DCS required specs!!

[Demon_]

Flextronics is very good too.

 

 

[Brigg]

Hmmm,

 

I need to tell you a few things which you may not like:

 

Your laptop wont run DCS, dont try it. The GPU is far too small and the CPU will struggle. Assuming you dont have an SSD in there as well it will not be a pleasant thing to try.

8GB is minimum for DCS and many many pilots have fixed latency and stutter issues by upgrading to 16GB. That is HIGHLY recommended, as well as an SSD for your OS + DCS.

 

 

For the new PC, aim high in MHz with your CPU.

 

You should, even when on budget, surpass the 4GHz barrier towards 4.5GHz to run DCS smooth in all conditions from the CPU side.

 

Many use i5-"K" versions, i7-"K" has Hyperthreading and slightly higher clocks out of the box but a higher price. Choose either one, but get a "K"-UNLOCKED version somewhere 3.5GHz base clock or better. They usually overclock pretty good.

 

If you dont dare to oc it is more expensive as you will need to buy a higher clocked cpu off the shelf. i5-7600k is a good choice if you go i5, i7-7700k is top end 4-core and speed king as of now. Pick one that fits your budget.

 

Dont forget to add 2 x 8GB DDR4 modules for a total of 16GB RAM.

 

 

GPU...dunno.. the 1050 might be too low ended for DCS but it all depends on your resolution and demands.

For example a 1060 GTX 6GB will drive a 1440p screen like I do with my 980GTX, maybe even a notch better. That is ample power for up to 2560x1440 or lower. If you want to go 4k the GPU will easily cost as much as CPU+RAM+MOBO together. Somewhere between 500-1000 € or $ for a proper 4k GPU.

If you can stick with res up to 1440p you can save a lot of money as your GPU will be 250-300€ class, 1/3 of a 4k-GPU card !

 

You have to buy a 3rd party CPU cooler, there is none in the box anymore.

Invest in a AIO-Watercooler is my personal advice. Look through the reviews and pick one with 2x 120 or 2 x 140mm fans. that will give you some headroom with temps and make overclocking possible.

If you dont like the idea of Watercooling, Noctua has imhop the best overall portofolio of air coolers. the DH15 is an outstanding cooler IF it fits your board and tower. check that before you buy with large air coolers.

 

 

Motherboard: Pick one that is not overdone is my advice. The one I have is OK, fair priced and has all most people need, tho no WLAN - if you need that, pick 1 higher on the ladder.

The higher you grab the more complicated and tricky they get. If you want things simple then dont buy am overdone motherboard for 400€.

 

 

in short:

 

Asus Z270 board 140-200€

Intel CPU i5-7600k or i7-7700k 260 or 360 €

16GB DDR4-2400 or faster 120 €

Nvidia 1060GTX/6GB 250-300€

SSD Samsung 960Evo 256GB or 512GB 150 or 300€

 

+ PSU + TOWER +Win10(?)

 

 

P.S. YOu cannot upgrade that Laptop GPU. You can exchange it maybe against the same make and model but upgrading is 99% impossible. Sorry to say that.

 

please correct me if i'm wrong but, I thought DCS didn't like hyperthreading enabled.

[BitMaster]

It made a difference for a few with older i7 in tests a while back.

 

I havent checked with HT off as my performance is ample.

 

 

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[BitMaster]

My next card has 16gb, i wont upgrade any earlier as this beast was expensive enuff and is good for up to 170fps at my 1440p screen and settings. Let VR ripe and I adopt, meanwhile I enjoy it as it is with TiR5

 

 

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[SeaW0lf]

My 1st Corsair AXi-1200 went to RMA because the built-in thermistor did not work and such the PSU overheated occaisionally and shut off.

 

I got a replacement unit 2 years ago and since then I have no complains. It is impossible for me during non-summer days to heat that PSU up beyond 45°C, even at 600w, which is most I ever saw it consume with Kombustor ansd prime95avx on same time. During hot summer days and heavy tasking it sometimes spins the fan.

 

I have not regretted I got the AXi version, but tbt, since I diodnt go SLI as intended back then a 850 was plenty, this 1200 is WAY overdone.

 

Tho I still have 89% eff minimum in idle and as soon as I consume more it goes up till 94% eff.. This high efficiency is what I like, it would be even better with a 850 model, I know :(.

 

Afaik my 1200er AXi is not Seasonic but most others from AXi are.

 

 

edit*: I was wrong: look that link http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page447.htm

 

AXi is Flextronics, AX is mostly Seasonic.

 

I'm still happy with my PSUs, but the passive cooling could be a problem in poor ventilated cases. But the fact that they don't collect dust is a plus.

[Demon_]

Bit, this is for you :smartass:

https://seasonic.com/product/prime-850-w-titanium/

[BitMaster]

Yep, that is a 1A-PSU !!!

 

Also the 12y warranty is great.

 

Took note just in case someone needs such a PSU

 

 

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[BitMaster]

DCS required specs!!

 

Seawolf,

 

Your PSU should spin up the fan and not shut down!

