To sli or not?

[RepoMan]

I was wondering if it's worth running SLI for dcs-a10c for a single monitor at 1920x1080 max settings? I sold my previous build and I'm drawing up specs for something else. My last rig ran the game great in some areas and stuttered in some places. Namely cluster bombs, and some low flying city areas. Where is it best to spend money? How much memory can this game utilize? This time around I would like to configure the game install to a RAM drive.

 

The computer I sold

i5 Ivy Bridge OC @ 4.6GHZ

MSI Lightning 680

16GB 2400MHz

 

Current thoughts for new build. Would an i7 be worth it for this particular game? I can budget maybe 2 660ti's in sli or a single 680 4GB. I don't want to hear one single card is better so I can add another one later. I went that route waiting for a price drop and my card ended up going up in price and became very hard to find to add another. I strictly want to know which is best for running this sim in a single monitor setup.

[cichlidfan]

If all you are going to run is DCS, I don't think I would bother upgrading anything, perhaps an SSD if you don't already have one.

 

SLI probably won't buy you anything at all for DCS and a 4GB card for a single monitor is more than you need (even at 2560x1600). IMHO, of course. ;)

[Sorin]

i7 3770K and one GTX680 2G will be plenty for one monitor at 1920x1080.

It could be even considered overkill... but lots of hardware now will help you in the future.

 

I don't think that loading all DCS in a RAM drive will help FPS. It will help only the initial start.

[RepoMan]

Ok, Like I said in the original post, those specs are the computer I sold. I no longer have it and it was a bit lacking. I'm not sure if it was just the way the sim is with triggered loading or whatever, but with maxed out clutter it wasnt very smooth.

 

I went through the sli thread and it seems most everyone that see's improved performance is using multiple monitors.

[Subliminal-SS]

Full screen enabled you should have been fine on that setup I would have thought, I had a very similar setup with GTX580 instead.

 

Did you try dropping things like the clutter, to see if the frames increased dramatically with any one setting off. Sometimes its best to troubleshoot it if you are gradually dropping and getting little gains then its time for an upgrade, if you get any one big jump. Its time to report it as a gameplay/feature limitation.

 

And also do you use mirrors by any chance.

 

Nothing will render mirrors well not even a GTX Titan, trust me.

 

Personally I had pretty much everything maxed except mirrors and Clutter was at 0, its hideous IMHO. I ran fine even with helios and exported MFDs ext which takes a really large toll.

 

I made the same mistake as you with my 580 I went for the Phantom3 after the buz died it just went out of stock completely with only mainstream manufactuers making them with 1.5gb ram. this time I got a mainsteam GPU to ensure its availability so its overkill now and then when it comes down in price to mainstream market I can pick up another.

[RepoMan]

^ what card are you running? I wish I knew that about the mirrors cause I did have them enabled :-( It was smooth for the most part but now I see where I probably went wrong on my config. I enjoyed the ground clutter so maybe mirror is what killed it.

 

My last build was over kill and when I sold it I couldn't get what it was worth - mainly because I had a custom watercooling setup. I'm trying to keep parts reasonable this time around but don't want to skimp in video. I really have my eye on the evega 680 classified 4gb model. For the price of it though i Could run two 660ti's for a little more. And that's whats bugging me...I don't see any price drop projections for the 670 and 680. 580's are just as much as some 680's.

Edited April 25, 2013 by RepoMan

[Hawk_5]

I think you sold a rig that a lot of people would still consider as something to UPGRADE to, not sell. If you can manage regular upgrades from that kind of spec machine, way to go!

[Subliminal-SS]

^ what card are you running? I wish I knew that about the mirrors cause I did have them enabled :-( It was smooth for the most part but now I see where I probably went wrong on my config. I enjoyed the ground clutter so maybe mirror is what killed it.

 

My last build was over kill and when I sold it I couldn't get what it was worth - mainly because I had a custom watercooling setup. I'm trying to keep parts reasonable this time around but don't want to skimp in video. I really have my eye on the evega 680 classified 4gb model. For the price of it though i Could run two 660ti's for a little more. And that's whats bugging me...I don't see any price drop projections for the 670 and 680. 580's are just as much as some 680's.

