Frame rates, cards & PCs

[Guest]

Hi,I see there are a number of posts on the subject of frame rates and graphics cards. It was interesting to read that a more powerful graphics card will not always increase the frame rate. Strange? I was also interested to read a number of the replies from people who spoke about their systems and what frame rates they get. I have also posted questions on this topic and read with interest the replies - as they seemed to vary so much. My own PC is new - XP2000 Athlon equates I think to a P1.7, I ahve the max ram 512 and the Ge4200 from Nvdia. Now according to many of the posts this system should give me no problems running FS2002 at max. Well sorry to disappoint but it doesn't. I have tested many variations, and the average is 20 - 25 fps. So times it drops to 11. So when people say they have all settings at max - I wonder what they really mean? Do they just have the scenery at max? or the scenery and the hardware options - lighting AA, tri-linear - thingy(?). Very interesting. You see I can't get it to add up as people say. How can someone who has almost exactly the same spec PC - including the same graphics card get such a variation in rates?I have now settled on the 20- 25 and have stoppped 'fiddling'.But whats everyones view - do you all turn everything and I mean everything to the max or just elements?Keith

[Guest]

Keith there are couple things you should do if you built this system yourself.First is to backup "everything" and do a FDISK/FORMAT.This will give you a clean start.This is very important when getting major new hardware such as a motherboard and CPU.Once everything is installed go to windows update homepage and grab all the important updates for your O/S. Since you have a VIA chipset you need to get the lastest 4 in 1 drivers from Via at www.via.com.tw . They are under the drivers area.Once those are installed I suggest going to www.guru3d.com and getting the 40.72 beta drivers .Some people like the newer 41.03 but I don't that's just me.After this is finshed defrag the hard drive turn off any serivces you will not use espically in XP.I run windows 2000 with only 16 serivces that run .The default win2k install had about 30 running.This frees up a ton a system resources and you should be able to run FS2002 very well. 25 FPS for FS2002 is very good .This is not quake 3 it will not run at 120 FPS ;)Now to answer your question. I do not max out everything for Isee no reason to.Since I use a flight sim to better train myself I can not afford to see the screen jerk around because I want to see more eye candy.I have a actually quite a nice balance of eye candy a good performance now and Iam very happy with it. Here are my settingsEverything maxed except for Clouds 65 visability 70 water- detail ATC 65 Resolution 1152x864@32 with 2X FSAA and 32X Antisotropic texturing .This is on a 19" viewsonic montior I get between 15-30 FPS depending on the area and the weather but it is always smooth for the most part.Sometimes in a nice airport like simflyers with ATC it can get a it slow but not so much that i can't stand it .This is what works for me and my not work for you.Give it a shot and see what you think .There is no reason to be disappointed with your setup. It's a nice setup you just have to tweak it up alittle and find what works best.Hope this helps some Richard Dillon KPDKSr First Officer www.jetstarairlines.com"Bill Grabowski's"ERJ-145 panel Beta TeamMD-11 panel Beta TeamPAI beta tester ____________________________"Lets Roll" 9/11 Specs AMD 1600 XP MSI KT 266t pro2 512MB DDR 2100GF3 ti 200 64MB SBliveCh Products Yoke and Pedals(usb)Windows 2000 Serivce Pack 3

[Guest]

Hi Richard,Sorry if I didn't make it clear it is a commercial PC not home built. I can just about plug a joystick in!Thanks for the info re settings. Could you clear up a few things for me please?What do you mean by:...with 2X FSAA and 32X Antisotropic texturing ...That is beyond me. I don't recall seeing any buttons for those. I thought the AA was an on or off setting.Cheers,Keith

[Guest]

