Whats your GPU usage in DCS World 2.5?

Hey guys, I got a quick question because Im investigating a possible glitch in DCS World which is caused either by the simulator itself, Pimax render pipeline or maybe the RTX GPU.

What GPU usage do you have when running it on PiTool 1.0, Normal FOV and in-game ss at 1.2 or 1.4?

Thanks!
(Sorry I havent replied a lot of comments but I will soon! :slight_smile:)

Edit by @Davebobman:
Don’t forget to mention

  • Your GPU
  • PiTool version
2 Likes

Hello Martin,

I did tests on F / A-18C over the Caucasus - instant action - free flight.

PD 1.2 GPU use about 75%
PD 1.4 GPU use about 80%

CPU usage in both cases similar at around 20% (i8700k at 4.8GHz)

GPU 2080Ti MSI Gaming X Trio
Pitool V 1.0.1.129

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Thank you very Much @jankes!
This is exactly what I needed to know. Seems like we had the same GPU utilisation in the same scenario.

I found a really weird glitch today that does magic to GPU utilisation, sometimes above 95% :slight_smile:
Framerate boost from 50-60 to (not always) stable 80fps with same settings.
Check it out:

9 Likes

Hi Martin,
It not a glitch, it is just a bad overclocking. Every 3DMark geek know this - higher MHz doesn’t mean higher score. It known as throttling, but actually it is much, much more complicated than this. Modern cards have so much means to scrap the performance if you go too far, it crazy. So, my explanation of what happening, changing GPU clock in game somehow tricks those GPU protective measures, and as result you got this performance boost. It might be something else, but I convinced that core of the effect the same - bigger clock speed not always give you better score in 3DMark, nor better FPS in games.

3 Likes

I tried Martin’s way on my MSI 2080Ti and it actually worked. I had a problem with running DCS straight from PiTool. The fatal error popped up all the time (Allowed time for the creation of communication pipe (30000) ms is exceeded). After many such errors DCS, however, started - it took a long time. I launched Free flight F / A-18C over the Caucasus and actually after pressing the default button the frames jumped up. I had a problem with the calibration of the view, the eyes I had on the floor of the cockpit, it’s probably a bad calibration of the room. I have one base station - I do not know if this is a problem. However, I have noticed a strange flickering of the image from time to time, as if the image from the left and right eyes did not match. This method has no effect on DCS launched by SteamVR.

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I wanted to try this with my GTX1080Ti, but I can`t get DCS running directly from PiTool. I always get the fatal error already mentioned by jankes. Tried at least 10 times to start DCS without success.

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I tried it by starting directly from steam vr and it worked. It even works with ffr and smart smoothing for me.
F/A 18C persian gulf free flight mission, pitool 1.0, steam 100%, in game pd 1.0, msaa 2x.
GPU test

2 Likes

Have you tried using the stand-alone (non-steam) version?

Yes, because only this version I have. But I checked on the fps counter built into the game and nothing changed after clicking default.

Wow … can clearly see when you click it the GPU usage goes from 73% to 94% and FPS from 40 to 53!!!

WTF is NVidia doing !? So much performance lost (or gained) because of this.

@SweViver what’s SteamVR SS setting in your test? I would like to try to replicate exactly the same settings with my Gigabyte OC

Anyway, I don’t think I could play DCS with MSAA and SSAA off, It’s too flickering.

I quote myself from the DCS forum:

"Ok, I gave it a try… and it works also with SteamVR running in the background.
In the free flight with the F-14 on Black Sea map I started with about 40fps with my settings. After clicking once on “default” in the EVGA precision X1 tool I gained about 60fps, So that`s an improvement of about 50%! GPU usage rose from 70% to 100%.

But there is one problem. After the default clicking and gaining higher frames I got very heavy warping in the game. It´s like having a double image now and makes it unplayable, even with the higher frames. So I activated smart smoothing in the PiTool and the warping has gone, everything is smooth. As long as SS can maintain constant fps. As soon as you drop below the frame limit or if the fps are not constant in some maneuvers, the heavy warping is back and makes it hard to play."