 

Mirrors being enabled in something like the A-10C is a big no no. Its good to have it there and all but considering it throws you're rendering to Double the ammount of Items. As in from 3 (Screen, MFD TGP+/or mav) you then have to render 3 More images.

 

Its not as bad in something like F-15C but Still IMHO its needless.

 

I was running a GTX 580 3gb and the mirrors would cost me at the very least about 10-15 FPS. Im now running a GTX Titan and I still leave them off I can still tell that its not as smooth even with them on.

 

Best thing I can say when it comes to selling hardware is always reduce everything to very low and disable bells and whistles like mirrors before selling up. 9/10 in a beta type game as DCS world still kind of is is that one or more of these nice features is not optimized. Like smoke is a FPS killer at the moment when firing P-51 Rockets.

[Subliminal-SS]

Just unlocked all my refresh rate stuff I got setup, Went from 108FPS in a decent Random Generated conflict with a decent amount of clouds to 70 when enabling Mirrors. So that's 38FPS to render some useless displays.

 

Basically things I go through in order of priority when I get a new flight sim.

Find PIP/Mirrors, Off Straight away.

Lock my Vsynch using Nvidia Inspector to Half Refresh Rate

Lock my Refresh Rate to 120Hz

Crank up the Anisotropic Filtering and Anti aliasing

Set my Maximum Pre-rendered Frames to 1

 

This then gives me at steady 60FPS in DCS and it can bounce between 120 and 60 without me noticing a single change in visual smoothness.

 

In something like FSX I do the same but lock the frames to 27FPS because its the only way to stop the bouncing AI when messing around in formations.

 

The best piece of advice I can give is find out what you're system can do with the most demanding scenario you will get on a weekly basis i.e. hit a few Random Generated Scenarios or do the campaign missions if that's what you will be playing. Then Lock you're frames to the lowest value you get. That way you don't notice the difference when 60FPS goes to 30 because there is some MLRS or something. Or you enter a International Airport (FSX/Xplane).

 

This way you don't get that moment when you jump into a game after practicing Free Flight and think what the hell is this jittery mess and its actually just a very good 30FPS but you are used to 60-70.

 

Its nonsense when people say you dont realise anything over 30-40FPS you do, there is a massive difference between playing at 60 and a 120 for example (IMHO anyway) but when locked to 60. You will adjust to it. Only when you hit <20FPS is that it becomes unusable.

[RepoMan]

^ Thank you for the advice! I'm going to go with one card then. I don't have any plans upgrading my monitor unless I go triple. I'm really attached to the monitor I have. The titan is a very nice card...lucky. :thumbup:

 

 

I think you sold a rig that a lot of people would still consider as something to UPGRADE to, not sell. If you can manage regular upgrades from that kind of spec machine, way to go!

 

About selling my rig, I put the money towards something else and now the bug has bit me to play this sim. I see you live in Aus, you guys pay heaps for parts. I used to live in NSW.

[-Rudel-]

In an interview, Wags mentioned DCS doesn't take advantage of SLI. Whether that's true or not I'm unsure yet.

[RepoMan]

^ yes, that's what I have been reading here and there. I'm still looking for a more solid answer. I'm building this rig mainly for dcs a-10c and it would be fun throwing a couple of 660's in a micro-atx build.

[-Rudel-]

Do it anyways...won't hurt anything. :) I have my 580s SLIed. No issues here.

 

I'm pretty sure ED will adapt it in the future.

[RepoMan]

LOL^ I know right. It's a big gamble though. The route of buying two 660's for a game that will only use one of them. Might as well just spend more for a single card. If it was any other game that does offer multi-gpu scaling for single monitor I would do it. I pretty much made up my mind on a 4gb 680 and see what happens with dcs. Right now I have parts picked out either for a mini-itx build or micro atx.

 

I been following the video market lately. I don't see many price reductions when new gen cards come out between last gen top tier cards. The market doesn't make any sense. The titan has already hit the market. There probably won't be another price drop on 6xx until 7xx is released. I'm not so sure the 680 or 670 will get reduced. You can buy a 660 ti that beats a 580 for almost half the price of the 580 for example.

Edited April 28, 2013 by RepoMan

[metalnwood]

If it is for DCS then get the largest single card you can. Don't get two lesser cards SLI'd, you will get less performance.