New to DCS, can I play?

[Badnade]

Ok, so Ive just stumbled upon DCS.

Ive loaded up DCS, and got it all set up, but I load in and have horrible frame rates.

First two tutorials are ok, but the landing in bad weather is just unplayable.

 

Im not computer savvy at all, so if you folks might help me figure out if my machine can ever hope to run this well or not.

 

I have a laptop with Win7 64 bit. 4 gigs ram.

i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz

and an NVIDIA NVS 5200M Graphics chip.

 

I was reading up on the chip and it looks like that is gonna be my hurdle.

I have two laptops that are exactly the same, barring the GPU..

If I do need to upgrade the GPU, I could put it in the other laptop and leave this one as is for less demanding games.

I do intend to get an upgrade sometime, but I wonder if I can get DCS to run well on this set I have currently.

anyway, thanks for any advice or help in advance.

 

See you in the skies.

[Blooze]

Minimum system requirements: OS 64-bit Windows Vista, 7 or 8; CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz; RAM: 6 GB; Free hard disk space: 10 GB; Video: 512 MB RAM card, DirectX 9.0c - compatible; Sound: DirectX 9.0c - compatible; requires internet activation.

Recommended system requirements: OS 64-bit Windows Vista, 7 or 8; CPU: Core i5+; RAM: 8GB; Hard disk space: 10 GB; Video: Shader 3.0 or better; NVIDIA GeForce GTX560 / ATI 6950 DirectX 9.0c or better; Sound: DirectX 9.0c - compatible; DirectX: 9.0C; requires internet activation.

[ENO]

Yeah- as blooze points out you have half the "preferred" RAM amount and I can't speak to the 5200.

 

8 gigs, though said is "recommended" is really the minimum for what most enthusiasts expect in terms of performance. As for GPU... laptops aren't optimized for this (though I have one also that I do some lightweight work with on DCS with an Nvidia GTX660M) with most of their GPUs... make sure that the Nvidia is actually doing the lifting and it isn't automatically shifting to the integrated graphics (if that is an option- with optimus).

 

Anyway- running a little light on specs overall... "4 CPUs" won't help at all since the game as it exists now only uses 2. ~2.6ghz is also probably towards to basement of expected CPU processing speeds unless it boosts to over 3ghz in some turbo mode if available.

Edited March 6, 2014 by ENO

[Zabuzard]

Just try it, the free DCS-World comes with the SU-25T aircraft. Download it and fly around :) When you're happy you can buy some of the bigger and deeper modules.

[BRooDJeRo]

yeah, Mr. Eno is right. The game uses about 5-6 Gb of RAM when you have 8Gb to spare. The GFX card is a little bit on the EDGE too. (did you see what i did there)

 

Perhaps it can still run when every setting is on minimal and weather options in missions fully turned off by modification in the mission editor.

[Shein]

Just try it, the free DCS-World comes with the SU-25T aircraft. Download it and fly around :) When you're happy you can buy some of the bigger and deeper modules.

 

This. It's free, literally no reason not to try it! The Su-25T, even being a "mid" fidelity module it still has an AFM and is 30x more realistic than mos "simulators" out there...

[SkateZilla]

This. It's free, literally no reason not to try it! The Su-25T, even being a "mid" fidelity module it still has an AFM and is 30x more realistic than mos "simulators" out there...

 

Just try it, the free DCS-World comes with the SU-25T aircraft. Download it and fly around :) When you're happy you can buy some of the bigger and deeper modules.

 

I think you guys missed the part where he said he has it installed and played the first 2 missions and got bad FPS when he got to the bad weather mission.