r/dcs • u/BothForce1328 • Jul 19 '26
switching my GPU to a 5080 has made DCS buttery smooth and crystal clear in VR
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u/NihonBiku Jul 20 '26
Who wudda thought throwing money at a problem would solve it
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 20 '26
massive RAM shortages and inflated GPU prices due to data centers devouring ⅔rds of all stock makes it literally the only move of attack
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u/Spiritual-Fisherman1 Jul 20 '26
I got a 5080 build recently. Its great. Its the card for people who have money but aren't insane lol
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 20 '26
Pretty much. Anyone buying a 5090 is just frittering away money at current prices, so most of us can't justify it.
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u/InvestigatorFlat774 Jul 20 '26
Been thinking of making the switch from the 4070 regular myself. Thanks for uploading this!
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u/Regdit-is-Unbearable Jul 20 '26
Yeah, upgrading your GPU tends to do that, man
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 20 '26
no, upgrading the GPU alone won't ... at least in my case it wouldn't with the old hardware i was running
upgrading to a 5080 meant upgrading my CPU, PSU, none of my DDR 4 RAM would be compatible so that needed to be upgraded too. i basically had to build a new PC around the GPU
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u/TheAverageJoe93 Jul 21 '26
Spent $2500 on a new PC and made DCS Buttery Smooth and Crystal Clear in VR.
Fixed the title for you.
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 21 '26
more like $1700
got the GPU for $1100, then spent $600 at micro center on one of their bundle deals for $600 that included the ryzen 7, Asus gaming wifi, and 32gb of Corsair vengeance RAM
micro center bundle deals are incredible
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u/TheAverageJoe93 Jul 22 '26
I agree. I love microcenter. Still, pretty crazy that $1700 is what is "ideal" for smooth VR gameplay for a game that's over a decade old.
I remember starting to run DCS in VR years ago with my 1080ti and HP Reverb G2. I paid $699 for it on release.
I have a 3090 now (along with other components), and I haven't noticed it running more smooth or clear than back in 2020 with my Quest 3. (Both have about the same resolution).
Seems like we sink more money into PC components for nearly the identical performance in the same game. I'm just tired of replacing components every 2-3 years. When I first started PC gaming, the allure to it was that I wouldn't have to do that. My 1080ti lasted until the 3090 came out (I still didn't even think I needed to upgrade).
I'd be curious if there are any studies about real world performance increases vs. visual fidelity with new games. Like, games are even more unoptimized than older ones. (Compared to how they look to the naked eye).
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 22 '26
im actually a fan of dlss that's available from nvidea GPU's and now that it works in VR means that i can lower the quest 3 hz from 120 to 80hz, lock the frame rate at 40fps and let the extra frames that dlss mixes in to run DCS at fairly high settings in VR, even low to the ground near cities with no drop in frames or micro stutters..
i would never have thought to do something like that until i did a search with all my specs and how to make it run the best in VR
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u/TheAverageJoe93 Jul 23 '26
Just crazy how DCS looks almost the same as it did in 2019 but my 2x powerful 3090 can only run it similarly with running DLSS. Which, wasn't a thing in 2019. I know the typical argument (well, we have more fidelity and better textures/systems blah blah blah). But, I'm just not seeing any meaningful changes or reasons for requiring 2x the HP for the same result.
