ASUS GTX 660

[orim553]

I want to buy the GTX 660 to my computer and I know it will run to the DCS good?

CPU is I5 3570.

Thanks in advance.

[EtherealN]

Slightly stronger than a 560Ti, so as long as you intend to use one monitor in the simulator it should do very well.

[Erforce]

Yes it should be good for DCS.

do not plan to buy a second 660 "SLI" for DCS though.

I've planned to do that, but bought a 670 instead ;)

Still, Perf/Price is very good for the 660.

[EtherealN]

Still, Perf/Price is very good for the 660.

 

You and I need to stop agreeing with each other. This is unsettling. :D

[Erforce]

Oh, don't feel bad EthernalN :)

Usually 3 pros answer is better than one. (yours count for 2)

I'm mostly agrees with you, but for Liquid cooling :) that's all haha :D

[SkateZilla]

660 will run 1 screen, dont expect to export gauges to a 2nd screen though.

[JaseGill]

As Skate says don't buy 660 and expect more than 1 screen with good performance.

 

In all other games the 660Ti I had was the perfect performance/price point. In DCS it wasn't unfortunately.

 

I was on one for 3 weeks. Luckily the shop allowed me (due to internet order and distance selling rules here in the UK) to pay the extra and get a 670.

I now run mine with that and its 30 + usually with dips in very busy times around 25. Still eminently more playable than a 660Ti I had before though.

If you can push, or wait and save a bit more, for a 670 I would.

J.

[alexbap]

I really don't get this obsession with this top cards and multi monitors setup.

I have a GTX560 (normal, not Ti) with 2GB and 2 monitors, window mode with export gauges setup and have a smooth gameplay with settings near max.

 

The new 660 is at least as good as older 570 and I'm 100% sure it can handle a two monitor setup without any problem. Even a 3GB 660Ti is more than enough to run a triple monitor setup.

[JaseGill]

Alexbap,

I'm not saying I don't believe you as I haven't seen your rig running or your settings.

But, and its a big but I didn't have the same experience on a GTX660Ti 2GB never mind a 570. I went to a 670 2Gb as per my signature to get good (and I mean 30+ all round) frame rates without noticeable stuttering in most circumstances.

 

That is with 2 screens, HELIOS, SoftTH and Track IR. So I'd love to see a FRAPS capture and your settings to see what I'm doing wrong. Windowed I haven't tried but all pointers seem to indicate this is worse than full screen with SoftTH.

Also, do you run with the cockpit showing? Without cockpit I get 70+ FPS but not much use without a fully working home cockpit to make up for the missing click-able controls.

 

It also I'm sure depends on resolution used. I could drop my resolutions I'm sure and get massive frame rates but it wouldn't be at native resolution and look pretty crappy on my displays.

 

I'm also no fan-boy of buying the latest and greatest (if I'd done that with the 670 I have some time ago I'd feel pretty peeved at the price I got it for some short time afterwards) and I don't have a never ending supply of cash to do so. Even if I could I'm not sure I would justify a £600 graphics card anyway just to keep at the leading edge of technology (especially as so far DCS cant use it fully given that its stuck in DX9 at the moment).

 

Like I say I don't doubt your post, I'd just like to know how you do it and the settings/resolutions and how you measure smooth game-play that's all?

J.

Edited November 27, 2012 by JaseGill

[alexbap]

JaseGill, as a FSX fan I learned that the right and balanced ingame and GPU settings gives you much better performance than just upgrade your hardware.

There are settings that give you night and day visual diferences and others thar are almost imperceptible.

I was reading your post about your 660Ti and 670 and if your lower your AA settings from 16x to 4x and your scenes from high to medium you'd save yourself almost 100£ with almost the same visual quality. And unless you play DCS: CA, lowering your clutter/bushes to 100m would also gives you smoother gameplay on low altitude pass which is important on A10 or BS.

Other tune that I get used and save me a real bunch of FPS is to use nvidia inspector and a personal profile for each game. There are some settings that can get you some performance without loss of visual quality and some times evem performance increase.

 

Understand that I'm not saying that a mid range GPU is as good as a topline but 660 is good enough to a dual monitor for sure. As I said I'm using 3286*1080 with a 560Ti 2GB and having above constant 30FPS almost everytime. Night and day, clear and overcast, with or without explosions (but clusters). I don't have everything maxed up but my DCS looks as good as any video that I see on Youtube which is enough for me.

Edited November 27, 2012 by alexbap

[JaseGill]

Alexbap,

Well it seems like you've found your sweet spot with performance. Congratulations.

 

Again though this is all based on personal views though and the 660Ti comments I made were only based on my personal perceptions. My AA had already been dropped to 4x before I bought the 670 so the difference I saw was from a simple swap. I didn't feel the performance was smooth enough with the 660Ti but it is with the 670 and I'm happy with that. Everything else is still at Max and I get the performance I was looking for for the money I was willing to spend. Congratulations to me too ;)

 

You did say though in your 1st post that settings are almost maxed and that you're playing windowed. You didn't mention resolution so it was hard to determine what it was. I guess 3286 x 1080 you're combining the two windowed resolution not quoting a single full screen resolution (which I thought was the general consensus of best performance though I may be wrong). That doesn't match any kind of resolution I can think of though for 2 screens, I guess its a typo?

 

Again though, like you say I guess its what works best for the user in mind and not what works best for other users. I wasn't happy so I upgraded, you are and therefore haven't. I guess in our own two opinions, and that's all that counts when its us who chooses to spend our money and what we spend it on, were both right :)

J.