What needs to be upgraded?

[pauldy]

..before I even think of plunking down my money online for Flaming Cliffs 3 Module..

 

What needs to be upgraded in my PC specs?

 

ASUS H61M-E

i5-3470

Nvidia GeForce GT630

Patriot 8GB of DDR3 RAM (4GB x 2 pcs)

500GB HDD

Windows 8.1 SL 64bit

 

I'll honestly say that in DCS world with the Su-25T, my FPS is crawling below 30 FPS even in clear weather... and it's obvious that something's not up for DCS World..

 

It's far from the 60+ fps I enjoyed in Flaming Cliffs 1 in the past..

 

 

I'm starting to think that DCS World perhaps, is too much for a 3rd World Monkey like me.. since I rarely see those high performance hardware, even if I find one it'll be over priced..

 

 

==

Although If you say, the whole thing... I might as well forget about DCS World all together

 

Pity I just wanted to revert back to Flaming Cliffs 1.12b but because of that Starforce Thing, I'm unable to run the freakin game in Windows 8...

 

If that's the case,.. I guess it was nice knowing Eagle Dynamics, Flaming Cliffs and it's F-15 Eagle..

 

 

Time to forget all about this Modern Air Combat thing and move on in my life..

Edited February 22, 2014 by pauldy

[TAW_Blaze]

VGA most likely. I'm using a 19", and just changed my Sapphire HD5830 to an EVGA GTX660 and the change is just insane. Used to play full minimum with 30-40 fps, now I'm running stable 40-55 fps most of the time with nearly everything on high, and some really neat mods. And I'm only running an i5 2500k, with similar RAM setup (4x2gb dual channels, ddr3).

[SyntaxError]

Looking at your specs everything is fine except for your GT630, which may be a bit under powered, and could be causing a bottleneck for your CPU but I may be wrong.

 

I myself am running 8GB DDR3 RAM, a Phenom II X4 955 and a GTX560 non ti and get playable FPS but nothing fantastic especially in MP games with 20+ players or large SP missions.

 

You must remember that the engine in DCS is quite old and doesn't suit modern multi-core CPU's and graphics cards very well. This will change soon with the release of Nevada and the new graphics engine EDGE which will have DX11, so I recommend you make do with your current setup until then and see how your machine does. BUt if you do have the money then by all means get a new graphics card. Anything above a GTX660/760 should be fine.

 

Edit: Just wanted to add that alot of things have changed since your FC1 days. High polygon 3D models for aircraft and vehicles, new water effects, engine smoke, fire and smoke effects, HDR and a bunch of other technical things that all lead to increased resource usage.

Edited February 22, 2014 by SyntaxError

[pauldy]

OK, Lets say I'd upgrade my VGA to GTX660.. I'm wondering if my Motherboard... the ASUS H61M-E, can handle the new hardware..

 

For sure, I'll need to upgrade my power supply unit too..

[pacotito]

Yes it will be fine with that mb. The GTX 660 requires a 450w psu with 24 amps on the 12v rail. Generally speaking you should go with more power than the minimum. PSUs are most efficient at ~50% load meaning less heat and less wear and tear on the PSU. What is your budget for GPU? I would recommend a 760 but its about $100 usd more than the 660. With your board the is no option to sli since there is only one x16 slot.

[pauldy]

Since most of you mentioned the GTX 660 or the GTX 760, I guess I could go for something in that range..(..with lots of financial sacrifices on my part I assume..)

 

I'm just aiming for 30-50 fps.. in a single player mission (not competitive enough for multiplayer and my connection is slow) with not much AI objects or units moving around.. Basically I'd just like to shoot down things with the F-15 and perhaps the Su-27..

 

As for Power Supply Unit, my current one I think is rated around 700 watts..

 

and indeed.. I'm NO-GO for SLI

 

Now I'm really starting to feel why it sucks to be born and live in a third world country..

[jskibo]

Since most of you mentioned the GTX 660 or the GTX 760, I guess I could go for something in that range..(..with lots of financial sacrifices on my part I assume..)

 

I'm just aiming for 30-50 fps.. in a single player mission (not competitive enough for multiplayer and my connection is slow) with not much AI objects or units moving around.. Basically I'd just like to shoot down things with the F-15 and perhaps the Su-27..

 

As for Power Supply Unit, my current one I think is rated around 700 watts..

 

and indeed.. I'm NO-GO for SLI

 

Now I'm really starting to feel why it sucks to be born and live in a third world country..

 

Its not that third word :)

 

Headed back to the land of Jeepney's in April for two weeks myself! Trece Martires

[pauldy]

or.. maybe the right context is that, It's quite hard to find gaming hardware at a reasonable price here in the Philippines.. ^^ Stores here would rather sell those Tablet PCs, smartphones and their clones..

 

Even generic desktop builds are harder to find now, let alone gaming PCs

 

You live in Trece Martires, Cavite? I'm kinda near... Sta. Rosa, Laguna ^

[pauldy]

Here are some screen caps..

Proves that my FPS wouldn't go above unless pan my view towards the sky..

 

 

 

Although I'm poised to get myself a GTX660..

 

I just want to ask again..

 

With my current PC Specs, will a GPU upgrade help me in attaining at least 30 FPS in normal conditions in a Mission?

 

(Fair amount of cloud cover, moderate amount of aircraft and other AI units, a few SAMs/AAAs)

 

Thanks~

[ENO]

Very likely yes. Considered a mild overclock on your CPU? What are your thoughts on moving towards an SSD?

 

What's your budget?

[pauldy]

I'm just not so inclined right now to anything that involves replacing/upgrading more 2 or more hardware pieces.. It's essentially the same as buying another brand new computer..

 

Not making financial sense since I we just bought this PC recently.. 2nd week of Feb..

 

Computer parts don't seem cheap in my neck of woods too.. Even the GTX660 line will cost me an arm and leg..

 

I'm not inclined to Overclock anything since it's bound to shorten the life span of my hardware and probably, the whole PC itself..

 

Anyway.. based on your inputs, I'll just buy and upgrade into the GTX660 for now.... Maybe if my family wins the local lottery, I can go for a Dedicated Gaming Hardware... ;)

[pauldy]

So I finally managed to grab an ASUS GTX 760 2GB. From 20+ fps on lowest graphics settings, frames made a huge leap to 120+ fps on minimum graphics thus my mean fps now play around 60 to 80...

 

Although I just want to make sure.. when playing with games I noticed some kind of flicker.. or maybe not really flickers but more like "waves", similar to what we usually see when CRT/TV displays are being filmed/recorded on video cameras..

 

 

I'm using an old Samsung LCD monitor, 4:3 SD TV format and uses a VGA port.. I'm using a DVI VGA cable for now..

 

Maybe monitor is the limiting factor?

[HiJack]

BenQ 27" 3D LED XL2720Z may fix that ;)

[pauldy]

-HiJack: Indeed, I also did additional Googling and it seems that DVI-VGA doesn't bode well..

 

Perhaps in the coming weeks I'll get myself a decent LED DVI Monitor and see how it goes.. ^^

[HiJack]

I've been using LED for the last 2 years and there is still tearing so frequency and low refresh rate is the way to go.