DCS FC3.0 Ultra Low FPS

[Cmptohocah]

Hello,

 

I have issues running Flaming Cliffs 3.0 on my machine: I have very low frame rates, don't the exact number and how to show this, by my personal estimate it is not more than 5-10 FPS.

 

This is my hardware configuration:

 

hp Pavilion dv6

• CPU: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM [6 MB L3 cache]
  
• Memory: 6 GB DDR3
  
• Video Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6770M (2 GB GDDR5 dedicated)
  
• Hard Drive: 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm)
  
• Monitor: LG IPS 225
  

 

Software:

• AMD Catalyst 14.12
  
• FC 3.0 v1.2.15
  

 

 

This are my video settings:

 

Any help is much appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Nikola

[Morpheus]

Hi, to see your FPS LCtrl+Pause. Try full screen, windowed doesn't help FPS :smilewink:

[Cmptohocah]

Thanx for the hint Morpheus.

 

I have switched it to 'Full Screen' mode and frame rate is steady at around 7 FPS.

 

I also forgot to mention that I am running Windows 7 64-bit

[karambiatos]

turn off the aero theme when running the game, actually just turn it off completely.

[Poot Beer]

turn off the aero theme when running the game, actually just turn it off completely.

 

Yeah, who the heck uses any of that anyway? You? Me? Nobody, that's who.

[Rangi]

I'm sorry to say, but your 2.2 GHz CPU and HD 6770M gpu are never going to cut it for a smooth 30+ fps DCS world experience. Even with all settings at low, once you put a battlefields worth of units down your computer will struggle to give you any more than 10 fps which is unplayable, at least for me.

[Erdem]

Make sure you assign dcs.exe to your dedicated GPU and not the Intel GPU. I think that's your problem.

I'm sorry to say, but your 2.2 GHz CPU and HD 6770M gpu are never going to cut it for a smooth 30+ fps DCS world experience. Even with all settings at low, once you put a battlefields worth of units down your computer will struggle to give you any more than 10 fps which is unplayable, at least for me.

 

This is not true. I had a similar (even slower) laptop with the same CPU but weaker GPU. I could play DCS at playable framerates (25+) at all times.

[Weltensegler]

Yeah, who the heck uses any of that anyway? You? Me? Nobody, that's who.

 

Everybody who uses Helios for DCS?

[T_A]

Your spec should give you much better performence , especialy at the lowest settings (i had DCS on AMD 5770 and it run not that bad on medium untill i upgraded.

[OnlyforDCS]

AMD Radeon HD 6770M

 

This is your problem right there, mobile M cards are woefully underpowered cmompared to their desktop 'big' brothers.

 

You did not state implicitly in your OP but I assume that you are running a laptop.

 

Unless you have a killer cooling solution, your laptop will not perform as well as a desktop machine of the same specs. It will throttle down CPU cycles as soon as it starts to overheat and it will overheat a LOT.

 

No one tells you that when you are buying one, but its still the truth, heat is a performance killer. Most 'mobile' components are severly downclocked to keep heat as low as possible or at best they are designed to downclock automatically when the heat goes up.

 

Im sorry to say there is very little you can do here, simming (or any highly intensive CPU/GPU app) is not recommended on any but the most powerful gaming laptops.

Edited March 10, 2015 by OnlyforDCS

[Cmptohocah]

This is your problem right there, mobile M cards are woefully underpowered cmompared to their desktop 'big' brothers.

 

You did not state implicitly in your OP but I assume that you are running a laptop.

 

Unless you have a killer cooling solution, your laptop will not perform as well as a desktop machine of the same specs. It will throttle down CPU cycles as soon as it starts to overheat and it will overheat a LOT.

 

No one tells you that when you are buying one, but its still the truth, heat is a performance killer. Most 'mobile' components are severly downclocked to keep heat as low as possible or at best they are designed to downclock automatically when the heat goes up.

 

Im sorry to say there is very little you can do here, simming (or any highly intensive CPU/GPU app) is not recommended on any but the most powerful gaming laptops.

