DCS VR Performance Optimization

[Hoirtel]

On 11/20/2024 at 9:24 PM, Ready said:

I updated my hardware with amazing results.

Hardware installation
I kept my PSU, PC Case (Thermaltake Core P3 Open Case without any Fans), SSD's with W10 and DCS and just put them back in. I did not want to reinstall Windows and redo all my applications and settings, which would cost me a couple of weeks. First I made backups of my data and made some screenshot of settings and looked into activating W10, in case this was needed.

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• CPU cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX X870E-E GAMING WIFI 
• Memory: G.Skill 64GB DDR5-6000

New results

A-10 Quick Mission Normandy 'Weapons Practice':

• 90FPS flat. I just see 3 flat lines in the DCS performance overlay. 
• app CPU 1.7 ms
• rdr CPU 5 ms
• app GPU 10.5ms

Steps taken

1. Updated BIOS, cleared the CMOS
2. Updated Chipset drivers
3. Updated GPU drivers
4. Ran Driver Booster to replace some of the drivers. 
5. Cleaned up some of the software, removed stuff I did not need anymore.
6. BIOS
   1. Enabled X3D Turbo Mode (disabled SMT)
   2. Enabled ReSize BAR
   3. Overclocking: Enabled PBO
      1. Positive +200
      2. Curve optimizer -20

Still to do

1. Enable EXPO
2. Increase DCS Visual settings, soo much headroom now.
3. Increase Quad View Foveated Rendering settings to get closer to the native resolution of the Varjo Aero, which is on 39 PPD.
   1. Current parameters
      1. turbo_mode=0
      2. peripheral_multiplier=0.45
      3. focus_multiplier=1.2
      4. horizontal_focus_section=0.29
      5. vertical_focus_section=0.33
      6. smoothen_focus_view_edges=0.2
      7. sharpen_focus_view=0.6 
4. Play with increasing RAM speed, it is back on automatic. Tried some settings, but Windows became unstable and I had to reboot the nasty way. I lost my VoiceAttack user file in the process. So I have to reinstall some shortcuts for my radio controls, scratchpad, video shortcuts, Openkneeboard etc. No biggie, it will cost me a couple of hours to figure it out again. Will add my \AppData\Local folder to my backup regime.
5. Run benchmarking

What did you upgrade from? 

[Ready]

1 hour ago, Hoirtel said:

What did you upgrade from? 

I upgraded from 5800X3D. 

[Ready]

Installed and ran SDI and found a bunch of extra drivers to update.

Thanks @EightyDuce

null

[helios123]

Has anyone tried overclocking the 9800x3d?  what is the difference vs stock?

[Ready]

First benchmark test on my system. Scoring very low, bottom 15%. https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/121035923

Next up: overclocking my 4090. null

[Ready]

GPU overclocking

Check power limit of 90, +145 core, 1.1v available, memory oc +500 and custom fan curve. (thanks @Reed)

All You Need To Know | MSI AFTERBURNER Overclocking & Undervolting Full Walkthrough | MSI

Strange curve at my Volt/Freq editor 

nullnull

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Edited November 24, 2024 by Ready

[Ready]

CPU Overclocking

PBO optimizer ENABLED

+200 

-30

Next: Following the steps in this video 

Link to the details: https://skatterbencher.com/2024/11/06/skatterbencher-82-ryzen-7-9800x3d-overclocked-to-5750-mhz/ 

 

Edited November 24, 2024 by Ready

[EightyDuce]

4 hours ago, Ready said:

GPU overclocking

Check power limit of 90, +145 core, 1.1v available, memory oc +500 and custom fan curve. (thanks @Reed)

All You Need To Know | MSI AFTERBURNER Overclocking & Undervolting Full Walkthrough | MSI

Strange curve at my Volt/Freq editor 

nullnull

null

What are your sustained boost clocks with this setup?

I ended up flattening the curve at 975mV (PL 133% and temp limit 88C) with +1500 on memory. Sustained boost of 2750/12000 pulling max of around 300w. I found that if I let the reigns loose completely I can do 3050/12000 (+200/+1500) at 1.1v (no curve) but at that point I'm pulling close to 500w and it turns into a space heater.

PS. you can probably bump your memory OC from +498 to 1000. I've yet to see a 4090 that can't do that; most can do 1000+ (cooling dependent at that point).

[Ready]

My memory issue turns out to be very slow testing of the RAM. It takes about a minute for the BIOS to post, after which the memory runs at 6000.

