PC Sytem Performance

[Caldera]

Hey all,

 

A few notes:

I have limited DCS frame rates to 60 FPS almost from day one playing the game. 

The NVidia card is set up to allow DCS complete control of parameters. 

The FPS numbers come from DCS.

 

I have recently upgraded my monitor.  The old one is a 27 inch 2560x1440 HD and the new one is a 32 inch 3440x1440 curved UWHD.  The new one is capable of 144Hz and 4ms.  It is running in display port mode.  I have a second monitor, it is a 12inch 1920x1080p and runs in HDMI.  I use this monitor for the MFCD's (A-10C). 

 

With my old monitor set up I would max out at 60 FPS bouncing down to the 50 FPS occasionally in the cockpit view.

 

So some weird stuff when I first hooked up the new monitor that I do not understand. 

 

First time In DCS with no changes to anything else, it was max'd at 30 FPS.  Turning everything to low or off it was still at 30 FPS.  Cockpit view or clear sky view it was max'd at 30 FPS.  I changed the refresh rate of the monitor from 60Hz to 144Hz.  Cockpit view was then max'd at 40 FPS bouncing down to 30 FPS occasionally in the cockpit view.  It was max'd at 40 FPS.  I turned on G-Sync.  Now It was max'd at 50Hz bouncing down to the 40 FPS occasionally in the cockpit view. 

 

From there I started turning stuff up in the SYSTEM tab.  I have now gotten to the level that you can see below.  I am still tweaking.  The max frame rate is still 50 FPS.  Nothing so far has degraded the FPS performance.  The monitor is amazing and I love it.

 

It is max'd at 50 FPS.  Why 50 FPS?

 

DCS SYSTEM:

 

 

Task Manager with no DCS:

 

 

Task Manager in DCS on runway hot Caucasus:

 

 

 

My PC specs are in my signature. 

 

Video card is in the low to middle range of performance.  I would be looking to upgrade my video card, but with COVID-19 still lingering the scalpers are operating at full strength.  But it still has some capacity left, typically running at 70-80%.  I would like to improve my FPS however.

 

CPU is in the middle range of performance and not overclocked.   It looks to be just fine if not over kill for DCS.  The utilization spikes occasionally go to almost 20%, otherwise 12-14% is the normal.

 

Memory Usage is also at about 80%.  I am not sure what "Heavy Missions" actually means, but so far so good.  I may want to upgrade to 32GB in the future.

 

Comments or suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance,

Caldera

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by Caldera

[Svsmokey]

The only observation i can make is that DCS runs mostly on 1 core at this time , with audio running on another . So Task Manager will show low utilisation , even when that 1 core is maxed out . 

To decrease the load on that core , i would try lowering the forest visibility to ~ 70-80 % . I have mine set to 70 , and find that just adequate to avoid tree "popup" . This will also decrease the tree shadows computation by 20-30% , and gain you a few frames . You might wish to consider flat shadows as well . If you use TrackIr , shoot for 60 and lock that framerate .

 

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by Svsmokey

[Hiob]

Try the following:

 

Go to the main install\config directory. Find the graphics.lua and edit the line "maxfps = 180" to "maxfps = false".

 

[Caldera]

Hiob,

 

Thanks!

 

I tried that and nothing changed, except it got me to thinking.  I went back into the Saved Games/.../Config/autoexec.cfg file and made / unmade a change.

 

 

I changed this line:

 

options.graphics.maxfps = 60                (I had edited this line to limit FPS to 60 before when using my old monitor)

to

options.graphics.maxfps = 180

 

 

Now I get as high as the low 70's FPS in the cockpit view bouncing down into the 60's to high 50's.  It approaches 100 FPS when viewing only the sky.

 

I am still not clear why it was maxing out at 50 FPS with the previous setting, but clearly DCS has an interaction.  I will goof around with this some more.

 

Caldera

[Hiob]

the options.graphics.maxfps line in the saved games folder is in fact the "right" or recommended way to change the settings for the graphics.lua.

