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[franx]

Guys, in terms of graphical settings, which are the most performance-crippling?

 

My rig is a Windows 10, 64 bit, Radeon R390 gpu, AMD FX Black Edition cpu, 16 gig ram.

 

I keep my water set at low, shadows flat, no mirrors or heat blur, anistropic at 2x, visibility medium, no birds or civ traffic, etc.

 

Should I be using vsync or not? Is there anything else I can do to eliminate hiccups?

[Goa]

anistropic has not peformance impact at all, you can set it to 16x

 

 

most performance impact are

 

 

 

1) resolution

2) msaa

3) ssaa

4)shadows

 

5) distance view

 

 

vsync for me is always on ( in nvidia control panel) , and off in game, swaping between ingame vysnc or nvcp makes not so much difference, it seems to me vysnc set on on nvcp is a bit smoother.

 

 

your problem is gpu and cpu, they're not enough strong to push dcs

[franx]

Goa, thanks for this. Helpful stuff. The idea that an R390 and an AMD FX are not strong enough to run DCS strikes me as implausible, but I do plan on expanding my ram to 32 gig.

[Svsmokey]

Much better to lock vsync and adjust settings to keep it if you can . TrackIR will be much smoother as well .

Other causes of hiccups can be preload radius set to small . You will get a hiccup every time terrain loads . Try increasing this setting . This is another area where having DCS installed on an SSD really shines . Terrain loads are more like a half-blink .

As to other settings , i have found MSAA and SSAA to be the worst frame-killers , as well as the shadows you have already addressed . While searching for worst-case headroom on my system , i found global cockpit illumination to be surprisingly performance-effecting as well .

Make sure Windows is set to "performance" , and if the AMD graphics control panel has the option , set it there as well .

 

Finally , i do agree with Goa regarding your CPU . I looked it up on the single-thread performance benchmark when answering an earlier post and -forgive me-it was abysmal . Same with the 390 , which is really no more than a 290 .

You can google "CPU performance benchmark" to look at the numbers yourself .

Online reviews will confirm AMD's sleight-of-hand re the 390 .

 

Sniped :) . The 32 gb upgrade will largely eliminate terrain load hiccups . You can max your preload radius with that much memory .

Edited January 8, 2019 by Svsmokey

[Strikeeagle345]

SSAA hits harder than MSAA, FYI.

 

with SSAA on the lowest settings, my FPS cut in half. With MSAA on 2x or 4x i hardly notice a drop in FPS.

[Sotakoira]

I have best results in fidelity with MSAA = off SSAA=1.5

3440x1440

all other settings on high / max distance (8600k/16GB/SSD/GTX 1080ti)

 

At first glance I thought this clip was from DCS but it was "real"...damn, I wish DCS would have gfx like this...maybe someday (ground textures / engine heat bloom)

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by Sotakoira

[Strikeeagle345]

I have best results in fidelity with MSAA = off SSAA=1.5

3440x1440

all other settings on high / max distance (8600k/16GB/SSD/GTX 1080ti)

 

At first glance I thought this clip was from DCS but it was "real"...damn, I wish DCS would have gfx like this...maybe someday (ground textures / engine heat bloom)

 

 

hmm, SSAA hits less than MSAA for you?

[Svsmokey]

Yeah , i find MSAA to be a FPS hit , though i still use X2 , in addition to 1.5 SSAA . 1080P , and a personal priority is to eliminate/minimise shimmering .

But , as is said , YMMV .

[Davee]

Yeah , i find MSAA to be a FPS hit , though i still use X2 , in addition to 1.5 SSAA . 1080P , and a personal priority is to eliminate/minimise shimmering .

But , as is said , YMMV .

 

 

+1

[Sotakoira]

@strikeEagle345 Haven´t compared the actual fps readings between msaa / ssaa since everything runs so smoothly on high settings with my rig but I found that by using ssaa 1.5 gives a better image quality. (monitor also g-sync 100hz)

 

Both them enabled is a bit too much for 1080ti, so I chose ssaa on and msaa off.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Sotakoira

[Goa]

@strikeEagle345 Haven´t compared the actual fps readings between msaa / ssaa since everything runs so smoothly on high settings with my rig but I found that by using ssaa 1.5 gives a better image quality. (monitor also g-sync 100hz)

 

Both them enabled is a bit too much for 1080ti, so I chose ssaa on and msaa off.

 

 

what value for SSAA?

if I set it at 2x even with MSAA off fps dropo below 60 with a 1080ti + 8700k@5.0 ghz in my signature.

 

 

fps drop below 60 even with msaa 2.0+saa 1.5, so I am running msaa 4x and SAA disabled.

:thumbup:

[Headwarp]

SSAA is basically the equivalent of increasing your resolution when it comes to performance, so the effects of which will vary for users based on display type and resolution.

 

IF you're system is CPU limited, say due to having a GPU that offers more juice than your display resolution demands, enabling SSAA could then cause you to be GPU limited, and in some cases offer better performance, or at least not near as drastic a hit to your framerate as enabling SSAA on a system that's already limited at the GPU.

 

There's no one size fits all answer to the question of SSAA's effect on performance.

 

If i still used my 3440x1440 monitor for simming personally I'd be happy with the performance and image quality of msaa 2x and no ssaa.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Headwarp

[Sotakoira]

what value for SSAA?

if I set it at 2x even with MSAA off fps dropo below 60 with a 1080ti + 8700k@5.0 ghz in my signature.

 

 

fps drop below 60 even with msaa 2.0+saa 1.5, so I am running msaa 4x and SAA disabled.

:thumbup:

 

SSAA = 1.5

MSAA = off