 

99% chance your thermistor inside the psu is defect.

 

Check with Corsair RMA

 

Looks similar to my defect back then.

 

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[SeaW0lf]

Seawolf, Your PSU should spin up the fan and not shut down!

 

My mistake (bad explanation). The card was crashing the video and I thought it was some safety measure from the PSU due to overheating. I redid the cable connections and it stopped.

 

Yesterday I measured the temp with a sensor and the PSU was at 40ºC. I think it is more, because 40ºC it is almost body temperature. I can keep my hand on it, but it looks like a small oven. I was reading that tissue damage occurs at temperatures of 50 to 60 degrees Centigrade. (122/140deg F). So 40ºC might be right. Maybe today I'll play DCS a bit with another termometer that I have. I'll compare the temps.

 

My HX650W (don't game with it) and my AX750W do the same thing. They heat up and never spin, because my load with ROF was always below 350W (I have a no-break with power indicator). So I am not sure at what temperature the fan will spin. Corsair says the fan only spins at a certain load, as far as I remember.

 

As a comprarison, I had an old Zalman without passive cooling and it operated waaaay cooler than all my Corsairs. Then I built a backup system with the Zalman and replaced it by the HX650W. During the summer my system temperatures rose considerably because of it (I have a Sileo 500 in my backup system that is like a cocoon). Hence the gripe.

[Demon_]

HX650 at 20% load, RM750 at 40% load, AX750 at 20% load.

The operating temperature range of the RM750 is 0° to 50°C. The continuous output rated temperature is 40°C.

http://www.corsair.com/~/media/corsair/download-files/manuals/corsair-psu-spec-table.pdf

Edited March 19, 2017 by Demon_

[BitMaster]

At least the Axi has 2 triggers, one is LOAD and one is TEMP, I think at 50% & 50°C those values are set.

 

Reach either value and the fan starts spinning

[SeaW0lf]

HX650 at 20% load, RM750 at 40% load, AX750 at 20% load.

The operating temperature range of the RM750 is 0° to 50°C. The continuous output rated temperature is 40°C.

http://www.corsair.com/~/media/corsair/download-files/manuals/corsair-psu-spec-table.pdf

 

THanks, and that is weird, because then I have three defective units :thumbup: I'll take a look into it.

[Aluminum Donkey]

There's always lots of discussion over what hardware to get.

 

For starters, if you have a video card with 6GB or 8GB of memory, then you can probably get away with only 8GB of system RAM. That's a total of 14-16GB and is probably all you need--that's why some people have 8GB system RAM and don't have problems running DCS World. You're better off with very fast system RAM rather than tons of it. I went with 16GB (two 8GB modules) of DDR4 3000MHz memory and it's actually kind of overkill, since I'm using a GTX 1070 video card and it has 8GB of VRAM.

 

CPUs: lots of discussion on these, but keep in mind that DCS only uses two threads: one for the main simulation engine, and one for sound. Core i7 CPUs are always regarded as the ultimate thing to get, but in reality, for DCS World, single-threaded performance is king, and the i5's really are every bit as good. I got hold of an i5-6600K and get outstanding performance in DCSW, and although my chip is an average overclocker, it still easily runs at 4.5 GHz at about 1.32V.

 

So, you can go ahead and get the most expensive i7 you can find, but it won't make any difference in DCSW or other games, really. A fast i5 will not only give you the best possible performance, but will save some money that you can put into the video card, which is what will make a huge difference especially if you like 4K or multi-monitor setups, or have a fondness for flying around Vegas in 2.0 with all the graphics settings on max :)

 

The i7 is only faster in the beginning because it has a higher default clock speed. If your computer's main 'gig' is DCS World (and you run other games on it), you're still getting the best performance but saving some money by getting hold of an i5-7600K and running it as fast as it will reasonably go. Even the 6600K is excellent, but the 7600K may clock slightly higher and give off less heat, so you can still get the best performance while using an inexpensive air cooler.

Oh yeah--when overclocking, select "Sync All Cores" in UEFI before experimenting with voltages and multipliers, so your core clocks don't drop when loading up the CPU on more than one core.

 

Finally, in my own personal experience, the GTX 1070 is not only a great card for DCS World, but it works well with single 4K setups. It will run DCSW 2.0 at about 40 FPS over Vegas with all settings at max. If you run a multi-monitor setup, especially 2 or 3 4K monitors, skip the GTX 1080 and splurge for a 1080 Ti. They're expensive as holy heck, but will give you the rendering performance you need for hefty multi-display setups.

 

Remember, DCSW only works well with single video cards, not SLI/Crossfire--so for that killa triple-4K rig, a 1080 Ti (or Titan Z!) is what you need to pull that off really nicely. When you start talking about that kind of money, you could start taking some flying lessons in a real plane :)

 

Just my 2 cents

Peace and happy warfare

Edited March 21, 2017 by Aluminum Donkey

[BuzzU]

Good post AD. It cleared in my mind what I need to get now. Thanks.