The problem I encountered (same effect - FPS locked to 50) was a little weird. The options.graphics.maxfps was only able to set FPS below 50.

The only ways I found to make it work was, either setting the maxfps directly in the graphics.lua to false or to cap the frames via the nvcp.

The latter actually raised the frames to the set value.

Don't ask me what is going on there, though.

[Caldera]

Hey Guys,

 

So this is interesting and allot more of what I expected.  Below are pictures of the Task Manager after I let the dogs out with the setting of 180 max FPS. The view in DCS was A-10C default cockpit front.  DCS shows the FPS right around 60 (+-5) when I took these pictures.  The NVidia control panel setting FPS is still unrestricted.

 

I know that Task Manager is probably not the best method, but I still can use if for reference bench marking.

 

Task Manager Overall:

 

 

Task Manager Core Utilization:

 

 

 

The video card is hammered and running close to full capacity.  It is running at 94-98% and maybe even temperature limited.

 

The CPU is close to saturation, running around 85%.  The core speed has dropped just a bit and I am guessing the reason is to manage temperature.  Shows all the cores hopping though.  What is up with that?

 

Caldera

 

 

[Svsmokey]

Task manager sampling rate is MUCH slower than cpu core changing rate , which it does to keep temps in check .

[BitMaster]

Your card runs way too hot to have a long life.

 

 

[Hiob]

Mining-Virus?

[Caldera]

Bit,

 

From a quick search for the RTC 2060:

88 degrees

Maximum manufacturers operating temperature for the RTX 2060 is 88 degrees. So 80C is completely normal running in games.

 

I guess the RTX 2060 Super runs even hotter.  What temperature does your video card run at?

 

Caldera

[Caldera]

Hey All,

 

As SVS  above suggested I set my tree draw distance to 70 and this helped a bit. 

 

For the below testing:

• DCS settings at max 180 FPS
• The test view is A-10C static cockpit default front
• I only changed the max FPS setting in the NVidia Control Panel

 

20 FPS:

 

 

 

50 FPS:

 

 

 

100 FPS:

 

 

 

 

I chose around 50 FPS as the go to target for my system.  This is because that at the 100 FPS setting it was making on average 60 FPS, but occasionally dipping to the low 50's.  At the 50 FPS setting the frame rate is just about rock solid at 50 FPS at all times.    I think that 55 FPS might work fairly well also.

 

Did DCS from the very beginning know something that I just found out?     50 FPS hmm...   I am clueless.

 

I did notice the difference in the CPU core utilization curves.  If I look at the shaded areas under the curves then one would suspect that all the cores are more heavily used at the 100 FPS setting,  It is very noticeable.  These curves depict the logical cores so I do not know how that relates exactly to the physical cores.  But it sure looks like the usage goes up across the CPU chip.  Going from 50 to 60 FPS (50 FPS vs 100 FPS settings) the CPU overall utilization goes from 21 to 85%.

 

I am not sure a can buy into the single core DCS utilization theory / opinion / idea as it sure looks like all the cores pick up quite a bit of activity. 

 

Maybe someone can offer an explanation?

 

Caldera

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Caldera
Spelling

[BitMaster]

You are right that the card can get even hotter before it throttles. None the less, the components dont like that much heat forever.

 

I also do know that there is little you can do about it, maybe better venting the case etc.. or switch to DIY WC with GPU included, which is a rather expensive.

 

 

Anyway, not really on topic... just a general reminder.

[Hiob]

14 hours ago, Hiob said:

Mining-Virus?

That wasn't meant entitrely as a joke....

If my system used an unreasonabale amount of resources and gave me those temps, I'd investigate for viruses.

Have you ruled that out yet?

Edited April 27, 2021 by Hiob
typos

[Svsmokey]

You might wish to try turning of hyperthreading in your mb bios . This will lower cpu temps , allowing more headroom and potentially give you a few extra frames .

[Hiob]

5 hours ago, Svsmokey said:

You might wish to try turning of hyperthreading in your mb bios . This will lower cpu temps , allowing more headroom and potentially give you a few extra frames .

Question: hyperthreading = virtualization? 

[The_Nephilim]

5 hours ago, Hiob said:

Question: hyperthreading = virtualization? 

No it is completely different you need to look for "HyperThreading"

[Caldera]

Hey,

 

The first time I ever paid attention to my video card statistics including temperature was in the process of getting my new monitor to work correctly.  As too my video card temperature, the card itself has two fans.  Maybe one runs all the time and one runs to manage temperatures.  I do not know for sure.  I do you that only occasionally do I hear any fan running on my PC.  The case is an Alienware and it is huge.

 

Still interested, what temperatures do your video cards run at?

 

Caldera

[Hiob]

below 70 degrC with stock cooling and a slight overclock (Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC).

 

63-65 degrC without overclocking and FPS capped to 60.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Hiob

[Lurker]

This is maybe a stupid question but have you checked the VSYNC options in your Nvidia Global Settings? Also in your Windows display settings is the monitor recognized properly? 

[Caldera]

Hiob,

 

Thanks!

 

Lurker,

 

Yes and Yes. 

 

Like I said earlier, my video card is at the medium range of performance.  With the scalpers in full force I am not going to pay what they are asking to upgrade.  I am running allot of pixels with the UWHD set up in DCS.

 

And...

 

Well I did it.  I set the video card back to 60 Hz.  I still have the card set to limit the max frame rates to 50 fps.  From what I can tell going from 144 to 60 Hz made zero difference in my frame rates. 

 

Confused as ever...

 

It did lower the strain on the Video Card and the CPU by a small bit.  My eyes are pretty bad, but the slight shimmering effect on the monitor is just about gone.

 

FWIW the game runs very smoothly at 50 fps for me with the settings I have chosen.  There are zero stutters or other graphical oddities.

 

Caldera

[Hiob]

@Caldera

If you're ok now, skip the following, but if you still want to solve the 50 fps issue, I strongly recommend to try the following (if you haven't done it by now):

 

1. Delete all options.graphics - lines in the autoexec.cfg. Best to get rid of the autoexec completely if there is nothing important for in it.

2. As I suggested, go to the main installation/config folder and edit the graphics.lua to maxfps = false.

3. Deactivate V-sync completely in the game AND in the Nvidia Control Panel.

4. Uncap maxfps in the NVCP. Activate G-sync. (You're monitor is g-sync capable?)

(optional for testing) 5. Set g-sync to fullscreen only and activate the g-sync indicator in the display tab.

(optional for testing) 6. Run DCS. In the Menu, when not in fullscreen (alt+return to toggle) the g-sync indicator should not be seen, and your fps should be in the thousands. Close DCS.

7. In the NVCP use the MaxFps option to set to your desired framerate. E.g. 60.

(8. You can turn of the g-sync indicator now, but I like to leave it on, to be sure that I'm in fullscreen because running in a window will cost you a few frames. It's not as bad as it used to be but still measurable.).

9. Game should be running in 60 fps now (unless your GPU can't deliver).

 

Note: This method worked reliable and reproducible for me. I haven't figured out exactly what causes the 50fps-issue. Only thing I'm sure of, is that everytime if you leave it to DCS to manage the maxfps, it will cause problems. If it is only in combination with a certain driver or an g-sync issue or trackir or anything else, I can't say.

Everyone of the above steps is easily undone if it doesn't work for you, so I would give it a try.

(theoretically it shouldn't matter if you set up an options.graphics.maxfps-line in the autoexec like recommended, or edit the graphics.lua directly as I suggested. Somehow the autoexec-way didn't work for me, maybe I did it wrong somehow. Since there is no harm in editing the graphics.lua directly, except for the eventual need to do it again after an update, I did that and it worked well for me.)