Poor performance with current system

[Hoang 108]

I'm so frustrated and exhausted.... Before I used CPU E2140 OC @ 2,8Ghz and 2GB RAM with the system in my signature. Medium display settings in Fs9 and AA/AF set to 4x. But it didn't satisfied me, so I upgraded to E5300 OC @4Ghz and added 2GB RAM more. From then I couldn't keep the settings like before, I get lower FPS. And now, even with lower display settings and AA 4x, AF 2x I still get very low FPS. E.g with my old system I can have PMDG 747/MD-11 at FSDT Kenedy KJFK or Aerosoft Frankfurt with acceptable FPS, but now it can go below 10FPS and I can do nothing but watch.I tried to reinstall my fs9 but no luck. Defrag my HDD,use CCleaner to clear some space...nothing can make the situation better. Here is my settings and task manager. I'm very curious at the performance page, why are my CPU usage are very low?(I took this while having Wilco A320 sitting at Flytampa Buffalo and getting only ~10FPS,at Tampa Rebooted ~15FPS) The only way I can think of is reinstalling the whole OS (win7 32bit)

[PittsS2B 33]

Just off the top of my head, you do have a lot of unnecessary processes (like iTunes applications) running in the background. Try running the free utility GBoost, which temporarily closes most background processes. Also, Process Explorer is a much better tool for checking and closing the remaining processes that GBoost doesn't handle. I have an E8500 and GTX260 at stock speeds (with Win7 64), and I get much better performance than you're experiencing. Do you have a lot of add-on planes and AI installed? Might try lowering your traffic settings and removing some of the add-ons to see if this helps.

[ReneB 3]

Hello, There are no doubt people who are more qualified than me in dealing with this type of problem, but let me make a start. My impression is that your system is perfectly capable to handle FS9 with good FPS. But as the number of parameters influencing FS performance is massive, there might be settings somewhere in your setup (not just FS) which have adverse effects. From your screenshots is seems that you have too many unnecessary processes running together with FS. Try to kill processes you don't need with a utility like Gamebooster. Next: Why 50 FPS? Anything above around 20 will not be noticed by the human eye, but does consume CPU capacity which could be used to improve performance. I would also advise to scrutinize your other settings in FS.As I said: Just to start with. A lot can be done before reinstalling the OS. Regards,Rene Edit: Sorry for the duplication(s); wrote my post before reading PiitS entry.

[Humpty 751]

Yes your system is capable of running fs9 perfectly and very smoothly. As Rene & PittS2B suggest that you shut off all other background process like itunes and that gamebooster and whatever the system does not need . FS9 will not use multi cores. The 4670 is a solid powerful card but I suggest lower your resolution to 1280x1024 and check. Keep Catalyst AI on Advanced and Anti - Alias mode either to Multi-sample or Adaptive (I gained some performance in FSX with Adaptive) . Also try shutting off HT (Hyper threading) . FS9 is a 32 bit application. Lower traffic settings. Have you updated with 9.1 ?

[Superpilotv2 2]

All above me are right. You should run FS9 without any problems at 4 GHZ. My system is currently a bit lower clocked than your´s (But can be cranked up to 4.6 GHz with just one click.) at 3.7 GHz with turbo boost but I can run FS9 with lots of addons, planes and 85 5 extensive WOAI traffic at it 35 FPS most of the time. AA is at 8xSQ with 16x texture filtering and 2x SGSS, so image quality is pritty good, no jaggies at all and perfect performance. You should get pritty the same performance with absolutely no problem.

[Hoang 108]

Just off the top of my head, you do have a lot of unnecessary processes (like iTunes applications) running in the background. Try running the free utility GBoost, which temporarily closes most background processes. Also, Process Explorer is a much better tool for checking and closing the remaining processes that GBoost doesn't handle. I have an E8500 and GTX260 at stock speeds (with Win7 64), and I get much better performance than you're experiencing. Do you have a lot of add-on planes and AI installed? Might try lowering your traffic settings and removing some of the add-ons to see if this helps.

Thanks a lot I will try Process Explorer. Addon planes I currently install CLS airbuses,Wilco Volume 1+2,PMDG 747,PSS 777 and iFly 737s.About AI, I installed all packages from WOAI and update them every couple months. But my traffic setting currently at only 40%.

Hello, There are no doubt people who are more qualified than me in dealing with this type of problem, but let me make a start. My impression is that your system is perfectly capable to handle FS9 with good FPS. But as the number of parameters influencing FS performance is massive, there might be settings somewhere in your setup (not just FS) which have adverse effects. From your screenshots is seems that you have too many unnecessary processes running together with FS. Try to kill processes you don't need with a utility like Gamebooster. Next: Why 50 FPS? Anything above around 20 will not be noticed by the human eye, but does consume CPU capacity which could be used to improve performance. I would also advise to scrutinize your other settings in FS.As I said: Just to start with. A lot can be done before reinstalling the OS. Regards,Rene Edit: Sorry for the duplication(s); wrote my post before reading PiitS entry.

