FSX won't use my video card?

[Aviator81 0]

Hi All,I've recently started trying to make the switch over to FSX from FS9. The move came about partly because I've upgraded to a high-end system and partly because I needed to do a reinstall of FS9 anyway, so I figured I'd try FSX out finally. Unfortunatly, I'm not liking what I see... By all reports I should be getting a minimum frame rates of around 20fps, but I'm stuck somewhere around 10fps. My System:Intel Q9550 Quad-Core 2.83GHzSappire Raedeon HD 4870 X2 (2GB Video RAM)4GB DDR2 1066 RAMASUS Rampage Formula MotherboardSamsung Spinpoint 750GB HDDWindows Vista Home x64Now I've tried messing with all of the tweaks (I guess a lot don't work anymore anyway since I'm running acceleration), all to no avail. I've tried messing with the scenery sliders, but I only get a change of around 3-5 fps between all sliders maxed and all sliders at min.. but then again, my system should at least be able to handle the mid-to-upper range of visuals. So, confused, I thought I might need to try overclocking some piece of hardware to get it to handle more, and hopefully, produce better frame rates. Imagine my surprise when I opened up all of my "probe" programs and found that when FSX is running and active, all 4 cores of the CPU are at 100% and the GPU is at 0%.So my question is this... how can I get FSX to properly use my video card? I know its got to be able to, since its selected in the options screen without any troubles, but the evidence is saying that, while its selected its not really being used, causing my CPU to process everything and leave the video card high and dry. Further evidence of this comes from the fact that none of the video card driver settings (AA, AF, etc.) have any effect at all on the performance of the game.Help please, as I like the visuals of FSX and want to be able to keep using it, but if I can't get my system to perform correctly with it, I'll have to go back to FS9 (I need smooth AND good graphics to make it worth my while).Thanks,GregPS: I know that Windows Vista may be part of the problem, so if anyone knows how to make it work a little better, I'm open to suggestions... what I won't do though, is go out and buy XP-64, mostly because I've already spent enough money getting this thing to work...

[Guest Nick_N]

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041=================================================,.. the best ATI card in the world, the 4870 x2 will be crushed by a clocked 2 year old 8800GTX in FSX weatherThey rule in Crysis... ATI cards can fall flat on their face in FSX weather and large scenery environments due to how they are designedATI can be hit and miss in FSX depending on their drivers. I would not use a 4870x2 for FSX and if I was going to use a ATI card (which I will not) it would be the single 4870 as of this date 1/09That may or may not change in the future===================================================Nope.. little or no 2nd 1/2 of the card is being used... driver revisions fluctuate in how well the x2 works in FSXTune the system by the guide in the link... You may get much better results

[McCrash 3]

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041=================================================,.. the best ATI card in the world, the 4870 x2 will be crushed by a clocked 2 year old 8800GTX in FSX weatherThey rule in Crysis... ATI cards can fall flat on their face in FSX weather and large scenery environments due to how they are designedATI can be hit and miss in FSX depending on their drivers. I would not use a 4870x2 for FSX and if I was going to use a ATI card (which I will not) it would be the single 4870 as of this date 1/09That may or may not change in the future===================================================Nope.. little or no 2nd 1/2 of the card is being used... driver revisions fluctuate in how well the x2 works in FSXTune the system by the guide in the link... You may get much better results

My 4870 runs FSX without a hitch! Clouds nor rain nor space craft hinder it.

[Guest Nick_N]

My 4870 runs FSX without a hitch! Clouds nor rain nor space craft hinder it.

