55fps. I have tested this in a like for like scenario. I load DCE campaign Tomcat over PG. Obviously start on the super carrier. At the start 30fps, press Alt+Enter I get 60fps and vica versa. As I said I expect this as I am using vsync. It does indicate somethings going on because the change is instant. The best is my gpu usage actual evens out and goes down slightly when I get the full 60fps. I have never come across a bug like this before. To begin with why are missions loading in windowed mode? Does anyone have an idea as to whether this bug could be caused by Windows 10, the AMD drivers or is it a part of DCS. Pressing Alt+Enter at the beginning of every mission is no big deal. It is niggling me as to what is behind it though. Any ideas appreciated. Cheers Ross.

Thanks for that Taz. Is it odd that this should cause a noticeable difference as I already have DCS set to full screen in my graphics options. Could something be set incorrectly in Windows to cause the full screen in DCS to not be recognised?

HI Guys, I'm sorry if this is a dumb question I have used the search option but couldn't find a straight answer. What does the alt+ent command do if you press it at the beginning of a mission? I ask as I have had some performance problems, a general loss of performance and an occassional stutter every few seconds. If I monitor my systems performance with the MSi Afterburner overlay. My Gpu clock and usage was up and down a lot. Bouncing around from 1200-1900mhz If I press Alt+Ent at the beginning of a mission it is solved. Performance smooths out and my gpu clock and usage levels out and becomes much more constant, 1600-1800mhz. I been playing flight sims years since il2 1946 and SF1, but I am newish to DCS. This had me stumped. I run Windows 10 pro 2004 always updated. My systems a 3700x, x570 and a 5700xt all using the latest drivers. My screen is a 4k TV. I play DCS single player using DCE campaigns, mostly the F-14 and FA-18 from the Super Carrier in PG. I also play Il2 BOS and that runs butter smooth. So does DCS but only if I press Alt+Ent at the begining of a mission. I didn't have to do this last month. Any ideas on what could have changed either by accident on my part or in a Windows update etc. I dont think its a problem with DCS but I have borked something and cant retrace my steps. Any advise or ideas appreciated, cheers Ross.

Hi Guys, I used to always search forums for pc component advise so I thought I would share my recent upgrade and share my experience of drr4 32gb vs 16gb. My other specs are an AMD 3700x, MSI X570 and Radeon Blower 5700x. All run DCS at 4k 60fps no problem. That's on a mix of high/medium settings with no AA and 8x AF. Mostly in DCE single player campaigns on the Persian Gulf map and Caucuses. I upgraded from a 16gb 3600mhz C18 kit to a 32gb 3200mhz C16 kit. I know the speed was a step down but it was a bargain on eBay. Using MSi Afterburner with overlay to show usage in DCS I was getting at tops about 15440mb of DDR4 usage. However I was getting not a stutter but the odd intermittent pause for a millisecond when on a carrier deck, landing or performing a split s. Since the upgrade that pause has gone and MSi afterburner reports up to 22000mb of ddr4 used on the DCE Tomcat over Persia missions I tested today. So from that if anyone is on the fence about 16gb vs 32gb this is what I found with my setup. Cheers.