Graphics Problem with GTX-480 and i7-890X

[Chip1 0]

I have been using a i7 930 with a GTX 480 for about a month and the results were excellent. I replaced the i7 930 with a i7 980X and the system seemed to be working very well. I did not give it a real checkout as I was designing scenery for lanai for over a month and not flying very often. I then noticed some odd artifacts in the FSX graphics when slewing. Flashes on the screen and scenery anomalies. I did some standard approaches to airports and would see the graphics problems pop up every so often. Runways lighting up white at auto-gen distances and horizontal and vertical streaks that would flash across the display for a few milliseconds. At other times there is absolutely no problem at all. I rebuilt my FSX.CFG file and checked to be sure Nhancer settings were set up properly following Nicks methods. I've run tests on the GPU and CPU with no errors showing up. FS9 seems to fly perfectly with none of the above problems.I've attached a few photos from FRAPS that show what I see. What you see in the photos are of a few milliseconds duration and obviously do not look as bad as the photos.Any ideas would be appreciated. I may go back to the i7 930 to see if that clears up the problem although the GTX 480 may be the problem

[HyperionXL 0]

I have this happen too, and I'm pretty sure its a issue with fiber frame limit or max texture bandwidth whatever settings, but I'm not sure. I'd love for a solution to this, too. Someone get *******!

[Chip1 0]

I'm very sorry you have a similar problem, it is very strange. I worked on the problem all day and have had some improvements with FSX.CFG modifications that many say do not work. I don't think this problem was there with the i7 930 and I don't think the i7 980X has anything to do with the problem. It may be my memory causing errors. I will keep you informed on my progress. I know there is an answer. There are very few "experts" here on Maui so I'm alone with the problem.

[Bob Scott 7,719]

I've seen that sort of behavior on other nVidia cards as the result of either overheating or an excessive GPU overclock. Are you watching your GPU temps when this happens? Is the GPU o/c'ed?RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

[Chip1 0]

I've seen that sort of behavior on other nVidia cards as the result of either overheating or an excessive GPU overclock. Are you watching your GPU temps when this happens? Is the GPU o/c'ed?RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hello Bob,Pardon the mistake on the i7-890X, It is a 980X as you may have guessed.Thanks much for the information. No the GPU temps when at low or high temperatures have the same problem. I'm not overclocking the CPU or GPU. I've used MSI's Kombustor graphics stability test program and can find nothing wrong at all. FS9 shows no problems even when slewing through the most dense scenery. I have run other test programs and get no errors. The photos are a bit extreme as the glitches last for around 1 or 2 milliseconds. I'm beginning to wonder of it is the CPU Memory. I'm getting ready to remove FSX as it is SP1 and SP2 with Acceleration. I will reload with the Gold Edition although I'm a bit worried nothing will change.Aloha from PHOG,Chip

[arne rasmus 0]

i've started getting the same problem lately. Got 8800gtx and e8600 @4.1 , suddenly started after i installed mytraffic 5.3 some months ago(but dont expect that to have anything to do with it).Was actually planning on upgrading to 980x/480gtx soon, so dont like to see this occuring on such a rig. Would also assume its heat or ram-related. What happens for me is sometimes ctd after a quick view-shift. get a display driver stopped working error-message. the white textures can be really anoying, even though the just appear for a split-second.Think maybe also bp=0 might have something to do with this.-a.

[vgbaron 3,604]

Have the same issue on two different systems - 9650/GTX280 and 980x/GTX480 - Temps fine. Sort of a hit miss problem with me. Sometimes I'll see a little flash when I'm panning around nad then I don't see it again. Happened with or without a CPU clock or a GPU clock. Two different speed memory sets. Two completely different setups.Only common thing is the FSX setup which was identical on both systems.Never did track it down.Vic

[Chip1 0]

Have the same issue on two different systems - 9650/GTX280 and 980x/GTX480 - Temps fine. Sort of a hit miss problem with me. Sometimes I'll see a little flash when I'm panning around nad then I don't see it again. Happened with or without a CPU clock or a GPU clock. Two different speed memory sets. Two completely different setups.Only common thing is the FSX setup which was identical on both systems.Never did track it down.Vic

Hi Vic, I'm somewhat glad to hear others have a similar "problem". In my case I get a number of flashes that are repeatable at certain airports without panning. I was glad to find it repeatable at Lanai City Airport on the South Approach. I now at least can work on the system with a glitch that I know will be there every time. I hate problems that are intermittent. I prefer a good total failure! I was ready to change the GTX 480 with a replacement but since you see the same thing on other graphics cards that sounds like a mistake. I may try under clocking the 480 and see what happens. I may try the i7 930 again as I can't recall seeing the same problems when I was using that CPU. I hope I'm wrong.Chip

[Chip1 0]

i've started getting the same problem lately. Got 8800gtx and e8600 @4.1 , suddenly started after i installed mytraffic 5.3 some months ago(but dont expect that to have anything to do with it).Was actually planning on upgrading to 980x/480gtx soon, so dont like to see this occuring on such a rig. Would also assume its heat or ram-related. What happens for me is sometimes ctd after a quick view-shift. get a display driver stopped working error-message. the white textures can be really anoying, even though the just appear for a split-second.Think maybe also bp=0 might have something to do with this.-a.

