DCS & Video Cards?

[pimp]

Hi All,

 

There's plenty of references/arguments about this topic, but I'm specifically wanting to know what features of the vid card are needed by DCS. On 1 monitor, at airports my fps avg ~14, in-air ~30+ with High setttings. What's mind-boggling is that even on low settings my fps are the same. I recently upgraded to 3 total monitors running @ 5760x1080, but my fps only drops around ~11-12 at airports and ~30+ in-air. I did a monitoring test on the gpu and I noticed it was being pushed to 99% on any in-game gfx setting which I realize is why I do not notice any changes in fps. My card is being OCed to 885MHz using AMD Overdrive and it still pushed 99%. So, with that info I do realize that the gpu clock speed is very important, but what other vid card features should I look for when purchasing a card?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Chernaren Refugee]

...but what other vid card features should I look for when purchasing a card?

 

Nvidia.

 

Your CPU looks like the bottleneck. Go 4770k.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Chernaren Refugee

[pimp]

Nvidia.

 

Your CPU looks like the bottleneck. Go 4770k.

 

Really? How are you able to tell it's the CPU? Would OC help much?

[*Rage*]

OC your cpu will get you almost directly proportional fps boost.

 

Also make sure you are using at least catalyst 14.4 (>20% boost over previous drivers)

[SkateZilla]

A Single 6950 w/ 2GB of Ram would suffer in Multi-Screen Gaming.

[pimp]

OC your cpu will get you almost directly proportional fps boost.

 

Also make sure you are using at least catalyst 14.4 (>20% boost over previous drivers)

Yes, I upgraded to the 14.4 drivers. however, I still didn't notice any boost

[pimp]

A Single 6950 w/ 2GB of Ram would suffer in Multi-Screen Gaming.

Hi SkateZilla, I noticed you're using XFire. What's your avg fps on the ground/airports? Also, is DCS utilizing your XFire setup? I read a lot of places where there's some issues with XFire & DCS.

[Korn]

Since your fps dropped with the higher (3xmonitors) resolution, obviously the CPU is not the bottleneck. Also... i have a 2500k and fps is fine. Since you noticed yourself that the GPU runs @99% obviously there lies the problem. If you want to be sure just oc your cpu (should go easily over 4GHz) and check the fps... i really doubt you'll see any improvements.

 

I would suggest nVidia as well... however if you can live with your current setup for a while imo you should wait for Maxwell. Not smart to get a new graphics card when they're just about to update their product line.

[SkateZilla]

DCS Currently does not use my 2nd or 3rd GPUs.

[pimp]

Since your fps dropped with the higher (3xmonitors) resolution, obviously the CPU is not the bottleneck. Also... i have a 2500k and fps is fine. Since you noticed yourself that the GPU runs @99% obviously there lies the problem. If you want to be sure just oc your cpu (should go easily over 4GHz) and check the fps... i really doubt you'll see any improvements.

 

I would suggest nVidia as well... however if you can live with your current setup for a while imo you should wait for Maxwell. Not smart to get a new graphics card when they're just about to update their product line.

 

Hi Korn,

 

What's your system specs?

[pimp]

Is the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 a good enough card? It's a 3gb card with over 1GHz gpu speed.

[pimp]

nevermind. i went ahead and purchased it from newegg. Got Watchdogs for free too. :) I read about the performance diff between the 2600-4770 CPUs and there wasnt that much of a diff, so im pretty happy that my 2600k is still up to par. So I dont see that my cpu is the bottleneck. This card will be my 1st Nvidia product so hoepfully it's a good experience.

[*Rage*]

Gtx660 is a sidegrade. You were too hasty I think.

[pimp]

Gtx660 is a sidegrade. You were too hasty I think.

If the specs are better than my existing card, how is it a sidegrade?

[SAM77]

I got a gtx660 at the start of the year. Really satisfied at the time. Wished I had forked out for a 760 for a while after but now I think I got good value for the cash I forked out.

