Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Pollock on July 27, 2025, 09:31:36 AM
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My current rig was built by Tildeath, remember him? The PC has served well, but it will not upgrade to windows 11. Specs: Intel i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5 Ghz, Ram 16gig ddr 3, GFX GTX1060 3Gig. to maintain 75fps in full melee AH settings are: 2560X1080 auto set FOV, max texture 4096. Sliders in middle, disabled shadows, post lighting, and reflections. I want to run AH all settings to "11" ie, maxed out! Budget is no more than $1200.
I saw this one at Costco https://www.costco.com/.product.1932657.htmlCyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme Gaming Desktop - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 - Windows 11 Home – 32GB RAM – 2TB SSD. I wanted to get some advice from the gurus in here.
Only upgrades in future would be a better monitor, and maybe someday VR?
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Howdy Pollock
Nice box..Definitely an upgrade from what you had ..
I would go for one with a video card with 16gb if it's in your budget..not sure what else you play besides AH
Eagler
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If you're just going to play AH3 the first box should work fine. I plan on running my windows 10 on a few computers for a while after EOL but then again I don't have anything of any importance on them or doing anything of important on them so I'm not worried about it. But then again I have multiple computers that my kids use that are 12+ years old that still run the games they play fine. If anything does get screwy I'll prob just put Linux Mint on them.
If it was me I'd buy a cpu/mb combo and some new ram. Some 500ish GPU. A Quest 2 or something like that and have a VR capable rig with some cash to spare.
Some people trash talk the 12100, however, I upgraded to a 12700 and the performance difference was so minimal that I sent it back. Unless you got something that's gonna use more then 4 cores the 12700 offers minimal uplift in my experience.
I recently bought:
$64 CPU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MDGKQLY?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
$99 Motherboard https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ9T4KF6?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
$59 32GB DDR4 (June 17, 2025) (price is going up on DDR4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081374T3G?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2_7
Previously I have bought:
$289 (also got one for less then $50 off ebay without controllers) https://www.amazon.com/Oculus-Quest-Advanced-Virtual-Reality/dp/B0DNNWGW9R/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nEHyDZ62SgM97aj-8QxY58yj2TNQku6FSuQHPPNzO_mIhmZERwIKJ2R7NNhkd_Ghz5r8FM1MPZsKqEmuNUnxZSfES4j1qskd8_8s3ByfD7JVYdlMBebhVRuRkNtow0JDRBhnos8FeaxwciS13JeIi8jwc2SHd_LJuVCDawAsNFqS9QBnWAhdX6MTBBeqPjQkYElae89jQFmY0moMU81nscAyWfM4TmhHyUJRBHtJctSBkSHhfJRMyrdHGaJUa0IBJm7H0d9itL3gO_ocFxgXm95LZNz8pt9XIqOCkfsdUzo.k5nE-TCPqDiqv-64IkaFai8LzalZ-mn2jNtvLct3V4g&dib_tag=se&keywords=quest+2&qid=1753636069&s=electronics&sr=1-3
$500 GPU of your choice (I got a 4070 Super for around this a year or 2 ago.)
$1011 for VR capable rig with VR headset and a little change left over.
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Thanks for the replies. I also play IL2, not looking to build a pc ever again. I would do a better monitor before I went VR, if I ever even go VR. Costco has the best return policies and support for electronics.
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I think you're good with something like the one you linked then cause for sure the stuff I linked would take some building :)
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From my page link below
https://animl-aw.com/nvidia-performance-settings/
"So, how many Frames Per Second can the human eye see?
You may wonder what happens if you’re watching something with a really high FPS rate. Are you actually seeing all those frames that flash by? After all, your eye doesn’t move as fast as 30 motions per second.
The short answer is that you may not be able to consciously register those frames, but your eyes and brain may be aware of them.
For example, take the 60-frames-per-second rate that many have accepted as the uppermost limit.
Some research suggests that your brain might actually be able to identify images that you see for a much shorter period of time than experts thought.
For example, the authors of a 2014 study out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that the brain can process an image that your eye sees for only 13 milliseconds — a very rapid processing speed.
That’s especially rapid when compared with the accepted 100 milliseconds that appears in earlier studies. Thirteen milliseconds translate into about 75 frames per second.
Source: HealthLine
"
The system you're shopping above could pull AH. But the key is, your monitor is your bottleneck if it's top refresh rate is 60hz.
I'm not sure AH takes advantage of multi-core machines much.
