The new "tweaking tendencies"....

[jcomm 5,890]

I've noticed that both the DX10 guide ( latest version available at this forum ) and AVSIM's recently published Guide for Installation and Configuration of FSX have

left off some of the typical tweaks used for quite a long time.

 

For users with "low-end" machines, like an i5 2500 k and a GTX 650 Ti ( 1GB), running win7 64 bit, I wonder if the:

 

- PoolSize=0

- AffinittyMask=14

 

tweaks should really be left out?

 

Aren't the new "minimalist" tweaks meant to be used only with the higher end CPUs and GPUs?

 

And, yet another question... Depending on your system I see that there can be different options available for the AA setings in DX10Fixer. On the GTX 650 Ti I have a lot more

options than in an ATI FirePro V4900, where I can only opt for none, 2x, 4x or 8x ? 

 

Any comments / suggestions, appreciated ;-)

[Paul J 349]

You've not read the How-To DX10 guide in a while, JC! .....  Page 7 has this on BufferPools, with a link to a guide. If one isn't concerned with performance, then BufferPools can certainly be left out of the config, but this is FSX, and my feeling is that the FSX "experience" depends upon our pc's performance, so BP has to be there, regardless of the pc's situation: i.e. "low-end", "medium" or "high-end". The vertex data is going into a frame buffer whether you specify it's function or not, and how it is configured will most definitely have an impact on performance.

 

Last note – BufferPools here - it's not a 'heavy' read, and will hopefully create an understanding of what the darned things are!

4.9-gig proc/GTX580 5.0-gig proc/GTX780

[bufferPools] [bufferPools]

BufferPools=1 BufferPools=0

RejectThreshold=262144

For the very best performance BP does need to be in the cfg, default Poolsize is 8388608 (8MB), and here are some sizes to test:

PoolSize= 8388608 (8 MB) 20971520 (20MB) 5242880 (5MB) 10485760 (10MB)

RejectThreshold=524288 (512 KB) 786432 (768 KB) 1048576 (1 MB) 262144 (256 KB) 131072 (125 KB)

Finding the right size is time-consuming, but not difficult, because it interacts with other parameters – TBM & Water, for example..... etc..

 

This is the link referred to if the one above doesn't work in a quote. More than enough, and not needed inside the guide.

 

With regard to the Hardware and Software Guide - I resigned as editor about a month ago, it creating far too much contention for an old guy!

 

... and as far as the AM goes - in the Vancouver testing a year ago, and any testing I've personally done since - it makes little or no discernible difference under maximum load conditions.

 

Charles is the best guy to comment on the ATI/AMD gpu's as I haven't used one since about 2007 or so..  Both vendors use different techniques to achieve acceptable AA, with tons of Google-able info on the internet on how they do it, and AA in general. Here are a couple in my dropbox.

 

OK!

 

All the Best,

 

pj

[jcomm 5,890]

Thx so much pj!

[Beardyman 604]

Jcomm - i have exactly same settings: BP = 0 and AM=14.

I have checked many different settings including BP with different values.

BP=0 gives me the best performance and smoothness.

 

Win7 / 64 + Nvidia 760 OC 2 Gb

[jcomm 5,890]

Thx Artur!

[Paul J 349]

..and I have to eat a little crow here, too JC! I just spent the last three hours verifying that darned Affinity Mask, and it definitely has a positive affect on the ability of FSX to maintain frame rate stability and in enhancing the smoothness of the sim. The How-To doc is also updated with this addition.

 

So Thank You for the wake-up!   :Doh:

 

All the Best,

 

pj 

[jcomm 5,890]

Yep, I have used it in the past, and a couple of hours ago set it again. It happened after I installed a weather injector, which was started in the same core... FSX started showing some stuttering...  Usin AM brought it back to great FPS and smoothness!

[SolRayz 392]

Small pet peeve, but ahem, 2500K and 650Ti could hardly be considered a "low end" system.

[Paul J 349]

Oh yes - it's a low-to-mid-range system, Marc. It does depend upon the proc series and it's speed in some measure, as some of the 2500k's can pump some high figures, but in general "high-end" would be 4.8-gig plus with a 680 or a 780 GPU. The "Ti" immediately drops it into low-med category.

 

Check out Nick's Bible - this is one area in which we agree!

 

Take a look at the memory specs - 650Ti here, and the 780 here. Memory interface and memory bandwidth + its total ram - that's what counts in FSX. The 650Ti is a bottleneck.