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Performance Issues


Warthog_Farmer

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ATI / Windows 8 Users:

This will be the first thing you read if you are reading this so take note!

Do NOT use the AMD Catalyst Uninstall Utility on Windows 8. It is not clearly marked on the website but multiple reports (me included) that it cocks up some Windows files. I confirmed that something happened to mine by checking "Power Settings" in Control Panel and it just wasn't there anymore. So I don't know what it corrupts but having Windows running in limp mode meant nothing except re-format and re-install for me.

 

You have been warned.

 

-----------Original Post--------------

 

Hey. I have done quite a bit of reading on these forums about performance issues and I'm led to believe my CPU isn't ideal. However most folk manage to have it run regardless with the occasional blip (CBU burst etc)

 

My setup is:

ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z

AMD 8350 at 4.3GHz aircooled and stable (In DCS max temp. is between 40-45)

16GB Corsair Vengeance at 1866

ATI 7970 HD 3GB

Windows 8 64bit

 

If I fly around with not a lot happening my frame rate does jump around but it's not noticeable unless you watch the FPS counter. Generally never dips below 30-40.

 

However, as soon as I boot up the campaign first mission and approach the target I get FPS hits down to 10fps and noticeable stutters. The MFDs are set at 512 and don't seem to be the issue as there is no FPS hit when booting up the TGP without all the ground action.

 

I got fed up of this spiking I tried to run it off my SSD instead of HD. No difference.

 

I tried running everything at LOW settings instead of mostly max... Again no difference.

 

It's frustrating as hell that when I get into what this game is made to do it is so sluggish it borders becoming unplayable.

 

Also, if I play through and then return to Batumi and so much as look in the general direction of the battle the FPS issue returns. This is where I get confused. Surely if it was a physics/calculations problem with all the projectiles from artillery/tanks/missiles then it would drop the FPS as soon as the AI started engaging each other until one side had won the fight? I'm assuming the fight doesn't "pause" whilst we are looking away from it. It doesn't seem to happen on departure from Batumi however - possibly because the fight hadn't got going yet... This is making me think it actually has something to do with the smoke (either gunsmoke, rocket trails or burning wreckage smoke) which I would then put down to the GPU?

 

It was the same on 1.2.2 as the current 1.2.5.

 

What can I do to alleviate this problem? Any ideas folks?


Edited by Warthog_Farmer
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Do you have mirrors on?

Dusty Rhodes

 

Play HARD, Play FAIR, Play TO WIN

 

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit / Intel i7 4790 Devils Canyon, 4.0 GIG /ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard/ ASUS GTX 1080 8 GB/ 32 Gigs of RAM / Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog / TrackIR 5 / 2 Cougar MFD's / Saitek Combat Pedals/ DSD Button Box FLT-1

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If you can run 30-40fps at least then if you say it drops to 10fps when you approach target, it has to mean some actions starts to happen and it takes big hit on the CPU... check in that mission around that time when fps drops... what happens.. is there rocket launchers firing... maybe there are explosions somewhere on the map at the time (from rocket launchers attack) as that really takes lot of CPU power. If this is not it, try to find what other action happens... it'll lead to finding why you get sudden fps drop.

 

And by the way, mirrors do take quite a hit also but if you are using 512 setting they are not as bad (1024 every frame kills it with mirrors on)

No longer active in DCS...

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Hey guys thanks for the immediate replies! I am just taking the 'hog up and orbiting to the north and cycling through all the units to figure out what is causing the hit.

 

I was watching at Apache up close and personal who was hovering way out against a ridge and sending in hellfires about once a minute. I set up the camera so that it was just the Apache and scenery - nothing else. It was sitting at 65FPS solid as a rock. Then at missile launch it drops to ~30fps.

 

Now that is just one rocket causing that...

 

Good idea on checking the log at the end I will be doing that for the next while I guess...

 

Mirrors are off in response to your questions. I forgot they were there to be honest with you and have been off the entire install.

 

Kuky - it isn't necessarily on approach to target. I can be on the ground at Batumi and just looking in the direction of the war then it will hit me to the same extent.


Edited by Warthog_Farmer
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Your ATI/AMD card is blame. You have a very decent system with a monster card, however for some reason the engine doesnt really like AMD cards.

 

I too have usually great performance but in certain scenes and at certain times (when firing certain weapons) my framerate drops into the teens. (ATI 6870 here)

 

Check the numerous threaeds where people have reported performance troubles with the best and greatest ATI cards, compared to just midrange Nvidia cards.


Edited by VanjaB
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Your ATI/AMD card is blame. You have a very decent system with a monster card, however for some reason the engine doesnt really like AMD cards.

 

I too have usually great performance but in certain scenes and at certain times (when firing certain weapons) my framerate drops into the teens. (ATI 6870 here)

 

Check the numerous threaeds where people have reported performance troubles with the best and greatest ATI cards, compared to just midrange Nvidia cards.