Example:
My System
Windows 11 Home
12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700K
16GB Memory
1TB HDD / 128GB Storage / 512GB SSD
But an older 60hz refresh rate monitor.
The card put out more than the monitor can handle. So, the monitor will drop frames exceeding that to keep it no higher than 60hz. Why run the card hotter with no real visual differences? You can disable V-sync and get a lot more fps, but again the monitor may not like it.
I got a very solid 60fps on 60hz, but I knew the machine could do better. Best I could run was 1080 res.
Went out and bought one of the last 32" HD monitor with a 144hz refresh rate monitors, with v-sync disabled I'm at 300fps at 2560X1440 res. Which is dumb because I'm running the card much hotter than I need to. My eyes cannot see a 300fps difference. SO I ended up clamping it at a very solid 120fps to run the card cooler. That said, I could not tell the difference between 80fps and 120fps.
So, if your current monitor top refresh rate is 60hz.... upgrading the monitor with a higher refresh rate should uncork the bottle,... with the system you mentioned should pull AH like melted butter full detail.
I don't play IL-2 so not sure what it's demands are, I think we can safely assume much higher than AH.
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I play AH non VR and IL2 VR with an 8 year old GPU (1080ti) without issue. If everything works I certainly wouldn't upgrade just for W11. Personally I'd look for a better 4000 series card like a 4070 or something but I'm not sure if many pre builts will have the prior gen cards these days.
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IF I absolutely have to upgrade my computer, it will go to windows 10, never 11. Only reason I will upgrade from windows 7 is when the antivirus and firewall will no longer install on it. I have had absolutely no issues with still using 7. I dont online bank or pay bills, I dont social media, I dont go to sketchy websites. Zero concerns with its continued use.
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I found a decent deal on a monitor through costco, it arrives today. This should unlock the bottleneck on the refresh rate, and I love ultrawides!
This will give a better idea of how much current pc will handle. Windows 11 mandate made me realize that wait, I use ESET on all of my computers, so I really do not need to worry about being attacked. https://www.costco.com/MSI-40%22-UWQHD-IPS-AMD-FreeSync-Premium-Gaming-Monitor.product.1869595.html
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I found a decent deal on a monitor through costco, it arrives today. This should unlock the bottleneck on the refresh rate, and I love ultrawides!
This will give a better idea of how much current pc will handle. Windows 11 mandate made me realize that wait, I use ESET on all of my computers, so I really do not need to worry about being attacked. https://www.costco.com/MSI-40%22-UWQHD-IPS-AMD-FreeSync-Premium-Gaming-Monitor.product.1869595.html
Good approach IMO.
You may work your vid card harder/hotter, so make sure its clear of dust so it cools properly. Then see where ya stand on detail and fps.
Any machine that can run Win11 should run AH full detail with good fps. Not sure about other games.
I ended up with Win11 because the last PC (Win10) got lightning toasted.
Bought a Dell Intel and Nvidia based PC and customized the hardware which they let you do. $1,700, but that was 2 yrs ago.
As some mentioned above, you may not need major upgrade to play AH full detail. Spikes seems to know more of IL-2 requirements.
Good luck
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Ultrawide monitors are popular, I've had several. For combat flight sims you lose vertical fov. Put one on each side of your 16:9 center monitor.
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Update. The Monitor was the first bottleneck. My old one had refresh of 75hz and was 34". The new one is 40" with a max refresh of 144hz, and resolution of 3440 X 1440. This actually improved visuals but did not increase FR for the game. I used google Ai, provided my specs for help. First time using this feature and I was impressed how easy it was to get a good answer to my problem. To gain max performance without a bottleneck, it suggested changing GFX card form the 1060 3g, to RTX 4060Ti 8gig. Running anything greater than this model would produce a bottleneck. I was able to score a re-furbed 4060 Ti ventus 2x with 2 year warranty for 400.
I ended up spending more to fix my problem, however I think I squeeze the old girl for at least another year. Thanks for all the input group!
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The more pixels, the more processing required.
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The more pixels, the more processing required.
Adding to that, the more speed, the more processing required. 3440 x 1440 @144 Hz requires much more oomph than 2560 x 1440 or any other resolution below and up to 3440 x 1440 @75Hz.
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VR adds even more demand to a system. Brother has a Pimax Crystal which has 2880x2880 per eye. These aren't just mirrored. Each has a different perspective which must be calculated each frame. To get a decent frame rate in another sim (stay away bettlejuice) he is running a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and an RTX 4090. At the settings he likes he gets about 60-70 FPS.
