Squeezing the most FPS. The PCie Performance 1.1 vs 2.0 vs 3.0 myth

[romney 0]

We're all trying to squeeze the most out of our rigs. The diverse nature of hardware and software makes it extremely difficult to create a base line. I've spent more time configuring device drivers, bios settings and config files than flying. BUT, it's that LEGO nature in me to build, destroy and rebuild a faster, better (insert the opening trailer for the Six Million Dollar Man) machine/simulator.

 

Flight Simulator has been my graphic benchmark since SubLogic's first release. Since the early days. the demands on the hardware have always been an excuse to upgrade. Here's a great video demonstrating the iterations of the flightsim engine from the inception to FSX.

 

 

With this evolution, the code has transformed from CPU dependent into being GPU intensive. Which brings me to this conundrum, do I really need to update my entire rig to increase P3D FPS? Guru3d posted a very informative article about the PCIe bus. The performance delta between PCIe 2.0 and 3.0 is negligible. Conclusion, I'll update the rig later, get a new GPU and not worry about the minimal bus latency.

 

Viel Spaß!

[denali 74]

Except that the bottleneck is still not at the GPU.  You need ... moar ... power.  Ghz's baby!  That's the only thing that's going to cure this, until directx 12.

[TrafficPilot 121]

Conclusion, I'll update the rig later, get a new GPU and not worry about the minimal bus latency.

 

Exactly what I've done romney!

 

I wasn't going to spend £250 on a GTX960 just to get P3D to run properly so got a good deal on a PCI-E3 Asus GTX750 Ti OC (£99).

 

I now have a major improvement in performance and most importantly for me - smoothness. This was after upgrading from a Gigabyte GTX650.

 

Definitely worth a try before spending loads on a new CPU or gaming PC.

[kevinfirth 1,396]

...and when are we likely to see DX12 support Denali? reasonable answer=noone knows, so the age old answer remains the same, throw as much hardware at it as you can afford!

[denali 74]

 

 

reasonable answer=noone knows

 Righto!!  The future is exciting though.  One thing I am hoping to see is that, because directX 12 is a deep low level rewrite that even extends into Windows kernel code - which is why it will only run on Windows 10, all graphic processing/work are helped by it.  The way I understand it, many function calls from previous versions directX, particularly those related to threading, will then call more efficient directx 12 underneath it.   As Windows 10 is now it has just stubs for directX 12 functions that don't really do anything.  I am anxiously awaiting their full implementation.  There is some thought out there that Microsoft may get it out earlier than the Release Candidate Win 10 in order to increase early adoption and migration rates.  Microsoft would really like to coral all the previous Windows userbase from what I am hearing is something really special in virtual reality and augmented reality.  They are moving fast to claim and reclaim marketspace in the new GUI/OS world that is about to be unleashed on the world.  

 

[abandoned account 171]

DX12 by itself will do absolutely nothing for performance. It's like the 64 bit discussions that happen every now and then. People seem to think that going 64 bit will automatically solve all memory issues like magic. The one and only issue is that Prepar3d is based on FSX which is based on really really bad code that was written a long long time ago. LM is improving this a lot for each new release but there is still a long long way to go to match other modern software.

 

People in the flightsim community tend to not have a clue about how modern games look and perform on the same hardware that can barely run our flightsim. Try some modern games on your flightsim hardware and you will realize that the problem is not the hardware, not DX11, not the 32 bit memory limitation, and certainly not your PCI bus speed.

[kevinfirth 1,396]

Hmm, are you saying that even applications not coded to take advantage of DX12 will likely get a performance boost from its implementation in Win10? I thought apps would need to be specifically coded for it in order to gain maximum benefit, but I'm not a software engineer or a windows/DX expert K

[DylanM 1,069]

 

 

DX12 by itself will do absolutely nothing for performance.

DX12 will likely be a significant bump in performance...for applications that are coded to take advantage of it.

 

Don't forget, LM took the DX9 (semi DX10) codebase and were able to migrate it to DX11 (enabling hardware tessellation , etc, etc.) without which we'd be starting at a slideshow with any of the eyecandy on.

[denali 74]

 

 

I'm not a software engineer

 I am a software engineer, 25+ years, and I've done some directx coding.  

[romney 0]

Except that the bottleneck is still not at the GPU.  You need ... moar ... power.  Ghz's baby!  That's the only thing that's going to cure this, until directx 12.

 

Agreed, although in my situation, It's not the CPU. My I7 930 has been overclocked to 4.07Ghz for the past three years. It's my GPU configuration. 2x Radeon 5870 Crossfire. I understand that FSX/P3D cannot take advantage of multi GPU's. GPU load is my problem.

 

Exactly what I've done romney!

 

Definitely worth a try before spending loads on a new CPU or gaming PC.

 

My point exactly!

 

 Righto!!  The future is exciting though.  One thing I am hoping to see is that, because directX 12 is a deep low level rewrite that even extends into Windows kernel code - which is why it will only run on Windows 10, all graphic processing/work are helped by it. 

 

Great choice of video. Again, I agree,

 

People in the flightsim community tend to not have a clue about how modern games look and perform on the same hardware that can barely run our flightsim. Try some modern games on your flightsim hardware and you will realize that the problem is not the hardware, not DX11, not the 32 bit memory limitation, and certainly not your PCI bus speed.

 

Then what is the problem? That's a pretty broad statement about not having a clue. I've had no problem playing FarCry4 (no crossfire support), Assassins Creed 4 and many, many, many other games. We are all enthusiasts in this genre with diverse backgrounds.  

 

The bus latency of PCIe 3.0 vs 2.0 is insignificant and there is still plenty of headroom in both standards. As Denali stated, once DX12 is truly implemented, something amazing will happen. Until then, I'll just upgrade the GPU. BTW, I am running WIn 10.

 

Viel Spaß!