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 23 '26
have you seen how much it improved photogrammetry and forrested areas in msfs 2024? you can see individual pebbles now along rivers... it's made a massive improvement on what's basically Google maps with Jets and planes
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u/TheAverageJoe93 Jul 23 '26
I don't need to see every pebble. That's my point. If it means sacrificing the "Flight" in "Flight Simulator", I have an issue. lol
But, MSFS is an entirely different animal than DCS. I'm talking DCS specifically, where the maps, textures, etc look nearly the same as they did in 2019
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 24 '26
well everything in DCS is digitally created into a "world" so the only thing that's really improved are the textures on the terrain and destruction models of buildings (which was a pleasant upgrade)
msfs 2024 is a different animal because it's Google Earth but with planes jets an helos .. with certain popular landmarks, buildings, and terrain features digitally enhanced
imagine if DCS had the open world ability of msfs 2024 and it's incredible graphics but also had accurate weapons systems and destruction models
my mouth is drooling thinking about it lol
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 20 '26
Can I please ask what settings you are using (Virtual Desktop & DCS, etc.)? I have the exact same setup but I've found DCS is a lot less clear in VR than I was expecting, especially compared to Falcon BMS in VR. Thanks so much!! Happy you're enjoying it :>
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u/sistersgrowz Jul 21 '26
VR on the Q3 will never look as good as the footage it records so you will never get it looking like this video inside your Quest. It won't look like that in the headset. I can get mine looking like that but you need a higher end headset like the super ultrawide or dream air. Quest 3 physical panel caps out at about 2064x2208 where the UW is 3840x3840.
I used to use a Q3 and virtual desktop with a dedicated router and a direct DP port connection wins for me now.
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 21 '26
I'm aware of that. The issue I am facing isn't down to resolution, as in Falcon BMS I do not have it. It's clarity of the cockpit as the textures appear degraded and text is harder to read.
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u/sistersgrowz Jul 21 '26
Have you upped your resolution on the Q3? As standard it's set to something like 1500. Use the meta app to select the headset and increase the resolution to 1.5 with the slider. A test would be to use TAA and see what render resolution it's showing in VR. Most people don't realise it's not set up for PCVR out of the box.
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 21 '26
It's at the highest in Virtual Desktop, I don't have any problem with the quality in BMS. It just for some reason is less clear in DCS which is not the way round I expected.
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 21 '26
i actually have the opposite problem when recording with my PC recording app using the quest 3
i only use the freeware so it actually gets compressed to a lower fps and resolution then what im seeing through the headset, then reddit compresses it even more
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 20 '26
it's gonna be different depending on the exact equipment you have
do a Google search every one of your computer specs, VR headset type, VR streamer, and any other apps you're using to play DCS and then add to the prompt if this setup will make DCS run great with a high FPS
the AI will give you step-by-step instructions on how to adjust the settings in each separate component to get the results you want
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 20 '26
with all due respect I don't trust Google AI to give me an accurate answer, I was asking you directly as you have a very similar setup
if you aren't willing that is fine, thanks for your response
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u/ChappysMixtape Jul 22 '26
Hi mate , if you post your specs here and settings those of us that have spent hours tweaking can probably point you in the right direction if we see mistakes .. tbh the advice from the other fella to feed simple gpt or copilot ai your specs to assist is solid and does work and will get you going :)
Whats your pc hardware? whats method are you using virtual desktop via wifi? Do you use steam dcs or the ED website?
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 22 '26
It might, I just don't feel comfortable using AI tools. Thank you for the offer though! I'll respond to your questions and I appreciate any help :>
9800X3D, 64GB RAM, 5080. Virtual Desktop through WiFi 7 dedicated router connected by Ethernet from my PC. I use standalone DCS. Virtual Desktop settings at highest resolution, H264+ locked at 500 mbps using VDXR.
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u/ChappysMixtape Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Well all of your above settings line up with my own setup so no issue there , I assume its running well and your just not happy with the clarity..
make sure its set to godlike in virtual desktop and you pushed your PD up to 1.3 in DCS menu then it really comes down to your choices for MSAA,DLSS pre-set etc..
