Help with understanding hardware usage

[Jinker]

Hi there!

I've been so far very happy with DCS 1.5.2 performance on my mid-end PC, and I lately tried to push it a bit... The eye candy is still important for me :prop:

So, I was definitely surprised to see that DCS does NOT really squeeze my system, with the exception of the GPU.

 

Scenario: I launch DCS, load the FC3 instant action A-10A CAS, at mission start I turn left 90° (turning on the mavericks), fly over the hill, the towns, the forest, the sea and eventually turn 180° to fly again above ground at a higher altitude.

Output: FPS ranging from 30 to 70; continuous micro-stutter when looking down or to the side; major stutter when changing quickly viewing direction or zooming.

 

From the attached log it seems that the only bottleneck of my system is the GPU.... I'm looking forward to hints from you expert people out there. Thanks!! :detective_2:

[Mustang]

Surprisingly i found this program helped a great deal with solving stuttering/micro stuttering on my AMD card

 

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=404465

 

not only in DCS but with a whole bunch of other games too, give it a try.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Mustang

[BitMaster]

Use MSI Afterburner and it's graphs to see if your clock is going up&down while playing as Mustang says, you will be able to clearly tell yes or no. If yes, you might wanna try that tool.

[Brisse]

If you have a weak graphics card, or if it doesn't have enough vram, then I definitely recommend lowering MSAA to 2x. It's one of those settings that almost purely affects the GPU, and not the CPU. Considering your CPU-usage is low, you want to lower all the GPU-dependent settings until you are happy with your frame-rate. As your frame-rate increases, your CPU usage will increase as well and your system will end up running in a more balanced state.

[Jinker]

If you have a weak graphics card, or if it doesn't have enough vram, then I definitely recommend lowering MSAA to 2x. It's one of those settings that almost purely affects the GPU, and not the CPU. Considering your CPU-usage is low, you want to lower all the GPU-dependent settings until you are happy with your frame-rate. As your frame-rate increases, your CPU usage will increase as well and your system will end up running in a more balanced state.

 

Thanks Brisse, this is the kind of hint I was looking for. Unfortunately, it seems that the MSAA does not have the effect you suggest. Still, it looks like DCS "forgets" the CPU available capacity.

 

@Mustang: the attached log is done with ClockBlocker active. The GPU seems far more unstable than without this tool (just compare to the log of my first post)

[Brisse]

Well, your graphics card is mediocre at best while your CPU is fairly strong so you might never be able to balance out the loads perfectly. I see that you have clutter/brushes maxed out. I'm not sure that's a good idea. It can have a pretty big impact on frame-rate. Try to lower the setting to half, or even turning it off and see how your frame-rate and system loads are affected.

[Jinker]

Well, yeah... As I wrote in my first post, I was trying to push my system. I normally fly with no clutter, anisotropic filtering at 4x, shadows flat only. This way I get 50-150 FPS all the time (with occasional stuttering) and I can't really complain about the visuals.

 

Well, your graphics card is mediocre at best while your CPU is fairly strong so you might never be able to balance out the loads perfectly

 

I'm gonna just swallow this, given that a new graphic card is out of budget for the moment :wassat:

[CAT_101st]

The ground clutter would be the cause as it is loading new areas all the time and if you move your head it is trying to draw the new areas.

[blkspade]

Res of cockpit plays is whats inducing the stutter BTW. It should be set to any "Every Frame" option.

[blkspade]

Thanks Brisse, this is the kind of hint I was looking for. Unfortunately, it seems that the MSAA does not have the effect you suggest. Still, it looks like DCS "forgets" the CPU available capacity.

 

@Mustang: the attached log is done with ClockBlocker active. The GPU seems far more unstable than without this tool (just compare to the log of my first post)

 

No DCS isn't forgetting the CPU. That graph is CPU package performance, meaning its looking at all cores/thread. DCS can only max out a single thread which accounts for 25% load on a 4 thread CPU. It uses an additional thread for Audio, but is probably never loaded as much as the main thread.

[Enduro14]

The ground clutter would be the cause as it is loading new areas all the time and if you move your head it is trying to draw the new areas.

