Potential Hardware issue... Need guru

[bladewalker]

Hi all. I'm need some input / help as to why my system takes so long to load DCS. I have been away from DCS for close on a year, and never before remembered it taking so long.

 

My system is as following... Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, GeForce GTX 980 4GB DDR5, INTEL i7 4790K @4.0 GHz, 16GB DDR3

 

After I start my PC, it takes 02m26 to launch DCS from the time I double click the icon until the main page. If I then shut it down and re-start the game, it only takes 18secs to start.

 

The worst is loading a flight for the first time after starting DCS. I take Instant Action / F/A-18C / Persian Gulf / Free flight...... That flight takes 12m25 to load. When I unpause there are no performance issues.... its smooth and responsive. If I exit the flight and reload the same situation without shutting down DCS, It only takes 26secs to start the flight.

 

I have my Windows on a 250MB SSD, and everything else including DCS on and old 1TB HDD. That drive is approx 85% full. Could this be the problem? could I expect a major improvement on loading speeds if I move my DCS to a 500MB SSD? Is my HDD on its way out?

 

 

Any input would be appreciated

 

 

BW

[BIGNEWY]

Hi bladewalker

 

First load of DCS usually takes a little longer, it has some checks to do and load shaders.

 

You may find your pagefile is set to low and adjusting it may help.

 

Putting DCS on a SSD will help also but not essential.

[bladewalker]

Hi bladewalker

 

First load of DCS usually takes a little longer, it has some checks to do and load shaders.

 

Ok rog that, but doesn't 12.5 minutes sound a little excessive? that's more than half a sitcom :megalol:

 

You may find your pagefile is set to low and adjusting it may help.

Could you explain what that is and how I could check it?

 

Thank you

[Sergeant_Hamlet]

Could you explain what that is and how I could check it?

 

Here you go man: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-manage-virtual-memory-pagefile-windows-10,36929.html

[Eldur]

If you don't know what a pagefile is, it's probably way too big anyway. Set it to a fixed size on a fast drive so your physical memory and it will add up to 32GB (make it 16384MB in your case), which should be enough.

 

 

Moving DCS to an SSD would be a good step to improve loading performance (including loading stuff while the sim is already running).

[panton41]

I'll bet money it's the fact you have it on an old, slow spinning rust hard drive. Though 12 minutes is excessive. Once you'd loaded the game and module either Windows or DCS (or both) keeps parts memory resident so they load faster next time.

 

Honestly, seeing how inexpensive drives are these days, I'd upgrade both the HDD and SDD. You could more than double both drives for just over $100 total, especially if you watch for sales.

[panton41]

If you don't know what a pagefile is, it's probably way too big anyway. Set it to a fixed size on a fast drive so your physical memory and it will add up to 32GB (make it 16384MB in your case), which should be enough.

 

No, don't touch the page file, set it to automatic and just let Windows handle it. What you said was true 20 years ago, but not so much today. Microsoft knows more than you ever will about the needs of Windows and how it uses the pagefile.

[BitMaster]

I'll bet money it's the fact you have it on an old, slow spinning rust hard drive. Though 12 minutes is excessive. Once you'd loaded the game and module either Windows or DCS (or both) keeps parts memory resident so they load faster next time.

 

Honestly, seeing how inexpensive drives are these days, I'd upgrade both the HDD and SDD. You could more than double both drives for just over $100 total, especially if you watch for sales.

 

Read the OP :music_whistling: Yes, an old 1TB HDD

 

 

Bladewalker,

 

you have 1 serious issue and also a pending one, your aging Win7 HP that has an EOL January 2020. You need to upgrade to 10 one or the other way. Once you are at 10, you can also use more than 16GB RAM, like 32GB, which is recommended for heavy missions and MP.

 

No doubt, 85% is borderline full and the fuller it gets the slower it becomes. 12 minutes sounds ok to me given what you have, slooow disk, medium RAM...there you have your answer.

