MSFX turning my smokin' new laptop into a BRICK

[CTBlankenship 36]

That is what my Notebook Cooler ZM-NC2000 takes care of ... when I touch the bottom of the laptop it is cool.

 

Do you think that is enough cooling protection?

 

I can't do anything more than this.

 

C. T. Blankenship

[cavaricooper 2,611]

Yes, that's exactly the sort of cooler I was suggesting. Most people know enough to monitor CPU temps (esp. TJ) but it ALL gets hotter in OC. Glad you are using the external cooler to send air throughout the laptop body. As far as enough.... it will let you know

[captainsazzman 83]

Hey all:

 

I did what FleetingThought suggested and blew everything away and started from scratch, only entering in the most basic of tweaks ... just the ones specified in the thread.

 

I've followed many a software guides ... this is not a tweaking issue.

 

This is a machine / OS issue.  I now have MSFX limited to 20 fps (which is plenty smooth for me) and the "fsx.exe *32" is only using steady 13% of the processing power.  This becomes an issue during the flight when the framerates drop into the single digits and fsx.exe *32 is still only using 13% or lower ... in the words of General Anthony Clement "Nuts" McAuliffe ... "NUTS".  I will not surrender.

 

Something is going at a low level that is interpreting that the need of MSFX for CPU processing cycles is not that great ... and limiting it.

 

I've never run into anything like this before.  As stated previously, I've tweaked my E8400 Wolfdale Duo Core 2 3.0 Ghz processor until I'm getting a solid 17 fps running PMDG's 737-800 NGX (I have to do a clean boot but that isn't a big deal).

 

Also, I've been working with FSFX for about three years now ... patience is not an issue.

 

However, as soon as PMDG either supports XPlane 1x or Prepar3d ... good bye MSFX.

 

Any other thoughts guys?

 

C. T. Blankenship

Yup when the big developers move, so will I but some of the other sims like Xplane still have a ways to go in terms of addon  complexity and beauty

[AVSIM Admin 4]

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[CTBlankenship 36]

Just an update ... this is crazy but FSX takes all four cores to between 40% and 50% and Tj. max into the high 80's for cores 3 and 4 ... it is amazing that a program this old still tasks new hardware as much as it does.

 

I will only make flights of 1 to 1.5 hours for fear of melting my laptop ;-) ... luckily enough my new Haswell rig comes in next week and I can take this monster off of my software development machine and onto a new liquid cooled beauty.

 

Let this serve as a warning ... unblocking CPU cores can create marginally nasty results.  Take care when doing so and use every program you can that allows you to set overheat protection ... Core Temp allows my PC to automatically shutdown when Tj. max goes above a user specified amount (I chose automatically since when I'm flying I'm not always paying attention of temps).

 

C. T.

[CTBlankenship 36]

Here is another warning.  After reading through this forum today I stumbled across a (probably well known fact ... just not to me) discussion of closed loop and open loop water cooling systems ... and whether or not they require maintenance.

 

I purchased my PC from CyberPowerPC and just called them today (regarding the cooling system).  I asked them if my system required maintenance (open loop) or not (closed loop).  To my dismay I was told mine will require maintenance and depending upon how hot the CPU runs during games that the maintenance periodicity changes.  They recommended checking the fluid levels once a month and not letting the levels get below 80% (for optimum prevention of contaminants, like algae, getting into and clogging the system).

 

However, what disturbed me the MOST was that if I hadn't read this forum and asked the correct question I WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN I HAD PURCHASED THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM (they wouldn't have told me) ... which would have had DISASTEROUS results six months down the line.

 

So, before you buy a water cooled system ... know what you are buying and what your ownership responsibilities are ... since system builders assume you do know what you are talking about!

 

C. T. Blankenship

[dazz 69]

Here is another warning.  After reading through this forum today I stumbled across a (probably well known fact ... just not to me) discussion of closed loop and open loop water cooling systems ... and whether or not they require maintenance.

 

I purchased my PC from CyberPowerPC and just called them today (regarding the cooling system).  I asked them if my system required maintenance (open loop) or not (closed loop).  To my dismay I was told mine will require maintenance and depending upon how hot the CPU runs during games that the maintenance periodicity changes.  They recommended checking the fluid levels once a month and not letting the levels get below 80% (for optimum prevention of contaminants, like algae, getting into and clogging the system).

 

However, what disturbed me the MOST was that if I hadn't read this forum and asked the correct question I WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN I HAD PURCHASED THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM (they wouldn't have told me) ... which would have had DISASTEROUS results six months down the line.