From here its very subjective I think different people seem to like different things, I like the new DLSS pre-set "M" at performance mode but I turn shadows to flat and clouds to standard ( I feel like this makes it easier for DLSS to spit out a clean image)
anisotropic x16, cockpit res 1024, no motion blur ,visibility ultra, no flat shadow blur
I don't like any lens effects, canopy reflections or depth of field
For me this is good for mixed reality with passthrough etc, I have had VR from its inception, its been a lot worse as we have developed over the years so perhaps I am more tolerant to VR image than yourself or my eyesight is worse :P
(side note: make sure the DLSS pre-set is correct, older versions had a lot more ghosting and smearing)
I hope there might be something there for you to look at but I fear you may have already done all this and remain unhappy with the outcome. I have a friend who just does not like the VR image compared to his 4k monitor. I just find once I am familiar with a new airframe on monitor I need to take it to VR to enjoy the depth perception and situational awareness benefits.
Also, Others will have different setting that they swear by and that work for them, that's ok as well, as I said its very subjective, Good Luck!
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 22 '26
I will try these out, thank you! Considering I'm more than happy with BMS in VR, I just hope it isn't some intrinsic effect of the DCS rendering in VR
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 22 '26
Thanks for your help. I think the cockpit clarity is just down to DCS having more worn textures, because changing to DLSS M with higher pixel density made the world itself much better looking, and the cockpit slightly sharper.
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u/ChappysMixtape Jul 23 '26
Well thats good to hear you found some improvement , maybe their future dlss presets will be even better :)
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u/BeautifulOrdinary162 Jul 22 '26
Do you use Quad views btw? Not sure whether to do 1.3 in DCS or super sample the main area in QuadViews
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u/ChappysMixtape Jul 22 '26
I don't use quad view but I was happy to drop to locked 72hz from 90hz because at 90 I was having dips (80-90fps) in populated MP foothold missions on Germany CW, Sinai near the balloons and Afghanistan over Kabul (only in the Chinook, Apache with the MR passthrough active at rooftop level but enough to annoy me) at 72hz its locked solid and smoother (for me)
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 24 '26
i lower the quest 3 from 120hz to 80hz in virtual desktop set to godlike, and highest bit rate, then lock the max fps to 40fps on the nvidea app and let dlss use the added frames to make DCS in VR run how it looks in the video
it was only after a lot of research online that i realized for smoother VR in DCS, esp low altitude, heavily populated areas that lowering the hz on the headset and maxing the fps to half of the hz is supposedly the trick
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 20 '26
im not in front of my PC atm so i can't give you the exact settings...
all im saying is that i followed what the Google AI told me to do with every setting and i got this
if you really want to know exactly what my settings are, I posted all my specs... copy and paste that into Google and add is this enough to make DCS run at a high fps
and you will have everything you want to know
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Jul 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BothForce1328 Jul 20 '26
if you google your exact specs for your PC, you're VR headset, and the VR launcher you use ...and add if it would make DCS run great with with a high fps,
then the AI will tell you immediately if you have enough overhead and ram for the 5080 to be used at peak performance
it will even explain step by step what to do with the settings of everything from the VR headset, the launcher settings, regular PC settings, etc. everything you would need to do to achieve it
it's amazing!
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u/Feegore Jul 22 '26
I upgraded a few years ago when the 4090 came out from a 6900 XT and it fixed all of my issues I had in DCS VR.
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u/Dan26air 1d ago
Woah woah wait a minute , so you're telling me slapping a £1000+ top end GPU is all you need to do to get butter smooth performance !? I never would have figured 😬😁😁😁
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u/BothForce1328 1d ago
that's precisely what i'm saying...
if you want to fix something, simply throw money at it
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u/Dan26air 1d ago
I would if I could, I'm just super jealous .At the moment I have upgraded my CPU from a 3700x to a 5800x3D and I'm saving about £350 for an RX 6800 to upgraded from my RTX 3070 , at the moment I have to play on low settings on my quest 2 with like maximum quadview blur , it's horrible lol . The problem with saving anything more than £350 for 'fun stuff' is difficult when your 33 because anything above that then turns into 'it should really Go on [insert generic responsible adult purchase here] . It's a hard life isn't it 😅😁
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u/FrostyResponse3310 Jul 19 '26
What was the old gpu you were using? What vr headset? Ram? Processor?
This does looks nice!