Edit: I use a GTX1080Ti


But how can it be throttling when the full GPU utilization doesnt kick in even with low temps around 50 degrees and no extra overclocking besides factory. Then if I push Default it goes full utilization. Then I max overclock and it stays at full utilization until I go back to main menu :slight_smile:

The overclocking itself doesnt do much for DCS. Maybe 2-5 fps at most.

Great to hear! Isnt it strange? :slight_smile:

Yes I have seen that today a couple of times. But there seems to be no logic as it was running with no flicker yesterday. Had flicker in the morning and tried now again and no flicker at all :stuck_out_tongue:

If fatal error pops up, close the error windows and wait. I had this problem before. It will eventually start anyway. Also make sure to uncheck “Start SteamVR automatically with applications” in SteamVR settings. Otherwise there will be a conflict.

Yes I can confirm now the utilization also gets affected in SteamVR mode. Not only in DCS but many other games also :slight_smile:

Hehe yep, its really really strange!

SteamVR SS is at 100%

MSAA works at x2 but of course it tanks the GPU more.

Yes this happened to me today as well. Didnt see it yesterday. I wonder if some application is causing this. Very strange!

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I had earlier with my Lenovo Explorer problems with the gpu load in elite. As soon as I clicked something on the desktop in window mode, it went up from 75% to 97%. As soon as I clicked into the game again, it went down again.

Currently I have in Elite/pimax8k/newest pitool beta/pi-render=1/brainwarp off with a 1080ti relatively stable 95% gpu load. Unfortunately I have not installed dcs, otherwise I would test it there.

doesn nothing for me with a 1080ti, fps and utilization both at 55-60%

My best result in 3Dmark FireStrike Ultra, was 9455, with system consistently hitting more than 9400. This was in December, the only “nasty trick” I used, is opening a window, waiting until ambient temperature lowering to 13-15. Now, I can’t even hit 9000 (around 8930-8960), with ambient temperature today and yesterday 26-27. It is not bad result, and GPU temperature never exceeded 73. You say, it doesn’t seems that system is throttling? Probably not, but where those extra 3DMark points went?

PS I tried your method in DCS, on my machine, and I always get around 70-73% GPU utilization, hitting Default gives me only 75-78%. Graphic card is Zotac AMP, software I use MSI Afterburner.

PSS But I’m using MUCH more aggressive settings in DCS. Practically everything is maxed out, only MSAA at 2 (SSAA is off) and shadows are flat. Works fine with Smart Smoothing and at 72 Hz.

Try just moving the power slider. what I saw from your video was that power utilization was in the low 70s and then after the switch back it hit above 100%. Seem like it might be an issue with the graphics driver.

I would test but I’m on vacation ;). I would also look at other overclocking utilities to see if the same thing happens there.

I’m using the Asus overclock on my water cooled 2080TI FE. Again wont have any numbers till I’m back from vacation. I do know that my GPU utilization has been way low I assumed it was due to CPU bottleneck. Can’t wait to try might even try the Evga software. My card never gets thermal throttled so should not be due to thermals in my case.

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Okay, I was about to call bullshit after trying to reproduce this for a half an hour, then finally it happened.
It looks like you need two things:

  1. V-sync off in nvidia control panel and also in-game (for good measure)
  2. a rendering situation when the game is not bottlenecked by CPU (which it is most of the time, unfortunately)

The improvement for me is a lot less drastic though - probably settings related.

I need to spend more time with this to verify.

Oh, also - I opened DCS from its native launcher, Pitools version kept having a flashing SteamVR window popping up 2-3 times a second, even after disabling auto-launch for SteamVR. So no need to mess around importing.

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The same here cant starts DCS since couple of weaks with Asus Strix RTX 2080ti Gaming. How did you solved the problem ?

The same thing here does not start.
The method does not work with Asus Strix RTX 2080 Gaming