 

Get a 500GB ( not MB ) 2.5" SSD and you have that covered.

Then upgrade to 10 Pro. You have a good chance to get it still for free. If not, I bought my last one on ebay for 3,67€ and it works, bought Office2019 Pro for 16€..and it works...and bought a SRV2016 for 16 as well...all work. No need to buy expensive...and it's all legal.

[hansangb]

Read the OP :music_whistling: Yes, an old 1TB HDD

 

 

Bladewalker,

 

you have 1 serious issue and also a pending one, your aging Win7 HP that has an EOL January 2020. You need to upgrade to 10 one or the other way. Once you are at 10, you can also use more than 16GB RAM, like 32GB, which is recommended for heavy missions and MP.

 

No doubt, 85% is borderline full and the fuller it gets the slower it becomes. 12 minutes sounds ok to me given what you have, slooow disk, medium RAM...there you have your answer.

 

Get a 500GB ( not MB ) 2.5" SSD and you have that covered.

Then upgrade to 10 Pro. You have a good chance to get it still for free. If not, I bought my last one on ebay for 3,67€ and it works, bought Office2019 Pro for 16€..and it works...and bought a SRV2016 for 16 as well...all work. No need to buy expensive...and it's all legal.

 

 

And while you wait to upgrade to a bigger SSD, a few questions . how much space is left on the 250GB SSD? Is Windows installed on it, or is it installed on the 1TB HD? I'm guessing the latter. Is DCS installed on the SSD or the 1 TB HD?

 

Either way, you may have a pagefile on the HD. And it's probably swapping using that page file. The earlier link (I'm assuming) will show you how to change the location of the pagefile. I would keep it at auto and let Windows manage it. But make sure Windows and DCS is on the SSD, along with the pagefile. It's a tight fit, but you should be able to.

 

Finally, exempt the DCS program folder and the SAVED GAMES folder. The program folder should be under "Program Files\Eagle Dynamics" And the SAVED GAMES should be under c:\users\Your_User_Name\SAVED GAMES.

 

I think in Win7, it may be something other than "c:\users" I can't remember. But it should be easy enough to find.

 

And Win7 is dangerously too old. Google for how you can still get a free win10 upgrade from Win7.

Edited July 24, 2019 by hansangb

[bladewalker]

Get a 500GB ( not MB ) 2.5" SSD and you have that covered.

Then upgrade to 10 Pro. You have a good chance to get it still for free. If not, I bought my last one on ebay for 3,67€ and it works, bought Office2019 Pro for 16€..and it works...and bought a SRV2016 for 16 as well...all work. No need to buy expensive...and it's all legal.

 

I was dreading this inevitable eventuality :cry:

 

What is an acceptable R/W rate when I purchase a new SSD? I see there is quite a range, and obviously that impacts on price.

 

 

 

And while you wait to upgrade to a bigger SSD, a few questions . how much space is left on the 250GB SSD? Is Windows installed on it, or is it installed on the 1TB HD? I'm guessing the latter. Is DCS installed on the SSD or the 1 TB HD?

 

Either way, you may have a pagefile on the HD. And it's probably swapping using that page file. The earlier link (I'm assuming) will show you how to change the location of the pagefile. I would keep it at auto and let Windows manage it. But make sure Windows and DCS is on the SSD, along with the pagefile. It's a tight fit, but you should be able to.

 

Finally, exempt the DCS program folder and the SAVED GAMES folder. The program folder should be under "Program Files\Eagle Dynamics" And the SAVED GAMES should be under c:\users\Your_User_Name\SAVED GAMES.

 

See pic to see what my page file settings are.

 

Windows and a couple of other programs are on the 250GB SSD ©. DCS is on the 1TB HDD (D). the SSD is 75% full, with 59GB free. I see my DCS folder is about 200GB.

