GTX 970 or Radeon RX 480 - DCS lowspec

[Bucic]

references

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/314052-realistic-honest-hardware-requirements-for-dcs/#comment-5102060

Anyone with one of those or similar GPUs? I haven't touched DCS since 1.5 beta so I can't even say if DCS performs correctly on my rig.

I only clock up to 40-50 FPS on LOW   With CPU usage at less than 30% on either of the cores.

Caucasus, F-5E free flight instant action (Caucasus, East of Kutaisi?), external view, ~2000 m altitude, ! FOV ~55 !

GTX 970 model GB GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD REV1_1

intel i3-12100F

16 GB RAM

1920x1080 fullscreen, no vsync, ~100% GPU usage, FPS limit at 60 FPS in Nvidia control panel.

 

GPU specifications

• Core Clock
  Boost: 1354 MHz / Base: 1203 MHz in OC mode
  Boost: 1329 MHz / Base: 1178 MHz in Gaming mode
• Process Technology
  28 nm
• Memory Clock
  7Gbps
• Memory Size
  4 GB
• Memory Type
  GDDR5
• Memory Bus
  256 bit

   

   

  SCRATCHPAD

  I've just tested AA in DCS 2.8 OB on venerable GTX 970. [All DCS AA disabled, nvcpl 8x forced] is more jagged AND slower than [DCS MSAA 4x]. It may well be the case that even [DCS MSAA 2x] looks better.

   

  !!! INVESTIGATE THE UNUSUAL NEGATIVE IMPACT OF FPS LIMIT (10% FPS drop, frame times 100% up)

Edited December 17, 2022 by Bucic

[TheFreshPrince]

I have a 980ti, which is sufficient for high+ settings @1440p with 30-55 FPS. At least here in Germany, the price difference for a used one is only 30-40€ to a 970. So def worth the upgrade. I find this to be in line with the minimum requirements for high settings (they state a 1070, which performs similar to a 980ti).

I've actually started with an onboard CPU graphics chip with absoutely minimum settings and around 20 FPS. It was laggy, but I didn't want to wait for the 980ti. I could still complete some missions and learn to fly, some things were too laggy. But a 970 should be fine with medium settings.

PS: There's no need for 60 FPS, just my opinion. There is no visible difference between 30 or 60 FPS. You will just have it easier, because you won't get FPS drops below 30 like with a lot of smoke or in complex missions/multiplayer.

[Rudel_chw]

3 hours ago, Bucic said:

Anyone with one of those or similar GPUs?

 

 

My previous GPU was a GTX-970 ... it performed decently on DCS 2.5 provided I didn't go overboard with the graphics, but I can't say how it would work with the current 2.8 version. I replaced the GTX-970 with a GTX-1070ti and it performs very well on 2.8, in case you can find a used one it would be a much better fit as it has 8 GB of vram instead of the 2 GB that the 970 had.

 

3 hours ago, Bucic said:

I haven't touched DCS since 1.5 beta so I can't even say if DCS performs correctly on my rig.

 

But DCS is a free download, you can get it on your PC and test it with your current GPU card.

[Bucic]

25 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

But DCS is a free download, you can get it on your PC and test it with your current GPU card.

I'm already ripping through the air in F-5E Just wanted to verify whether this low performance is something normal for a similar hardware.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Bucic

[SkateZilla]

I have a HD7970, on Low I get 25- FPS on the ground, 45+ in the air.

MSAA has to be off, otherwise FPS is cut down by as much as 66%.

[Bucic]

Speaking of MSAA, what could be the most effective AA setup for DCS? Perhaps OFF in DCS and some specific setting in nVcpl?

[Bucic]

I've just tested AA on GTX 970, MSAA 2x in DCS vs only nVcpl override 4x.

MSAA 2x in DCS is only very slightly slower than (5% or less?) but gives far better image quality, especially in-cockpit.

Caveat: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/315023-frame-time-in-cockpit-high-and-regular-with-msaa-enabled/

 

BTW, here's what DCS 2.8 OB looks on my rig as set up for instant action missions at 40+ FPS. The default gamma of 2.2 was obviously far too high so I lowered it.

 

 

[Bucic]

Does anyone have experience on the behaviour of DCS when it bumps off the VRAM limit?

I'm wondering whether it's worth it to pursue tweaks that would increase the max VRAM margin.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/how-much-vram-does-anti-aliasing-use.1942054/

Quote

Cliffnotes:
- FXAA - barely any vram.
- SMAA - about 100 mb in Crysis 3.
- TXAA - about 400 mb.
- MSAA - about 700 mb.

Not sure what level they were using, but still interesting! This is all 1080p

 

[SkateZilla]

it depends on rendering pipe lines, viewports and total resolution.
ie a F-86F Cockpit's MSAA Footprint would be less than, a F-16 or F-18 with MFDs set to 1024x1024, as you'd have multiple rendering viewports using memory.