Hello from PHOG tonight,I have just gone over to the latest drivers (258.96) for the GTX 4 series and love them. nHancer will not work with the new driver and hope there will be an update soon. The good news is Nick has the profiles that do the same thing as nHancer and I'm using NVIDIA Inspector and GeForce 3D Settings Profile Manager which makes setting the new drivers up very easy. Not as easy as nHancer though. I think the same problem still exists but will have to run more tests. If I find an answer before the next century I'll let you know. I'm looking around for another graphics card so I can eliminate the 480 as a cause of the glitches. I've run memory and graphics tests on everything and can find nothing wrong.Chip

[darem 84]

Try these tweaks to your fsx.cfg:[JOBSCHEDULER]AffinityMask=62[bufferpools]Usepools=0Poolsize=85000000Bufferpools: Should Usepools=0 still give you strange glitches, make it =1, it will then use the second value as well.At the end of the DISPLAY section, have these lines (replace existing if they are double)TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=80UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=24TextureMaxLoad=15WideViewAspect=TrueRUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=0.30RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=0.30RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=0.33RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=0.30TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=80 If you have FAST RAM working synchronous with the CPU, you may try 40 later, but for now, leave it as it is.WideViewAspect= True only with widescreen monitors, =FALSE with 4:3 aspect ratios.Framerate Limit should be as it is here. At least on my system :-)RUNWAY_LIGHTS are purely cosmetical. I love them when they aren't blurry.First line in [Main] should beFIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.05This can be raised up to 0.33 if needed, but again, leave it as it is for now. Only exception is if you fly over a lot of photoscenery - then 0.05 will give you extreme blurriesFirst lines in [GRAPHICS]STALE_BUFFER_THRESHOLD=1024HIGHMEMFIX=1SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693500672TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024No changing of that. Forget Texture_Max_Load at 4096, it just interferes with what is possible.Also, do NOT set LOD Radius higher than 4.5. It stresses RAM with complex planes to an extent that crashes FSX.And finally, first line in [sCENERY]MAX_ASYNC_BATCHING_JOBS=2

[vgbaron 3,604]

Not trying to be rude here but you are giving Newbie quite a bit of misinformation. He has a GTX480 and an I7 980x cpu - your settings are flat out wrong.For the 980x the affinity mask has shown not great benefitBP = 0 disables Bufferpools so the Poolsize is ignoredTBM on the 980x should be 120Frames should be multipe of the refresh rate ( assuming an LCD monitor) so 30 or 60Fiber Frame has absolutely NO effect with SP2/AccelerationHighmemfix relates to only one problem - flashing VC panels - it can otherwise cause issuesthe rest are hit and miss and vary on each system so they are worth a try.Vic

[darem 84]

Sorry, vgbaron - but YOU are the one spreading misinformation. Have you TRIED my settings? I have been plagued with graphical problems for a long time, EXACTLY those described here. And your comments are flat out wrong.For the 980x the affinity mask has shown not great benefit.But we aren't talking about CPU, but GPU! And disabling the first core DOES have benefits for NVidia cards (more on that later).BP = 0 disables Bufferpools so the Poolsize is ignoredYes, certainly. This is why I wrote this as comment in my posting:Bufferpools: Should Usepools=0 still give you strange glitches, make it =1, it will then use the second value as well.So there you have it: I suggested to try it with =0, if this doesn't help with the anomalies, then make it =1 and it will use the value in the next line (which is ignored with =0). Makes sense, doesn't it?TBM on the 980x should be 120ONLY if you have photoscenery - else it's pure overkill. What the heck would you need 120 for here? Not even with GEX does 120 make sense.Frames should be multipe of the refresh rate ( assuming an LCD monitor) so 30 or 60On my system (as I wrote) it works best with 24. 30 gives me too many fluctuations over cities. And again, we are not talking about speed here, we are talking about eliminating graphic anomalies.Fiber Frame has absolutely NO effect with SP2/Acceleration*lol* - just a little suggestion: Try my settings - once time with Fiber Frame to 0 and once with Fiber Frame to 0.05 to .33. And then come here again and say it has absolutely no effect with SP2/Acc. 0 sends you to blurryland big time, 0.05 is perfect for non photo scenery, 0.33 for regions like photoreal Utah from FSDreamscapes or VFR Germany from Aerosoft.Highmemfix relates to only one problem - flashing VC panels - it can otherwise cause issuesOne more blatant misinformation. I have NEVER had flashing VC panels, but texture anomalies en masse, autogen loss and more - highmemfix in combinaton with the other settings was the cure to it. So, in my case and many others, it has solved an issue.Now to WHY Nvidia owners experiencing texture anomalies, spikes and autogen loss should disable Core 0 for FSX: Because it doesn't completely disable Core 0 :-). Fibres and a few other things are still handled on Core 0, and the other settings tune FSX to take max advantage of this.You can believe what you want, but PLEASE don't judge things you haven't experienced firsthand. And don't bring people away from trying something that is reversible if it doesn't help - here, on my system, it has ended a long period of frustration and CTD's. My suggestions make sense - they have helped a lot of people with the NVidia problem (they aren't even from me, but from a cooperation of a lot of people) and might be of help here as well. Your ignorance certainly isn't.

[vgbaron 3,604]

ok smooth talker - anytime you want to buy a bridge, let me know - there's one born every minute.Have fun with your simming!Vic

[darem 84]

Thanks, vgbaron, I certainly will. And may you be happy with your attitude.Now, Chip1, I suggest you backup your fsx.cfg (if you don't know how to do it, I will certainly help), and try the settings I have posted. If they don't work, just revert to your old fsx.cfg, you will have wasted 5 minutes. If you don't try them you will have wasted a chance :-).

[vgbaron 3,604]

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ptaylor/archive/2007/05/11/tweak-of-the-week.aspxTry searching for a change - you won't believe me - how about the developers of FSX?I'll say it again - fiber frame time fraction is totally useless after SP1, but if YOU think it really, really works for you, by all means leave it in.That's just for one of the points I made - you can find the others if you care to.The idea of helping someone is to attempt to diagnose the problem and provide a solution - not throw out questionable solutions and hope that they fit the problem.In this case we are dealing with a self proclaimed NEWBIE, it wouldn't matter as much to an experienced computer person.Vic