Upgraded my RTX 2060Super to RTX 3060Ti, but small gain in DCS FPS

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Upgraded my RTX 2060Super to RTX 3060Ti, but small gain in DCS FPS

New drivers, cleaned out old textures directory. Kept same DCS settings 2560X1440 @ 144hz.  May be 10%, at best gain FPS in DCS 2.7.16

Disappointed, but at least nothing broke. May be its my 3 year old HP Z440 with Xeon E-1630v4 3.7 GHZ thats bottlenecking . According to YT game vids, I should be seeing 25%-35% gain in FPS.

Lowest gain in FPS is in AH-64D. Where I really wanted FPS boost, but that has not come about.

New GPU is PNY XLR8 RTX 3060Ti LHR (2.0). 

[LucShep]

That's a bit odd, you should notice a substancial boost in performance.
The Xeon E5-1630v4 is an old HEDT CPU with low cache, kind of equivalent to a stock i7 4770K, so although very outdated it's not really too bad.

How much RAM ?
What's the Power-Supply ?
Can you share a printscreen of your DCS graphical settings (on game options) ?

Edited August 9, 2022 by LucShep

[Hector45]

On 8/8/2022 at 1:23 AM, DmitriKozlowsky said:

Upgraded my RTX 2060Super to RTX 3060Ti, but small gain in DCS FPS

New drivers, cleaned out old textures directory. Kept same DCS settings 2560X1440 @ 144hz.  May be 10%, at best gain FPS in DCS 2.7.16

Disappointed, but at least nothing broke. May be its my 3 year old HP Z440 with Xeon E-1630v4 3.7 GHZ thats bottlenecking . According to YT game vids, I should be seeing 25%-35% gain in FPS.

Lowest gain in FPS is in AH-64D. Where I really wanted FPS boost, but that has not come about.

New GPU is PNY XLR8 RTX 3060Ti LHR (2.0). 

According to PC Builds website thats a 31% CPU bottleneck at 1440p. Are you testing it singleplayer or multiplayer?

Other things to try which have helped me in the past, disable g-sync/g-sync compatible mode and enable vertical sync "fast" in the Nvidia control panel, (disable v-sync in game option).

[NoName73]

You might want check out this detailed comparison video, helped me a lot to balance my DCS settings.

There might be one or two settings that are affecting your overall performance significantly. I tried to dail back in those areas where 1% low dropped the most.

Judging from a far, the Xeon E5-1630 is on par with a i7-4771 (2014) I hab in my old system til recently (according to userbenchmark.com). My 1070Ti (2018) migrated to the new system with an i7-11700K (2021) which inproved performance a lot. It seems my old CPU did not utilze the full potential of the graphics card. Difficult to balance things out given the nature of the DCS engine in its current state.

Edit: userbenchmark.com listed an E5-1630v3; was not aware of the v-designation

 

You might also want to take a look at this video on CPU bottlenecks.

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by NoName73

[DmitriKozlowsky]

On 8/8/2022 at 4:51 AM, LucShep said:

That's a bit odd, you should notice a substancial boost in performance.
The Xeon E5-1630v4 is an old HEDT CPU with low cache, kind of equivalent to a stock i7 4770K, so although very outdated it's not really too bad.

How much RAM ?
What's the Power-Supply ?
Can you share a printscreen of your DCS graphical settings (on game options) ?

 

 

My XEON is wkstation variant of I7-7700 (7th gen). I beleive.  Ram is 64GB , PS is 625W.  GPU utilization during DCS is between 75%-90% with peaks and spikes.

Experimented with Secondary Shadows ON/OFF. No difference in performance or image quality. Not certain what Secondary Shadows do.

[XCNuse]

Secondary shadows are for carrier (Supercarrier?) only at the moment.

As seen in this screengrab the shadows of the deck crew and vehicles etc. Wouldn't cast shadows with that off.

 

 

Honestly though your CPU is holding it back quite a bit, or will be.

Also, if GPU is only from 75-90, that means GPU intensive settings can be raised; as... your FPS is being bound by your CPU.

So what you can do is raise something like MSAA to 2x, as that's going to be ONLY a GPU setting, it shouldn't affect CPU time at all.

