Graphics Card for BS?

[Steve Davies]

I've done a little search for information on graphics cards that will be compatible with BS, but I have found nothing specific other than the information on the FAQ (which states an NVIDIA FX card is required).

 

I am planning on running BS on a Mac Pro dual boot system, but want to know if my NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 will be up to the task.

 

Any feedback appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[nemises]

Hi Steve,

I'm not from ED nor have anything to do with the beta testing, but from what I have seen on this forum and others from ED and Beta Testers, is that, if your machine can run LOMAC:FC , then it should run DCS:BS also, though perhaps 10% "slower" due to greater computational overhead.

 

We can derive from that, that an 8800GT would certainly run DCS:BS well, as long as the other underlying systems (CPU, Memory, IO speed) were also up to scratch.

 

I, for example, can run LOMAC:FC at a comfortable 25 - 30 FPS on a 7800GTS (2GB RAM, 64x2 4200+ cpu) at 1280 x 1024 on high detail generally.

 

Cheers,

Nem

[Vekkinho]

Your graphic card should be good enough for BS, BS is DX9 game but I can't say for sure at least until we get the game and install it, run it and try various settings.

[Steve Davies]

Hi Steve,

...then it should run DCS:BS also, though perhaps 10% "slower" due to greater computational overhead...

 

Thanks, Nem.

 

But I am confused. What is the additional computational overhead you talk of?

 

Intel Macs can run Windows natively (i.e. I won't be running Windows within Mac OSX), and with 8 processor cores, I would have thought that the Mac Pro's computational power would far exceed the average PC desktop. Am I mistaken or simply missing something?

[-sulan-]

I think he just means that DCS:BS will be slightly heavier than Lomac:FC. I'm confident that my 4core macpro will run it nicely with its ati 1900[insert 2 letters]. I might get another graphics card though, if I feel I "need" it. So I don't think you should have any problems at all, you have a super duper computer!!!

I would'nt worry :D

[bigbelgian]

I dont know but i thougt i read somewhere that BS still wont support multicore,dont shoot me if i read wrong.

 

8800GT wont be the problem running this game,but as already said,the game is heavy on the processor,my FC uses 60% of one core(i am running Intel 3GHZ dual-core 8mb)

 

 

My 2 cents....

[GGTharos]

Even though BS doesn't support multicore, having more than one core means you can dedicate one core to the game, and it WILL boost the FPS since all the other niggles (TIR, whatever else you run in the background) won't be sucking CPU cycles off the core LOMAC's running on.

[Steve Davies]

Thanks, fellas. That answers my questions!

[Groove]

Steve be assured that your vidcard is more than sufficient.

[Flyby]

I too think the 8800GT/512mb card will do nicely. My only caveats being the monitor size and the resolution you want to play at. I think a 22" 4:3 ratio with a max of 1600x rez would be fine for the GT. Higher rez's and wider screens will be more taxing, imho. But it's certainly a fine card, especially for the price.

Flyby out

[specpl]

And there will be more quastion of type: "I have 10000000GB RAM processor 1000000000GHz, If BS will run on my computer?"

 

Ohh come on...

When game will be out you will see :)

[XLR8]

SinHQ tested it with a BFG 6800GT (256MB) PCIe video card.By todays new cards its kind of a small card.

[nemises]

Thanks, Nem.

 

But I am confused. What is the additional computational overhead you talk of?

 

Intel Macs can run Windows natively (i.e. I won't be running Windows within Mac OSX), and with 8 processor cores, I would have thought that the Mac Pro's computational power would far exceed the average PC desktop. Am I mistaken or simply missing something?

 

Yep, you'll be better off than average then I expect...

The 10% additional (just pure speculation by the way) would be from the increased flight model calculations, and any graphical (or non graphical!) tweaks they've included (higher res meshes / groundplane etc..), and is as compares to LOMAC:FC , not as a penalty for Mac's or anything

 

 

..though I wouldnt mind impossing a general penalty on mac owners for beeing so smug ;)

[Tez]

Much depends on the graphics settings both in the game and in the driver. At low settings, I think 6600 GT with 256 MB of DDR3 VRAM will be enough. At better settings one will need better card, of course.

 

Do not forget that the bottleneck of simulators, especially on old engines, - CPU and RAM (including latency). So your video card should have PCI-X interface, because it should be put in modern motherboard, for example with Core Duo inside.

[RedTiger]

Even though BS doesn't support multicore, having more than one core means you can dedicate one core to the game, and it WILL boost the FPS since all the other niggles (TIR, whatever else you run in the background) won't be sucking CPU cycles off the core LOMAC's running on.

 

Is there a way to designate one core for a program or does this happen automatically? Can I somehow tell one core to handle LOMAC ONLY and then assign the other processes to the other core?

[GGTharos]

You can do so from the task manager by setting the CPU affinity for a task. It is supposed to happen automatically, but for whatever reasons sometimes it doesn't work correctly.

[S77th-konkussion]

I cannot make such changes in task manager- at least for LOMAC. It apparently does it by itself, because I cannot edit these things whilst the app is running. It runs smoothly, so I'm happy to leave it be.

[Groove]

Is there a way to designate one core for a program or does this happen automatically? Can I somehow tell one core to handle LOMAC ONLY and then assign the other processes to the other core?

 

If you open your Task Manager and change the view to the running tasks, you can rightclick on the program ( lomac.exe for example ) and choose the affinity setting. Unfortunately settings will be deleted when you stop that particular program.

 

There are some tools out there to help you with that.

[EagleEye]

Sorry for the OT...

Just a friendly question Steve: You are new at the forum and I see you are on the Testers Team and your Location is Cambridge (maybe you are on the University of Cambridge?). So what is your special ability for being on the Testers Team?:)

[RedTiger]

@GG and Groove

 

Thanks for the info. I just built this system this past weekend and I am new to multi-core processors.

[Wags]

Sorry for the OT...

Just a friendly question Steve: You are new at the forum and I see you are on the Testers Team and your Location is Cambridge (maybe you are on the University of Cambridge?). So what is your special ability for being on the Testers Team?:)

 

http://www.fjphotography.com/pdf/stevedaviesportfolio2008web.pdf

[Steve Davies]

EE

 

I have been Beta testing for Matt since the first ever LOMAC Beta release (technically, I actually started testing at the Alpha stage):joystick:.

 

I am new to this particular forum, but not to Wags.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[EagleEye]

Ah ok, thanks for your answers. Nice to have a person like you Steve, with your knowledge, here on the forum!:thumbup:

[nemises]

Is there a way to designate one core for a program or does this happen automatically? Can I somehow tell one core to handle LOMAC ONLY and then assign the other processes to the other core?

 

Red tiger,

I use a little freeware utility called PrioAff to do this , as some games / programs will freak out in multi-core systems (IL2 for eg.)

 

As others have said, you can alt-tab out of game and manually change affinity settings each time you run the .exe , however, PrioAff will take care of that for you, all you need to do install prioaff and modify your shortcut to the game .exe which is fully explained by the programmers...