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Update. The Monitor was the first bottleneck. My old one had refresh of 75hz and was 34". The new one is 40" with a max refresh of 144hz, and resolution of 3440 X 1440. This actually improved visuals but did not increase FR for the game. I used google Ai, provided my specs for help. First time using this feature and I was impressed how easy it was to get a good answer to my problem. To gain max performance without a bottleneck, it suggested changing GFX card form the 1060 3g, to RTX 4060Ti 8gig. Running anything greater than this model would produce a bottleneck. I was able to score a re-furbed 4060 Ti ventus 2x with 2 year warranty for 400.
I ended up spending more to fix my problem, however I think I squeeze the old girl for at least another year. Thanks for all the input group!
As I mentioned upstream, try disabling V-Sync on your vid card, you SHOULD see a FPS boost. I might consider back res down to 2560x1140 or similar. You can get there.
A lot here is Win11, but a lot also applies to Win10. I should do Win10 tweaks
https://animl-aw.com/
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IL-2 is much more demanding than AH3 will ever be if you want any sort of immersion in it.
I use a 3080 12gig and an AMD 7 5800 and run it in 2560 x 1440 @ 75hz, and I use VSync on, else it sounds like my rig is preparing for its own takeoff.
4k is out of the question if you want nice clouds, buildings trees etc in IL-2
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I run IL2 with a quest 2 at pretty much max detail with a 4070 super.
I think for AH3 anything over a 1080ti i really overkill as I ran it on an 3470 and a R9 380 with a rift-s as a test and it worked.
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I have a 1080 in the wife's machine. Nvidia recently announced they are dropping support for that series. Will still work just no more new drivers.
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I have a 1080 in the wife's machine. Nvidia recently announced they are dropping support for that series. Will still work just no more new drivers.
That's a bummer. I have a 1070, two 1080s and two 1080tis. I've looked at the raw power raster processing power of the new cards and most of them are not much more powerful then the 1080ti. They get their "better" performance through RT and DLSS. To me it's kind of a fraudulent way to "increase" performance while only doing marginal upgrades on the hardware.
They should get more cheap then they are now in case and will run AH3 like a champ even in VR.
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IL-2 is much more demanding than AH3 will ever be if you want any sort of immersion in it.
I use a 3080 12gig and an AMD 7 5800 and run it in 2560 x 1440 @ 75hz, and I use VSync on, else it sounds like my rig is preparing for its own takeoff.
4k is out of the question if you want nice clouds, buildings trees etc in IL-2
i should have included as I did upstream. V-sync off but clamp max fps at 80 or 120 fps. Don’t just let it run full throttle, as mentioned on my page you won’t notice much difference for the heat it causes. Frames will be drooped anyway. Its just a way to have more control of fps. If its not broke don’t fix it.
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Just saw this: GTX 10-Series received 9 years of full support, with security updates until 2028.
I think I might start migrating those older computers over to Linux Mint and use Vulkan and the Mesa Drivers. I suspect I can get another 5 to 10 years out of them that way. The 3470 with the RX 570 and 16GB of ram with an ssd can run games surprisingly well at 1080p.
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Flushing DirectX Shader Cache
On Windows, DirectX Shader is an optimization feature for storing pre-compiled versions of special instructions, known as shaders.
Shaders are small programs understood by the graphics card that control various graphical effects.
Compiling shaders can be time-consuming, and using a cache helps optimize performance by providing easier and faster access to pre-compiled versions.
The decision to clear the cache will depend on you. However, below are some reasons why you may want to do so.
To resolve performance issues – A cleared DirectX Shader cache may resolve some performance issues, including graphical glitches and stuttering.
Freeing up disk space – Even though the cache may not take up much space, clearing it will still free up some extra space on your computer.
To update the cache – If you have just updated your graphics card or installed new games, you may clear the DirectX Shader cache to fill it with new information.
Note: Clearing the cache is not something you must do often. It is mainly a troubleshooting step when you face some graphical issues.
This procedure will not negatively affect your system. This is because the cache is isolated storage with no permanent information.
You cannot disable or prevent the creation of the DirectX Shader Cache. Windows 11 has no official way of disabling this optimization feature.
Ccleaner provides an option to flush the DirectX Shader Cache.
To flush Shader Cache Using Disk Cleanup
1. Open Start Menu, type cleanup in the search bar, click Disk Cleanup to open it.
2. Select your C drive, then click the OK button.
3. Tick the DirectX Shader cache option and click OK.
Note: Though this is meant to flush DSC, it could be a good idea to check every listed item.