 

So, before you buy a water cooled system ... know what you are buying and what your ownership responsibilities are ... since system builders assume you do know what you are talking about!

 

C. T. Blankenship

what cooling system is that Charles?

[CTBlankenship 36]

_{CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 240MM w/XSPC Rasa 750 RS240, Dual Fan (CPU & Liquid Cool Capable, Extreme Overclocking Performance + Extreme Silent at 18dBA) for +$63 ...}

 

_{... their exact terminology ... hopefully it will keep the Haswell cool at 4.2GHz.}

[3-2-1-Now 126]

I've performed the ******* Tweak blah ... blah ... blah, the list goes on.

 

The reason for this problem is obvious however, when viewing performance monitor, MSFX is only using 10 to 14 percent of the available processing power.  I've tried increasing the priority of the thread but that does nothing.

 

What is turning my smokin' new laptop into a BRICK?

 

1) The "******* Tweak" is utter rubbish. It does not fundamentally change anything about the programming of FSX (which is junk).

 

2) It appears that a component is overheating and as aresult the thermal protections are clocking back the device (either CPU and/or GPU), which is why you see a marked drop in performance after ~20 minutes.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

[CTBlankenship 36]

I discarded the ******* Tweak in favor of NickN's new tweaking bible.

 

I also stopped playing FSX on the laptop ... temperatures were staying too high during a simple 1.5 hour flight.  I need that machine for software development ... taxing it for something stupid like FSX is imprudent at best.

 

Instead I went with a custom build from CyberPowerPC ... but after playing with that for a day or so I decided I could get top quality components from Newegg and build it for roughly the same cost. 

 

EVGA ACX Cooler 03G-P4-2784-KR GeForce GTX 780 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support

ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800-80GAD3-US 800W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI / CrossFire Ready

Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200)

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLHX 300GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB Port / Extra Silver Face Plate

ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

USB 3.0 PCI-e Express Card with 4 USB 3.0 Ports and 5V 4-Pin Power Connector for Desktops PCIe Expansion Card

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Thermalright ARCHON XB-E x2 Heatsink for Intel LGA 1150

NZXT IU01 Case Accessory (Internal USB Expansion Module)

G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Fans

Coollaboratory Liquid Pro Thermal Interface Material (Application Tutorial)

 

CyberPowerPC is great but you have to know what you are doing.  Some cautions are:

 

1.  Never get engraving on your PC ... you cannot return it within the 30 day return policy.

2.  Never get the stock PSU ... they, by default, load a custom build with a "stock" (read junk) PSU ... for the life of me I don't know what they do this for.  I talked with Tech Support and they told me that the lifetime of a stock PSU is about 1-1/2 years.  Quality PSUs are expected to last 3 to 5 years ... not to mention they deliver cleaner power to the components and also produce less heat.

3.  Never keep the stock MoBo.  I researched my MoBo at Newegg and it was so low end that no one had reviewed it. 

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

Choose Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge instead. Haswell overclocks terribly.

 

Other than that, it looks like a great system.

[CTBlankenship 36]

ChaoticBeauty:

 

I doubt I'll be doing any significant overclocking ... my current rig from CyperPowerPC is overclocked to 4.2GHz and FSX doesn't even make the temperatures break a sweat.  So, I'm going to see what I can get from the Haswell stock ... all I'm going for is a smooth flight ... not 50 fps ... 20 fps at KATL with Imagine Simulations, REX and FTX Global will suit me just fine.

 

Prime95 took the temps to around 90 after about 20 minutes of hammering ... considering the workload on the CPU ... that's pretty good (?).

 

NickN says that the air cooler I selected (the one he recommended) comes close to water cooling capability and will cool the 4770K at 4.2 GHz if I decide to actually overclock.

 

Thanks for the tip though ... I have frequently heard that about Sandy/Ivy bridge ... and that the i7 4770K definitely has a problem with heat dissipation.

 

Can't wait to get my refund from CPPC so I can get the parts in to start building this rig.

 

Here is NickN's Bible for FSX system building and tweaking ... I'll be using it from beginning to end with regards to putting this entire system together.

 

C. T.

[FSMP 95]

HEAT WARNING:    Laptop Cooling systems are much more prone to  dust / fluff / lint  etc, than your typical Desktop,  with more powerful fans.

 

see  some images of what can build up at

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1016&bih=586&q=laptop+fan+dust&oq=laptop+fan+dust