Excitement ends in dissapointment - Idea's needed

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

I have been flying PMDG 744X around the world for some time now. In fact it is almost the only reason I turn my PC on! My system has been rock solid with no probelsm whatsoever - a stable as could be.When I purchased a 22inch wide screen LCD monitor (HP w2207h) I thought it was really going to boost the experience of flying the 744X and for a few minutes it really did... but...At the native resolution on the new monitor of 1650 x 1080 the sim seems to bomb out with corrupt graphics. The virtual cockpit remains OK, as does all external views, scenery etc but the 2D cockpit panels, including 2D overhead panel, FO panel becomes a mess (I'm not talking about stretched, I mean it is all wonky and unusable).This only happens with the 744X, not MS sim aircraft on the new monitor. Also the top menu bar (Flights, Options, etc) text becomes a muddled blur and cannot be read.The PC is not overclocked (although I tried a few o/clocking tweaks to fix the problem without luck) and these are the specs:Vista 32bit Home Premium, Intel Q6600 Quad Core CPU, Gigabyte 8800GTS 320Mb Graphics, 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 Gamingh Memory, RAID0 Sata Hard disks with 500GB, 500W PSU, Gigabyte G965P-DS3P Rev 3 M/Board. As you can see, PC is decent spec so why is the system having such a hard time with the 744X with the new monitor. Do I have to chuck out the 8800GTS for a 8800GTX with 768Mb RAM? Does anyone else experience this?Does not matter how great the monitor is, if I cant fly the 744X I will never be happy :-(Greg H

[lefteris 70]

Greg-at first glance, the weak links in this story are:a) Your graphics card memory (320mb). You're trying to fill more bits on the screen than before (1650x1080) and at a different ratio than the 1280x1024 more "usual" one (which has a 1.25 width vs. height ratio). As such, your card might be clunking out in its video mapping. I wouldn't go for the 768mb though - stick with 512 as that seems to be the sweet spot (more memory has mapping issues inside Vista, which causes lots of out-of-memory problems too).:( Vista 32bit. Doesn't offer you an iota better performance than XP. In fact, it offers you worse performance when compared side-by-side with XP (there are various posts in our forum and others that discuss this).c) PC Memory. 2GB is just not enough to run Vista in my opinion - you seem to want to build a good gaming rig, so I'd suggest that you upgrade to 4GB soonest, and go read up on LARGEADDRESSAWARE, or after upgrading the memory, go Vista 64 bit, which, at least to me, felt like moving from a studio apartment to a luxurious six bedroom home (admittedly, I upgraded to 8GB RAM as well).I think there have been many posts written in our forum and others regarding this topic, so just be patient and read up a bit more... we're here for further help!

[NoahBryant 26]

Lefteris-How would I go about determining if my system is set up for 64bit?My processor is the Intel Core2 6600 @2.4ghzThe only software i really care about is FSX with my PMDG and LDS planes and VRC.

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Thanks Lefteris,I guess you are confirming what I suspected all along. What 512Mb card would you suggest?Greg

[Tabs 2,790]

>At the native resolution on the new monitor of 1650 x 1080 the>sim seems to bomb out with corrupt graphics. The virtual>cockpit remains OK, as does all external views, scenery etc>but the 2D cockpit panels, including 2D overhead panel, FO>panel becomes a mess (I'm not talking about stretched, I mean>it is all wonky and unusable).This really sounds like a video card overheat to me... check into that. Make sure the fan is running, no dust blocking the heatsink's fins etc.

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Thanks Ryan,Fan definitely running OK and no dust. I have made sure everything is running a stock speeds to reduce overheat potential. I usually overclock the CPU a little (200-400Mhz) but not the GPU.The thing is that it was 100% stable with my previous 19 inch monitor so I think therein lies the clue as pointed out by Lefteris. Doing some calc's there are about 30% more pixels on a 22 inch than their are on a 19 inch monitor. I guess this graphics card is just not cut out to deal with such an advanced sim. Default MS aircraft fly beautifully but they are all kids toys in relation to the 744X!Greg

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Hi Noah,I'm no expert but your CPU is definitely x64 capable, which means you could run 64bit OS.I guess most issues are resolved now but I was an early starter with the 64bit Vista and had to "roll back" to 32bit Vista (both versions on the same DVD) as I could not get drivers for half my software. It was a miserable time for me and I found all my problems were solved by going 32bit. Going on the forums for help back then only provoked responses like "What were you thinking!". Since then I have been shy of the 64bit OS.As I say though, that was a year ago, and I'm sure the 64bit support is far better than it was then.

[Krister 51]

After I had installed PMDG 747FSX (not saying "because", just stating the order) the visuals got totally messed up too on my system when I was in any cockpit mode. Everything IN the cockpit was fine, but outside it was a surrealistic world of blocks appearing and disappearing. When I used any other default aircraft in FSX everything was fine. FS2004 also works perfectly.However, I'm on Windows XP 32 bit and E6600 with a GF8800 GT factory OC with 512 MB RAM and 2 GB RAM in the computer and a 22" monitor. I haven't got FSX installed anymore and I really didn't play around with other video card drivers, so I never came to any conclusion. I might re-install FSX again just for the sake of flying the queen.

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Here is an update!Following on from my first post - I took the plunge and forked out for a "Sparkle" GeForce 8800GTX 768MB ram card over the weekend.To be honest, cant see a frame rate improvement in FSX over my 320MB GTS card (if there is, it is not much) but then I know this is because the sim is hitting the bottle neck on the Q6600 Quad Core CPU more than anything else. My 3D Mark06 score went up by about 2000 points though with no overclocking.The important thing is that the corrupt graphics problem has been solved! This implies that it was definitely the combination of a 320MB graphics memory running a 22inch wide screen LCD that was the problem.So, to all those out there that want to upgrade to a 22inch widescreen or bigger monitor - make sure you invest wisely in your graphics card..... Out of interest, with my system (updated signature below) I get only 17-25 Frames/second when flying the 744X in detailed airport environments with almost everything maxed (barely acceptable to me). With standard MS aircraft I get about 50 60+ FPS in detailed environments and up at altitude can get past 100. if i set the resolution down to 1280X1024, even see 200FSP flash up on occasion! Jujst shows you what a monster the PDMG sim is :)System:Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4Ghz, 2 GB Corsair DDR2-800 XMS Gaming memory 5-5-5-12, Sparkle GeForce 8800GTX 768Mb graphics, Gigabyte G965P-Ds3p Rex3 Motherboard, 500W PSU, 22 inch HP LCD3Mark06 = 11300, with O/clock CPU only to 2.8Ghz = 11836 (stable)