Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
windycloud

22" widescreen - should I get it?

Recommended Posts

I currently use a CRT 19" at 1280x960. My FS9 runs well. I'm thinking about buying a 22" widescreen and run FS9 at up to 1680x1050. Now my question is...can the increse in resolution significantly affect my FPS? likely?My rig is:AMD 64 4000+ (single core) | 1GB ram | 7900GTJason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

Hi Jason, yes IMHO, expect to loose some. After all, the resolution is going up by ca 40%... Maybe you can compensate by using less AA/AF? I'm sure you're aware, but if, make sure the panel is fast enough. You don't want to land 3 frames after your aircraft. Or otherwise... ;-) Do you have a good 'Virtual Passenger Liabilty Insurance'? :-) Kind regards Jaap

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jaap. thanks for the reply. I did try running FS9 at 1600x1200 last night. I lost about 40% FPS. It was still very playable with FPS well above 20. However, I wasn't doing things like landing PMDG at Chicago with AI, a situation in which I would have less than great performance at 1024x960. So as nice as a 22" looks I've decided to hold off on it. My setup is, for me, about as good as it gets for FS9. I'm content and will be for a long time. In a couple of years I'll give FSX another hard look.Jason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

Welcome, Jason. Great idea to test it like that. AIM, you might be able to compensate a little by doing less AA/AF? Did you compare that too? FWIW & AFAIK, you need to at least reboot FS so certain settings really take effect. Maybe some settings even require a sys-reboot? You might have seen my replies to Mark 'Dark Moment'? Instead of a hi-res 'make the GPU companies happy' displays ;-), projection is becoming a top quality plus affordable alternative. Of course, this only works if A) wifey thinks it's a great idea and :( you have a spare couple of metres to enhance immersion... :-) I've said it a couple of times, I'm remain 'fairly amazed' how people go out and buy big screens neglecting the impact it will have on their systems. No, no, not you - of course not! ;-) Sales people will often be silent about this issue too... They know, one week later the same folks will be back for a new system because "everything is so sluggish all of a sudden..." ;-) Finally, another question, how much memory does your GPU have? If 512MB, I would suggest plugging some more RAM. Reason: Your GPU reserves system-RAM, the more on the GPU, the more sys-RAM it consumes. Cheers and kind regards Jaap Edited because I can't spell! :-)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jaap, thanks for your Excellent Replies Episode II. My GPU has 256MB of ram. I already have my AA/AF at rather low levels of 2xQ & 4. I don't think I have much room to lower those even further.As far as system ram goes, I did think about getting two fast 1GB sticks to replace my Corsair value ram (512 x 2). I also thought about getting a SATA HD to replace my DMA133 drive. But at the end I was really not sure if I would see any practical difference after the investment. My only problem with my FS is occational stutters, especially when it combs through and loads the AI plans and planes.I think the projection solution is great for the combination of outside only view and 2D panels. Since I fly only in VC I don't know how great it would be.Jason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

Hi Jason, I'm in a slight hurry so just some quick questions and remarks. Are you running your RAM @ 1T? This is just to check how well you know your system. ;-) Plus, what kind of HD(s) do you currently have? Brand(s)? If you want to do a relatively priceworthy FS9-upgrade, IMHO, get a X2 plus 2GBs of RAM - indeed 2x1GB so you can run it @ 1T. ;-) That will cut through FSX like butter for as long as the system lives. A newer HD could help too. A 256MB GPU seems more than sufficient for a single FS9-view @ 1280x. I've hardly ever seen FS9 go above 170MB VGA-RAM @ very high settings. However, I've also never bothered to turn on building shadows for example. :-) Stutters can have multiple origins - much more complicated. Hope this adds to thoughts again and sorry for the rush, Jason. Kind regards Jaap

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ram is running at 1T now. :) It was on auto. I have yet to test how it runs with FS. My HD is a 80GB Maxtor DMA133 7200rpm with 8mb cache. I have a second drive that's very similar except it's 120GB. I keep my mesh and a couple of addon sceneries on it.The problem with stutters is indeed much more complicated. I suspect there is some minor bottleneck in my file system pipeline that's been causing some stutters. Best,Jason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

Hi Jason, best would be OS (or pagefile) on the fastest drive. Usually, the bigger the quicker. 1T should make a difference of ca 8%. FWIW, I also find it helpful to disable energy saving (incl Cool 'n Quiet in the bios). OS power scheme: Always On. When do the stutters occur? Loads of AI? When the hardware/driver environment is nicely setup, IMHO they mainly occur when we overload FS' sub-system. You might have been a bit surprised when I mentioned a twin-core? Well, I was surprised too when using them for the first time! :-) In hindsight it makes sense because many OS elements, drivers etc benefit from multicores. Even if the main app hardly does. Cheers and kind regards Jaap

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jaap. My page file is already on the second / larger drive. My energy saving settings are as you described. According to Filemon, the stutters occur when FS loads AI plans and AI planes or when FS loads scenery texture files, also when new clouds draw in the distance (40 mile distance with max coverage). The AI stutters are the most obvious. The later two are not that bad at all. Dual core may make better sense, just as faster ram or HD do. But my dilemma is, if I go for all these items I might as well think about a new rig with Intel C2D. But given I have little interest in FSX at this point, I'm kind of reluctant to do a significant upgrade just to run my FS9 at 100FPS instead of 75FPS, or to eliminate occasional stutters, although the later is indeed a little annoying.Best,Jason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

Hi Jason, great you have everything there already. I'm talking to much, much more of an expert I was thinking! Pls excuse if some of my remarks sounded silly. It's really hard to judge sometimes. And oh yes, the famous dilemma with replacing a couple of components vs "I might as well buy a new box?!" :-) I would also indeed only do the suggested upgrades if you're definitely sticking to a winXP/DX9 environment for a while. System overflow is a big problem with AI. Do you have an idea how many AC FS tracks where it stutters (most)? Most systems hit a roof. On my 'ol P4 for example, it used to be around 350 movements ca 2 years ago. More provoked stutters. On an AMD64 this number was ca 25% higher. It often is directly in relation to the CPU's raw power. JFYI, 'my do' is 'a little bit AI' - so anything I say is based upon the AI-type I know best. BTW, I'm not surprised you mentioned AI. ;-) Finally, FileMon can help, but it can be misleading as well. Many 'Errors' are regular loops and we should probably be happy FS has them. :-) Ever tried RegMon? Kind regards Jaap

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jaap,As a result of this conversation, I bought a Samsung 609BW 19" widescreen monitor. It has a 2ms response time and a 2000:1 contrast ratio.Compared to my old 19" sony trinitron CRT, the best thing about this one is that I get a wider view in VC. 16:9 fits the eyes' view angle much better. The image is also brighter and crisper, color is more vivid. And since the native resolution is 1440*900, it doesn't hurt my FPS at all. Also it's much lighter than my old CRT, which must weight half a ton. :) And I get to do away with my big ugly computer desk all together.I'm really happy with the new monitor! Thanks for all your input.Jason


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest baksteen33

You're welcome, Jason. Enjoy. All of a sudden... the desk is empty! :-) Kind regards Jaap

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

All of a sudden... the desk is empty! :-) >:-lol :-lol :-lol indeed!!


Jason

FAA CPL SEL MEL IR CFI-I MEI AGI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...