How does video memory affect DCS A-10C?

[MaceUK]

Going from a GTX570 1.2Gb to a GTX660 2Gb (RMA replacement), how does increased video RAM affect A-10C? Currently I have the the MFCD's set to the lowest res and would like to increase them, thoughts on that? Hopefully, I will see some differences :)

[AMVI_Rider]

To give you a straight answer you will be able to use 512x512 MFCD with 2GB of Video RAM, but you should have been with 1.2Gb too (unless you were using too high settings).

 

 

 

Roughly video memory needed depends on resolution of display and texture/AA type and level. Also the memory bandwidth of the GPU should be taken into account for performance matters.

 

I suggest you tu use nVidia Inspector or GPUz to take a look at the GPU and Video Memory usage during flight. Adjust you settings to keep the memory usage less than 90% of the available.

You need to reduce (eliminate) data swapping from system memory to video memory.

 

Once did the video memory tuning, try to keep the GPU running at comfort level and spare some processing power to compensate higher load situations (i.e. fumes, explosions, high object densities, ...). High FPS are useless if you experience lag / stuttering during attack.

I found the Adaptive V-Sync feature of nVidia drivers very useful.

[MaceUK]

Great, thanks, ill check that out :)

[leafer]

To give you a straight answer you will be able to use 512x512 MFCD with 2GB of Video RAM, but you should have been with 1.2Gb too (unless you were using too high settings).

 

 

 

Roughly video memory needed depends on resolution of display and texture/AA type and level. Also the memory bandwidth of the GPU should be taken into account for performance matters.

 

I suggest you tu use nVidia Inspector or GPUz to take a look at the GPU and Video Memory usage during flight. Adjust you settings to keep the memory usage less than 90% of the available.

You need to reduce (eliminate) data swapping from system memory to video memory.

 

Once did the video memory tuning, try to keep the GPU running at comfort level and spare some processing power to compensate higher load situations (i.e. fumes, explosions, high object densities, ...). High FPS are useless if you experience lag / stuttering during attack.

I found the Adaptive V-Sync feature of nVidia drivers very useful.

 

How do you do that?

[AMVI_Rider]

A quick and dirty way to detect VRAM swapping for signle-GPU cards is low FPS with low GPU usage. I usually test this situation by:

 

1. check the inflight VRAM usage, if it's near to the amount availble on the card then you might have swapping issue. Try flying low over densed areas / airports and by adding some units.

2. disable any GPU-saving feature (i.e. vsync, adaptive vsync, power throttling)

3. if your GPU usage stays low without any apparent reason then it's likely a VRAM issue

4. lower your texture settings (that's the most impacting setting) and try again ... if you see a noticeable GPU usage increase it's confirmed

 

Once you confirmed to have VRAM size issue you need to detect how much is exceeding the "optimum". This is done by playng with settings (most hungry on top):

 

A. Texture

B. AA

C. HDR

(D. View distance / scenery)

 

Lowering the texture detail always works (if it's a VRAM size issue) but if you just are a little above you can try diabling the HDR and/or lowering the AA that impacts video buffers (and GPU too).

 

On point D I have no relevant data, but usually is not that hungry. Just try and measure to fine tune the settings.

 

Considering only the VRAM requirement, 2 GB are always enough with a single monitor setup. With 1 Gb you have to play with settings.

On a complex high-res multimonitor setup 2GB may be enough (see my specs), 3/4 GB would be better but you also need a top end GPU to process that much data.

[Profet]

On a complex high-res multimonitor setup 2GB may be enough (see my specs), 3/4 GB would be better but you also need a top end GPU to process that much data.

 

 

Like the new Titans? I´d love to have one of those.