Set to 100% overcast and fly over ParisOf course other sliders and how you run them can compensate for the hit however the x2 although a decent card and the best one can get for other games which are 'shader engine' technology I placed that warning there for people who are looking to upgrade specifically for FSX.If other games are used then the x2 becomes an option in a give and take between FSX and other titles however it will not outperform a Nvidia card in overcast weather conditions especially when using a hard hitting payware aircraft.I also stated quite clearly that the drivers for that card may help as well and in that insinuated that a driver change or upgrade is something a user should look into if they are having trouble with the card. HoweverThe X2 is not firing on both cards in FSX and if that card is purchased specifically for FSX use a user can get the SAME performance from the 4780 single card as they can from the X2. If the motherboard and BIOS are old and are not suited for the X2 that can also play into issues as well.In his case I would check the drivers and update them if them if they are older than the drivers at the ATI website for the card, then tune FSX correctlyIt has been noted over and over again in the hardware forums that ATI cards have difficulty in FSX with clouds. The older 3xxx series was very poorly designed and although they did fix many of the issues with the 4870 series release their method of AA and the lower TMU's of the ATI card over Nvidia still keeps them behind the 8-ball in FSX

[c152flyboy 0]

Greg, i have the same processor as you but mine is overclocked to 3.4 GHZ. follow the advice that Nick put out to the letter and you will probably see good improvement, but the q9550 is a good processor to overclock and as nick often says, the CPU plays a bigger role then the GPU so get the most speed you can from the CPU.

[Aviator81 0]

Well, I understood from the beginning that the 4870x2 would, at best, be comparable to an nVidia card, I went with it because FSX is not the only game I play, and the X2 does measurably better in many cases than a single, or even sometimes, double vNividia cards. That being said, I've found a comparison page out there that had the 4870X2 getting 28 fps on max settings at 1680x1050 resolution, something I'm not able to replicate as of yet. At the moment, I've gone through the FSX setup thread, and am in the process of going through the windows setup thread in the hopes that it will open up better performance on my system in general, over and above FSX.Back to the original question though... is there a way to force FSX to utilize the GPU(s) of the 4870X2 for at least some of its work? At this point I've still not managed to get the game to use any measurable percentage of either GPU, so I'm thinking there is something wrong with my configuration, either in the FSX.cfg, or in another part of the sim. I know that the card is functioning properly because it chews through other graphics heavy programs (like R6-Vegas) at maxed out frames for my screen (60 hertz), so I really think that the problem is in the connection and/or communication between FSX and the 4870x2. Are there any fsx.cfg changes to force certain kinds of use like there were for the fs9.cfg?Thanks,Greg

[Guest Nick_N]

Well, I understood from the beginning that the 4870x2 would, at best, be comparable to an nVidia card, I went with it because FSX is not the only game I play, and the X2 does measurably better in many cases than a single, or even sometimes, double vNividia cards. That being said, I've found a comparison page out there that had the 4870X2 getting 28 fps on max settings at 1680x1050 resolution, something I'm not able to replicate as of yet. At the moment, I've gone through the FSX setup thread, and am in the process of going through the windows setup thread in the hopes that it will open up better performance on my system in general, over and above FSX.Back to the original question though... is there a way to force FSX to utilize the GPU(s) of the 4870X2 for at least some of its work? At this point I've still not managed to get the game to use any measurable percentage of either GPU, so I'm thinking there is something wrong with my configuration, either in the FSX.cfg, or in another part of the sim. I know that the card is functioning properly because it chews through other graphics heavy programs (like R6-Vegas) at maxed out frames for my screen (60 hertz), so I really think that the problem is in the connection and/or communication between FSX and the 4870x2. Are there any fsx.cfg changes to force certain kinds of use like there were for the fs9.cfg?Thanks,Greg

Greg.. Its all in the driverIf the card is working in other games and not FSX then the issue is specific to FSX. I do not see this as a OS issue. There is nothing in the config that will enable anything... The driver controls thatI have seen a few complaints about the x2 and FSX whereby the user could not get the x2 to perform as well as a single 4870 in FSX. I did not inquire about it further but suspected it was either a driver related issue or a motherboard slot resource conflict. FSX can saturate the PCIe buss especially with autogen and the way it is called.. something other games for the most part wont do, and, it will bottleneck on the processor very quickly with a better card in the system.With the heavy side of the app leaning on the processor and not the video card as it was suggested above clocking the processor up can go a long way in putting a dent in performance. A Q9550 will clock up as mentioned however if you have never done it its best not to mess with such things till you may learn the ins-and-outs. Its not difficult but there are some basic things you should know before starting. Even a small clock of 3-400Mhz can help quite a bit.