 

I was afraid of this. In deed my laptop does tend to heat up quite a bit, even with a 'CoolerMaster' pad under it. I had actually to limit the maximum CPU to 85%. Guess I should have went for a desktop solution.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Cmptohocah

[mayns414]

Personally Desktop systems are always the way to go for gaming. Laptops are underpowered for the job. To be honest I would be looking into a newer/higher spec desktop system with DCS 2.0 coming out soon that will be requiring more of systems for the better graphics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

System: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, 8GB RAM DDR3 GSKill Sniper,XFX Radeon HD7950 3GBDDR5 384-bit,240GB SSD

[Dudikoff]

I was afraid of this. In deed my laptop does tend to heat up quite a bit, even with a 'CoolerMaster' pad under it. I had actually to limit the maximum CPU to 85%. Guess I should have went for a desktop solution.

 

Limit the CPU? Perhaps your vents are clogged and need cleaning. Download GPU-Z and check the frequency of the GPU while running the game - it seems the default high clocks should be at least 675 MHz - if you get less than that, it's probably getting downclocked due to heat.

 

6770M is rather weak, but it should run the game much better at that low resolution and settings.

[Falcon_S]

Also, check your graphic card 3d settings (control panel) and check Ansiotropic filtering, set it to Aplication controled. Ansiotropic filtering is one of high FPS killer. Maybe you find more high settings there... try lower values.

[SkateZilla]

Limiting your CPU to 1.8GHz will have a definate impact, as it wont have enough power to process anything.

And is below minimum required specs.

Edited March 11, 2015 by SkateZilla

[Cmptohocah]

Thank you guys for your suggestions.

I am taking my laptop a part in order to check if the wents are clogged.

Will let you know how this and other suggestions worked. If I ever manage to put it back together, that is :D

[FubarBundy]

pre-load radius

 

Have you tried increasing the pre-load radius?. Asking because I have a vague memory that the lower it is, the more often the system has to access the disk thereby causing stutters. The more preload the better (up to the limitations of your RAM) as far as I can recall. (I could be having a false memory tho')

Also, I seem to remember that, at one point, many ppl found that medium shadows either made no difference or gave a better fps than low ones.

Finally, there were some "low.lua" files which can be downloaded from the user files sections. These can be really useful If your system isn't cutting it. Alternatively, you could find and edit those files yourself, (just remember to make a back up of the original!)

Edited March 11, 2015 by FubarBundy
thought o some other stuff

[Cmptohocah]

I know the reply is a little late, but here is what eventually happened:

 

I have dissembled my 800$ laptop and found some traces of dust in the fan and cooling ribs area, but nothing major. I was shocked to see how silly the CPU and GPU actually look like (size and positioning) and was even more surprised by the fact that they share a common heat sink and that a tiny fan is supposed to cool all that down. To be honest I was surprised my laptop managed to run properly at all with such a modest cooling solution in the first place. And yes you were right, even though my CPU is i7 and GPU runs on 2GB GDDR5, the setup in weak to say the least.

 

I have 'opened my wallet' and assembled a tower by my self:

CPU: i5 4690k (stock 3.5GHz) & Hyper 212 Evo (CoolerMaster)

MOBO: Asus Z97 Gamer Pro

Graphics: GTX 770 4GB

Mem.: 8 GB (2x4GB) Corsair, 1600 MHz

PSU: 700W KCAS

Tower: Corsair Carbide Series 300R (3 fans)

 

Now I did spend around 1000$, but this thing runs DCS easy and I would say: 'good investment'.

 

Point of the story is:

 

Gaming: Laptop [NO!], tower [YES!]

 

Thanx everyone.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Cmptohocah

[Dav IRL]

Even if it is overheating it is not the same as an air cooled desktop with a large frame and plenty of cooling, not to mention a 12 inch card or two.

[SkateZilla]

People expect desktop level gaming on a laptop that uses less than 200w while the desktop tower uses 500+.

 

Every gaming laptop Ive had, repaired for a friend or scrapped for parts has been nothing but a under acheiving unit wanting to be something it cant.

 

Mobile parts have power input reduced to manage battery life and heat, so a MGPU even if it shares the same model number of a desktop version is underclocked, and will throttle when it gets hot.

Same for the CPU.

[Prophet]

You just have to adjust your expectations instead of calling it under achieving.

 

I very much enjoy gaming on my 15" with a 6990M. I just don't expect to play on ultra.