[SeaW0lf]

THanks for the feedback AD. The 1070 would be a dream. Maybe a Volta GTX 2060 will get close.

[SeaW0lf]

I have been monitoring my GTX 770 in game (multiplayer) and one thing I noticed. Even when I'm using 1.6 / 1.8GB of VRAM (my card has 2GB), the GPU hovers around 40-70% usage tops. I have all settings on low and 8XAA. And I am having severe frame drops over terrain, as low as 30's. The card remains with 2/3 of usage or less. The game then stutters like crazy. I don't have G-Sync and I use TrackIR, then I need to be above 50fps, most preferably 60fps all the time to don't experience stutter. And I do stay with 60fps away from the ground and clouds.

 

I've seen similar results with ROF, but not that severe and I used to check supersampling. I have frame drops in ROF, especially around clouds, but the card never goes above 60-70%. Nowadays I am using only 8XAA and it runs fine in all servers.

 

Then I wonder if DCS uses just a limited range of the card and exploits clock and raw power more than whole processing (the same as ROF). I ask this because I might as well buy a GTX 1070. Or wait a bit to see if they are going to do a refresh in the 3rd quarter / release some Volta and offer some rebates for the GTX 1060 or 1070. I don't mind waiting a bit, because I won't replace it sometime soon. I have this GTX 770 for 4 years now and I just game with it for ROF, DCS and BOS, and these titles are generally around for several years without needing beefier cards.

 

Do people have severe frame drops and low usage with stronger cards?

 

The other doubt that I have regards the servers. My ping on DCS, even in US servers, is always around 170-200ms. I live in Rio de Janeiro / Brazil and I have a 60MB connection, 3MB upload. Of course Burning Skies is 250+. But I play in a few ROF servers in the US with a 128ms ping (northeast), which I consider not that bad in my case. Is it related somehow to DCS or it has nothing to do with it? I really know little about connections and main servers, but my connection works like butter for ROF in general.

 

I ask these things because I might update the graphics card and still experience high ping, extreme frame drops and stutter. Not to mention that it is not reassuring to be always on that 200ms limit -- when people think that you are going to stutter on-line. In my experience, ping has little to do with stutter on-line, especially if you have a good connection and is on this 120-300ms range.

 

So is DCS more demanding on the internet band -- which then I cannot solve already having a 60MB connection -- or the main problem is my GTX 770?

 

I appreciate any feedback,

SeaW0lf.

Edited April 24, 2017 by SeaW0lf

[SkateZilla]

8XAA is pretty high for a 2GB Card to begin w/

 

As for GPU Usage,

DirectX CPU Overhead, the more commands the CPU has to Process for DirectX the Longer the GPU has to wait for them to process, which causes lower FPS and Lower GPU Usage.

 

This isnt a DCS Issue, but a DirectX issue, the move to DX11 from DX9 increased the Command Overhead significantly and allowed terrain and missions to become more dense, but the minimum requirements increase as the engine evolves as well.

 

150-200ms is Pretty good for the Distance involved from your Geo Location to US.

 

If I Ping Various ISP Servers in Rio, I get 130ms-144ms-109ms.

 

And I'm On a 1500/1500 Server Connection, Pings from My Home 450/450 Line are the same.

[SeaW0lf]

but the minimum requirements increase as the engine evolves as well.

 

Thanks, but will the increase of Command Overhead demand more connection (requiring even more band) or once the terrain is loaded it becomes a task for my hardware, not the bandwidth? Because then I am fine. I have an i7-3770K (I can overclock it) and I can upgrade the graphics card.

 

I say this because I have a considerable bandwidth loss as the distance increases. Perhaps I don't feel it with ROF because the game is lighter. From what I recall, in some European servers my download rate would get as low as 4MB (when I had a 30MB connection). Not all of them, but in some of them. In other words, I am not sure if people playing from afar will experience bandwidth bottleneck due to a large number of data having to travel great distances.

 

I'll test DCS with 4XAA or even less to see how it gets.

[SkateZilla]

Rendering Terrain uses Local Hardware, not internet bandwidth.

[SeaW0lf]

Rendering Terrain uses Local Hardware, not internet bandwidth.

 

Nice, good to know. Thanks.

[SeaW0lf]

Just to give an update, I lowered all the settings, turned AA off and such, low VRAM usage, and I was still having heavy stuttering. Then I remembered that my Gskill DDR3 TridentX was set on default at 1333Mhz -- I was being lazy to test different timings because at 2400Mhz the voltage was a bit high. But today I went back to the XMP at 2400Mhz and the stuttering is much, but much better. It feels like I updated my graphics card. Even at high 40s there is no stuttering.

 

Then I set Preload Radius to 50000 (before was at 30000). And it got even smoother. I imagine that at 30000 I was having problems to constantly load the terrain and make matters even worse. I tried at 100000 and I think it is too much. I settled for 60000 for the time being.

 

I am still having occasional stuttering, but it is totally playable, even with AAX2. I'll try going up with it.

 

It might give me some room to wait for the Pascal refresh / Volta.