 

The following BIOS options still need to be tested for impact on DCS in VR;

1. Comparing the manual overclock via Ryzen Master (see below video) vs enabling PBO (+200 and -40 curve)

2. Enabling or disabling X3D Turbo Mode (which disables SMT)

 

Overclocked my 9800X3D to 5500Mhz using AMD Ryzen Master, following 

 

 

[Ready]

Results of my CapFrameX tests comparing various BIOS / overclock settings on my DCS performance.

Configuration

1. Same case (open case, no case fans). Same SSD's with same OS, same DCS. New CPU, new CPU Cooler, new System board and new Memory.
2. DCS in VR Varjo Aero ppd 39.
3. DCS System settings: see screenshot.
4. Overclock BIOS (version 0606): EXPO ON, PBO +200, Curve Optimizer -40. Rebar ON. + Ryzen Master settings (see screenshot)
5. Overclock GPU (MSI Afterburner: Core Clock +202, Memory Clock +883, Power limit 85%) improves the 1% percentile FPS by 10. 
6. Running on Multiplayer, 132nd Wing server, A-10C, cold and dark parked at Bodo on the Kola Peninsula.
7. OBS recording (using OBS mirror), which consumes about 6-10 fps. (I mostly record my flight so I include this in my benchmarks)

Conclusions

1. 9800X3D with AM5 and DDR5 is a huge step up from my 5800X3D. I can not compare one-to-one through CapFrameX, because my previous tests were taken on our previous MP map (PG, no trees) and I heavily increased the visuals in the DCS settings (including secondary shadows and terrain object shadows default). I know the new map consumes more performance (way more trees and textures) and by looking at previous numbers I estimate the bottom line improvements to be roughly 25+ FPS and 25+ in the 1% lows. 
2. X3D Turbo Mode must be OFF: it has a negative impact on DCS in VR.
3. Core Performance Boost must be OFF: it has a negative impact on DCS in VR.
4. Additional timings from the Ryzen Master and MSI Afterburner work very well and possibly can get some more tweaking.

Further experimentations:

1. FCLK, currently 2100, maybe one or two steps higher.
2. Scalar, now on 5, possible increase to 7 or 10.
3. RAM speed, now at 6000, maybe 6200.
4. nullPushing the GPU higher core clock (250?) and memory clock (1.000) 
5. Test system for stability, fly around large missions in Apache.

 

1. 

Edited November 30, 2024 by Ready

[jnr4817]

On 11/24/2024 at 9:08 AM, Ready said:

GPU overclocking

Check power limit of 90, +145 core, 1.1v available, memory oc +500 and custom fan curve. (thanks @Reed)

All You Need To Know | MSI AFTERBURNER Overclocking & Undervolting Full Walkthrough | MSI

Strange curve at my Volt/Freq editor 

nullnull

null

Anytime 

[Ready]

Process Lasso

Looked into Process Lasso again. Setting CPU affinity for certain cores exclusive to DCS and the rest of the cores to other applications mainly has impact on the 1% lows. Better to keep Process Lasso turned off. 

null

[Bazz_Mulder]

Try to exclude only core 0 and 1 from DCS, keep the rest on default and check again. You should see more fps. 

[Ready]

17 minutes ago, Bazz_Mulder said:

Try to exclude only core 0 and 1 from DCS, keep the rest on default and check again. You should see more fps. 

Thanks, just tried. Both give similar results.

null

[Bazz_Mulder]

That's interesting. So there must be enough CPU headroom now, so even on the busiest first cores, fps was not affected. Thank you for that test.

[Ready]

Further CPU overclocking

I added the following changes

1. BIOS - CPU
   1. Infinity Fabric 2133Mhz
      Edit 3-12-2024 Dialed back the Inifinity Fabric to 2100 due to instability in game.
   2. PBO Curve -40
   3. Scalar 10x
2. Game Mode ON
3. Process Explorer automatically ON, DCS excluded from first two cores
4. MSI Afterburner - GPU
   1. Memory Clock +1.000
   2. Core Clock +150
   3. Fan Power Limit 95
   4. User defined software automatic fan control ON (default curve)

 

 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Ready

[GPatricks]

Amazed at all the settings to play with! I simply set Ryzen Master into manual, then incrementally tried raising the clock rate to 5500. Temps and stability stayed great, so went into BIOS and changed the clock rate to 55, set CPU voltage to 1.235, been purring away beautifully. Is there now a dedicated DCS Benchmark mission with X settings to get a reliable comparison from as in the "other" F16 sim?

