Possible PC Performance Issue with DCS

Hello Everyone, I recently built a PC 2 weeks ago to play DCS and I have been having some frame rate issues.

My PC: Ryzen 7 3700X; 2070 super 8GB Vram; 2X16GB 3200MHz; 550W PCU; 1TB Samsung NVME SSD

My goal was to play DCS at 1080p, 60FPS, with high settings. However I'm unsure if the PC I bought is actually good enough for those goals. In heavy missions (such as "Combat Mission - Hornet 1989 - Close Air Support") my FPS fluctuates between 80-20 FPS depending on what stage of the mission I'm on. On carrier its about 80-40. On route its about 70-30. Dropping bombs its 50-20FPS.

I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be getting these low of frames. So I ran a test and I need some opinions. There is a screenshot of my settings down below in "Setting.png".

I ran the mission "Instant Action - F-18 - BFM MiG-29 Caucuses"

The fight lasted about 45 seconds.

An image listed "FR.png" shows my hardware's usage throughout the dogfight. Frame-rate is the very last column. The frame-rate during the fight is outlined in red. It fluctuates between 90-60 FPS.

Is this the type of performance I should be seeing with my rig? If so what is my bottle neck? If not, what is the issue?

I've got as per signature (less than you), and thought the same thing. I had to bring preload radius down.

Look forward to seeing other ideas.

How about your GPU usage? Maybe there are some problems with your GPU, such as the driver.

I've got as per signature (less than you), and thought the same thing. I had to bring preload radius down.

 

Look forward to seeing other ideas.

What does preload radius do? I always heard that it was best to set it to max if I was running on an SSD. What performance gains did you see?

On my phone right now. But if this is at 1080p something not quite right here. Im max settings max pre load, view ultra etc. Can hold a locked 60 fps. This is also at 2560 1440. You should be close to this to or easy at 1080p. Re do graphic drivers perhaps.

On my phone right now. But if this is at 1080p something not quite right here. Im max settings max pre load, view ultra etc. Can hold a locked 60 fps. This is also at 2560 1440. You should be close to this to or easy at 1080p. Re do graphic drivers perhaps.

Did you try this mission "Combat Mission - Hornet 1989 - Close Air Support" on the latest 2.5.6?

How about your GPU usage? Maybe there are some problems with your GPU, such as the driver.

GPU usage (GPU.png) is outlined in red below.

Peaks right at the beginning at ~99%, After that highest is ~91% and lowest is ~41%.

Is this normal?

The most common issue I see that new builders overlook are Windows and Nvidia power management settings and XMP memory overclocking profiles.

Both Windows and Nvidia Control Panel need to set to be on "High Performance" and "Prefer Maximum Performance" respectively. They are both set to save power by default for day to day computing that doesn't need the full resources of your computer.

I'm not exactly sure how AMD's XMP profiles work in BIOS but whatever the equivalent is you need to turn it on otherwise buying 3200 MHz RAM was pointless.

"Reducing System Latency: Enable Max Frame Rate and set your power management mode to “Prefer maximum performance” to reduce latency. While in this mode, the GPU is kept at higher frequencies to process frames as quickly as possible. To maximize latency reduction in GPU bound scenarios where FPS is consistent, set Max Frame Rate to a framerate slightly below the average FPS and turn Low Latency Mode to Ultra."

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4958/~/max-frame-rate%3A-cap-frame-rates%2C-save-power%2C-and-more

Those 3 things should get you most of the way. After that make sure your BIOS and drivers are all up to date as mentioned and ensure you have adequate cooling and fan curves to keep the processors from throttling.

Also, assuming you are using TrackIR make sure your framerate is capped at 60fps in NCP otherwise you are just putting out more heat than you need to and will help stabilize frametimes.

Try deleting metashader2 and fxo folder. I had an issue some time ago tweaking the settings and ran into trouble. Deleting the folders helped. You can find them in the saved games folder on C.