 

Beyond that, either a CPU upgrade or the continuous wait on multithreading is all you can do.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Harrier, Mirage, Hornet, Gazelle, UH-1H, BS2, all perform great. My take is that Apache is not optimized yet. Mirage and Harrier are my fastest modules, triple digit FPS 95% of time. In Apache, external view is 120-132 FPS on a given mission. FPS from pilot's seat 60-72 FPS . Slightly slower or slightly faster from CP/G. But I play Apache as pilot. Worst map is Syria, with Cyprus area being slowest. Fastest is Nevada. Georgia is 2nd slowest. English Chanel with winter textures is best performing with , after Nevada, with Apache.

[NoName73]

... settings seem perfectly fine. Probably even a bit on the low side.

Only thing that would make me think is the relatively high resolution. But I guess a 3060Ti should be able to handle that.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Thats native rez of my panel. QHD. 2560X1440 @ 144Hz refresh rate on Asus gaming monitor.

I benchmarked my system with Unigine game engine. 2560X1440 High textures, high shaders. 98-120 FPS.   Medium shaders, medium textures. 128-135 FPS consistent. I could not see any appreciable difference between medium and high setting for shaders and textures. Now when I benched with 2560X1440 Extreme, went down from 48to 62 FPS. Which is OK, but is overkill with DOF and motion blur. Great for DCC with GPU renderer like Redshift or Vray, but non needed for gaming. 4K bench with medium shaders and textures held up with 74-90FPS consistent. Which is great, but I have no plans for panel upgrade. 

[NoName73]

Me again... was curious... VRAM consumption with the Apache much higher than with the old A-10C (I) for example. Given my current settings 9 GB (A-10) vs. 12 GB (AH-64) on the Syria map. Single aircraft, otherwise empty map. Wow.

Just gifted myself a 3080-12 GB and reevaluated my system (the thread in this sub-forum).
I only use one monitor for DCS. 1920*1200@60Hz.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

When I allow it to mine ETH, that 3060Ti GPU usage jumps to 98-100%, and stays there with temp stable at 66C. The 2060Super was averaging 73-75C temp. Lights on 3060Ti are nice purple blue. No strobing red to indicate power issues. Seems system and GPU are OK with each other. I would not be surprised if, in fact, my CPU or ECC 2666 DDR4 ram (4X16gb) are bottlenecking GPU. The MB slot is the correct widest where GPU is plugged into. All power cabling seems OK. Game engine stress tests, no problems, knock on wood. Maxon Cinema Bench ran OK. Vray GPU test ran OK. 3DCoat is running pretty. In hindsight, I think that maybe that RTX2060Super was as fast as 3D would get on this particular rig. HP Z wkstations are renown for build quality and long operating life. Not for their OC abilities.

[LucShep]

15 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

My XEON is wkstation variant of I7-7700 (7th gen). I beleive.  Ram is 64GB , PS is 625W.  GPU utilization during DCS is between 75%-90% with peaks and spikes.

Experimented with Secondary Shadows ON/OFF. No difference in performance or image quality. Not certain what Secondary Shadows do.

Perhaps it has to do with how you're using DCS.

You mention 2560x1440 @ 144Hz (V-Sync OFF).

Your processor is definitely the bottleneck, especially at that refresh (for this sim/game, anyway). 
It should be capable of running the game very capably at 60FPS, but it'll bottleneck at a certain point (70 FPS ~ 80 FPS is my guess).

IMO, getting the game locked at 60FPS is the best idea and I do think that DCS with the screen locked at @60Hz, either with VSYNC ON, or OFF but with variable refresh-rate technique (Freesync or Gsync) are the best things you can do for DCS right from the start (for most people running in single-screen, not just in your specific case). 

So, try 2560x1440 @ 60Hz set in your desktop (create it in Nvidia Control Panel, if it's not there), and either enable Freesync or Gsync in the Control Panel options also in in your monitor (if not done already), or use V-Sync ON (in the game).

Afterwards, and with the game already locked at 60FPS maximum (by 60Hz refresh, and either with VSYNC ON, or OFF with FreeSync or GSync enabled), and merely as suggestion, try the ingame DCS system settings similar to those in the following image:



As side note, I also recommend to try SIMPLEX for DCS 2.7:  https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3317762/

Edited August 10, 2022 by LucShep

[DmitriKozlowsky]

60FPS looks slow on my system, not smooth. I aim for 120FPS. I tried Vsync ON and setting panel at @ 60Hz. No sir! I did not like it. BTW with 3060TI DLSS should be available. 