[Ready]

Did another run. Seems pretty stable at the moment. 

 

null

 

 

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Edited December 3, 2024 by Ready

[Ready]

35 minutes ago, GPatricks said:

Amazed at all the settings to play with! I simply set Ryzen Master into manual, then incrementally tried raising the clock rate to 5500. Temps and stability stayed great, so went into BIOS and changed the clock rate to 55, set CPU voltage to 1.235, been purring away beautifully. Is there now a dedicated DCS Benchmark mission with X settings to get a reliable comparison from as in the "other" F16 sim?

Well I just did the opposite

I directly went for 5500 and 1.235v and slowly decreased to see where it would become stable. Timings on my Infinity Fabric quickly screw up stability, so there I went down to 2100. 

There is no default benchmark as far as I know. I have been running track files in the past and then used the same file to try various settings. Did that for about 150 tests or something like that. Wish there was a 3DMark file with DCS or something in it.

I now just do the same thing over and over. I recreate the baseline for my usual flying; loading up our Wing's MP server, turn on my apps and go from there. I sometimes just put a plane in a hold over large detailed terrain like Kola. Once I find a good configuration, I only test the increments and compare those. 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Ready

[GPatricks]

Yes, the "other" sim has an actual mission that all you do is enter it on the runway, look around, and see the FPS and FT live. Heavy rain, heavy clouds, etc. In reality all someone would have to do is create something similar with the DCS mission editor I suppose. 

[Ready]

3 hours ago, GPatricks said:

Yes, the "other" sim has an actual mission that all you do is enter it on the runway, look around, and see the FPS and FT live. Heavy rain, heavy clouds, etc. In reality all someone would have to do is create something similar with the DCS mission editor I suppose. 

Yes exactly. I use some of the default missions that comes with the airframes when you buy it, easy for reference. I sometimes also shared track files so others could run it as well and then it is easy to compare the experience. For my tuning I just keep the headset on the desk without moving it. I center the view and then it always is the same. 

The DCS in-game dashboard also shows FPS and FTs and I am also running the OpenXR Toolkit and run an overlay to display these settings. What I like about the overlay is that it is fixed to your POV. The DCS in-game dashboard stays fixed in one place, which is less easy to use when looking around. 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Ready

[Bazz_Mulder]

Check out Plazma torture mission. It can saturate main thread nicely 

 

[GPatricks]

12 hours ago, Bazz_Mulder said:

Check out Plazma torture mission. It can saturate main thread nicely

 

Thanks, I will give it a look. I know @Ready has to use certain tools so he can work with videos, etc but I prefer to not run OXRTK as it won't work with my (MBuccia) Varjo Foveated API (and it's dead-ware and will no longer be updated or supported). I did like it a lot when I had a G2 though! I'll try and run your test mission in VR and 2D, see what I get..

Edit: That video was for DCS 2.7 and the attachment for maps is no longer valid... but if someone did the same with 2.9x it would be great. I am not fluent with the Mission generator.

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by GPatricks

[Bazz_Mulder]

plazma_torture_map_2022_flanker.miz

Here's the default mission file.

[EightyDuce]

On 12/2/2024 at 4:04 PM, Ready said:

Further CPU overclocking

I added the following changes

1. BIOS - CPU
   1. Infinity Fabric 2133Mhz
      Edit 3-12-2024 Dialed back the Inifinity Fabric to 2100 due to instability in game.
   2. PBO Curve -40
   3. Scalar 10x

 

 

For your infinity fabric, what's your SOC voltage at when you tested stability? Higher SOCv can cause IF instability. Most chips should be able to do 2133 no problem; voltage above 1.2v SOC can make IF unstable.

SOC voltage is mostly used to stabilize higher memory speed; rule of thumb if you can do 6200 on 1.2v SOC there's a good chance you can do 6400 at 1.3v or less. If you can't do 6400 at 1.3v then just focus of getting 6200 stable at lowest SOC, it will effect your idle power consumption. 

Mine won't do 2167 IF at 1.25v SOC but it will run all day ycruncher stable at 1.2v. Worth a shot if you want to min/max. Like i said, unless you have a potato of a CPU you should be able to do 2133 IF no problem. 

Edited December 4, 2024 by EightyDuce