 

What do you mean by this? exempt the DCS program folder and the SAVED GAMES folder

 

BW

[BitMaster]

R/W rate for a 2.5"SSD should be around 560/500MB/sec Read/Write and about 90-100k IOPS.

 

With "exempt" he means to EXCLUDE those folders from ON-ACCESS scanning by your AV Scanner, whichever you use. This may have an impact depending on what scanner you use.

On my end, I use Avira Pro at the moment, it does not interfere so I have mine not excluded, but it may be wise to do anyway, just in case...maybe later today..haha

 

A good SSD is Samsung 860 Evo or Pro, Crucial MX500.

 

I would not buy a QLC ( quad level cell ) for gaming. The more levels, the slower the disk will get when stressed heavily. TLC ( tripple level cell ) is somewhat of a compromise we take as a SLC ( single level cell and ULTRA fast in IOPS and sustained heavy loads ) is like a ten-fold higher in price ( for servers mainly.

 

I just quoted 3 SSD's for a Dell Server...the cheapest Sata based ones with 480GB and MLC ( Multi levelcell, 2 or 3 that is , I hope ) are around 600€ w/o tax per piece. Now imagine SLC drives...OLA !

[hansangb]

I was dreading this inevitable eventuality :cry:

 

What is an acceptable R/W rate when I purchase a new SSD? I see there is quite a range, and obviously that impacts on price.

 

 

See pic to see what my page file settings are.

 

Windows and a couple of other programs are on the 250GB SSD ©. DCS is on the 1TB HDD (D). the SSD is 75% full, with 59GB free. I see my DCS folder is about 200GB.

 

What do you mean by this? exempt the DCS program folder and the SAVED GAMES folder

 

BW

 

 

I know people like to bash Win10 but honestly, I think it's better than Win7. And win7 was great!

 

What I mean is you should tell you anti-virus program to *not* scan those folders used by DCS.

[OG84]

If you have a mainboard with M.2 slots, then you can get a M.2 SSD. That will increase read speed by factor 7 compared to "old" ssd drives and 70 times faster than your hdd.

They are almost the size of an usb stick and you just plug them directly into the mainboard.

E.g. samsung 970 evo plus 500GB is 89coins where i live. Then you get 3.5GB per sec readspeed.

 

So if there are no other limiting factors loading a mission should take about 10 seconds.

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G960F mit Tapatalk

Edited August 1, 2019 by OG84

[BitMaster]

If you have a mainboard with M.2 slots, then you can get a M.2 SSD. That will increase read speed by factor 7 compared to "old" ssd drives and 70 times faster than your hdd.

They are almost the size of an usb stick and you just plug them directly into the mainboard.

E.g. samsung 970 evo plus 500GB is 89coins where i live. Then you get 3.5GB per sec readspeed.

 

So if there are no other limiting factors loading a mission should take about 10 seconds.

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G960F mit Tapatalk

 

He's running a Z97 or H97 chipset, looking at his CPU.

 

Those only have2x PCIe for M2-NVMe.

 

So, no, NVMe 970 Evo Plus is no option for him UNLESS he plans to upgrade sooner than later as than, he can plug it in a x4 M2 socket and get the full speed.

[bladewalker]

Hi guys. thanks very much for all the suggestions.

 

At this stage, I'm just going to upgrade to SSD's, Windows 10, and double my RAM to 32GB.

 

Just one question though...........

 

With those changes listed above, will I need to De-activate my modules, and re-activate them after the upgrade? I do want to do a fresh install of DCS.

 

Thanks in advance

 

BW

[BitMaster]

Hi guys. thanks very much for all the suggestions.

 

At this stage, I'm just going to upgrade to SSD's, Windows 10, and double my RAM to 32GB.

 

Just one question though...........

 

With those changes listed above, will I need to De-activate my modules, and re-activate them after the upgrade? I do want to do a fresh install of DCS.

 

Thanks in advance

 

BW

 

yes, deactivate 1st.