My 1% low and frametime graph suck even at low preset and 768p resolution at the start of this mission :megalol:

I doubt if there is a rig that can provide solid 60 FPS at high settings here.

Hi.

Did some testing now.

That mission seems to be very CPU-bottlenecked with lots of units in it.

When I did some testing with the Reverb (that I sold two days ago), I had in that mission quite a few heavy stutters and CPU-frametimes where very high around 20ms with spikes up to 60ms. Eg in the Caucasus-Hornet-freeflight-AI-mission I had about 10ms CPU-frametimes.

On monitor I dont have stutters but fps get below 60fps, like 55-60 with rare dips down to 47. I have set 60 as max-framerate in the Nividia-controlpanel to reduce TrackIR-stutters. My monitor has 1440p.

I did then a short test: Right after starting the metioned mission und hooking up to the catapult, I turn to the island, let the system settle for a few seconds and then look at the fps/frametimes. I did this with default CPU-clock (which is 4,3/4,4/4,5/4,6 for 6/4/2/1 cores active and with an OC of 5 Ghz on all cores. Looking at the default clockspeed, it seems DCS is taking usually 4 cores, sometimes only 2 (when I have 4,5Ghz). See the pics.

Comparing those two settings for the default setting I get 47-54fps and for the OC 50-57fps. So doing simpel math, the OC offer 6% more fps.

Anyway, my conclusion is, that this scenario (which could resemble a MP-misson) is CPU-bottlenecked and a RTX2080Ti in my case would do NOTHING. So my earlier opinion, that DCS is GPU-bottlenecked is wrong. This is only valid for simple missions I guess.

I have also played the mission now and had also dips down to 35fps. Usually I dont have such low fps (had even 100+ higher up without the 60fps-limit) and I guess this is due to the misson. In mission with lesser units I guess, youll be fine.

Having the same issue on that mission as well. It's crippling when playing in VR and the framerate drops into the twenties. Other missions aren't quite as bad.

Hi.

 

Did some testing now.

 

That mission seems to be very CPU-bottlenecked with lots of units in it.

 

When I did some testing with the Reverb (that I sold two days ago), I had in that mission quite a few heavy stutters and CPU-frametimes where very high around 20ms with spikes up to 60ms. Eg in the Caucasus-Hornet-freeflight-AI-mission I had about 10ms CPU-frametimes.

 

On monitor I dont have stutters but fps get below 60fps, like 55-60 with rare dips down to 47. I have set 60 as max-framerate in the Nividia-controlpanel to reduce TrackIR-stutters. My monitor has 1440p.

 

 

I did then a short test: Right after starting the metioned mission und hooking up to the catapult, I turn to the island, let the system settle for a few seconds and then look at the fps/frametimes. I did this with default CPU-clock (which is 4,3/4,4/4,5/4,6 for 6/4/2/1 cores active and with an OC of 5 Ghz on all cores. Looking at the default clockspeed, it seems DCS is taking usually 4 cores, sometimes only 2 (when I have 4,5Ghz). See the pics.

 

 

Comparing those two settings for the default setting I get 47-54fps and for the OC 50-57fps. So doing simpel math, the OC offer 6% more fps.

 

 

Anyway, my conclusion is, that this scenario (which could resemble a MP-misson) is CPU-bottlenecked and a RTX2080Ti in my case would do NOTHING. So my earlier opinion, that DCS is GPU-bottlenecked is wrong. This is only valid for simple missions I guess.

 

 

I have also played the mission now and had also dips down to 35fps. Usually I dont have such low fps (had even 100+ higher up without the 60fps-limit) and I guess this is due to the misson. In mission with lesser units I guess, youll be fine.

Thank you Wali763 for your testing. Im currently thinking of getting rid of my 3700X and replacing it with an I7-9700k (or wait a few months for the next gen Intel I7). Do you think this change would be worth it?

Thank you Wali763 for your testing. Im currently thinking of getting rid of my 3700X and replacing it with an I7-9700k (or wait a few months for the next gen Intel I7). Do you think this change would be worth it?

