What to Upgrade - Help

Hi Guys,

 

So DCS runs amazing but still takes a while to load and graphics cannot run on mid-High to max settings and notice bits of lag. I am considering upgrading RAM or Graphics card (on a budget) but wanted to ask the question to all users with better knowledge than me... what would make the most difference RAM or Graphics card upgrade from current setup ?and secondly will it be worth it or should i wait / save up more and get a new rig ?

 

Alternatively what is a good replacement for RAM "OR" Graphics card (or both) ?

 

Any help or advice would be appreciated :)

 

Current Rig :

Operating System ::: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU ::: Intel® Core i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz, 3193 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

RAM ::: 12.0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (8-8-8-20)

Motherboard ::: Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. G1.Guerrilla (Socket 1366)

Graphics ::: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (NVIDIA) G2420HDBL (1920x1080@60Hz)

Storage ::: 465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (SATA (SSD))

So DCS runs amazing but still takes a while to load and graphics cannot run on mid-High to max settings and notice bits of lag. I am considering upgrading RAM or Graphics card (on a budget) but wanted to ask the question ... what would make the most difference RAM or Graphics card upgrade from current setup ?

 

You have a pretty decent Graphics Card, so I doubt it would be of benefit to upgrade it, as the rest of the system will most likely prevent it from reaching full performance.

 

You can check your system using this utility: https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner ... it will show you on real time, while you fly DCS, how much of your CPU, GPU or memory is your system using, for example this was what I got on my system recently:

 

 

My system as a 4 core CPU with hyperthreading, so it appears as an 8 core system ... DCS makes use of two cores: one for sound, the other for the sim itself. Usually, the core with highest usage will be the sim core (this can change on the course of the game, as Windows can schedule a different core at any moment) .. on this shot it is Core 8, at 84%

 

The GPU (the graphics processor) on the pic is at 82% ... usually it will be at 100% on most systems, as it is very easy to overload the graphics card by running with too high quality parameters .. on my pic, if I enable antialiasing 4x the card would go to 100%, so I run AA at 2x.

 

Finally, the memory used should be compared with how much ram your rig has .. on my case I had at the time 16 GB and when running DCS it was reaching over 14 GB of use ... RAM is a resurce that can never reach 100% as Windows would prevent it by paging memory contents to disk, so on my case 14 GB was clearly too high.

 

I was suffering from stuttering, even tough my fps were over 50 fps ... so I decided to upgrade the memory to 32 GB rather than 16 ... and the stuttering went away. My fps stayed about the same, but the smoothness was remarkable :)

 

So, on my opinion, you would benefit more from a memory increase rathjer than a graphics card replacement.

 

and secondly will it be worth it or should i wait / save up more and get a new rig ?

 

Current Rig :

CPU ::: Intel® Core i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz, 3193 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

RAM ::: 12.0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (8-8-8-20)

Motherboard ::: Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. G1.Guerrilla (Socket 1366)

Graphics ::: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (NVIDIA) G2420HDBL (1920x1080@60Hz)

Storage ::: 465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (SATA (SSD))

That's the problem .. your current system uses older DDR3 memory, and so you would be purchasing an obsolete component that you wont be able to keep for any future PC that you get.

 

If you dont have the budget right now to upgrade both motherboard/cpu/memory then I would suggest trying to purchase another 12 GB of RAM but used rather than new.

 

If you do decide to upgrade the components, then I suggest going with an intel Core i5 9400F or similar, as they have a very good performance/cost ratio and a 20% higher single core performance than an equivalent-price AMD Ryzen 5 2600 ... and note on my signature that I do have an AMD rig :)

 

Best regards

.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Rudel_chw

Amazing thanks for your advice and taking the time time to reply.. I have opted for 32gb DDR4 to swap out the ddr3 completely and not worry about running closed to 16 GB.. ������

Oh and just realised a new motherboard will be required..

Thanks again..

Edited March 29, 2019 by Euan3251

.. I have opted for 32gb DDR4 to swap out the ddr3 completely and not worry about running closed to 16 GB.. ������

Oh and just realised a new motherboard will be required..

 

And a new processor too :(

 

... changing the three components can be expensive, I used to have a system similar to yours, with a Core i7 870 and spent a lot to upgrade mainboard + processor + memory ... so much so that I only could afford 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and only this month have been able to add a further 16 to reach 32 GB.

 

Totally worth it, as I can now fly the F-14 with smoothness, in spite of my mid of the range GPU (a GTX-970 ... that I hope to be able to replace at year end, as the 970 is a bit weak for VR)

 

Cheers!

I up graded ram to 32 gb and a 1070 ti ( from a GeForce GTX 980 Ti )

 

plus ssd and its like night and day getting 65 to 70 fps on all maps and super quick loading times and am still running an i5 core

And a new processor too :(

 

... changing the three components can be expensive, I used to have a system similar to yours, with a Core i7 870 and spent a lot to upgrade mainboard + processor + memory ... so much so that I only could afford 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and only this month have been able to add a further 16 to reach 32 GB.

 

Totally worth it, as I can now fly the F-14 with smoothness, in spite of my mid of the range GPU (a GTX-970 ... that I hope to be able to replace at year end, as the 970 is a bit weak for VR)

 

Cheers!

 

MMMmm i jumped the gun a bit there and didn't realise the CPU is old and won't fit new motherboards :( so had to cancel my order and need to have a rethink.. I might just have to upgrade more DDR3 for now and then bite the bullet and start new rig with all 3 changes but like you say this will be costly !!! It's not until you look at your order history and realise you pc is 9 years old..

 

I will have a look later and see the pricing to know what to do next ! I just love this game so much and would be epic to fly smooth like butter... Thanks again for advise , top man !

 

Just out of curiosity what would you change to (mainboard + processor + memory) now if you would advise ?

Edited March 29, 2019 by Euan3251

I up graded ram to 32 gb and a 1070 ti ( from a GeForce GTX 980 Ti )

 

plus ssd and its like night and day getting 65 to 70 fps on all maps and super quick loading times and am still running an i5 core

 

You are literally living my dream !!

Just out of curiosity what would you change to (mainboard + processor + memory) now if you would advise ?

 

If you can get 2nd hand DDR3 memory at low cost, then adding 12 GB more would most likely give a big increase in the apparent smoothness of the sim ... just open yor pc first, to be sure that you do have 3 memory slots free.

I'm dealing with a similar issue . My upgrade plan has been to put in a 7700k ( the latest and fastest cpu my MB can handle ) .

But my MB can't run memory over 2400mhz , and the 7700k is outrageously expensive , so I'm now thinking of a 9600k and a Z390 MB , which i can get for about the same price as a 7700k . Fortunately , the new MB can run my 16gb 2133 mhz memory until i can afford 32gb of 3000-3200 ghz . All of this with a view to maxing out the Rift's potential with a 2080 (which i'll prolly start with to give ED more time with Vulcan) and (maybe) run a Reverb half-decently in the future .