Hi,I hope this is the right forum to post this in, sorry if it is not and feel free to move it.I have been getting very low frame rates from FS9 and I am beginning to wonder if there is soemthing wrong with my computer and harware as I think I should be getting much hight FPS with my system. I get about 14-22 FPS in 2D cockpit (dropping to 12 at some airports). In the VC I have never seen FRS above abour 12 but on descent this often drops to 4-6!! I have just bought TrackIR but with those FPS it make flying from the VC impossible. The mentioned FPS are in LDS 767, PMDG 737NG/747 and PSS 777 as I dont really fly anything else.I would be interested in what other people have to say about this and if they thing there is a problem with my system. If there is anything I could do to improve my FPS I would really like to know.These are my system specs:AMD Athlon 64 3.5 GHz1.00GB RAMNVidia 6800 GT graphics cardThese are my setting:Graphics card - Antialiasing 4x - Anisotropic Filtering 2xFS9 Settings:Terrian mesh complexity - 100%Terrain texture size - HIGHTerrain detail size - HIGHWater effects - NONEExtended terrain texture - ENABLEDScenery comlexity - NORMALAutogen density - NORMALAdd-on dynamic scenery - NORMALGlobal aircraft quality - HIGHVC gauge quality - HIGHSight distance - 80miCloud draw distance - 80mi3D cloud percentage - 100%Cloud coverage density MAXIMUM(these are set according to Active Sky 6)Resolution - 1024x768x32Render to texture - DISSABLEDTransform and lighting - ENABLEDAnti aliasing - DISSABLED (4x on graphics card)Filtering - BILINEARMIP mapping quality - 6Hardware rendered lights - 6Global max texture size - MEDIUMTarget frame rate - 30FPSSorry it a bit of a long post but this is driving me crazy. If needs be I will even upgrade my system but I've only had this one for a year.Anyway, thanks for any comments/help :-) Andy S

Hi Andy,I have the same GPU and I get an average of 24 FPS with a 3 gig CPU. I am at work right now but I will reply with my system setup this afternoon when I wake up. Make sure all your drivers are up to date, especially the video card driver. And be sure to check out the FS Autostart forum. http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=245This is a really good application that I use as it shuts selected background applications down and defrags your memory freeing up valuable resources. You can use it to start ASV and Trackir as well.Anyway 'till later.Cheers,

Hi,Just updated the drivers for both my CPU and graphics card and it made NO DIFFERENCE at all! :-mad Andy S

I'm sure you've checked all of your background processes to see what else is running along with FS? I have that same GPU on a P-4 2.0GHz and similar FS settings,my FPS is locked at 36, and it holds that most of the time...dropping to maybe 16 at a dense airport with lots of AI on the ground or around. I control the AA/AF from the Nvidia panel. Am using the latest driver. Was this a slow deterioration in framerate...or something that happened suddenly?

You have a very similar system to my desktop. In fact, my previous graphics card in it was a 6800 GT, which gave similar performance to the X800 I have now. I also have my sliders set to around where yours are. What I don't see mentioned is AI settings, for which I have mine set to 80% with UT traffic and PAI AFCADS.Frame rates vary greatly depending on where I am and what I am using. I mostly fly the LDS 767 and get 20+ FPS with the VC and track IR, but this can get as low as 15 FPS at really complex airports with lots of traffic and cloudy weather. The 737NG VC is my worst performer and I often get 10-15 FPS and sometimes lower with this aircraft, so it tends to stay in my hangar when I break the TrackIR out.What FPS do you get with the default flight (ie. cessna at KSEA on the rwy)? Even with UT AI traffic at 80%, I get around 23 FPS, and you should be seeing similar.As others have suggested, make sure no other program is hogging your CPU. I had to uninstall the ATI CCC (video driver control panel) because it was causing my FPS to nosedive if I ran it before an FS session. You may have a similar gremlin. The Windows Task Manager will reveal all!Gary

Hi,Thanks for the replies.At default KSEA with default Cessna I get 25-28 FPS 2D and 24-28 VC with traffic at 100%.Just tried other planes and different traffic setting.LDS 767 VC:14-20 traffic 80%12-20 traffic 100%PMDG 747 VC:9-20 traffic 100%8-12 traffic 80%When I did my last fligt it was on descent that I noticed the biggest drop in FPS from the VC as I said in my original post so I dont know how representative the numbers above are. I will see what happens when I next fly.Andy S