 

Nonsense. I ran a 7970 3GB and it had excellent performance. I've only gone to Titan for more VRAM (multimonitors) and the performance increase is perhaps 10-20% if that an improvement.

 

EDIT: I should add I had a 6870, and the 7970 was a huge leap ahead of the 6870's performance.


Edited by _Dredd

Current Flight Rig

 

i7 4960X @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Rampage IV Formula

G.SKILL TridentX 2400Mhz 32GB DDR3

Crucial 1TB MX300 SSD

MSI Gaming X 1080Ti

Samsung 55" JS8000 SUHD 4K

Windows 10 x64

TrackIR 5, Warthog HOTAS

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Pedals

Custom Akers-Barnes, MkI eyeball.

 

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I wonder if CBU's or MLRS rockets are going off in the battle zone?

Dusty Rhodes

 

Play HARD, Play FAIR, Play TO WIN

 

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit / Intel i7 4790 Devils Canyon, 4.0 GIG /ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard/ ASUS GTX 1080 8 GB/ 32 Gigs of RAM / Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog / TrackIR 5 / 2 Cougar MFD's / Saitek Combat Pedals/ DSD Button Box FLT-1

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As Kuky mentioned it seems some old particle effects and other things are still highly relevant on the CPU processing these. A barrage of rocket fire with rockets on SU-25 takes a hit on my system with the rocket smoke.

Good thing is that the explosions and smoke seems more optimised now which is excellent. Rocket smoke and clouds can eat fps on occasion.


Edited by _Dredd

Current Flight Rig

 

i7 4960X @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Rampage IV Formula

G.SKILL TridentX 2400Mhz 32GB DDR3

Crucial 1TB MX300 SSD

MSI Gaming X 1080Ti

Samsung 55" JS8000 SUHD 4K

Windows 10 x64

TrackIR 5, Warthog HOTAS

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Pedals

Custom Akers-Barnes, MkI eyeball.

 

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Hey again folks.

 

CBUs and MLRS are not present. It is literally the first mission of the campaign where you either have to drop a bridge, provide CAS or take out a group of artillery.

 

I dread to think how the MLRS will affect me when I get to that stage.

 

I upped my OC to 4.6GHz on the CPU but when I look at the monitor it never really seems maxxed out and the temperature comes up a little higher than I am used to - but not melting hot.

 

The reduction in frames seems to be sustained when looking in the direction of the battle. As I ingress it is fairly shoddy, try and hit the target and then depending on how I egress the frame rate could shoot back up again. As I make a turn back to the target area it will start to drop in performance again.

 

I have noticed a lot has been said about the smoke in previous versions of this sim, and the JSmoke edit doesn't seem to be relevant on this patch anymore. Could anyone shed light on how I can "remove" the smoke in this version and see if it is down to my system getting stuck on this?

 

I forgot the mention my graphics drivers (CCC 12.11) are slightly out of date due to FSX going crazy with the latest incarnation. As a result of a failed rollback attempt using the ATI Driver Removal tool (NEVER use this tool with Windows 8 - it ruins your OS!) I am sitting on a fresh install of Win 8.

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Your catalyst control centre is all default settings ? And TSSAA is off in game and CCC/transparency antialiasing?

I'm not near the PC but will check out this campaign mission later. From memory when I had the 7970 that mission did eat up a lot of fps when nearing the action, and even at the airport and traveling over water to the action.


Edited by _Dredd

Current Flight Rig

 

i7 4960X @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Rampage IV Formula

G.SKILL TridentX 2400Mhz 32GB DDR3

Crucial 1TB MX300 SSD

MSI Gaming X 1080Ti

Samsung 55" JS8000 SUHD 4K

Windows 10 x64

TrackIR 5, Warthog HOTAS

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Pedals

Custom Akers-Barnes, MkI eyeball.

 

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Your telling us you are using Dec 2011 ATI Video Drivers?

Dusty Rhodes

 

Play HARD, Play FAIR, Play TO WIN

 

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit / Intel i7 4790 Devils Canyon, 4.0 GIG /ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard/ ASUS GTX 1080 8 GB/ 32 Gigs of RAM / Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog / TrackIR 5 / 2 Cougar MFD's / Saitek Combat Pedals/ DSD Button Box FLT-1

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Nonsense. I ran a 7970 3GB and it had excellent performance. I've only gone to Titan for more VRAM (multimonitors) and the performance increase is perhaps 10-20% if that an improvement.

 

EDIT: I should add I had a 6870, and the 7970 was a huge leap ahead of the 6870's performance.

 

Whatever man. Look at every single thread related to performance issues on this forum. Im not talking about overall performance but the frame dropping and stuttering issues in certain scenes and/or when firing certain weapons. 90% of the users who have issues are ATI users.

