Optimal settings for ATI users with FSX - Great Results!

[cvearl 60]

Thanks Charles. Just run the tests for a few seconds and let me know what kind of FPS you see, and how things look.

Been taking a look at RadeonPro to see if there's a way to combine MSAA & SSAA and it doesn't seem possible, but I don't think it's that big of a deal, probably MSAA is expendable and won't make that much of a difference visually.

 

I'm seriously considering getting a 7950 to replace my 580 (now gone). If it can do 25 plus FPS in GPUMark2 at 4xSSAA once overclocked, that would be great value

 

Also, have you played with the Aniso Filtering settings (Box, Narrow Tent, Wide Tent & Edge Detect) combined with 2x & 4x SSAA?

 

With ATI, its kept simple. Super or Multi. One or the other. Then to get different "samples" They have gotten rid of Box, Narrow, Wide and so on. But they kept Edge Detect which makes 4x become 12x and 8x becomes 24x. I wish it made 2x do 6x! Then right there you would have the 6xSSAA.  

 

There are two other items that can be turned on or off. Morphological and Adaptive. Both of these messed up the VC something awfull last i tried. Never tried again. Menu was ugly too. Pure MS or SS seems to be the only way to go with this engine in FSX.

 

If you can find a deal on a 7970, get that instead. For real dadio. 7950 is same or less capable in FSX I theorize. But I could simply be wrong. If you DO get a 7950 and you have a large case? Get the HIS ICEq2. It's the most overclockable.

 

http://www.hisdigital.com/ca/product2-731.shtml

 

I have the reference model because that one would not fit in my case. It was 1" longer than the reference cooler design and was half an inch to long. I could have cried. The Reference card (standard) is not as overclockable or stable or quiet. Get that one. I would love to hear your impressions. Stop using GPUMARK and do some flights at your favorite settings for a while. I don't think it will beat your 580 in GPUMARK. I just dont. I know it does not beat a 680. I can tell you that as I had a friend run your test. He's 15% faster than mine if I overclock mine in that test.

 

Make sure to have himemfix and USEPOOLS=0 in the cfg. Don't use reject threhold or whatever that was. It was implemented because nVidia archetecture does not play nice with USEPOOLS=0 from what I have read around here.

 

I could be wrong.

 

Buy the card from somewhere you can return it. That way you can test without fear.

 

I still suggest the 7970 ICEq though.

 

C.

[dazz 69]

I'm not so sure the 580 beats the 7950 in FSX anymore. I mean at 2xSGSS performance was good enough, but at 4xSGSS (one little correction, SGSS samples the full scene) it was a stuttery mess, even at 900MHz, with enough clouds. 

And looking at your vids, it's apparent that 4xSSAA is doing a great job on both transparent and opaque textures. It looks better than 8xS + 2xSGSS for sure and performance is comparable going by your GPUMark results. I can live without MSAA and 1x2 SSAA on just opaque textures if I can run true full scene 4xSSAA, or at least I thin it's a good compromise

 

The 7950 goes for some 220 - 270€ here, that's great bang for the buck. That HIS 7950 in particular costs some 270€, but I'm not sure I want to pay an extra 50€ just for 50 or 100MHz of OC headroom... but also because I'm cheap, LOL

 

The 7970 is just marginally faster (5 - 10%) so if the 7950 happens to struggle @ 4xSSAA, the 7970 will too. 

 

Then there's Bojote's shader mod, that could give the card an extra boost

 

I'm scouring the 2nd hand market too, I'll see if I can find a good deal

[cvearl 60]

I'm not so sure the 580 beats the 7950 in FSX anymore. I mean at 2xSGSS performance was good enough, but at 4xSGSS (one little correction, SGSS samples the full scene) it was a stuttery mess, even at 900MHz, with enough clouds.

And looking at your vids, it's apparent that 4xSSAA is doing a great job on both transparent and opaque textures. It looks better than 8xS + 2xSGSS for sure and performance is comparable going by your GPUMark results. I can live without MSAA and 1x2 SSAA on just opaque textures if I can run true full scene 4xSSAA, or at least I thin it's a good compromise

 

The 7950 goes for some 220 - 270€ here, that's great bang for the buck. That HIS 7950 in particular costs some 270€, but I'm not sure I want to pay an extra 50€ just for 50 or 100MHz of OC headroom... but also because I'm cheap, LOL

 

The 7970 is just marginally faster (5 - 10%) so if the 7950 happens to struggle @ 4xSSAA, the 7970 will too.