I just checked out FS performance on my notebook, which gives similar performance to my desktop, and I get about the same FPS you do with the Cessna and LDS 767 VC, except perhaps that my low end FPS is 17 with the LDS 767. As such, I think you're getting about as good performance as you can expect from your system.FWIW, I too get sub 10 FPS on approach to some airports when using VC, and I need to switch to 2D to get a reasonable landing. I've put it down to my incessant desire to change views all the time, which plays havoc on texture loading and autogen placement. If I save a flight at the point where I am getting sub 10 FPS, then reload it, I usually get a frame rate boost to over 15 FPS. So the simple answer may be not to play with views too much on approach or accept that you may have to move to 2D to successfully finish the flight!Gary

One more thing, in Task Manager be sure your FS9 priority is set to high.

Thanks again for all the replies guys, really appreciate it.I guess from what your saying that I will have to just put up with the FPS that I am getting.Would another gig of RAM do anything to improve performance? I have seen some for about

FS9 is quite happy to wallow around in 1G RAM, even with a few addons. A jump to 2G may reduce stutters a little more and reload times will be much quicker, but it generally won't do anything to improve FPS. FSX certainly seems to like 2G over 1G RAM though.Gary

What would improve FPS? A new system.lol ;) Seriously though, would it be a good investment or not? Or would waiting and getting another graphics card and running the two SLI style be better? I bet existing graphics cards will be really cheap when the dircect X 10 compatible ones come out for VISTA.Andy S

Hi Andy,Got my coffe and I am ready to go:NVIDIA control panel:Performance & Quality Settings:Global Driver -> Advanced SettingsAntialiasing - 4xAnisotropic Filtering - 16xImage Settings - High QualityColor Profile - Not Avail.Vert Sync - App. ControlledForce MipMaps - TrilinearConformant Texture Clamp - OnExt. Limit - OffHardware Acceleration - Single Display ModeTrilinear Opt. - OffAnisotropic Mip Filter Opt. - OffAnisotropic Sample Opt. - OffTransparancy AA - MultisamplingTriple Buffer - OnNegative Lod Bias - Clamp FS9 Settings:Terrian mesh complexity - 100%Terrain texture size - HIGHTerrain detail size - Land OnlyWater effects - LowExtended terrain texture - ENABLEDDawn Dusk Texture - EnabledScenery comlexity - Extremely DenseAutogen density - Extremely DenseAdd-on dynamic scenery - Extremely DenseGlobal aircraft quality - HIGHVC gauge quality - HIGHSight distance - 80miCloud draw distance - 80mi3D cloud percentage - 100%Cloud coverage density - MAXIMUM(these are set according to Active Sky 6)Resolution - 1024x768x32 (Make sure that it matches res. set to Video Card).Render to texture - EnabledTransform and lighting - ENABLEDAnti aliasing - DISSABLED (4x on graphics card)Filtering - TrilinearMIP mapping quality - 4Hardware rendered lights - 8Global max texture size - MassiveTarget frame rate - 30FPSWrite down any of your preferred settings in FS9 other than have been listed and exit the sim. Now find your FS9.cfg file, (C:Documents and Settings*Username*Application DataMicrosoftFS9) make a backup copy and then delete it (I do this quite often). Restart FS9 and redo all your settings (don't worry in time it will take you mere moments to this by memory) This just builds a new FS9. cfg file. Go back to the select a flight page and start off with the default Cessna at Seattle International, you should see some improvement hopefully in the FPS.Cheers,

>Thanks again for all the replies guys, really appreciate it.>>I guess from what your saying that I will have to just put up>with the FPS that I am getting.>>Would another gig of RAM do anything to improve performance? I>have seen some for about

Just tried those setting Rob..I think they made a bit of difference.Just had a look at CPU usage with Task Manager and it apperars that when running FS9 usage goes up to 100% no matter what I'm doing, 2D or VC. Is this normal?Andy S

Switching to a Core 2 Duo would significantly improve framerates. SLI won't make a poke of difference with FPS.Best suggestion is to wait for FSX to be released, see what hardware is found to make it tick best in forums like this, then upgrade if you feel it is worth it versus what you currently have.Gary