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ATI is known to have performance issues with DCS.

Dusty Rhodes

 

Play HARD, Play FAIR, Play TO WIN

 

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit / Intel i7 4790 Devils Canyon, 4.0 GIG /ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard/ ASUS GTX 1080 8 GB/ 32 Gigs of RAM / Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog / TrackIR 5 / 2 Cougar MFD's / Saitek Combat Pedals/ DSD Button Box FLT-1

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Nonsense. I ran a 7970 3GB and it had excellent performance. I've only gone to Titan for more VRAM (multimonitors) and the performance increase is perhaps 10-20% if that an improvement.

 

EDIT: I should add I had a 6870, and the 7970 was a huge leap ahead of the 6870's performance.

 

What's your secret? My 7970 3GB card has horrible frame rates, ave 20-30 frames. I have an i7 4770 CPU at 4.3Ghz with 32GB Ram. I'm soo disappointed. Mind you in FSX or other sims it's great.

 

Please post your CCC settings, sw version and video driver version.

Also post your DCSW graphics settings from the option

Speed is life !!!

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What's your secret? My 7970 3GB card has horrible frame rates, ave 20-30 frames. I have an i7 4770 CPU at 4.3Ghz with 32GB Ram. I'm soo disappointed. Mind you in FSX or other sims it's great.

 

Please post your CCC settings, sw version and video driver version.

Also post your DCSW graphics settings from the option

 

My average when I had the card was 29-30 and that was running 4 monitors. And that was on 1.2.3, from what is mentioned reported issues are still the same since?

My old settings were, CCC all default, + 10% speed boost, 1025mhz clock, 1474 mem. 12.8

All maxed, mfds 512 every frame. civ traffic med. mirrors off, clutter off, tssaa off, msaa2x, HDR:cold, only cockpit shadows and fullscreen on. Vsync off. Triple buffer on.


Edited by _Dredd

Current Flight Rig

 

i7 4960X @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Rampage IV Formula

G.SKILL TridentX 2400Mhz 32GB DDR3

Crucial 1TB MX300 SSD

MSI Gaming X 1080Ti

Samsung 55" JS8000 SUHD 4K

Windows 10 x64

TrackIR 5, Warthog HOTAS

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Pedals

Custom Akers-Barnes, MkI eyeball.

 

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Your telling us you are using Dec 2011 ATI Video Drivers?

 

No sir, 2012 drivers. 12.11 isn't listed anymore on ATI website (even under the previous versions) but the actual installer does say BETA.

 

The only reason I went back is because the latest version causes mega scenery glitches in FSX. 12.11 Beta must have been the latest available when I built my rig last December...

 

There are no later drivers with the exception of 13.1 which is the problematic build.


Edited by Warthog_Farmer
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Then I would submit to you that may be a problem with DCS. Update your Vid Drivers and report back.

Dusty Rhodes

 

Play HARD, Play FAIR, Play TO WIN

 

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit / Intel i7 4790 Devils Canyon, 4.0 GIG /ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard/ ASUS GTX 1080 8 GB/ 32 Gigs of RAM / Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog / TrackIR 5 / 2 Cougar MFD's / Saitek Combat Pedals/ DSD Button Box FLT-1

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My average when I had the card was 29-30 and that was running 4 monitors. And that was on 1.2.3, from what is mentioned reported issues are still the same since?

My old settings were, CCC all default, + 10% speed boost, 1025mhz clock, 1474 mem. 12.8

All maxed, mfds 512 every frame. civ traffic med. mirrors off, clutter off, tssaa off, msaa2x, HDR:cold, only cockpit shadows and fullscreen on. Vsync off. Triple buffer on.

 

Thanks for sharing. I see that you're using an Nvdia card now as per your sig instead of an ATI. Is it running better for you? what are your current settings regarding fps vs your old 7970?

 

I know for a fact ATI cards are lagging behind Nvdia cards in DCSW. There is even a dedicated thread about it.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=109498


Edited by speckfire

Speed is life !!!

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Thanks for sharing. I see that you're using an Nvdia card now as per your sig instead of an ATI. Is it running better for you? what are your current settings regarding fps vs your old 7970?

 

I know for a fact ATI cards are lagging behind Nvdia cards in DCSW. There is even a dedicated thread about it.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=109498

 

Presently with SoftTH(which doesnt help a lot)and also VRAM around 5GB(I forget exact total).

 

All maxed, mfds 512 every frame. civ traffic high, mirrors on, clutter 300m, tssaa off, msaa2x, HDR:cold, only cockpit shadows and fullscreen on. Vsync off. Triple buffer on.

Average 30-35, Looking up at sky 110, Heavy action worst I've seen is 19fps. Over water around 40-50 and above.

