Advice with hardware and stutters

[Boomer20]

Hi guys,

 

Last year I went through an upgrade of my computer, upping the RAM to 8gb (from 4) and going to a GTX 950. Things worked nicely on 1.5. Nowadays I am using 2.2 with Normandy and I'm finding myself suffering from the odd stutter, the frame rate is usually between 45-60 with the exception of when the stutters hit. I have noticed that they occur more frequently when I have the object count gets high (obviously) and more so with the asset pack (the bf-109 instant action dogfight mission is a constant stutterfest in fact).

While I haven't looked in depth at performance figures I do see in task manager that I'm always using between 7.6 and 7.9gb of memory.

 

So my question for those that know there hardware. Is my stutter issue to do with lack of RAM and I should invest in more or is it GPU related or a bit of both? I'm not in a position to upgrade my card again but I can easily up the RAM if that can at least make an improvement.

 

Help is appreciated

 

Cheers

Boomer

[Oceandar]

Yes, upgrading RAM to 16 Gb would reduce the stutter, add to that SSD would reduce it more.

For GPU, it depend on your budget. You could always look at DCS system recommendation provided by ED for consideration.

[David OC]

Hi Boomer20,

 

Can you list your full system specs that you have now, CPU etc, so the guys here can then give a good evaluation of what your experiencing and perhaps why.

 

Your 950 is cutting it a little thin now days, the minimum

I would go is a 1060 with 6GB of ram for DCS.

 

DCS is one of those sim in constant development, so it's hard to know and to keep up, especially with 2.xx :(

 

950 vs 1050ti

 

950 vs 1060 6GB

 

.

[BitMaster]

Take the 1060-6GB one over the 950 + 8GB RAM :thumbup:

[Fri13]

Check your motherboard, RAM, CPU and GPU thermal values. As there very well might be more heat generated somewhere that causes some fluctuation for CPU performance.

 

Then as well check your motherboard BIOS that does it allow LLC (Load Line Calibration) adjustment as that can as well cause situations where your game runs great for a minute or two, and then suddenly comes a periodic frame drop and back up.

 

I recommend using Open Hardware Monitor to see the stats of hardware instead Windows or other tools:

 

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

[BitMaster]

Check your motherboard, RAM, CPU and GPU thermal values. As there very well might be more heat generated somewhere that causes some fluctuation for CPU performance.

 

Then as well check your motherboard BIOS that does it allow LLC (Load Line Calibration) adjustment as that can as well cause situations where your game runs great for a minute or two, and then suddenly comes a periodic frame drop and back up.

 

I recommend using Open Hardware Monitor to see the stats of hardware instead Windows or other tools:

 

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

 

^either that or HWinfo from hwinfo.com.

 

LLC will directly UP your generated heat, be cautious with those levels, ONE up at a time, test and measure temps.

 

LLC is usually only needed when you start to OC your rig. Sometimes LLC2-5 is a must ( 1-7 steps or so usually ). But be warned, LLC is a HOT topic

[tiborrr]

I just found out the issue, my DCS 2.2 standalone was stuck with Affinity being set on Core 0 only thus only running single-core.

 

The symptoms were:

- super slow loading times (almost a minute on SSD RAID0 compared to 10-15s)

- intermediate slowdowns from 100fps to 10fps (microstuttering), sometimes freeze down for a second or two.

- slow loading of terrain, immediate microstutter in external view when rotating the view.

- GPU load jumping from 99% down to 20% or even 0% when checked with Afterburner every time microstutter/freeze occur (these are all symptoms of GPU being CPU starved)

 

I don't know if it was my Windows (I recently upgraded from 1603 to Creators Fall W10 1709) or DCS executable. I spend two days infuriated why my 6950X @ 4GHz, 32GB DDR-3200 and GTX Titan X @ 1.95GHz isn't running the game smoothly @4K, despite dropping all the details to minimum. It turns out I can run all maxed out and experience no microstuttering!

 

TL;DR: Check your affinity of the DCS executable, make sure all cores are enabled :)

 

Regards,

Niko

Edited December 13, 2017 by tiborrr

[BitMaster]

yikes ! OMG

[Cibit]

Hi guys,

 

Last year I went through an upgrade of my computer, upping the RAM to 8gb (from 4) and going to a GTX 950. Things worked nicely on 1.5. Nowadays I am using 2.2 with Normandy and I'm finding myself suffering from the odd stutter, the frame rate is usually between 45-60 with the exception of when the stutters hit. I have noticed that they occur more frequently when I have the object count gets high (obviously) and more so with the asset pack (the bf-109 instant action dogfight mission is a constant stutterfest in fact).

While I haven't looked in depth at performance figures I do see in task manager that I'm always using between 7.6 and 7.9gb of memory.

 

So my question for those that know there hardware. Is my stutter issue to do with lack of RAM and I should invest in more or is it GPU related or a bit of both? I'm not in a position to upgrade my card again but I can easily up the RAM if that can at least make an improvement.

 

Help is appreciated

 

Cheers

Boomer

 

Try to reduce the pre load radius I found this helped a lot for my stutters as a quick fix before needing a 2nd mortgage for the crazy RAM prices :)

[Boomer20]

Thanks guys. I will post my specs when i get home from work.

I will try changing the preload radius and see if that helps in the interim.

Given that this week has been 30 degress plus (celsuis) and todays going to be 42 for me AND i was a smart cookie and have my pc in probably the hottest room in the house. Heat could be an issue as well.

As much as id like to up my card im not in a position to do so just yet. I have other life priorities that are more important. Thats why im aiming to meet the ram recommended requirements (technically my card is within the recommended specs but the ram isnt). And gpus from my local pc store arent cheap while ram is haha.

[BeastyBaiter]

I'm surprised RAM would be cheap, it's stupid expensive here in the USA. I recently eBay's some old DDR3 that I bought for $80 a few years back for over $100. It wasn't anything special, just your standard 16GB dual channel kit.

[Boomer20]

Ill try my best with my specs.

 

Intel i7 3770 3.4Ghz CPU

Gigabyte 8gb DDR3 RAM

Nvidia GTX 950 2Gb GPU

Can't give the exact model or dimensions of the monitor other than LG with 1920x1080 resolution.

Saitek X-55 HOTAS

Track IR v5

 

Anything I'm missing?

 

I'm surprised RAM would be cheap, it's stupid expensive here in the USA. I recently eBay's some old DDR3 that I bought for $80 a few years back for over $100. It wasn't anything special, just your standard 16GB dual channel kit.

 

Well I'm planning on buying the same stick of RAM to double my amount and its $80AUD which is considerably cheaper than upping my video card which is on the realm of $300AUD. While it may be better bang for my buck the added complications of getting a new video card mean the RAM is a quicker fix possibly.

[Boomer20]

Update: After reducing preload radius and dropping all the settings to low and still not seeing any improvement, I ran a repair and what do you know, things that use to run somewhat smoothly run smoother and some of my own made missions that didnt run well because of WWII assets now run pretty decently.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, it will come in handy on the long term. :thumbup:

[OldE24]

you dont have enough ram or Vram with that setup for very good performance.