new GPU

[mr_mojo97]

I'm looking to upgrade from my old HD6950. GTX670 or HD7970 - thing is I've never owned an Nvidia card - always been ATI guy but maybe a change would be welcome and to get rid of the bloody white dots once and for all! Grrrr. 7970 seems slightly cheaper at the moment. Any thoughts?

[TZeer]

AMD 7970 GHz edition is even beating the GTX 680 in some tests. And if the AMD is even cheaper then the 670, I would go for the 7970.

 

If you plan to go multiple cards in the future, I would go with nvidia, due to the fact that crossfire don't work with DCS. But SLI does.

[TZeer]

Forgot something.

 

What resolution are you playing at?

What kinda games?

Are you looking at standard versions or specialized version of the card. Like factory overclocked etc.

 

One card might be very good up to a certain point. Then suddenly when you reach 2560x1440 resolutions the roles might be changed.

[Hamblue]

Nvidia's next GPU is due out in the next few months. You could upgrade to the what will be the hands down fastest or get the 680 then, which should drop in price.

In the mean time they also just released the Titan if you have a thousand bucks laying around.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/nvidia-gtx-titan-announce/

Edited February 19, 2013 by Hamblue

[bn880]

For DCS go with NVIDIA (it's much better bang for buck in DCS). Simple as that. The other game benchmarks don't apply to DCS performance.

[SkateZilla]

GTX Titan will hit you $1100-1500+

[Cedaway]

My 2cts:

- 7950v2 - 3Gb RAM for ATI

- GTX 670 - 2Gb RAM for NVidia

 

I don't think you would see great FPS change with higher card.

[Sorin]

AMD 7970 GHz edition is even beating the GTX 680 in some tests. And if the AMD is even cheaper then the 670, I would go for the 7970.

 

If you plan to go multiple cards in the future, I would go with nvidia, due to the fact that crossfire don't work with DCS. But SLI does.

Any links to support the statement that DCS works with SLI?

[SkateZilla]

Xfire and SLI both work.

 

It's up to AMD to make the Application PROFILE for Xfire to properly scale, which AMD ignores games unless they are Teir 1 Online FPS Games (BF3, MOH, etc etc).

 

Alot of people just run through the XFire Profiles embedded in the driver until they find one that gives decent scaling across available GPUs without problems.

 

Same with SLI.

[Sorin]

Sorry but from what I have read so far both crossfire and sli do not help the frame rate for multi-monitor configurations (where it matters as a single monitor can be easily driven fast).

 

I would love if either multi-GPU solution would work...

[TZeer]

Any links to support the statement that DCS works with SLI?

 

I'm currently running 2x580 in SLI :smilewink:

 

 

Xfire and SLI both work.

 

It's up to AMD to make the Application PROFILE for Xfire to properly scale, which AMD ignores games unless they are Teir 1 Online FPS Games (BF3, MOH, etc etc).

 

Alot of people just run through the XFire Profiles embedded in the driver until they find one that gives decent scaling across available GPUs without problems.

 

Same with SLI.

 

 

I have yet to see anyone with a working x-fire profile. All I have ever seen is people with dual GPU amd cards where only one GPU has been used, or x-fire users where only one card has been in use. If you you can show me someone with a wokring x-fire setup I would really appreciate it. Would like to keep both options open for my next upgrade.

Edited February 20, 2013 by TZeer

[Sorin]

I know that the game will work with SLI, but does it help on multi-monitor? Does it increase the frame rate?

My setup is Nvidia 680 with 4 monitors (one 2560x1600 and three 1920x1200).

[TZeer]

I know that the game will work with SLI, but does it help on multi-monitor? Does it increase the frame rate?

My setup is Nvidia 680 with 4 monitors (one 2560x1600 and three 1920x1200).

 

Hard for me to say. I can only speak for myself. I'm running single monitor 2560x1440. And I get almost double the FPS with 2 cards. As long as the CPU don't bottleneck me.

 

I'm not sure how much VRAM your setup needs. And even if the VRAM is enough I dont know if the bandwidth on the memory is high enough to prevent it being a bottle neck.

