It appears I will have to buy new Gaming Computer? (My present one is 9 years old with addition of 3 Grandchildren)
My Son wants to know what Ram required for the following Theatres in Windows 10?
CFS3
ETO expansion
PTO
MAW
CFS3 PTO Rising Sun Download
How do I figure out total Ram just for these?
As usual any help will be appreciated
rcafmad
Mel Dempsey
I have an older computer; just with 16Gb and have no issues. In any case you can only use one install at a time!
OS: Win10 Professional 64 bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) 17-2600 CPU 2 3.40GHz 3.70GHz
RAM 16Gb DDD3 (2 X 8Gb)
MB: Asus M4N68T-MV2
Vid Card: NVidia Gforce GTX 970
C Drive 1Tb SSD
D Drive 500Gb SSD
E 1Tb HD
F Drive: 2 x Seagate BarracudaGreen 2TB Hds in RAID
G 3 Tb HD
Power: PSU Seasonic X750 Gold 750W
Monitor: 46” Samsung 630 LED LCD + 2 27"Acer Monitors
Track IR5.
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
I wouldn’t recommend anything less than 16GB on a Win10 machine anyway. Memory is cheap compared to the other speeding-up improvement which is an decent sized SSD instead of a hard drive.
Tom
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7
In addition to rcafmad's question, what would have more effect on CFS3 performance? More RAM or renewing the graphics card? And what was that about CFS3 and multiple cores again?
I have been thinking about a new PC for some time as well: QC with anything over a 2vs2 engagement over an airfield with active triple A consistently starts to crash CFS3. My PC simply cannot cope any longer with all the improvements made to the sim (using larger textures, Ankor's shaders, Real System module etc.). But I had some financial setbacks over the past two months, so I am torn between delving into my savings and buy a new top-end PC to last the coming 8-10 years (my current one is at least that old) or invest a little into upgrading a few key components.
ACC Member, ETO and PTO contributor & librarian
Right now top end graphics cards are obscenely expensive. Partly from Covid shortages, and partly from bitcoin miners buying up all the inventory they can find at any price. You should look for a card that has the appropriate amount of memory to support your default screen resolution because CFS3 does not actually use all that much of the available video memory. Faster GPU speeds will boost your FPS some, but it needs to be in balance with what the CPU can deliver.
AnKors shaders have helped with overcoming the multi-core limitation, but you still want a faster processor over having one with more cores.
The old CFS3 code still limits the system memory usage to a couple of Gb so no need to go crazy there, but 16 Gb is the sweet spot for normal Win 10 users who may have a few applications open at the same time. More than that is only needed if you're doing more advanced work like video upscaling.
The new nvme SSD speeds help with initial loading time but don't really impact the game play.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
I run fine on 8 gb of ram but will soon have 16 gb. Have had no real problems with Ankor's shaders , improved settings in the config or multi-sampling.With CFS3, CPU speed matters the most IMO. Running a GTX750ti 2 gb video card ,so it's nothing super and even IL-2 '46 BAT runs excellent with this older setup. That's what is great about these older air combat sims is that pc's have come so far from those days.CFS3 was way advanced when it came out and was hardly playable till i got a better computer. Still can't stand win10 but that's what we have to deal with... Regards,Scott
Not wanting to hijack this thread but trying to digest and understand the above info.
After shoveling the coal out of the way, removing the remaining embers and disconnecting the water supply, I was able to study my computing machinery. It really is 10-11 years old and has the following specs:
CPU : Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz
MoBo : ASUS P7P55D EVO
GPU : AMD Radeon HD5700 Series, 1Gb
RAM : 2x 2Gb DDR3 1333MHz
Needless to say it would be best to replace it completely but given the constraints mentioned earlier, would this ancient system benefit enough from upgrading to a 2Gb GPU and 16Gb RAM?
It appears the mobo will accept 4x 4Gb memory sticks and the expansion slots are PCI Express 2.0.
I have found 4x 4Gb memory sticks and a 2Gb GPU for a total price 10x less than that of a new system that can last the same number of years. If so, maybe I can squeeze a few more years out of it or until the PC component market settles a bit.
BTW, the GPU I found is either the
- Gigabyte GeForce® GT 710, 2Gb,
- Gigabyte GeForce® GT 1030, 2Gb,
- Asus GeForce® GT 1030, 2Gb GDDR5, or
- Asus GeForce® GT 1030, 2GB, Phoenix.
and the RAM is either
4x Corsair ValueSelect 4Gb 1333MHz, or
4x Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9.
ACC Member, ETO and PTO contributor & librarian
Thanks Fellows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We gave our son an excellent education and now its my turn to show him now!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking at the minimum and recommended systems listed for WOFF might be helpful, since as far as hardware is concerned, it's basically the same as what you would need for a very high end modded CFS3 install.
https://www.overflandersfields.com/support.html
I would only differ from those recommendations to say that if you're running Windows 10, 16GB (as opposed to 8GB) of RAM really is the magic number. CFS3 can't use more than 4GB of RAM (if using the 4GB patch, otherwise it only uses 2GB), but windows 10 tends to use a lot. Mine is using about 5GB with just a rather basic browser and only one tab open. With CFS3 running at full bore it is very easy to max out 8GB even if you're being careful about background processes. But as I understand it, CPU is usually the bottleneck. I am rather uneducated in these things, but I would think having a better CPU and a more average GPU would be preferable to the other way around. Upgrading parts on a 10-11 year old PC, I do wonder if you would be getting the full benefit of the new parts on it, but again, I'm not the best one to ask.
One other thing that bit me pretty hard a while back. When looking for a video card - benchmark means more than the quantity of video ram it comes with. Before I knew this, I went out and bought a 2GB card as an "upgrade" to my older 1GB card (I don't recall the model numbers, but both were nvidia), and found out that as far as my PC's performance was concerned, it was actually a downgrade and a waste of good money. I'm sure most of you already know better than I did and wouldn't make that mistake, but if it helps one person, there it is.
I forgot about the 4gb patch.
With this in mind I took the gamble and only upgraded my RAM from 4 to 16 Gb (and applied the 4Gb patch if I hadn't done so already - couldn't remember): It roughly gave me a 10 FPS extra which drops to +5 FPS over crowded airfields. This is fine for me as my FPS now drops only in a few instances under 30. With Daniel's comment in mind I think upgrading the CPU would be better than upgrading the GPU - which probably means a new PC in this case. I haven't tried yet but I also think I'll have more fun with this upgrade when working with Photoshop, gmax and playing music simultaneously. So far I'm happy with this limited investment until the PC market settles of until it is no longer allowed to use coal to fuel a PC this old...Originally Posted by gecko
ACC Member, ETO and PTO contributor & librarian
You are correct Frosty. Ram upgrade is the cheapest and easiest way to go. Doing the same myself so i can play WOFF BHaH II without a too big a hit with FPS. For around $60 or so it ain't bad. Now just to explain this to the Wife that i NEED this just like i did with payware aircraft...One can only hope!Must do extra chores...Regards,Scott
Have fun!
I still get the occassional stutter and hickup, specifically when there's a lot going on simultaneously (eg. a merger with enemy a/c over an airfield with active AAA) but it's better than it was.
ACC Member, ETO and PTO contributor & librarian
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