 

Then there's Bojote's shader mod, that could give the card an extra boost

 

I'm scouring the 2nd hand market too, I'll see if I can find a good deal

Roger. Well I have gone as high as 925 with mine on the GPU. Memory I leave alone. I have not tested past that. But one thing I found with the stock cooler, GPU clock 900+ and the fan gets noisyish. Not bad but you hear it.

 

Let me know what happens. I will test that crazy GPUMARK thing with 2xSSAA and take some screen shots but I am betting on FUGLY. LOL

 

And I learned I still cannot get smooth performance KSFF+PMDG+STORM OVERCAST weather. No matter my clocks. I am starting to hate payware airports. Well. They are really fun in Carenado planes with VFR weather. No doubt but sometimes I like to take a regional out. Well the new Q400 is another one to try now from Majestic. FPS friendlier than PMDG from what I understand.

 

C.

[dazz 69]

Thanks again man, I'll keep you posted

 

 

 

And I learned I still cannot get smooth performance KSFF+PMDG+STORM OVERCAST weather. No matter my clocks. I am starting to hate payware airports

 

This is probably going to have little to do with the GPU. Where's your GPU usage at in those scenarios? What's your CPU and clock speed?

[cvearl 60]

Thanks again man, I'll keep you posted

 

 

 

 

This is probably going to have little to do with the GPU. Where's your GPU usage at in those scenarios? What's your CPU and clock speed?

 

CPU is currently at 4.2 using a coolermaster 212 Evo cooler. I use OCCT to test stability. Anything over 4.2 Bluescreens with OCCT. Wierd though that Intels own Extreme CPU Tool can stress test up to 4.4 no problem. OCCT is a crazy tool. Russians with sledge hammers smashing my poor little i7. LOL

 

GPU usuage only high if lots of clouds. Hits in the 70% - 80% range and about 600MB VRAM per GPU-Z tool.

 

Just read some overcocking stuff for the 7950 reference board at GURU3D. Will try for 1000Mhz tonight and do the bad boy GPUMARK thing. BOOM! smoke. LOL.

 

C.

[dazz 69]

Have you tried unlimited ingame? RadeonPro has a built in frame rate limiter just like inspector. I'll be using that myself.

OCCT is tough, yeah, but you probably just need more voltage (I'm guessing it's a 2600K, 2700K or 3770K I7) What's your full load Vcore for 4.2GHz?

 

1000MHz is not going to brick your 7950, for what I could gather 1100 or even 1200 is not unusual for those cards. You may even get away with 1000MGhz on stock volts, not sure though

[cvearl 60]

Have you tried unlimited ingame? RadeonPro has a built in frame rate limiter just like inspector. I'll be using that myself.

OCCT is tough, yeah, but you probably just need more voltage (I'm guessing it's a 2600K, 2700K or 3770K I7) What's your full load Vcore for 4.2GHz?

 

1000MHz is not going to brick your 7950, for what I could gather 1100 or even 1200 is not unusual for those cards. You may even get away with 1000MGhz on stock volts, not sure though

Ya 2600K. There's a good guide from ROG Asus team for the P8P67 rev3 I have. Just have not done it yet. Only did the multiplier bump to 42 and XMP on the RAM. I'll push it harder later.

 

I will shoot straight for the 1000Mhz on the GPU based on this -> http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7950_overclock_guide,1.html

 

It's the board I own.

 

Well see how it goes. I will use Valley Demo to test temp and stability.

 

C.

[cvearl 60]

Have you tried unlimited ingame? RadeonPro has a built in frame rate limiter just like inspector. I'll be using that myself.

OCCT is tough, yeah, but you probably just need more voltage (I'm guessing it's a 2600K, 2700K or 3770K I7) What's your full load Vcore for 4.2GHz?

 

1000MHz is not going to brick your 7950, for what I could gather 1100 or even 1200 is not unusual for those cards. You may even get away with 1000MGhz on stock volts, not sure though

 

OK so I went straight to 1000Mhz GPU, 1575Mhz Memory with the power slider bumped 20% for 200 watt from the default 160watt.

 

Running the Valley Benchmark below the temp hit 82C. That is kind of hot. But that is a 100% GPU torture test.