[markom]

Can your monitor do 120 Hz?

[DmitriKozlowsky]

15 hours ago, LucShep said:

Perhaps it has to do with how you're using DCS.

You mention 2560x1440 @ 144Hz (V-Sync OFF).

Your processor is definitely the bottleneck, especially at that refresh (for this sim/game, anyway). 
It should be capable of running the game very capably at 60FPS, but it'll bottleneck at a certain point (70 FPS ~ 80 FPS is my guess).

IMO, getting the game locked at 60FPS is the best idea and I do think that DCS with the screen locked at @60Hz, either with VSYNC ON, or OFF but with variable refresh-rate technique (Freesync or Gsync) are the best things you can do for DCS right from the start (for most people running in single-screen, not just in your specific case). 

So, try 2560x1440 @ 60Hz set in your desktop (create it in Nvidia Control Panel, if it's not there), and either enable Freesync or Gsync in the Control Panel options also in in your monitor (if not done already), or use V-Sync ON (in the game).

Afterwards, and with the game already locked at 60FPS maximum (by 60Hz refresh, and either with VSYNC ON, or OFF with FreeSync or GSync enabled), and merely as suggestion, try the ingame DCS system settings similar to those in the following image:



As side note, I also recommend to try SIMPLEX for DCS 2.7:  https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3317762/

 

AV-8B, Mirage, BS2, Gazelle all run above 120FPS with dips to 90's. So CPU is not bottlenecking those mods. Maybe bottlenecking Apache. Unrelated, but when I run ETH miner via Norton, 98-100% of GPU is utilized.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

4 hours ago, markom said:

Can your monitor do 120 Hz?

My pane is 2560X1440 @144hz refresh rate.

[LucShep]

11 hours ago, DmitriKozlowsky said:

60FPS looks slow on my system, not smooth. I aim for 120FPS. I tried Vsync ON and setting panel at @ 60Hz. No sir! I did not like it. BTW with 3060TI DLSS should be available. 

Nvidia DLSS is not implemented in DCS.

Wait.... 60FPS looks slow?!? 
And it should be smooth. Are you really sure V-Sync was ON, and FPS were always at 60FPS while DCS was ran?

It's ok to aim at 120FPS (for 120Hz), but you have too high demands for one of the most problematic sims/games in terms of optimizations.
It ain't happening on DCS if you want the game to look any good, not with that system. Not all the time and anywhere, not with Apache, F14 and F16 modules, not on Syria, South-Atlantic, Normandy or The Channel maps, and not in MP. Seriously, I really doubt even a "top" system worth 3x or 4x the budget can do it. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by LucShep

[marcost]

Can your CPU be overclocked and/or does it have a boost function and if it does, is it boosting when using DCS.

Quick search for Xeon E-1630v4 suggests that model may boost to 4ghz?

 

Regards

[DmitriKozlowsky]

7 hours ago, marcost said:

Can your CPU be overclocked and/or does it have a boost function and if it does, is it boosting when using DCS.

Quick search for Xeon E-1630v4 suggests that model may boost to 4ghz?

 

Regards

Turbo boost is ON so CPU does ramp up to near 4.0ghz under CPU load. But that happens with commercial renderers, like RenderMan, Arnold, Vray, Redshift. With or without GPU mode. DCS loads up single thread and stresses GPU. Well it stressed RTX 2060Super. With PNY 3060Ti GPU utlilization is 78-87% with occasional spikes above 90. ETH miner, on other hand uses 98%-100% of GPU. Miner is disabled when DCS is running. I verify that on every DCS session.

8 hours ago, LucShep said:

Nvidia DLSS is not implemented in DCS.

Wait.... 60FPS looks slow?!? 
And it should be smooth. Are you really sure V-Sync was ON, and FPS were always at 60FPS while DCS was ran?

It's ok to aim at 120FPS (for 120Hz), but you have too high demands for one of the most problematic sims/games in terms of optimizations.
It ain't happening on DCS if you want the game to look any good, not with that system. Not all the time and anywhere, not with Apache, F14 and F16 modules, not on Syria, South-Atlantic, Normandy or The Channel maps, and not in MP. Seriously, I really doubt even a "top" system worth 3x or 4x the budget can do it. 

 

60FPS even with syncON is not as smooth as 120FPS I am used to on my rig. Call me spoiled.