[SkateZilla]

I'll look into AMD Profiles.

 

I remember LoMAC took a hit on AMD Cards back in the day.

 

So I'll continue to Bring DCSW to AMD Catalyst Team's attention.

 

Worst case scenerio they ignore my requests, best case they provide a profile, mid case scenerio they tell me how to make a XFire Profile.

 

Till then:

1. In CCC go to Gaming/3D Application Settings.

2. In the Application Profiles drop down box, make sure <<New Application >> is selected.

3. Leave everything as default, but scroll to the bottom and select 'Use AMD Pre-Defined Profile' from the dropdown in the CrossFireX section.

4. In the list off applications that appears , Choose a Game.

5. Scroll back up to the top and hit save.

 

Test, note anything, if test fails or produces crap results (if the engine even launches), move on to next title.

[Sorin]

Hard for me to say. I can only speak for myself. I'm running single monitor 2560x1440. And I get almost double the FPS with 2 cards. As long as the CPU don't bottleneck me.

 

I'm not sure how much VRAM your setup needs. And even if the VRAM is enough I dont know if the bandwidth on the memory is high enough to prevent it being a bottle neck.

 

You have hit the nail in the head, VRAM is the limit, it uses all 2G VRAM all the time. Luckily Windows 8 has much better internals for handling video memory in normal RAM.

Doing 40-50 fps in areas without too many objects and about 30 where is busy. Happy so far.

 

SLI limits the multi-monitor usage (not sure if 2 ports of each card can be used). That is why I may never try it, but thanks for the good info about your SLI.

What kind of frame rates you get?

[SkateZilla]

for XFire, I was told to try setting it to manual and point to the DCSW folder.

[TZeer]

You have hit the nail in the head, VRAM is the limit, it uses all 2G VRAM all the time. Luckily Windows 8 has much better internals for handling video memory in normal RAM.

Doing 40-50 fps in areas without too many objects and about 30 where is busy. Happy so far.

 

SLI limits the multi-monitor usage (not sure if 2 ports of each card can be used). That is why I may never try it, but thanks for the good info about your SLI.

What kind of frame rates you get?

 

Depends. But over Tbilisi with Kuky's high.lua mod I'm getting around ~80FPS

 

Around Novo it can dip down to 50 depending on where I look.

 

I have had a few times in multiplayer missions where we have a few planes ready to take off where I have been down in 30-40. But most of the time I'm at 60FPS stable (vsync on).

 

But those drops are not due to the GPU, it's the CPU and number of objects that is clogging up the system.

 

For more info check out this thread: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=101491

 

If you are already limited by the VRAM, a second card would not help. Since the amount of VRAM would not increase. For SLI, 2GB+2GB is still only 2GB unfortunately.

[SkateZilla]

I'll also hook up a 2nd PSU and XFire my 7870XT (7930) with my 7950 to see if any embedded profiles give decent results.

[Flim]

I bought a 4gb 670 and saw a huge increase running 4 projectors and 1 touch. I can even add a 5th projector now for the aft view in the cube and run 25+ fps... 7680x800. I've seen 2.5-2.7 in mem use, so the 4gb is coming in handy!

[bn880]

I bought a 4gb 670 and saw a huge increase running 4 projectors and 1 touch. I can even add a 5th projector now for the aft view in the cube and run 25+ fps... 7680x800. I've seen 2.5-2.7 in mem use, so the 4gb is coming in handy!

 

What did you upgrade from? AMD?

[Flim]

yes, a 5870x6 2 gb

[bn880]

I had the same experience going from 7970m to 680m (massive FPS gains, 40+% I think). Mobile, but, it should carry across.

 

Edit: Just like some other users here i contacted AMD several times about the super low performance in DCS, no response. (game doesn't sell at the rates of BF3 etc)

[SkateZilla]

7970m was severely crippled IIRC.

[bn880]

Was and is it seems.

[SkateZilla]

i believe the 7970m was actually alower spec chip (prolly a6970 rebadged)