Hardware problems with PMDG 737

[ahaka 0]

I recently assembled a new computer with all the latest hardware on the market. I was expecting to get increased fps with my system but instead the FPS went WAY down from my old system.Here are my system specs:Asus P5AD2 Deluxe motherboard with i925X chipsetPentium 4 LGA775 Processor @ 3,4GHz1GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAMAsus Radeon X800XT 256mb graphics card in PCI Express bus.What I've heard from many with a similar configuration is that they get over 50fps even with the 747NG, but in 737NG I get only 5-9fps, REGARDLESS of what my display settings and resolution is.ALSO the PMDG AIRAC Database loader is VERY much slower than it was on my old computer.I've also noticed that my new display card applies AA to the PMDG gauges, which it shouldn't do? Also the font on the LCDs seem to be different from the original.Now what could possibly cause this strange behaviour? Is FS and 737NG designed for older hardware with AGP and not PCI Express cards? I've tried everything from different drivers to reinstalling everything, tweaking etc. But with no luck.Any ideas how to make it flyable again?

[Guest fssimulator]

Have you built an entire new PC, with a new harddisk etc. or is this continuing on from the old one? If the pieces that you stated above are the only pieces that you changed, then it might be a problem with drivers or DirectX. Have you removed the old drivers completely, and installed the latest drivers plus DirectX9.0c? Also, does this only happen with PMDG and FS, or is it in all the games you play? All the Best,Robin Bilgil!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[ahaka 0]

It's an entirely new PC, but I have now found at least the major troublemaker here.The main reason for the extremely poor FPS was the PMDG gauges in virtual cockpit. As I've said this new Asus Radeon X800 PCI express recognizes PMDG gauges as "to-be-anti-aliased" When it anti-aliases the gauges and tries to update them 15fps in VC, the performance of the sim goes down to about 5fps.What I did was I reduced the VC gauge update rate to minimum (2fps) and suddenly the VC and Virtual Cabin FPS increased to a standard level, which is around 19-25fps. The panel gauge update was at 20fps.With my system the overall fps should in theory still be better than that, but at least I've found the major reason now.Please note that my graphic card does not apply the AA to default FS gauges.I turn to PMDG team with this now and ask if they have a more precise explanation about this? What is the basic techology behind those gauges that causes my graphic card to anti-alias them?Even more valuable finding this could be to the future development of the PMDG products, since I strongly believe that my type of systems are getting more common in the near future.

[Guest Philip Olson]

Antti, First I must ask you what kind of performance are you getting in FS with a default aircraft? I think that you may be centering on one issue too quickly. The first and best method to getting FS to work properly is to make sure everything is fine with a default situation and then we can work through your drivers and hardware to see what needs fixing or tweaking. Slow down and work through this in a logical manner. Set up the default situation with the C172 at KSEA and tell me what kind of frame rates you are getting, what your current settings are and explain when any slow downs or stutters occur. This will tell me if you have any system or driver issues to start with. Maybe you have already done this but since you have not communicated it I am not aware and I apologize. What driver are you using for your video card, have you tried others? How about sound, have you tried disabeling sound to see if this changes anything? There are so many variables to work through and it is easier to go through them step by step. PMDG planes will tax a system so if you have a problem with your system or a driver these planes will really bring the issue to light and you have to find the problem. I do this stuff for a living so I can help you, just let me know what you have done so far to diagnose the problem and give me some information about a default set up. I am currently in the hospital after a surgery, I may be getting out later today but I will try to check this forum as often as I can to see if you have replied, if it takes me some time to respond I am sorry but I did not desert you, I will respond. Hopefully we can get you all fixed up in no time.Take care, PhilipPhilip OlsonI'm the luckiest man in the world, my girl friend has a yoke and rudder pedals! Eat your hearts out!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[crvm 0]

What I've heard from many with a similar configuration is that they get over 50fps even with the 747NG With what? Tweaking, it's all about tweaking man. Hit CTRL-ALT_DEL and tell me how muchy ram is free WHILE you have FS going. Even 1 GIG of ram can suffer with tons of stuff going like virus protection for starters. FS will not give up the ghost in FPS with sacrifices - i.e. tuning down some items. Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/southparkcartmad.gif[h3]I WANT MY 747![/h3]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)

[ahaka 0]

Please read the third post of this topic. I've explained one thing that seems to affect the performance on my new system. And it's a strange one. Wasnt like that on my old system.Philip, I'll get back to you when I've done some testing. I started everything from the beginning. I'm writing everything down now. Thanks for helping me out.