 

fACT i fly in 3d and once i got rid of ground clutter im locked at 60 its great

[Jinker]

No DCS isn't forgetting the CPU. That graph is CPU package performance, meaning its looking at all cores/thread. DCS can only max out a single thread which accounts for 25% load on a 4 thread CPU. It uses an additional thread for Audio, but is probably never loaded as much as the main thread.

Quad cores are on the market since many years, and I strongly expected that EDGE would use them properly. This is quite disappointing

[Fab]

fACT i fly in 3d and once i got rid of ground clutter im locked at 60 its great

 

How did you remove the ground clutter ?

:cry:

[droopy114]

How did you remove the ground clutter ?

:cry:

 

Options>system>clutter/bushes slider at 0m.

[Fab]

Quad cores are on the market since many years, and I strongly expected that EDGE would use them properly. This is quite disappointing

 

Show me a game today, that uses all 4 cores...:music_whistling:

[Burnerski]

Show me a game today, that uses all 4 cores...:music_whistling:

 

 

P3dv2.5 with flyinside and Milviz F4 Phantom plus Win10 under Oculus.

 

R/

Daniel

[Fab]

P3dv2.5 with flyinside and Milviz F4 Phantom plus Win10 under Oculus.

 

R/

Daniel

 

FSX only uses 2 cores, your task,anager might show you otherwise, but FXS only uses 2 cores simpel as that.:smartass:

 

PrePare3D I dont know about, but I doubt it will run on more than 2 cores.....

Edited January 31, 2016 by Fab

[blkspade]

Show me a game today, that uses all 4 cores...:music_whistling:

 

Well battlefield 3 did, and BF4 expanded on that making use of up to 6 I do believe. So the capability in general is there in the Frostbite engine.

[Burnerski]

FSX only uses 2 cores, your task,anager might show you otherwise, but FXS only uses 2 cores simpel as that.:smartass:

 

P3D I dont know about, but I doubt it will run on more than 2 cores.....

 

All I know is what MSI shows. I tried to take a screenshot and it isn't working and don't feel like dealing with it. DCS 2.0 with A10c uses one processor about 90% another about 50% and 20% on the other 2.

P3dv2.5 with PMDG777 is about the same as DCS, but P3dv2.5 with Milviz F4 shows all four processors at about 80%. There was a statement on the Milviz forums about not messing with the affinity mask because it interferes with the Sim.

 

R/

Daniel

[Fab]

All I know is what MSI shows. I tried to take a screenshot and it isn't working and don't feel like dealing with it. DCS 2.0 with A10c uses one processor about 90% another about 50% and 20% on the other 2.

P3dv2.5 with PMDG777 is about the same as DCS, but P3dv2.5 with Milviz F4 shows all four processors at about 80%. There was a statement on the Milviz forums about not messing with the affinity mask because it interferes with the Sim.

 

R/

Daniel

 

Yes DCS uses 2 cores, one for sound, one for the rest, the last 2 you see are dealing with other stuff on your pc, as I said before you can count on seeing what cores are active, and just make the comsumpsion that its a program you are runnig thats using the cores :smilewink:

[Wolf Rider]

All I know is what MSI shows. I tried to take a screenshot and it isn't working and don't feel like dealing with it. DCS 2.0 with A10c uses one processor about 90% another about 50% and 20% on the other 2.

P3dv2.5 with PMDG777 is about the same as DCS, but P3dv2.5 with Milviz F4 shows all four processors at about 80%. There was a statement on the Milviz forums about not messing with the affinity mask because it interferes with the Sim.

 

R/

Daniel

 

 

Don't get confused with the readout and what the Sim uses and what Windows is using at the time

FSX was always best assigned (AffinityMask) to Cores 1, 2 and 3... leaving Core 0 to do its thing with Windows

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

Res of cockpit plays is whats inducing the stutter BTW. It should be set to any "Every Frame" option.

 

Best stutter fix EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...that was waht made my game to run at 40fps but feel like 5fps!!!...also fixed the random fps drops!!!!thanks man!!!!!!!!:thumbup: