Testing the Haswell i7-4770K at stock speed and at 4,2 GHZ with AF=255 HT on .This seems to be my maximum but i am back at 4,7GHZ with HT disabled.

 

Performance was not better (worse actually) but i did see the work on 2,3,4,5,6,7.

 

Strangely i have found that limiting the FPS within NI works much better than inside FSX . Did not see that coming  :huh:

 

331.82

 

Michael

 

 

Strangely i have found that limiting the FPS within NI works much better than inside FSX . Did not see that coming

 

Hmm... now I have to try that!  Thanks!

To raise a not so old one, i thought i wasnt the only one, DX10 seems to help with HT on too. And since some addons run outside FSX like the Q400, there may well be benifit for using HT. Just means i have to run mine at 4.1 instead of 4.2 but its much smoother.

I have always wondered how do you know if you are in HT or not.  My computer does not show anything in the bios or settings that I have the capability to turn it on or off. Would anyone know if I even have HT with a Gateway?

 

regards,

http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/intel-core-i7-860-processor-8m-cache-2_80-ghz

 

Intel thinks that your CPU supports HT. :lol:

 

You can download the replacement task manager,  MS Process Explorer:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653

 

Install and run it. Then right click on the FSX/P3d entry and you will see "Set Affinity ..." Click on that and it will show you what cores are being used. It will either show a total of 4 (HT off) or 8 (HT on) cores that can be assigned.

 

But in order to find out whether you can turn HT on or off, you need to get into the system BIOS setup when you first boot up the computer. The computer will usually display a message like "Enter F1 to enter setup", etc.. Unfortunately, some PC manufacturers block the ability to edit the CMOS settings, because a novice user can turn their PC into a useless brick by messing with the wrong setting.

 

My advice for HT is even if you can change the default setting, you should leave it on default.

 

 

 

 

 

HT improves performance of Windows irrespective of how FSX works, for a number of well earned reasons, most to do with the way Windows threaded apps work. Don't forget threading has been core to Windows programming principles since long before multi-core became available.

 

 

I have always wondered how do you know if you are in HT or not. My computer does not show anything in the bios or settings that I have the capability to turn it on or off. Would anyone know if I even have HT with a Gateway?

 

Do you know what your processor has for physical cores? Press CTRL-ALT-DEL and select the "Task Manager" option when presented. Then, flip to the "performance" tab. This will show you what your CPU is doing.

 

If you have a quad-core processor and hypertheading is turned off, you will see (4) graphs displaying the CPU usage history.

If you have a quad-core processor and hyperthreading is turned on, you will see (8) graphs displaying the CPU usage history.

Thanks all for the tips on HT.  I have gone into my BIOS and CMOS but never saw any hint where the HT could be disabled or enabled.  So I guess the manufacture has it blocked.   However, what I did learn from your help is I have 8 graphs showing under performance therefore I assume HT is turned on.  So I guess I am stuck on default.  This is somewhat of an older computer but it runs FSX fairly well for me but no PMDG T7 could get off the ground safely at KSEA.  Also it has a turbo boost to 3.4 but never understood how that works.  It must kick in as needed. (Thanks for site showing the specs on my processor. )

 

Thanks again for clearing this up for me.

 

 

Also it has a turbo boost to 3.4 but never understood how that works.

 

Turbo boost is automatic overclocking of the CPU when it is under load. As long as you have good cooling, the CPU will run at the higher clock rate. Generally,when people manually OC their CPU, they turn off turbo boost, which also is set in the CMOS setup. 

 

Also, I'm sure if you poke around enough on the Gateway technical support site, you can determine what motherboard/BIOS you have in your computer, just by knowing the serial number of the PC. But like I said before, HT has very little effect on either FSX or P3d.

Well, I have been chasing performance issue's for month's i7 Quad core, HT enabled, 8 threads, 16g ram, GTX560M 3gb video memory with an AF setting of 84 and tried AF255 with a really bad constant stutter DX10, FTXG, NGX, T7 every thirty seconds or so for around 5sec's drove me absolutly crazy, setting it up by the all the guides avaliable, countless cfg file rebuilds, days of bufferpool trials, countless driver changes to nearly a full reinstal, the graphic's have always been very clear and sharp except for the dreaded stutter until out of the blue I went against the advise and tried an AF setting of 14 and presto no more sutters, smooth as silk!, so now I'm really confused that is'nt suppose to be an AF setting of 84 with a Quad core with H.T enabled? 14 is working perfectly, thank god I can now start to enjoy.

 

Cheers Rod.

Thanks all for the tips on HT.  I have gone into my BIOS and CMOS but never saw any hint where the HT could be disabled or enabled.  So I guess the manufacture has it blocked.   However, what I did learn from your help is I have 8 graphs showing under performance therefore I assume HT is turned on.  So I guess I am stuck on default.  This is somewhat of an older computer but it runs FSX fairly well for me but no PMDG T7 could get off the ground safely at KSEA.  Also it has a turbo boost to 3.4 but never understood how that works.  It must kick in as needed. (Thanks for site showing the specs on my processor. )

 

Thanks again for clearing this up for me.

 

 

Carl ASFAIK the only reason to turn HT off in the bios is to lower

the CPU temperature when it is being overclocked.

With HT off the CPU runs cooler so it can be pushed to a higher overclock.

 

If you are not overclocking you can leave HT on in the bios and just turn those HT cores off

with the AffinityMask setting in you fsx.cfg ie. in your case:

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=85

 

The result will be the same (almost).

 

gb.

 

 

14 is working perfectly, thank god I can now start to enjoy.

 

That's a weird one for HT On, but can't argue with what works.

 

gb.

I oc'ed my 3770k to 4.5ghz, and left HT on. FSX is working very very good. Around 35-40fps on Aerosoft Munich in AXE or NGX, with MyTraffic @ 50%. Tried various AF values, 85, 84, and 255/254, no visible difference. I will try 14 later today, since I'm getting random freezes that lasts for few seconds, it is probably connected to my GPU usage in DX10, must check that out.

Hi gb,

I have AF set at 14, will change to 85 to see if there is any change.  I have checked the Gateway site in the past to see if the MB could be overclocked as well as any info on HT.  Nothing there to allow overclocking and HT info.  At least now I have a better understanding of HT and turbo boost.  Next step is to buy a new computer so I can fly with the big boys w/o slide shows.

I went against the advise and tried an AF setting of 14 and presto no more sutters, smooth as silk!, so now I'm really confused that is'nt suppose to be an AF setting of 84 with a Quad core with H.T enabled? 14 is working perfectly, thank god I can now start to enjoy.

 

(Remembering that with the binary code, your first cores are to the right and your last cores are to the left...)

 

AF=14 = 00001110 = Your first core and second core are doing all the work. Nothing is touching your 3rd and 4th.

 

AF=84 = 01010100 = Your first core is left alone, and each of the three remaining cores are set to work.

 

If you have a quad-core with HT enabled, then yes - change your AF to "84". It might not make a huge, perceivable difference, but it will be the optimal setup. But, if you get better performance with 14, by all means return back to it!

Hi gb,

I have AF set at 14, will change to 85 to see if there is any change.  I have checked the Gateway site in the past to see if the MB could be overclocked as well as any info on HT.  Nothing there to allow overclocking and HT info.  At least now I have a better understanding of HT and turbo boost.  Next step is to buy a new computer so I can fly with the big boys w/o slide shows.

 

There are quite a few combinations you can try after 85.

 

Try 84, 249, 252 and 255.

 

gb.