[ahaka 0]

Ok Philip, I've re-installed everything from the operating system to FS. Here's my installation log and test results with a clean FS9 install, not even the 9.1 update installed, and the flight was made with default Cessna in Seattle area.Installation log:- Installed WinXP with SP2- Installed latest drivers for Intel i925x chipset- Installed audio drivers (motherboard integrated sound card)- Installed ATI Catalyst 8.07 beta drivers (I was told the beta is faster than current catalyst, and so it seems. Or at least equal.)- Installed CH joysticks and MS Sidewinder Pro- Installed FS2004Now onto the test flight:Display set to 1280x976x32 with AA 4x Anisotropic filterin 16x (from display driver control panel) Terrain mesh 100, textures highest values, both autogen and scenery density normal and shadows only for the aircraft. Traffic set to 40%.The average fps with the deffault cessna on ground @ KSEA was around 20-27, when looking down in the VC it could rise as high 80fps, but never when looking to scenery or instruments.During flight most of the stutters and frame losses occured during turns, as its probably expected to. During approach when getting closer to ground a small loss of frames came into play. At nightime the frame rates were a little lower than during daytime. Turning off traffic increased average frame rate to around 28-30.Here's my complete system specs once more:Asus P5AD2 Deluxe motherboard with i925x chipsetAsus Radeon X800XT 256MB card (PCI Express, NOT AGP)Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 processor 3,4 GHz1GB Kingston 533Mhz DDR2 Memory120GB Western Digital 7200RPM Hard Drive (S-ATA connection)Lite-on DVD RomNow this was the first step, any suggestion now or should I move into installing PMDG 737 or FS9.1 update?

[B777ER 2,486]

>The main reason for the extremely poor FPS was the PMDG gauges>in virtual cockpit. As I've said this new Asus Radeon X800 PCI>express recognizes PMDG gauges as "to-be-anti-aliased" When it>anti-aliases the gauges and tries to update them 15fps in VC,>the performance of the sim goes down to about 5fps.>>What I did was I reduced the VC gauge update rate to minimum>(2fps) and suddenly the VC and Virtual Cabin FPS increased to>a standard level, which is around 19-25fps. The panel gauge>update was at 20fps.>Hmmm..I find this interesting. I have an ATI card and have set my VS gauge update rate at 15. I will try later to reduce mine and see what happens.

[Guest Philip Olson]

Hey, no problem! I don't mind helping at all since I know this is a frustrating thing to have happen, I have been there many times. I have to apologize ahead of time if I make any mistakes, I am doing this all from memory since I am stuck in the hospital, at least for another day. To me it seems as if your average frame rate is a little bit low, you should be getting a little better than that. One thing that I would really like for you to try is on the default flight hit alt, go to Options and disable the sound from within FS and see how much of a frame rate boost this gives you, if any. Sometimes onboard sound can cause a significant loss in performance, if this is the case you can get an add on sound card or we can try to lower the sound quality settings in Windows. I always recomend a sound card instead of an on board sound system for anyone that I build a system for, especially a gamer, usually the performance is better and you can get better sound if you are into that sort of thing. I will wait for your next post before getting into anything else, I could write a book on things to try so doing this step by step will be better. Thanks for taking the time to list everything here for me, it makes the process of elimination far easier for me. We will get you going soon.Take care,Philip OlsonI'm the luckiest man in the world, my girl friend has a yoke and rudder pedals! Eat your hearts out!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[Guest fssimulator]

I am not sure, but I had heard about issues with ATI and PCI Express :(All the Best,Robin Bilgilhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[ahaka 0]

Hello Philip,I disabled the sound from FS but that didn't do anything to the frames.The only thing I found to noticeably increase the frames was to disable the AI traffic. When disabling it I get around 29-39 fps with the default flight. Occasionaly it may be over 40.I think I'm going to install the 9.1 update next and see what it does.Also I noticed that my display adapters Internal DAC frewuency is 400MHz, but this isnt the clock frequency, right?

[Guest Philip Olson]

Antti, Ok, that is good that your sound is not causing the problem. Yes, go ahead and install the update. I am going to look a few things up as I have an idea of what it could be but I don't want to offer advice until I am sure of the steps you need to take. Like I said being stuck in this hospital is not making it easy!Talk to you soon,Philip OlsonI'm the luckiest man in the world, my girl friend has a yoke and rudder pedals! Eat your hearts out!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[ahaka 0]

Philip,I think I've fixed the problem for now! I re installed some drivers, and re-installed PMDG, and what did I get? 35-70fps in flight and on the ground! :) What caused the PMDG to slow down before? Well somehow my previous installation seemed to miss the right font for the gauges, with this installation the font was there, and I'm not sure if it's just the font, but the previous installation must have been really screwed!However, I'd be happy to hear what you were about to suggest, since it may help me or others in the future. Thank you very much for your help, and get well soon!

[Guest Philip Olson]

Antti, I am glad that you got it fixed! Very often something as simple as re-installing a driver will fix a problem like yours, I am glad it was simple. Now your frame rates seem to be more in line with your systems capabilities. I am about to go in for some more "therapy" but later tonight I will make a list of various things to try if you have a slow down, that way you and others can have a list for the future. It will not be an all inclusive list but what I usually do to track down a problem and it's solutuion. Actually it might be helpful for me to have the list written down as well. Enjoy your new found speed and smoothness! I just wish that I could so some real simming right now! :-( Take care! Philip OlsonI'm the luckiest man in the world, my girl friend has a yoke and rudder pedals! Eat your hearts out!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[Guest Philip Olson]

Hi Antti, I am sorry but I had a rather busy and difficult night last night so I could not post my information. I am getting out of the hospital later today and hopefully tonight I will get back here and post it. Sorry for the delay, please bear with me. Thanks!Philip OlsonI'm the luckiest man in the world, my girl friend has a yoke and rudder pedals! Eat your hearts out!http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg