Hardware Advice?

[Alex Ford 0]

Hey there, I was hoping for some general advice in terms of upgrading my PC for use with FSX.

 

My current desktop is a custom build with an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.17GHZ/3.17GHZ processor, GeForce 9800GTX graphics card, 4GB of RAM and Windows 7 64bit. The computer has no problem running current video games on ultra settings, but in recent weeks I've experienced problems with FSX.

 

A few weeks ago I had to do a reinstall (which all went perfectly), before which I ran it with all of the WOAI packages and PMDG 737NGX as the only significant addons and it ran smoothly all the time. However, during the reinstall a friend of mine suggested that I should invest and replace WOAI with MyTrafficX, which I since have. I've found that I have lower FPS than before and I sometimes encounter graphical problems with certain large airports and the PMDG. I've come to the conclusion after trying different scenarios that the problem is the amount of memory that the NGX and MyTraffic require and that I can easily each on their own with no problems what so ever.

 

So I've been considering upgrading hardware wise, and I think that it's probably the RAM which needs a boost. My motherboard takes DDR2 which is the only info I can offer in that respect, so I'm wondering if anybody can point me to how much I should go for etc, and if that is the likely answer to my problem.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[TheRedBaron 0]

Well, I have an AMD Fx-8150. I know Intel is basically the FSX go-to, but if you are on a budget, it will work pretty well. I have mine running with scenery settings maxed, all traffic except GA at 40% (airport maxed, and I use quite a few WOAI packs). My GPU sucks....so with some tweaking, I have been able to get it playable around Manhattan (17 fps+). This is my view, and quite frankly my system is great-I will be upgrading to 16GB DDR 1600 cl8 sometime soon, and hopefully will get a GTX570 2.5gb. That will give my performance a huge boost, because I know my CPU is being severely bottlenecked. For example, setting all traffic up to 80% has a barely noticeable drop in fps; maybe 1 or 2. Also, the game runs worse on low autogen settings (dont ask me why). I also use REX overdrive.

 

The only settings I have turned down are water (High 2x), lightbloom off, flare off (because it is glitchy, and I don't want flare all the time), and mesh complexity and ground texture rez. nearly full.

 

I mean, it really is up to you--a brand new system will mean faster RAM. I went from DDR2 to DDR3 a while ago, and the difference was pretty amazing...

[Old_As_Dirt 160]

Yes, I think you are on the right track in looking at RAM. Doubling what you have would be good and you would probably be wise to consider a newer video card. I am currently running an i5 at 3.2 - 3.4 (variable) and 8 gig of RAM and a Radeon 5770. This is not a great system, but I am able to hold 40 frames without any trouble with a few addons. If I unlock the framerate, it varies between 30 and 100+.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

This thread belongs in the Hardware section so is being moved accordingly.

[Alex Ford 0]

This thread belongs in the Hardware section so is being moved accordingly.

 

Sorry about that, and thanks for moving it to the appropriate section.

[SAAB340 28]

Alex, your hardware looks pretty balanced to me. That means your RAM, CPU and GPU are all quite dated now. Getting just one of them updated won't really help. You need all of them updated.

 

Remember that FSX is a 32bit program. It can't address any more than 4GB.

[dazz 69]

That will give my performance a huge boost, because I know my CPU is being severely bottlenecked

 

You're in for a huge disappointment man

[TheRedBaron 0]

You're in for a huge disappointment man

 

Why? (Honestl, I am curious)

 

I like FSX and all, but I am not willing to throw money into a system that is meant for gaming. I mainly use my computer for workstation stuff...CFD, CAD, post processing. AMD is great with super-multithreaded stuff. Try 500 threads on one application...

 

Intel is very nice, I just can't afford or justify the cost since I am not really a gamer.

[dazz 69]

AMD is great with super-multithreaded stuff

 

Absolutely, I'm just saying that you should make sure your bottleneck is not the CPU in FSX

[TheRedBaron 0]

Absolutely, I'm just saying that you should make sure your bottleneck is not the CPU in FSX

 

I know...I said that my CPU is being bottlenecked. It is not the the bottleneck...that would be my puny Gt530 and my slowish RAM.

[dazz 69]

I know...I said that my CPU is being bottlenecked. It is not the the bottleneck...that would be my puny Gt530 and my slowish RAM.

 

RAM speed can't really bottleneck you, and with 8GB it's not a like you need more for FSX.

Can you run a quick test in Manhattan monitoring you CPU usage? if you have a core maxed out or close, don't expect much from a GPU upgrade, other than increased AA and IQ

[TheRedBaron 0]

Yea...about the RAM, mine is OEM, and really isn't all that great. From what I've read, AMD processors benefit a lot from increased RAM speed, so the jump to 1600 Cl8 should be pretty good. As for the amount of RAM, that isn't for FSX. My professional programs easily eat up 8GB, and I need an upgrade to run complex simulations.

 

From the VC, I get about 14-20 FPS directly headed for the Empire State Building in a Project Airbus A320. The CPU randomly peaks at 90% every few minutes, but in general t runs at 50% or below. GPU utilization varies a lot, and generally hits like 90-95%. AA is set to 8x CSAA, AF 2x in NVIDIA control panel. VSync is on inside FSX.cfg, and I discarded my earlier BP=0 tweak in favour of Poolsize=2000 (results in slightly less GPU).

[SAAB340 28]

The CPU randomly peaks at 90% every few minutes, but in general t runs at 50% or below.

What AffinityMask are you using with your Bulldozer CPU?

 

If you look at the individual core usage in windows task manager, how high is the usage of the first core that shows a lot of work? That core is the Main thread and is the FPS producing thread and should be at around 95% all the time when you have FPS set to unlimited within FSX. It's not when you have somthing restricting you.

 

The other cores that peak every 61 seconds are Texture loaders and they peak every minute to update the lighting of the textures...

Where the Main thread and Texture loaders end up is decided by the Affiniitymask.

[TheRedBaron 0]

I have messed with AfiinityMask before, but given the "special" cores of the Bulldozer CPU (call them modules, whatever, the definition is really blurred here), the results vary a LOT (1st 6 cores > last 6, last 4 >first 4; and these results literally change every time I start FSX). Using all cores results in lower frames, but with 6 or 4 cores, I get higher frames with one problem--as I get into a complex situation, the frames drop randomly (presumably because of texture/ model loading).I have checked the core usage in resource monitor (more history, easier to see usage), and the only core with heavy usage is the first one. the 100% spikes are generally produced because I have minimized fsx to check hte monitor. Everything before and after is with each core at between 30 and 50%.

[dazz 69]

and the only core with heavy usage is the first one

 

How much is that usage of the first core exactly?