What computers do you use?

[mwheeler]

Guys, I am looking to get a new computer to use specifically for DCS World and my other flight sim games. What setups do you guys use? I want to get something good, but don't want to spend an arm and a leg either. Building an F/A-18 simpit also, so I'd like to have some left for that LOL

 

Mike

[golani79]

Using the following system - wasn´t built specifically for DCS though and hardware isn´t the newest. But still runs the sim pretty good.

 

i7 3770

16GB DDR3

Gainward Phantom GTX 780 3GB

Gigabyt Z77X-UD5H

Win 8.1 x64

[Nooch]

Anything nvidia will give you a good experience in dcs. Beware not to buy AMD cards as they perform horribly bad in this sim. 8GB of ~2000 mhz RAM is perfect right now anything above won't bring any performance gain whatsoever. For the cpu same applies with a good quad core from intel. 6 or 8 cores will be total overkill for any game.

[cichlidfan]

Get the best Intel chip and Nvidia card you are willing to buy.

[blackbelter]

8GB of ~2000 mhz RAM is perfect right now anything above won't bring any performance gain whatsoever..

 

More than 8gb of ram may not bring any performance gain, but it certainly brought stability gain in my case.

[cichlidfan]

More than 8gb of ram may not bring any performance gain, but it certainly brought stability gain in my case.

 

Agreed. DCS may not need it but Windows appears to like it.

[*Rage*]

Im not sure if nvidia gpus necessarily still perform better than their amd equivalents in DCS anymore.

 

Over the last year driver updates have really improved amd performance in DCS. No review site uses DCS as a benchmark unfortunately.

[LuckyStiff63]

Check out the Maximum PC Magazine site.

 

@MWHEELER: You might want to check out the Maximum PC Magazine site. I recommend their "Build a PC" section a lot (even to those who already know how to build a PC) due to the info they provide on choosing the right mix of components for your needs. Their "Best of the Best" list is good for checking out components at the high-end of the performance scale.

 

I have built PC's for over 20 years, and I read every issue to keep up to speed. Over the last 10 years I have come to trust MAX-PC's recommendations due to their testing methodology and the way they lay out the gains and trade-offs for any given component choice.

 

I'm not sure what your actual budget looks like, but for a capable gaming system that should keep you flying for a couple of years, I agree with most of the posts here in that you won't go wrong with a quad-core Intel (Core i5 or i7) CPU, a motherboard with SATA 6gb, USB3, PCI Express 2.0 (or higher) and room for at least 16GB of RAM (even if you don't get all 16GB right now). Add the best graphics processor you can (I gotta tell you, I love my GTX-970!), and don't forget a DECENT Power Supply is critical- everything else in the system depends on it!

 

Best of luck, and let us know what setup you land on

-------------------------------(see what I did there? )

--------- - Lucky

*************************************************************

My Rig:

(Note- My rig isn't a dedicated game system. I do CPU-intensive media editing and recoding which makes use of the 6-core CPU. So this is a lot of overkill for your stated needs. Still, this setup gets me over 100FPS in DCS World single-player mode with HIGH settings & 8x MSAA @ 1920x1080 without breaking a sweat. )

 

PSU: EVGA Supernova 850W

Mobo: ASROCK X99 Extreme4

CPU: Core i7 5820K @3.4GHz (Stock speeds for now)

Cooling: Corsair H100i closed-loop liquid

RAM: 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 2666MHz

GPU: Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 4GB

SSD: Samsung 840EVO 250GB

HD: Seagate 2TB

BDR: Lite-On iHSB212

Case: Coolermaster Storm Sniper

HOTAS: Saitek X-65F Force-Sensing (unfortunately no longer in production)

[CHRISXTR3M3]

Built this over the weekend because I was tired of the low frame rate. This gives me 70-80 FPS in the air and 40+ on the ground with all settings set to MAX. Trees, grass, traffic, tree shadows...ALL AT MAX

 

Intel i74790k Haswell @ 4.0Ghz

 

ASUS Hero Maximus VII 1150 ATX Board

ASUS STRIX GTX970 4Gb VRAM

Samsung EVO 850 250Gb SSD

CORSAIR H100i Closed Loop CPU Cooling System

XFX XTR 750W PSU 80+ Gold Cert.

G.Skill Ripjaws 2x8Gb RAM @ 2400Mhz

 

And all of this slapped into a CORSAIR Obsidian Series 750D Tower*

[Brisse]

Everything will be turned upside down when DCS2 is released. This is not the best time to go shopping for a DCS rig.

[cichlidfan]

Everything will be turned upside down when DCS2 is released. This is not the best time to go shopping for a DCS rig.

 

Nothing will be turned upside down. You just might get better results, from a lesser machine, with DCS 2.0.