I set at 50FPS because couple reasons. I use addons from megascenery so I've read somewhere that FPS must set to little bit higher for the textures to load. In fact I did try to set to about 20-25FPS but the megascenery's textures never show up on time, I have to refresh scenery. And another reason is that my computer runs very lag @ 20FPS, at least 25-30FPS to get it kinda smooth. My framefrates aren't stable, it jumps up and down all the time.

Yes your system is capable of running fs9 perfectly and very smoothly. As Rene & PittS2B suggest that you shut off all other background process like itunes and that gamebooster and whatever the system does not need . FS9 will not use multi cores. The 4670 is a solid powerful card but I suggest lower your resolution to 1280x1024 and check. Keep Catalyst AI on Advanced and Anti - Alias mode either to Multi-sample or Adaptive (I gained some performance in FSX with Adaptive) . Also try shutting off HT (Hyper threading) . FS9 is a 32 bit application. Lower traffic settings. Have you updated with 9.1 ?

Thanks I will change the settings in ATI CCC :D My traffic settings at 40% and I already updated to 9.1. So do I need to use the Fs9CPu_2CPU.exe ?I think my CPU doesn't have HT...I only use windowed mode so does the display resolution in Fs9 affect the performance?

All above me are right. You should run FS9 without any problems at 4 GHZ. My system is currently a bit lower clocked than your´s (But can be cranked up to 4.6 GHz with just one click.) at 3.7 GHz with turbo boost but I can run FS9 with lots of addons, planes and 85 5 extensive WOAI traffic at it 35 FPS most of the time. AA is at 8xSQ with 16x texture filtering and 2x SGSS, so image quality is pritty good, no jaggies at all and perfect performance. You should get pritty the same performance with absolutely no problem.

Your system is pretty good, much better than mine IMO :D

[bobbyjack 61]

Here are some things to think about. Many folks like to reinstall the OS after a major upgrade (like a CPU). Not from a back up, but from scratch. It's difficult to troubleshoot FS with a bunch of add ons installed. Strip it down to complete default. Even with your old system, you should have been able to run default FS9 with everything on and maxed. And get a minimum of 30 or so FPS everywhere. If you can't with this new setup, you've got problems. A dfrag or cash cleaning are icing on the cake of a good running system, and won't by themselves, fix anything. A dual core cpu is not affected the same way a single core is, as far as the number of running processes. If you feel you must, you can turn off things you don't use much. I think I have 70 running on my FS9 machine. 3dmark and FS don't seem to care much if they are running or not. In the old days,yes, I had to turn off all kinds of stuff. But not any more. You don't need lens flare and sun glare. If FS9 runs well stock, try adding in your addons one at a time until you get problems. That's the one you'll need to tweak or live with. Bob

[ZXR-7R 8]

Hi- not to be a pain or start something, but "anything above 20fps cant be noticed by the human eye" is totally untrue, unless you've got awful eyesight. The sense of fluidity and speed comes from a higher fps. I personally cannot fly with 20fps---totally not enjoyable. Fly at 40fps and above, then fly at 20fps and try to tell me the same thing lol.

[Hoang 108]

Thanks for all your helps and comments. I've been in hospital for couple days and been thinking a lot. Sooner or later I still have to change my OS, so I'll jump to 64bit OS and then will follow Bob's instructions. Thanks all!

[bobbyjack 61]

Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital. I hope every thing turns out OK. Bob

[Hoang 108]

Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital. I hope every thing turns out OK. Bob

Thanks Bob. I need to have a surgery but it should be later this month. I've just switched to Win7 64bit and do everything all over again. But still...very poor performance. If my system can do better than this..then something must be wrong with my hardware

[PittsS2B 33]

Did you make your FS9 exe Large Address Aware? That's vital for taking advantage of the 64-bit OS and it's improved memory handling. There's a utility around that makes this very easy.

[Superpilotv2 2]

Maybe your GFX card is the culprit? Only 512 MB dedicated grafic ram might be a bit too less. But thus depends on your grafic setting and resolution.

[Hoang 108]

Did you make your FS9 exe Large Address Aware? That's vital for taking advantage of the 64-bit OS and it's improved memory handling. There's a utility around that makes this very easy.

I already did, 4GB patch also.

Maybe your GFX card is the culprit? Only 512 MB dedicated grafic ram might be a bit too less. But thus depends on your grafic setting and resolution.

Yes I believe my HD4670 is the weakness here. Struggling with my wallet for a better one. Actually I still don't know why this system performs worse than my old one, but oh well... Thanks everybody! Time for hardware change :D

[knightster 0]

Hi- not to be a pain or start something, but "anything above 20fps cant be noticed by the human eye" is totally untrue, unless you've got awful eyesight. The sense of fluidity and speed comes from a higher fps. I personally cannot fly with 20fps---totally not enjoyable. Fly at 40fps and above, then fly at 20fps and try to tell me the same thing lol.

couldn't have said it better myself. I've heard a couple of people mention that you won't notice any difference above 25fps. my eyesight isn't great but can certainly tell the difference. 60fps and 25fps are worlds apart for example.