Hi There:First of all: avereage of 20-25 in framerates for FS2002 must be considered very good on your system (which by the way is similar to mine ). When it drops to 10-15, this is probably close to airports.If you have AI traficc activated, this will slow down the system. A good way to test this is the following:When framerates start dropping to around 10 , fly on for about 1 minute. Then do an instant replay of 60 sec. If the replay have highter fps, this is because AI traffic is not active in replay mode.Keep in mind that FS2002 is a totally different game than most other.Not only because of the graphics complexity, but because of all the background work needed by fs2002, which in turn need cpu cycles, memory and diskacces. Anyway 20-25 is smooth. Your eyes cannot se any difference above 25.Stuttering in the display can be seen below 18.Last remark: You say "all sliders at MAX". If you reduce "terrain coplexity" from 100 to 90-94 , you will notice little or no change in the terrain, but the cpu/memory requierement will be reduced. Pay no attention to the discussions where some games or benchmarks show 100fps. They are mostly graphics only games.It is like discussing the speed and climbrate of a 747 if the weight was 1000 kg, and the enginepower was unchanged.Norvald Olsvold

[Guest]

Kieth,Uninstall your video drivers and install the 40.72 driver from guru3.com first and then read on.The tweak box from the 30.xx and the 40.xx drivers a totally different and the 40.xx is a faster driver set imho. ok now that this is done let's proceed :) in theory FSAA is a on and off funtion but that is only in FS2002.FS2002 defaults to 4x FSAA which is the max fsaa for most normal video cards .If you use FSAA inside FS2002 turn it OFF now exit fs2002. Right click your mouse anywhere on your desktop and click "properties" on the dialog box you get. When you click this you will get a display properties box and at the end of this you will Settings click this .Next click advance and then the GF4 tab you should see.This will give you the setting for your GF4.I have a GF3 so yours might be slightly different.The Direct 3d properties is what you want to play with set FSAA to be used in all D3D apps and also you use FSAA 2X.4X of course is much better but it also is alot harder on the CPU.Set texture antisotropic at 4x and hit apply. If you run windows xp or 2000 set the refresh rate of your montior to something higher than 60hz.If you do not know the best setting for your montior check with the makers website and download their drivers .If you do not feel comfortable or do not know how high to go with refresh rates a safe haven is 75hz for 1024x768@32 and 75hz 1152x864@32.Keep in mind that if you go to high on your refresh rate it can mess up your monitor beyond repair so be very carefull. 75hz is usually fine for most 17 inch montiors but not much higher at the resolutions stated.I still highly advise to look at the montior specs before doing this though. Good luck Richard Dillon KPDKSr First Officer www.jetstarairlines.com"Bill Grabowski's"ERJ-145 panel Beta TeamMD-11 panel Beta TeamPAI beta tester ____________________________"Lets Roll" 9/11 Specs AMD 1600 XP MSI KT 266t pro2 512MB DDR 2100GF3 ti 200 64MB SBliveCh Products Yoke and Pedals(usb)Windows 2000 Serivce Pack 3

[Guest]

Hey Keith, those frame rates are not bad...try this one on for size. I have a Dell 2ghz, 1gig RD Ram, Geforce 3 T200 64ddr, ATA 100 7200rpm HD system and sliders set to average of 80-90% AA enabled, 1152X864 85mhz, with 30.82 drivers and 30.82 stereo drivers (for ED glasses)....at KSFO drum roll please...9-12 FPS!!!! I know the glasses slow the system down, but without them if I hit 14 FPS with traffic down to 50% I am jumping for joy...all after spending over 3 grand last year for this. My Bios is still A02 (I will upgrade it to A07). My problem is I have the older 2Ghz chip with the 256 L2 cache and not the better 512 L2 cache. I have to contact Dell and see if my motherboard will except maybe a 2.2 with 512 L2 Cache!! Your FPS I wish I had.Regards,Philip

[Guest]

Hi folks,Many thanks for all the suggestions. Richard I am slightly reluctant to reinstall new drivers, not really a PC person. But thanks for the info.At least I now know that 20-25 is considered to be good.Thanks again,Keith