[Corbett1403]

Alpine computers build only flight sim pc check them out if your in the uk

[Brisse]

Nothing will be turned upside down. You just might get better results, from a lesser machine, with DCS 2.0.

 

How can you be so sure? Current version of DCS seem to favour Nvidia GPU's. DCS2 will have a completely new graphics rendering engine, using a different API. There's no way that anyone outside the development team can say if DCS2 will also favour Nvidia GPU's, or if it will favour AMD, or the ideal case, where it works well on both.

 

Also, what GPU do we need for acceptable frametimes in DCS2? Will a 560ti suffice? Do we need a 970? Who knows....

 

Isn't it better to just wait and see what results people have when DCS2 is released and then buy equipment based on actual information instead of just guessing?

[cichlidfan]

Isn't it better to just wait and see what results people have when DCS2 is released and then buy equipment based on actual information instead of just guessing?

 

I don't disagree with that.

 

I just don't think the changes are going to be earth shattering. DCS favors Nvidia due to poor DirectX 9 performance with AMD. Going to DirectX 11 should even things out in that area.

 

Beyond that, the increase in performance will most likely be balanced out by other new features and effects.

[OnlyforDCS]

i5-3570K @ 4 Ghz (stock cooling)

16 GB DDR3 Ram

Intel 60GB SSD (I would recommend at least 120GB SSD for DCS 2.0 as it might have quite a large digital footprint)

ASUS Turbo GTX970 GTX (recently upgraded from 760GTX 4GB which also ran DCS with no problems)

TrackIR5

Saitek Rudder Pedals

X52 HOTAS

 

This setup runs DCS pretty well, the CPU is a bit older but gets the job done. Can't go wrong with any Nvidia GTX card that has at least the number '6' as the second digit in its nomenclature...

[zxarkov]

Asus Rampage IV Formula

i7 3930k @ 3.8GHz (6 core)

16GB G.SKILL Ripjaw X Quad Channel 2133mhz

Noctua NH-U14 cpu cooling

500GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD

Evga GTX 970 SSC

CH Fighterstick

CH Pro Pedals

 

I can not wait to push DCS 2.0 when it comes!

Edited June 2, 2015 by zxarkov
Upgraded

[SDsc0rch]

home brew - see my sig

 

build it piece by piece, research each component, make a wish list, look at your budget, do the best you can......

 

keeping in mind that DCS2 will run better (smoother - more consistently) than the current version

[mwheeler]

When is DCS2.0 supposed to come out?? Also, I saw some people have F/A-18 Hornets in DCS, but I don't see that as an option at all. How did they get those?? I'm planning on building an F/A-18 pit, and I'd love to see an F/A-18 come out.

 

I ended up getting a new desktop for a decent deal... Got this....

 

Dell OptiPlex 960 Desktop PC - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz, 4GB DDR2 Memory, 250GB HDD, DVD, Windows 7... I'm gonna install a custom video and sound card and put more RAM in it when it comes in on Monday.

 

I'm gonna just use it for DCS World and FSX

[MegOhm_SD]

Got tired of waiting and built below rig for DCS and Star Citizen last fall. No complaints in DCS with this card. Thanks to the modders, its just a beautiful thing.

 

Looking forward to 2.0

Edited May 30, 2015 by MegOhm_SD

[whitehot]

home brew - see my sig

 

build it piece by piece, research each component, make a wish list, look at your budget, do the best you can......

 

keeping in mind that DCS2 will run better (smoother - more consistently) than the current version

 

so basically u are suggesting that if I get an average of 40fps with my current rig, I wouldn't be compelled to upgrade ?(I 'm not one looking for 120 fps, I'm fine with whatever fps output I get, as long as it stays "fluid")

[Lucky]

Specs are in my sig. Runs anything I throw at it very well. Runs DCS in the high 60-70 FPS range with only one GTX 970. DCS doesn't play well with SLI yet.

[SDsc0rch]

word on the street is observed performance is better on the same computer

 

whether you would feel compelled to upgrade or not, i do not know - me personally, i wouldn't be happy with 40fps

 

but.. i would definitely wait for 2.0 to come out to make that decision

 

unless you want to upgrade "now" because you want better performance "now"

[SkateZilla]

 

Specs are in my sig.

[Mowgli]

I remember 4 months ago when I upgraded from DELL Optiplex 790 SFF:noexpression: to the specs you see in my signature.

 

Nvidia card for sure (I did the move after years with AMD cards)

Intel processor from i5 and above

 

rest of the hardware you can statistically figure out from the posts here

 

whatever u choice - congrats

[Mowgli]

 

Specs are in my sig.

 

 

now this is a setup to aspire for...:thumbup: