What will it take?

[DeltaMike]

Lots of exciting news in the GPU world these days.  The 4000 series from NVIDIA is on the way and Intel is throwing its hat into the ring.  Question is, will it be enough?  What will it take?

Let's start with the premise that the Varjo XR-3 is where we want to go with this.   The central resolution of your iPhone display, and the field of view of your Pimax.  Each accomplished with its own display; so in other words, using a combination between optics and eye tracking, there's a tiny "retina" display that follows your eyeballs around.  Your peripheral vision is treated to a 2880x2720 display, a bit higher resolution than your G2's central "sweet spot."  

Let's look at the total number of pixels displayed (see chart below).  Keeping in mind that AMD's flagship GPU can just barely keep up with the G2, what kind of performance improvement must we demand of the next gen GPU's?  

If all you really want is a Pimax 8K, you need a 77% improvement over the AMD GPU.  Probably not a bridge too far for NVIDIA; I imagine the 3090 is close and perhaps the 4000 series GPU's will get you there.

For the Varjo?  We need the new generation of GPU's to be almost two and a half times as fast and powerful as today's flagship GPU's.  Odds of that happening?

Those of us old enough to remember SLI, or who have built multi-GPU rigs for mining, think we know the answer.  We don't ask much of our GPU's.  They are just big dumb idiots to us (extremely fast idiots, fortunately -- especially to those of us who keep winding up with AMD GPU's).   Why look for a Sumo wrestler when two linebackers will do, right? 

Interesting article about where NVIDIA (and AMD as well, I believe) are going with this.  Note how the "broadcasting" technology might appeal to applications like DCS that are wrangling a lot of objects at once.  

I keep meaning to download a copy of XPlane to see what, if anything Vulcan has done for it. Not much, I hear.  The "SLI of the future" sounds a lot more interesting to me.    I'll believe the "it's just a few lines of code" thing when I see the results, but still.  Exciting stuff imo.  

[The_Nephilim]

I had a thread similar to this and was told it is just not about pushing pixels.. If a 3090 is not enough for a Varjo and you need basically a 150% Improvement I hear the 4xxx series is gonna be very fast so I guess we can wait until they come out and get some real world numbers.. I do not remember where the thread ended up but like on DCS I can get to 40% res and in say another game I can get 70% resolution it really comes down to how efficient the game can di what it needs to do not just push pixels..

 

But according to the google serach I just did my 1070 should push 4K res. but I just checked my OpenXR Graphic rez and it was 1992x1948 which is near the 2160 but in the G2 and I think other headsets we need to include the rez for the warping it must do but I dont see how that adds pixels to the mix.

So total pixels in my headset with a 1070 are 7,760,832 with DCS I can get a little more depending on mission I am playing or even the game I play.. 

Does the Varjo do something similar with the optics and the display resolution like with the G2?

  I would imagine some games would work better then others for many reasons. heck I am unsure but I am thinking maybe the market will just push me out  because of new pricing or there will just be so many wanting to buy the market may do another scalper issues and drive prices even further then they are now.. 

 

So how does your 6900XT run the G2 in DCS what res do you run? I have a 1070 and can get to 40% res in OpenXR with mostly low settings altho I have textures and shadows on medium..

Edited April 11, 2022 by The_Nephilim

[ignition22]

Shadows are one of the biggest frame killers in DCS. Imo you would be crazy to have them anywhere above flat with a 1070. My 6800xt runs my G2 using OpenXR pretty well at 80% with most settings high (except for shadows).

It will be many many years before we have gfx cards that are 2.5x more powerful then a 3090. Those kind of gains will come through software solutions long before they will come through pure processing performance increases. 

[The_Nephilim]

20 minutes ago, ignition22 said:

Shadows are one of the biggest frame killers in DCS. Imo you would be crazy to have them anywhere above flat with a 1070. My 6800xt runs my G2 using OpenXR pretty well at 80% with most settings high (except for shadows).

It will be many many years before we have gfx cards that are 2.5x more powerful then a 3090. Those kind of gains will come through software solutions long before they will come through pure processing performance increases. 

Well it works for me but I usually been running low shadows flat sucks, I only notice a few fps drop when going medium.... Depends on what FPS you can live with. I am down to about 33-40fps sometimes goes to 45fps so it is not all bad. with OpenXR I was able to increase the rez and have a lower FPS that was acceptable.. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by The_Nephilim

[Supmua]

Shadows and textures actually tax my CPU frametime more, so I’m afraid 4090 might not be enough.  We also need better CPU utilization and may be CPU with more powerful single core performance if the game engine stays the same.

[The_Nephilim]

Well isn't Vulkan coming 3rd quarter 2022? yes I dont think it is all in the GPU mostly cpu for alot of things hence why I am able to run medium shadows and high textures. and it looks and is really pretty smooth..

[Supmua]

Big CPU taxing factors I found are typically shadows, textures, number of objects placed, scripts. Almost everything else affect GPU more.

With the Apache, I have to lower my shadows and textures setting else no chance for 45 fps. Even then flying over congested areas it would still dip below but the experience is still smooth and pleasant if run via OpenXR (Varjo Aero, YMMV), via SteamVR it is quite rough. 

[DeltaMike]

38 minutes ago, Supmua said:

Big CPU taxing factors I found are typically shadows, textures, number of objects placed, scripts. Almost everything else affect GPU more.

 

Agree.  

We could all use CPU level efficiencies.  But, we already have a potential dual-CPU option -- running SP missions on a separate server.  Hoping ED will consider supporting dual GPU setups when NVIDIA and/or AMD step up to the plate.