[Guest n99wb]

"when FSX is running and active, all 4 cores of the CPU are at 100% and the GPU is at 0%."I think you have a bad install or a background program stuffing things up. Something is looping your cores as theyshouldn't all be running 100%, 100% of the time.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

"when FSX is running and active, all 4 cores of the CPU are at 100% and the GPU is at 0%."I think you have a bad install or a background program stuffing things up. Something is looping your cores as theyshouldn't all be running 100%, 100% of the time.

Typically, only core 0 runs at or close to 100% with the other three cores kicking in and out when scenery needs to be loaded.You can have all four running at 100% in FSX, but only for short bursts of time.

[Aviator81 0]

Typically, only core 0 runs at or close to 100% with the other three cores kicking in and out when scenery needs to be loaded.You can have all four running at 100% in FSX, but only for short bursts of time.

That may be the culprit here... I've noticed in the past few days that my probe program seems to lag far behind what my CPU is actually doing.. and it also seems to show the extremes rather than the average, as it constantly jumps between 20% and 100%.

With the heavy side of the app leaning on the processor and not the video card as it was suggested above clocking the processor up can go a long way in putting a dent in performance. A Q9550 will clock up as mentioned however if you have never done it its best not to mess with such things till you may learn the ins-and-outs. Its not difficult but there are some basic things you should know before starting. Even a small clock of 3-400Mhz can help quite a bit.

I've been considering this.. I did build my system to handle somewhat of an overclock (big tower cooler and ram heatsinks/fans), but I didn't implement it because I'd like to preserve the lifespan of my parts since I don't have an endless supply of cash for replacements. That being said, my ASUS motherboard came with an "AI Boost" app that is supposed to pump up the core in real time based on activity, though I'm not sure if constant ups and downs is any better than consistant ups... what do you think?

[Guest Mower]

I'll say it again: it is OUTRAGEOUS and INEXCUSABLE for M$ to have coded FSX in a way that does not properly leverage the GPU.With the payware add-ons I run the FPS is infuriating. I dont even flyit these days.I have moved onto Black Shark.

[JSkorna 137]

"I dont even flyit these days."Then why did you post this nonsense? What facts do you have to support your statement that Microsoft does not leverage the GPU?

[Guest Mower]

Hi Jim...What "facts"? Other than the consensus around the net you mean? Nonsense? You been living under a rock? :( And don't sass me cause I'm a customer of your's... :(

[vgbaron 3,482]

Hi Jim...What "facts"? Other than the consensus around the net you mean? Nonsense? You been living under a rock? :( And don't sass me cause I'm a customer of your's... :(

What consensus? Oh! You mean the people who haven't a clue how to fine tune their system and just post complaints. Yup! You're right on there. I prefer the majority who have a fantastic experience everytime they fire up FSX.Obviously I'm one of them. :)

[Paul J 349]

Hi Jim...What "facts"? Other than the consensus around the net you mean? Nonsense? You been living under a rock? :( And don't sass me cause I'm a customer of your's... :(

All business owners convey to their customers the right of seeming to be the "most important people in the world", but that doesn't give a particular customer the right to publicly abuse someone who has been a good friend to the members of this good group of folks here at Avsim.Further - Jim is perfectly correct when he asks "What facts do you have to support your statement that Microsoft does not leverage the GPU?". You have no facts, other than your own opinion. Only an experienced graphics system analyst/programmer who has worked in the industry - and particularly at Microsoft - would be in a position to venture that opinion - and they would not dare say that publicly. Even further - there are thousands of simmers out there who "fly" every day of the week - who totally love this sim. It may not be "the best there is" , but it's certainly "as good as it gets" at a price which allows John Q. Public and his/her family to enjoy doing something they can't do in real life. For my 2 cents - you can go right on back to the Black Shark - whatever that is. Oh - I almost forgot.. -> :(