We all know that 64-bit CPUs have been around for ~ 10 years with Intel's server class Itanium and Xeon 64-bit CPUs and AMDs mainstream 64-bit CPUs.  We're not talking about CPU architecture we're talking about OPERATING SYSTEM architecture and again, most consumer PCs come with a 32-bit operating system installed NOT the 64-bit version even though both might be available for installation. Because of Windows 7 around 46% of PC's are running 64-bit architecture which is up from 11% of XP and Vista systems.  So again, of course anyone buying a modern PC is equipped with a 64-bit CPU but less than half have a 64-bit Operating System on it.

Not true,  today's consumer level computers come with a 64 OS....

"Infinite visibility" is just shorthand for "as far as the eye can see". :( We're talking around 400-miles under ideal conditions.

OK 400 miles in every direction then. How much video RAM do you think that would take? So that's 400 to the left, right, front and back. Let's see 800 X 800 = 640000 square miles of texture tiles and you'll want them in stunning color and detail, all appearing within milliseconds of switching views, never blurry, with high resolution mesh underneath, and if water is a part of this: wave action based on the current wind direction and strength, with beautiful reflections. Its a good thing that MS is a little more reasonable in their expectations!! I wonder if a 64-bit anything could do all this?

"Infinite visibility" is just shorthand for "as far as the eye can see". :( We're talking around 400-miles under ideal conditions.

Cheaper to you these to see far far away.... :(

LOL

OK 400 miles in every direction then. How much video RAM do you think that would take? So that's 400 to the left, right, front and back. Let's see 800 X 800 = 640000 square miles of texture tiles and you'll want them in stunning color and detail, all appearing within milliseconds of switching views, never blurry, with high resolution mesh underneath, and if water is a part of this: wave action based on the current wind direction and strength, with beautiful reflections. Its a good thing that MS is a little more reasonable in their expectations!! I wonder if a 64-bit anything could do all this?

Not that much: The sim should only load as much detail int VRAM as can be seen after rendering. That's what LODs are for! If you want to see really far than you just neet to keep narrowing the angle of view, i.e. the binoculars above.Cheers,- jahman.

A 1024 by 768 display with 32-bit colour only requires 3Mb for the image. Even a 2048 by 1636 display only needs 12 Mb

A 1024 by 768 display with 32-bit colour only requires 3Mb for the image. Even a 2048 by 1636 display only needs 12 Mb

12 MBy is the size of the image after rendering. You need a lot more than that to hold all the objects you need for the image to be rendered in the first place.Cheers,- jahman.

12 MBy is the size of the image after rendering. You need a lot more than that to hold all the objects you need for the image to be rendered in the first place.Cheers,- jahman.

That is, of course, true but not all the objects need to be in memory all of the same time.

That is, of course, true but not all the objects need to be in memory all of the same time.

Yes, of course, as your location changes and your LOD levels change, so do the obects that need to be loaded into VRAM.Cheers,- jahman.

OK 400 miles in every direction then. How much video RAM do you think that would take? So that's 400 to the left, right, front and back. Let's see 800 X 800 = 640000 square miles of texture tiles and you'll want them in stunning color and detail, all appearing within milliseconds of switching views, never blurry, with high resolution mesh underneath, and if water is a part of this: wave action based on the current wind direction and strength, with beautiful reflections. Its a good thing that MS is a little more reasonable in their expectations!! I wonder if a 64-bit anything could do all this?

I'm not sure how much you know about programming graphics engines, but we're not exactly talking arcane wizardry here. Level-of-detail algorithms can be used to reduce the quality (and thus memory impact) of distant objects and textures, and occlusion culling can be used to render only what the user can actually see. Anything else can be stored in system memory and swapped into video RAM when needed. The more RAM you have, the more objects and textures that can be held in "standby" meaning the system won't have to hit the hard drive when you change your view meaning fewer instances of blurriness and stuttering (if it's not eliminated entirely). This kind of processing would benefit greatly from the high volumes of RAM that can be accessed by a 64-bit system.

That's what we have now and that is what people are complaining about. LOD? Nope. Limited visibility? Nope. Just everything as far as you can see in beautiful, clear, stutter-free splendor for 640000 square miles of a jet flying at 400kts per hour. Let's not forget the dynamic weather systems and the beautiful clouds and cloud shadows also. For good measure add some God-rays into the mix. Remember, if it doesn't have all of this, some ain't buying. Think 64-bit anything can deliver?

I suspect that FSX has a lot of data massaging algorithms to make sure the memory footprint is as small as possible to allow the minimum specs to be lower. However, this results in much lower performance. On a 64-bit system, with no memory constraints, you could throw all this data manipulation out. You could cache far more data and textures in physical RAM, reducing disk access to a bare minimum.FSX would perform much better if it were just optimized for 64-bit (use all the RAM available) even if nothing else were done to it.

Fair enough!

That's what we have now and that is what people are complaining about. LOD? Nope. Limited visibility? Nope. Just everything as far as you can see in beautiful, clear, stutter-free splendor for 640000 square miles of a jet flying at 400kts per hour. Let's not forget the dynamic weather systems and the beautiful clouds and cloud shadows also. For good measure add some God-rays into the mix. Remember, if it doesn't have all of this, some ain't buying. Think 64-bit anything can deliver?

Ah, I see the burning straw men have arrived. :(

...FSX would perform much better if it were just optimized for 64-bit (use all the RAM available) even if nothing else were done to it.

Exactly. End of story.Cheers,- jahman.