Wanting to make some upgrades. Thoughts?

[AegisFX]

I've been away from DCS for a number of years as I waited for the Hornet to finally release and get to a point that would be more fun to play, and less "bug/issue hunt".

 

I have had a somewhat decent rig, but I know I'll need a bit more to have the experience I'm looking for.

 

Right now, I have:

 

Ryzen 7 2700 @ 3.2GHz

8 GB of Ddr4 RAM @ 3000

I also have a GTX 1660 TI @ 6gb

 

The other potential area for me to improve is either making sure I'm on an SSD, or an NVME SSD.

 

I know DCS has always been CPU intensive. And I know 8higs of ram might work for CSGO but not this..

 

But..can my rig handle a good vr headset like the reverb without touching the graphics card?

[Svsmokey]

Sorry to say that card won't handle the Reverb . But it would prolly run a Rift S at lower graphics settings .

Edited January 25, 2020 by Svsmokey

[Sn8ke_iis]

What's your budget?

 

A Reverb will take all the money you can throw at it. It will run best on a 9900K or 3900X with a 2080 Ti.

 

For VR, video memory bandwidth is very helpful so a 2070/2080 Super would be my minimum recommendation.

 

 

That was one of the few benchmarks I was able to find that wasn't trying to sell you something and compared different GPUs. It won't be the same framerates with a Reverb but it gives you an idea of the performance hierarchy. I would also speculate that he was hitting CPU bottlenecks on his gaming benchmarks.

 

For RAM you can get away with 16 GB, but DCS will use the 32 GB, especially in multiplayer.

 

Unless you want to spend time watching your Windows OS boot up and your games load I would recommend an NVMe. The prices have come down a lot in the last couple years. For DCS loading there won't be much difference between a SATA but for Windows booting up and applying updates or just in general transferring large files an NVMe can be a lot faster. It's bottlenecked by the slowest drive though, for example if you are reading from or writing to an HDD, the HDD's speed will be the limiting factor. If you are installing a game from Steam or from the DCS client they are very fast.

 

Since you are in the States you can sell your used stuff pretty easily on Ebay or craigslist. There's always people buying used stuff for a budget build for different use cases. Or just make a hand me down system for a family member or friend.

[AegisFX]

I believe my limit will be 500 usd. I think the two main concerns should be my cpu and ram to be able to enjoy dcs with a monitor at 1080p and trackir. I'm ok with holding off on a GPU as my last upgrade.

[Sn8ke_iis]

What motherboard do you have?

 

Assuming it supports the latest Ryzen chips I would look at 3600 or even better a 3700X. 3700X has really good performance for the money. Then I would use the leftover budget for RAM and a cheap SATA SSD. Then sell your old components and use that money to subsidize the cost of a new GPU when you have more money to spend. You would still be limited by your GPU to a certain extent in the meantime but you should see a decent performance bump in 1080p and have a good foundation for future upgrades. By November there should be some good deals on mid range and used graphics cards.

 

A 3700X/1660 Ti is good pairing for gaming at 1080p. You won't be able to play with all the setttings cranked up but when you are in the moment in a good game graphic settings are just eye candy. Graphic settings can make a good game great but can't make a bad game good if that makes sense.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Sn8ke_iis
typo

[AegisFX]

My mobo:

MB-474-301 MSI X470 GAMING PLUS AM4 ATX

 

Haven't looked into it yet but I'd assume it could handle the newer chips. We got it last march.

 

Guys, don't get me wrong. I want to eventually enjoy dcs in the reverb/good vr, but I'm not expecting to max anything at any stage of this.

[Gnadentod]

As long as you are not using VR the old saying that DCS is heavily depending on raw CPU power is valid. When using VR it's 50/50. Of course there is still a difference to this when you compare 1080p to 4k.

[AegisFX]

Thanks for the clarity guys.

 

AMD 3900x and 32gb of ram are on the menu for now. I look forward to flying with the community again!

[DocSigma]

Good choice, but you really want to get DCS on an SSD or Nvme and pair that with a a card with at least 8gb of VRAM. If you have the monitor for it, then you can put 1080p behind you and fly in 2k at the very least. Make sure you update the bios on that x470 board if you're going to throw a 3900x in there for compatibility reasons.

[AegisFX]

Just ran the bios update today before I ordered in case it bricked. Today was the 3900x order. I'll get 32 GB ram next. Going to try to get 2x16 so I can possibly add 32 more much later. Nvme comes later. Partially because I want to get a good sized unit, and partially because I want to see how I would migrate windows onto it if possible.

 

As it stands, the cpu and memory will let me fool around in the editor and free flight as I get familiar with the hornet. With the nvme I hop online, then GPU to crank things up and maybe get myself a vive, even if it's for other vr games

[Mars Exulte]

Nvme comes later.

 

 

NVMe makes no difference in this environment. That's not how a game works, you will never achieve those transfer rates. I have an NVMe, so I would know, rated 3500/3000. Never happens. Load times didn't change any/much compared to regular SSD.

[Sn8ke_iis]

Today was the 3900x order...

 

Nice! Glad to see you went big, $100 more for a good CPU isn't that much in the grand scheme of things especially since you have the motherboard that supports it. DCS likes fast CPUs, even more so for VR. 12C/24T will keep you a happy gamer for a good while.

[AegisFX]

...Installed the nvme last night. CLoned the OS from the original SSD it was on, and totally reinstalled DCS to the new drive as well. That alone handled a lot of my issues so far, as far as load times. 3900x JUST got swapped in. Look forward to running this stuff. I'm still waiting on 32 GB ram to arrive tomorrow.