Prepar3D - low FPS - is this normal?

[armchairpil0t 0]

Hi,

 

I finally got Prepar3D v2 and am not impressed with the frame rate at all - when I start in the default F-35, I get only around 13 FPS at the default start location, with a noticeable lag in responding to controls (as if P3D would render several frames in advance). In addition, the whole Windows system becomes very slow while Prepar3D is running - e.g. I get a lag when scrolling a web page while P3D is running in another window. This never happens with FSX.

 

If I disable the virtual cockpit, the frame rate climbs to 24, which is is again not very impressive.

 

FSX with max display settings runs at about 40 FPS. Isn't Prepar3D supposed to produce more FPS than FSX? It does look slightly nicer, but losing half the frame rate doesn't seem worth it...

 

My system is:

 

Intel Core i5 3470 @3.2 GHz (quad-core) 

8GB RAM

nVidia GeForce GT 630 with 2GB RAM

Windows 7 64-bit

 

I know my graphics card is not the latest and greatest, but it performs very well with FSX.

 

Is it normal that Prepar3D is way more demanding on the hardware? Everyone seems so happy with the P3D performance, so it is quite puzzling why I am getting frame rates I last experienced with FS5 20 years ago...

 

What kind of system do you need to run P3D with a smooth FPS (e.g. 40 FPS with the default scenery)?

 

Thanks!

 

[Christopher Low 5,341]

That Geforce GT630 is not a good card for P3D. You need something significantly more powerful than that. FSX doesn't use the graphics card anywhere near as much as P3D, so the lack of power in that 630 has been "hidden". I would suggest a minimum of a 2GB GTX760, although your 3.2GHz CPU would benefit from an overclock if you intend to run any complex addons with P3D.

[jfmitch 33]

I concur with Christopher.  You should have done research on P3D before you purchased it.  Read the box as they say.  P3D makes more use of your graphics card than anything has before.  I use a  GTX 770 here at 30 to 40 FPS even in busy airports.  Thinking of the 900 series but will wait until they top that.

 

Jim

[diajohn 164]

Perhaps you could turn some of the settings down and see how well it works.  Your machine is a bit underpowered for P3D but with settings  down, you can enjoy it.

[armchairpil0t 0]

Thanks for the replies, guess I'll have to shop for a new graphics card then

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Thanks for the replies, guess I'll have to shop for a new graphics card then

 

That will do it - P3D frames are excellent

[vgbaron 3,508]

 

 

I know my graphics card is not the latest and greatest, but it performs very well with FSX.

 

LOL! We should make this a sticky with the tagline that what works in FSX is irrelevant.

 

LM has revamped the rendering engine significantly enough to make them very different sims in many areas.

 

As others have said, a new GPU will help greatly but 3.2ghz is marginal at best. 4ghz and up is much better.

 

Vic

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

 

 

Thanks for the replies, guess I'll have to shop for a new graphics card then

 

 If you can't afford a GTX 970 or 980, see if you can find a cheap GTX 780 or GTX 780ti. There are a lot of bargains to be had with those two cards since the 900 series came out.

[freequest 0]

 

 

That Geforce GT630 is not a good card for P3D

 

O bull I run fine at 30fps with ORBX with settings on scenery one notch down with a EVGA 570HD was what I was about to say but your differently right.

 

Try out a better Video card my above one though old works very well with DSR i sit at a solid 30fps in heavy cloud a even newer card would have even better results.  without DSR I sit at a solid 20fps

[GamerNurd 7]

I concur with Christopher. You should have done research on P3D before you purchased it. Read the box as they say. P3D makes more use of your graphics card than anything has before. I use a GTX 770 here at 30 to 40 FPS even in busy airports. Thinking of the 900 series but will wait until they top that.

 

Jim

I also have a gtx770 but I dont get 30-40 fps on busy airports or in heavy clouds. Whats your settings?

[Poppet 703]

I don't own PD3 but i thought i would throw this in.  I have a GTX 690 with 4 Gig of Vram,  i73930K,  4,1, and 16 gig Ram.......I thought my card was well powered for everything but its really 2 X 680's running in Sli.  When i'm flying i still have to watch settings..  My point is that just because i have a 4 GiG card only 2 GiG can be properly utilized during gaming because of it been a sli Card? Rite or Wrong? 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

First, you are correct, you basically have two GTX 680 2 GB cards running in SLI. Since neither FSX nor P3d scale well in SLI, you are probably getting ~1.25 to 1.4 times the performance of a single 680. And with only 2 GB of video RAM available to each card, performance is not going to be the greatest, especially with P3d. LM claims to be working with nVidia on an optimized SLI profile for p3d, but that remains to be seen.

[volmmer 0]

I'm getting a maximum of 18-22 fps on my rig with 2 X 980GTX in SLI and an OC'ed I7 3930 @ 4.2 

Addons consist of the essential ORBX software and My Traffic. No addon airports. 

A bit dissappointing FPS, but it is a very consistent (and smooth) framerate. I can turn everything up to max until I get OOM'ed out into space. 

 

The only main thing impacting the FPS is MyTraffic which is a real ressource hog. (probably because this is still handled by the CPU, which is now the bottleneck (?))

 

Very much looking forward to an updated Nvidia profile for SLI 

[Poppet 703]

First, you are correct, you basically have two GTX 680 2 GB cards running in SLI. Since neither FSX nor P3d scale well in SLI, you are probably getting ~1.25 to 1.4 times the performance of a single 680. And with only 2 GB of video RAM available to each card, performance is not going to be the greatest, especially with P3d. LM claims to be working with nVidia on an optimized SLI profile for p3d, but that remains to be seen.

Good information thank you.