 

Single screen everything on and maxed, always over 60 viewing the battefield in first A-10C campaign mission, but 25-29 avg sitting on runway at start.

I'll have to do a bench review for interest over the weekend before I reinstall everything due to new SSD drives.

I also want to test out RAMDisk and RAMCache.


Edited by _Dredd

Current Flight Rig

 

i7 4960X @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Rampage IV Formula

G.SKILL TridentX 2400Mhz 32GB DDR3

Crucial 1TB MX300 SSD

MSI Gaming X 1080Ti

Samsung 55" JS8000 SUHD 4K

Windows 10 x64

TrackIR 5, Warthog HOTAS

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Pedals

Custom Akers-Barnes, MkI eyeball.

 

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Hopefully the new Drivers with the Memory Management Re-Write, Frame Pacing and Several Other Big Adjustments fix some issues..

 

Every Beta Driver they put out, I report a Bug to AMD regarding DCS Performance, so... maybe they'll get the hint.

 

13.8 Beta, W/ frame Pacing.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4629836#post4629836


Edited by SkateZilla

Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2),

ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9)

3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs

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Drivers wise I realised its 13.4 I had that were completely unusable in FSX. I tried 13.1 just there and they were a little better (I think) in DCS and didn't seem to throw up the errors in FSX.

 

Downloading 13.8 right now. There does seem to be a lot of excitement around these drivers so here's hoping it's the holy grail! I doubt it... but I'll give them a fair crack.

 

I'll report back with my findings, and thanks to everyone contributing to this thread.

 

 

Ps. Do we think "EDGE" may offer any improvements to these performance issues or is it all about scenery?

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Drivers wise I realised its 13.4 I had that were completely unusable in FSX. I tried 13.1 just there and they were a little better (I think) in DCS and didn't seem to throw up the errors in FSX.

 

Downloading 13.8 right now. There does seem to be a lot of excitement around these drivers so here's hoping it's the holy grail! I doubt it... but I'll give them a fair crack.

 

I'll report back with my findings, and thanks to everyone contributing to this thread.

 

 

Ps. Do we think "EDGE" may offer any improvements to these performance issues or is it all about scenery?

 

13.8 Beta Introduces Frame Pacing Features for CrossfireX Setups.

 

Alot of users report Smoother gaming on Single GPUs as well.

 

 

EDGE is the Image Renderer, it's more than just Scenery, it renders everything you see, the ground, the sky, the aircraft, the ground units, effects... everything.

Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2),

ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9)

3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs

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13.8 report:

 

Runs better but only marginally so... There is still a noticeable hit. It screws FSX over though just as 13.4. This is stolen from someone suffering the same problem:

2010220213758953.png

 

Going back to 13.1 to give FSX a good blast with it. Might be the happiest medium I can get....

 

 

SkateZilla, just checking out your signature... You got your 8350 to 5.1GHz!? May I ask what temperature you run at under load with the H100 attached? I was considering doing something similar since both FSX and seemingly DCS are CPU heavy and they are one of the main reasons I came back to PC gaming.


Edited by Warthog_Farmer
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13.8 report:

 

Runs better but only marginally so... There is still a noticeable hit. It screws FSX over though just as 13.4. This is stolen from someone suffering the same problem:

2010220213758953.png

 

Going back to 13.1 to give FSX a good blast with it. Might be the happiest medium I can get....

 

 

SkateZilla, just checking out your signature... You got your 8350 to 5.1GHz!? May I ask what temperature you run at under load with the H100 attached? I was considering doing something similar since both FSX and seemingly DCS are CPU heavy and they are one of the main reasons I came back to PC gaming.

 

That screenshot looks like a old problem FSX people had a few years back,

They should be looking at their 3d settings and adjusting them to locate the problem, most likely its a FSAA or Rendering Issue.

 

As for my CPU, it's luck of the draw, I have 3 FX8350 Systems now, the other two do not reach 5.0Ghz, let alone 5.15Ghz. they are stable at 4.8 using 1490mv.

 

the FX8350 i have at 5.15Ghz@1470mv (5148Mhz, 234 FSBx22 MP)

 

The FX9590 Series Turbo's to 5Ghz and uses over 1500mv and 220w TDP to do it..

They simply took Cherry Picked FX8350s and upped their base MP from 20 to 24 and Turbo MP to 25. and slapped an extra $700 retail on it.

 

 

Mine Idles in the teens, and peaks in the 30s, but I think I might have bent my H100 bracket when I switched from the FX81xx CPU, so once I replace it, temps might be lower. I also think temp programs dont read the temps right. (It's also summer so avg amb. room temp is 80-90 degrees F.), At load I dont use no where near the 220w TDP or 1500mv+ the FX9590 CPUs use.

Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2),

ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9)

3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs

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