 

Was running ATI 5770 b4, glad I made the upgrade

[pimp]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I had to admit I was too hasty in getting that GTX 660 FTW. My current setup is just too much for this card so I upgraded yesterday to the new GTX 970 FTW. OMG this card is a beast. My 3 screen res 6020x1080(bezel corrected) and everything maxed is nothing for this card. In areas where my fps used to drop to 7-11 is now in the high 30s. The Huey was the worst fps killer for me since it's low altitude flying mostly, but now it's smooth sailing. So if anyone is wondering about the GTX 970, it is a monster.

[Tumbleweed]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I had to admit I was too hasty in getting that GTX 660 FTW. My current setup is just too much for this card so I upgraded yesterday to the new GTX 970 FTW. OMG this card is a beast. My 3 screen res 6020x1080(bezel corrected) and everything maxed is nothing for this card. In areas where my fps used to drop to 7-11 is now in the high 30s. The Huey was the worst fps killer for me since it's low altitude flying mostly, but now it's smooth sailing. So if anyone is wondering about the GTX 970, it is a monster.

 

Ty. That's just what I wanted to hear. Glad it's working well for you and you're enjoying it!

 

I ordered my 970 early this morning to replace my old faithful 560 and paid extra for 24 hour shipping so hopefully it's here tomorrow. WOO! :pilotfly:

 

Next year I'm going in for the kill with a MAJOR upgrade. New mobo, i7 processor, more RAM and at least one SSD and a bigger monitor.

The Mrs now has her eye on my current monitor which gives me a bigger excuse to get a new one hehehehe.

 

Won't be long now before I'm living in the home cockpit forums when I start building my own pit. Just need to do some more creeping round the good lady first :D

Edited December 3, 2014 by Tumbleweed

[TopStreamsNet]

Hey folks, not to create a separate thread - posting here - I have EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN Black, 16 Gb RAM, i7-4770K @3.50Ghz - this gives me 40-60 fps on the ground with High preset. I am trying to make things smooth in Oculus, so would like to pump these to 80+ fps - so what would be my bottleneck? Is it GPU or CPU? How would I approach looking for how to make things faster?

[Hadwell]

Since you're Using a titan black you might get a few more fps from a 780ti or 980, but in general with the top end nvidia cards in dcs specifically, its hugely CPU bottlenecked, since its terribly single threaded.

 

Suggest you wait for a better card than the 980 or edge, whatever comes first.

[Random]

Its not simply an fps issue with rift at the moment. It can judder even with 75 fps or more. So far I've been unable to cure it on my machine.

 

However, your CPU is the bottleneck. Install openhardwaremonitor and check your cpu vs gpu useage. CPU will be maxed out on one thread (shows as 50% load on a core on an i7 with HT enabled) GPU will be 70% or so I expect!

[jctrnacty]

Pimp your rig is ok, dcs world is software limited right now. Wait for edge aka dcs world 2.0

[TopStreamsNet]

Its not simply an fps issue with rift at the moment. It can judder even with 75 fps or more. So far I've been unable to cure it on my machine.

 

However, your CPU is the bottleneck. Install openhardwaremonitor and check your cpu vs gpu useage. CPU will be maxed out on one thread (shows as 50% load on a core on an i7 with HT enabled) GPU will be 70% or so I expect!

 

Surprisingly enough this is not what I observed - so what I did was - startup/taxi/flight. FPS was 40-60 while on the ground and 60-80 in the air.

 

GPU wise load was really nothing - never went up to 40%, on the other hand two cpu cores were showing 40+% load, so I guess I'll try upgrading to 4.0Ghz 4790k and see if that would help.

 

Thanks!

[PureEvil]

Surprisingly enough this is not what I observed - so what I did was - startup/taxi/flight. FPS was 40-60 while on the ground and 60-80 in the air.

 

GPU wise load was really nothing - never went up to 40%, on the other hand two cpu cores were showing 40+% load, so I guess I'll try upgrading to 4.0Ghz 4790k and see if that would help.

 

Thanks!

 

i don't think that would help. just overclock cpu you've got now and you will see if there any difference.