Jimd0586 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 I'm very new to the game and these forums. I have asked a few questions already and gotten a lot of help. Thank you all. Two questions, and I will make it up to everyone by posting some pictures of a 1/48 F/A-18E I built last year! 1) In Instant Action and other game modes how do you ask the ground crew to load out your bird? I have seen online people at the airstrip and then a menu comes up and shows their bird and they can select their loadout. I couldn't find it in the controls when I searched. Any ideas? 2) Computer Specs: Please spare me the "you need a new computer" stuff unless it's absolutely imperative. I took my old gaming computer from 2013 and made some minor updates to it. The game in cockpit seems to run smooth but an F2 view seems somewhat jumpy. I have most settings to low. I am wondering where my biggest bottleneck is for this game and the best use of money going forward: Windows 10 i5 3570k 12 GB RAM 2 Sata 1 GB HD SSD's GTX 1060 3 GB X56 Hotas Nothing is OC'ed. I know the CPU is old, but a lot of what I read states that while old it isn't that far behind the newer CPUs out there. Additionally, buying a new CPU would require a new Motherboard. The Graphics Card I got on ebay was sold as a 6 GB but came and turned out to be the 3 GB version. I ended up getting $35 back from the seller and considered it fair deal. In hindsight, that was probably not a good idea. I assume that is the biggest bottle neck. I added 4 GB more RAM to the system to get it to 12. I have one slot left. That is probably the easiest and cheapest upgrade but I am not sure how much help it would be. Other than throwing the thing away, (hahha) what is the best upgrade for me? I am going to go on a limb and say graphics card.Thoughts? RAM purchase to get me to 16 GB would be about $27. Thanks. Oh and as promised, my SUPER Hornet! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorianR666 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 1) radio menu -> f8 -> f1. you must be on the ground of course. 2) 12 gb is not much for dcs. i used to run 16 gb and it wasnt enough, and had to upgrade to 32. soon the game will need 64 haha. CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X GPU: AMD RX 580 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 Thanks Dorian. Maybe I should get an 8 GB stick for the 4th slot instead of 4 GB? Put me at 20 GB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzU Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 The key press you're looking for is LALT-Apostrophe (') It will bring down the drop box to change your load. Buzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 The key press you're looking for is LALT-Apostrophe (') It will bring down the drop box to change your load. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittyVCAW-1 Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 A dedicated 3 gig card isn't enough IMO. How full is your SSD? If your drive is beyond 50% capacity That would be my first move, followed up with a minimum 8gig card somewhere down the road. Considering how cheep the RAM upgrade is, throwing $27 at it to potentially get some performance gains isn't the worst idea I've ever heard if cash is tight. Your weathering skills are en pointe. I'm building a 1/72 Hasegawa with a resin cockpit and intakes/nozzles. I must say the small size has made it the most challenging build I've ever attempted. I'm hoping I can get it to look as good as yours. I usually go for a 1/48 kit, this is my 1st 1/72 and might be my last lol Nobody likes me because I'm unsafe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 A dedicated 3 gig card isn't enough IMO. How full is your SSD? If your drive is beyond 50% capacity That would be my first move, followed up with a minimum 8gig card somewhere down the road. Considering how cheep the RAM upgrade is, throwing $27 at it to potentially get some performance gains isn't the worst idea I've ever heard if cash is tight. Your weathering skills are en pointe. I'm building a 1/72 Hasegawa with a resin cockpit and intakes/nozzles. I must say the small size has made it the most challenging build I've ever attempted. I'm hoping I can get it to look as good as yours. I usually go for a 1/48 kit, this is my 1st 1/72 and might be my last lol Thanks for the advice. I agree. I bought the 4 gigs RAM to put me dual channel at 16 GB total and am now looking at a GTX 1070. I think honestly it is the Graphics card holding me back. As for the model building, 1/72 has never been my scale. I prefer 1/32 for WWII aircraft but usually go with 1/48. If you think that's weathering, you should see my F4U Corsair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittyVCAW-1 Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 That's pretty much my setup and I get really nice frame rates with pretty demanding settings. Down low with lots of ground clutter I can drop down to 35FPS minimum, some would call this unplayable. I was flying sims back when they were wire frame models at 6 fps so I find it impossible to complain these days.MY settings aren't maxxed out but they are set pretty high. I think you will be happy with what you have planned. The F4U is my favorite WWII era fighter, that build looks incredible! Thank you for sharing your work I'm very impressed! Nobody likes me because I'm unsafe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 Thanks Jonnie. My issue is I just bought a used 1060 3 GB. So I would ebay it and get the 1070 8 GB but I am slightly worried it may now be CPU bottlenecked. I have an i5 3570k. I just OC'ed it to 4.1 ghz from 3.4 stock. I can go a bit higher. GPU is a cheaper change. If it is actually the CPU causing the bottleneck then I would need a new mother board and CPU as mine is the L1155 socket. That's where I am at now... stuck on where my bottleneck really is now that I have 16 gigs RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor18 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 DCS is mostly GPU hungry. So, if you buy a new/better GPU first, you can use it even in case you find out you will need a bigger investment reg. CPU and new motherboard. So I would definitely start with a GPU upgrade. By the way, did you monitor CPU and GPU and RAM load in Task Manager's Performance tab to see the loads simultaneously? Anything you see there running close to 100% is a choke point, which needs to be upgraded sooner or later unfortunately. But GPU is definintely "never strong enough" for DCS, and I think the 1060 with 3GB is definitely a choke point now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 DCS is mostly GPU hungry. So, if you buy a new/better GPU first, you can use it even in case you find out you will need a bigger investment reg. CPU and new motherboard. So I would definitely start with a GPU upgrade. By the way, did you monitor CPU and GPU and RAM load in Task Manager's Performance tab to see the loads simultaneously? Anything you see there running close to 100% is a choke point, which needs to be upgraded sooner or later unfortunately. But GPU is definintely "never strong enough" for DCS, and I think the 1060 with 3GB is definitely a choke point now. So when I right click "My Computer" it registers 16 GB RAM. So I am pretty sure it is all being used. Task manager still shows it utilized close to full. But sometimes it's misleading. For example, I had Shogun II running and went into task manager with Shogun still running but hidden and the desktop up... it showed memory at about 8 gb but close to 100% use. So that was confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor18 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 OK, but how about GPU and CPU utilisation while running DCS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 OK, but how about GPU and CPU utilisation while running DCS? Ill have to check after work. I'm guessing both are 100%. I have the CPU (3570k) overclocked to 4.1 ghz, I can probably push it to 4.4 if needed. I have a pretty nice aftermarket coolerheatsync/fan on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 OK, but how about GPU and CPU utilisation while running DCS? Checked both last night. At times CPU maxes at 100% but seems to run mostly at like 70%-80%. In game I don't notice slowdowns at all, even at times where CPU utilization peaks at 100%. CPU shows between 12 gigs and seemed to hold at 78%. I recognize many on the forums say if using over 80% RAM then you need more. I have 4 sticks of 4 gig RAM so adding ram would be frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor18 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Yeah, RAM load is redirected I guess to a HDD/SSD swap file, before running out of RAM. Then again, GPU would be first on my list, but with a new one opening up the GPU chokepoint, be prepared to see the other components also begging for replacement unfortunately. I would later consider a second hand 1151 MoBo, an i5 CPU (hyperthreading barely gives much more for gaming) and at least 16 GB of DDR4 RAM if you don't want to give out a fortune for a brand new system. My 2 cents. Good luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimd0586 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 Yeah, RAM load is redirected I guess to a HDD/SSD swap file, before running out of RAM. Then again, GPU would be first on my list, but with a new one opening up the GPU chokepoint, be prepared to see the other components also begging for replacement unfortunately. I would later consider a second hand 1151 MoBo, an i5 CPU (hyperthreading barely gives much more for gaming) and at least 16 GB of DDR4 RAM if you don't want to give out a fortune for a brand new system. My 2 cents. Good luck ! Thanks Razor. I did a lot of reading and my take away from CPUs seems to be that while they have gotten faster since 2012, it hasn't been by the staggering amounts that graphics cards have. Most sites that rate your computer show my i5 3570k as still pretty solid. Now I realize that DCS is a more CPU intensive game... but I think for now I stick with it and my current MOBO. The next step will be a 1070 used. I think I can find a deal on one. From what I understand a 1070 will run DCS well. I don't do VR or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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