 

Using 4xSSAA per your request, running GPUMARK FSX Cloud Test, the first 30 seconds or so it was hovering between 23 and 24 fps. Left it 2 minutes and came back and it had settled in around 21.5. Quick check on Performance Tab in CCC and the fan was at 60% and the temp was 70C. It was 80% GPU utilization. Clouds are a killer!

 

The temp and the fan noise is why I recommend one of the non reference boards. The HIS products are the coolest and the quietest. It does not have to be their most expensive. Anything that says ICEq in the title. It will be near silent and the temp will never climb beyond 70. I had a 6950 and in the Performance Tab I was able to max the memory and GPU clock and the card nary made a peep! That or the ASUS CU II variety. Unless your find with the louder fan.

 

I will have to test 2xSSAA for you later. Gotta run.

 

 

Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0

 

FPS:

38.0

Score:

1588

Min FPS:

19.4

Max FPS:

69.9

 

System

 

Platform:

Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit

CPU model:

Intel® Core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz (3400MHz) x4

GPU model:

AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series 9.12.0.0 (3072MB) x1

 

Settings

 

Render:

Direct3D11

Mode:

1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen

Preset

Extreme HD

[cvearl 60]

2xSSAA looked fine except there was shimmer on waves in the water at that setting. 4xSSAA is the sweetspot.

 

In other news.... ATI 7950 Boost BIOS. I loaded this and am trying with this instead of a manual overclock. Card does not work as hard and I seem to be ok for performance.

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7950_Boost_BIOS_Upgrade/

 

Must be a reference board which the HIS 7950 3GB is. Put BIOS in switch 1 position on card. Flashed. Rebooted. Done.

 

This was ATI's answer to the overclocked 660Ti's that were arriving on the scene to fill the $319 price point.

 

I'm cool with it. They took the clock from 800 to 925. Pretty good for free.

 

C.

[dazz 69]

There's some shimmer with an nVidea card @ 2xSGSS too. And 22-24FPS @ 1000MHz in GPUMark2 at 4xSSAA is right there in the limit of being good enough. You're making me doubt if I should stretch for that 7970 haha

[cvearl 60]

There's some shimmer with an nVidea card @ 2xSGSS too. And 22-24FPS @ 1000MHz in GPUMark2 at 4xSSAA is right there in the limit of being good enough. You're making me doubt if I should stretch for that 7970 haha

Feels like an over clocked 7970 would be the goldilocks card. Just right. You can over clock it as well right? :-)

 

Or just get the GHZ edition that includes a decent cooler.

 

But if your going to go 1000mhz clock on a 7950, don't get a reference design. The cooler is loud. Like GTX470 loud. Which is OK in my case because I have a loud PSU. Arggg.

 

C.

[dazz 69]

Oh it's not going to be worse than my old reference GTX480, that I runned OC'ed to 860MHz... boy that was LOUD! haha

 

Those new cards run reasonably cool even after crancking up the clocks & volts. If I find a good deal on a reference cooled one, I won't think twice. I don't mind running the fan at 80 or even 100% but that's just me.

 

So a 7950 should be capable of 24 - 27FPS at 4xSSAA worst case scenario at 1100-1200MHz (more or less what I got with my 580 at 2xSGSS and max overclock)

 

Add 2-4 FPS with a 7970 maybe...

[cvearl 60]

k so explain this. So now I have a card that is undoubtedly faster than my 6950 was. I go back to an old stress test I used to use. basically flying between kpdx and downtown Portland at 2500 feet using the default cold fronts Weather theme. I'm getting frame rates in the low to mid twenties and it's no better than my 6950 was.

 

I would really really like to hear from somebody who has a 660 TI or a GTX 580 who could replicate this flight scenario and report back. Basically just get up in the air about 2500 feet and circling between downtown Portland and the kpdx Airport. If you don't have the Carenado B200, using any HD Carnado plane would be just fine. Basically using very dense scenery and dense autogen. Also 8xS with 2xSGSS and 16xAA.

 

is it simply because this is a CPU bound scenario?

[dazz 69]

 

 

is it simply because this is a CPU bound scenario?

 

Most likely, yes. What are your settings? mind to post your fsx.cfg?

[cvearl 60]

Most likely, yes. What are your settings? mind to post your fsx.cfg?

you bet I'll post it tonight.