I checked the fps in that mission again and found some situations, where I have also drops into the twenties. I dont think upgrading to a I7-9700K would change too much for you. I also thought about this (when I read a GamersNexus report about the poor 0,1 percentile of the I5-9600K), but I think it makes no sense, since the 9700K would change very little to nothing in DCS. What little Ryzens have less in singlecore-perf will be perceivable only in rare cases and if one is able to distinguish say 27 to 30fps. Id say, this is just DCS (rupposedly only really using 2 cores) and and this mission especially. Its like a MP-mission with lots of units.

I think, until ED impement real multicore-support this stituation will not change. But once this is implemented Ryzens will rule, if Intel does not bring a really new platform (not the powerhungry 14nm 10xxx-series). Or at least be like most other games really GPU-limited.

Overall this testing helped me quite a bit, since I really was planning to upgrade my GPU to the best of the upcoming Navi2/RTX 3xxx series, when finally a VR headset comes along, that reaches my requirements, like maybe the Reverb G2. But as I see it now, a new RTX3080Ti would give me only good fps in missions with low CPU-requirements and in normal or MP-missions Id be stuck in the same low fps as with my current card because of the current CPU-limitation. In such a case the RTX3080TI would run at 40% usage while my current card would run at 80%. Its like a friend owning a RTX2080Ti on MP-missions often complains having very low fps and only 60-80% usage of this GPU...

So to me right now upgrading to such a new GPU only would make sense if CPU-multicore-support is finally implemented. The only scenario where such an upgrade would make sense now is, if your primarily are playing SP in moderatly demanding missions. But again thinking of the upcoming Supercarrier, I dont see less strain on the CPU coming along.

But coming back to the situation at hand, I think this specific mission is an extreme example and most other missions are much less demanding on the CPU.

If you guys are playing on Open Beta it's well-known now that there are serious perfromance issues with it, especially with frame drops. My rig is far lower than yours (i5 4670K@4.5GHz, GTX 1070, 16GB Ram, 1440p, 75Hz) and I run higher settings than that on stable. I was on open beta and switched back because of the erratic FPS. Not helpful though if you play a lot of multiplayer.

If you guys are playing on Open Beta it's well-known now that there are serious perfromance issues with it, especially with frame drops. My rig is far lower than yours (i5 4670K@4.5GHz, GTX 1070, 16GB Ram, 1440p, 75Hz) and I run higher settings than that on stable. I was on open beta and switched back because of the erratic FPS. Not helpful though if you play a lot of multiplayer.

I chose a bad time to build a pc then with this OB 2.5.6 performance issues. I'll probably switch back to stable.

I chose a bad time to build a pc then with this OB 2.5.6 performance issues. I'll probably switch back to stable.

Pro tip: Just install both, use Open Beta as long as it's running and when it's not: go use your Stable version. You have 1TB SSD. You can download Update Utility from SkateZilla to manage them.

Pro tip: Just install both, use Open Beta as long as it's running and when it's not: go use your Stable version. You have 1TB SSD. You can download Update Utility from SkateZilla to manage them.

I run DCS on Steam. However, I didn't know DCS could do that. Maybe I'll switch over to standalone then.

Also have both installs on the same ssd.

First one (OB) was about ~120GB to download with my modules after a recent Windows-reinstall.

Stable (with the same modules) then only required for some 30 additional GB to download since it copied most of the files over from OB.

Only mistake I made was when copying over the SavedGames-folder from C: I did not create a new folder, so I have now 4 DCS folders on my D:-drive....

Both OB and Stable with the Savedgames-folders have 350GB in total

Clean DCS World install has roughly 80GB fyi.

What does preload radius do? I always heard that it was best to set it to max if I was running on an SSD. What performance gains did you see?

sorry for late reply. AFAIK it is how far out you can see...but maybe its just writing to SSD, not using GPU, either way it heavily impacted mine, even with nvme SSDs.