Best performance and stability ever on my rig. I unzipped into the main installation folder and then cleared the cache folders as usual before running the sim.
Before this patch i had trouble with my GPU not clocking up as it should, then i tried forcing the clocks which worked but gave me reboots, then i renamed the ubi logo video file which again gave me correct GPU speeds but also resulted in instability and reboots.
With the current beta patch i just set it to run in fullscreen mode and the catalyst drivers took care of everything else.
i7 920 @ 2.7Ghz (no overclocking)
3GB DDR3 RAM in triple channel
Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard
Ati 4890 1GB
win7 x64
As you can see i'm running a respectable but definitely far from cutting edge PC which is two years old.
My settings are
1680x1050 native monitor resolution
model detail, damage decals, effects, land shading set to high
building detail set to low
SSAO off
Vsync, roads, grads and shadows on
the rest is set to medium
I got such good performance with the current patch that i might try and see if i can increase a couple of settings.
I was easily getting 40-60 FPS over water (i'm capped at 60 due to Vsync as my monitor has a 60Hz refresh rate) and it was also very smooth over land.
As a playability test i tried the Luftwaffe ground attack mission on the vehicle column which also has a nearby train target, a city and an airfield. I set some AI opposition which spawned on the airfield and clouds to medium. This gives a more or less all-around environment in terms of the things the sim has to render and it's more representative of overall playability than flying over water which is easy on FPS or skimming rooftops over London which is the highest possible load scenario (although i did try it and it was also completely playable for the first time).
With the previous patches and my GPU running at the correct speed, this ground attack mission and AI unit selection gave me a reboot as briefly as 5-10 minutes into the mission, stretching to 40 minutes if i was lucky. I guess that was possibly an issue with catalyst getting confused and not using the correct voltages or whatever due to the lack of a full screen mode, but now it's fixed. I logged the GPU parameters with GPU-Z and when it's under 100% load my temperatures are steady around 70-73 degrees, no reboots, overheating or other kind of instability plus getting full performance out of it for the first time without having to mess with any settings, so as you can guess i'm very pleased with the results.
Also, the toned down head shake makes head tracking work better and even the initial loading stutters i used to have when viewing tracers/smoke particles or going to zoom view for the first time in a mission have disappeared in 99% of the cases.
I might get a very brief pause, maybe skipping a frame or two, if it gets really hectic but nothing that can qualify as micro-freezes or noticeable stuttering and it recovers so fast that playability is not affected at all. I used the zoomed-in view during the entire duration of a few strafing passes on the AI and the FPS was good and so smooth that i could actually adjust my aim by tracers, fly the aircraft and evade the ground for the first time. Previously i had to use the wide/zoomed out view because the zoomed in view gave me stutters which caused me to crash into the ground, but now the FPS is so good that the sim feels so much more controllable and fun.
In short, better FPS and much better stability of FPS and the sim itself with this patch on my rig. Your mileage may vary and i guess there are other improvements still to be implemented (like multiplayer issues, etc) but as far as performance goes this patch gets a big thumbs up from me.
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