fsx-se FSX Performance is Outrageous despite mid-class GPU and CPU

[themaster402 0]

So recently I have bought a laptop with a middle-class GPU and CPU, a GTX 860M 4 GB with i7-4710HQ at 3.5 GHz turbo. It seems that for other people, around a GTX 560 to 660 was enough to power some very intensive addons. Now maybe my CPU is my bottleneck, but I don't know if it should bottleneck to the point where I have to run on lowest settings just for 30.60 fps.  Most of the time, I check for any CPU power consuming apps and close them before starting FSX, but now the performance is just outrageous. I start a flight with a freeware 777 (which was actually made for FS9) with all settings at max. I get extremely low fps, maybe 3, so I turn down every setting to the lowest for fun. I also change the aircraft to the default 737. 30-60 fps, still stupidly low for the current situation, in the middle of the desert at my local airport. In task manager, FSX is only using about 600 megabytes of RAM and around 10-20% of my CPU. Online, there are some pretty good reviews of FSX running on lower end mobile cards, and even some showing realism. But I'm also seeing that FSX only uses one core, while I have a quad core (which is picked up as 8 cores in some games). Still, I'm running the Steam Edition, and I really want answers, even the slightest of optimizations.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Not sure what you mean by "outrageous", but with a mid class system, you are not going to get good FSX performance, period.  Especially with "all settings on max".

 

You want optimization.... suggest  i7-4790K + GTX970 with fast RAM on a good quality motherboard.

 

That will give you good FSX performance.

[ryanbatc 12,807]

Settings on max

 

There's your main issue

 

I'd google fsx guide or nick n bible for starters

 

3.5 ghz is alright and with some compromises you'll be able to run some addons

[z06z33 763]

Hell I don't get 60 FPS even with my desktop rig,FSX doesn't like laptops.

 

I7-4790k @ 4.5ghz

MSI GTX 980

8GB Gskill ram @2133MHZ

[themaster402 0]

Well that's too bad... Guess I need to upgrade my old rig with a new graphics card, processor, and RAM.... Though I don't see why you are recommending the 970/980, since the people who make FSX Realism videos seem to do good with 560/660/Ti. I guess I'll settle with a 970. I am noticing that everything on my laptop is lagging, Google Chrome, YouTube, and the OS itself.

 

P3D seems to support DX11, and I definitely fit all the recommended requirements for it... Might give it a try.

[stans 702]

First, FS9 aircraft ported into FSX generally perform worse than aircraft designed for FSX.

 

Second, don't push all the sliders to the far right. 

 

Third, I do not have Google Chrome, but I have read numerous complaints about Google Chrome making everything run slower.

[Jimm 437]

I'd like to address some of the comments made about performance of laptops running FSX, FSX:SE and even P3D.  I fly with a laptop...correction, I run a flight simulator on my laptop, which is a recently built Origin EON-15X, comprised of an Intel i7-4790k (overclocked to 4.5ghz), an nVidia GTX-980M w/8gb of RAM and 16gb of memory.  This system is honestly the optimal setup for a laptop to run FSX, FSX:SE and P3D.  I found better performance running P3D over FSX:SE, but overall, my frames stay around 30fps, regardless of what my sliders are at and that is due to responsible tweaking of the cfg files and setting nVidia Inspector correctly.

 

To the OP, you have a system that CAN run FSX, but having your sliders set too high, or even maxed for that matter, will cause low frames, stutters, sputters and kaputs.  you have to strike a balance between what you want and what your laptop will provide.  With your diligence of turning off things that don't need to be running while you fly, is a great start but also recognize that flight simulators are not designed to run at max settings without some sort of issue or caveat.

 

What add-ons do you own and have installed?  Running the base FSX with modern day hardware will yield high fps but as soon as you start installing complex add-on aircraft and airports and scenery, your fps will decline.  I think this is the single most important misconception about FSX, which people believe that no matter what you throw at it, it should perform the same and when it doesn't, people cry foul.  Now, IF you just have the base install of FSX installed, with your sliders to max, you should still get decent framerates and if you are content with that without any desire to install any other add-ons, you're golden.

 

A lesson I learned not too long ago is that if you are a flight simulator enthusiast and want to use it on your computer, you have to build the computer around the sim that you intent to use.  My latest rig was spec'd out following that bit of advice and right now, I am content.

 

-Jim

Well that's too bad... Guess I need to upgrade my old rig with a new graphics card, processor, and RAM.... Though I don't see why you are recommending the 970/980, since the people who make FSX Realism videos seem to do good with 560/660/Ti. I guess I'll settle with a 970. I am noticing that everything on my laptop is lagging, Google Chrome, YouTube, and the OS itself.

 

P3D seems to support DX11, and I definitely fit all the recommended requirements for it... Might give it a try.

The recommendation of a 970/980 card is valid because you have to understand that mobile cards actually run slower than what they are marketed as.  I recently came across an article that addressed the differences between desktop and laptop graphics cards.  There can be a difference of 25% between the two so if you had a 970 or 980 (which I do), then your card in a laptop actually runs similarly to a GTX 770 desktop card.  Now for general gaming, the performance of that beefy 970 or 980 comes in handy and you won't have a single issue.

 

As for the performance of FSX on a laptop, or even a desktop, the CPU is what really drives the sim.  Your i7-4710 runs at a base clockspeed of 2.5ghz and can turbo to 3.5ghz.  You would think that at 3.5ghz, you would be fine but remember this is turboboost, and after a while of running at that speed, you generate more heat, so your thermal limit is maxed and then your cpu will throttle, causing stutters, sputters and kaputs, not to mention your frames will decline pretty quick.  I had that issue with my last laptop rig and realized that the dinky power adapter I had couldn't give me enough power and my cpu was being maxed out.  With the i7-4790k, which is a desktop cpu, the thermal limit is higher, my power adapter is rated higher, and I have the ability to overclock, so my base clockspeed, while still at 4.0ghz, is definitely sufficient to run the sim and my add-ons with little to no issue.

 

To the OP again (no name given), you stated that you would replace the graphics card in your laptop...does it come equipped with an MXM card?  If so, you may be in luck as that is easy to replace.  Not exactly cheap, but cheaper than getting a new rig which is what you would have to do if you don't have an MXM graphics card and your graphics chip is actually soldered to the motherboard.

 

-Jim

[hs118 707]

Though I don't see why you are recommending the 970/980, since the people who make FSX Realism videos seem to do good with 560/660/Ti.

You should probably ask the video producers how their are recording and post processing their videos. There are many video production techniques, such as recording at 1/2 speed then producing video at full speed, that compensate for less than top shelf hardware.

[z06z33 763]

Well that's too bad... Guess I need to upgrade my old rig with a new graphics card, processor, and RAM.... Though I don't see why you are recommending the 970/980, since the people who make FSX Realism videos seem to do good with 560/660/Ti. I guess I'll settle with a 970. I am noticing that everything on my laptop is lagging, Google Chrome, YouTube, and the OS itself.

 

P3D seems to support DX11, and I definitely fit all the recommended requirements for it... Might give it a try.

The people that make those videos use video editing to make things look smoother, also FSX likes fast CPU's so get a 4790k or atleast a 4690k and overclock it.

[themaster402 0]

Firstly, I'm upgrading my old CPU, not my laptop

 

Second, I've figured my laptop is running everything slow... Tried to play GTA 5 a while ago and I was getting 3 fps as opposed to around 30-60 at very high settings. I'll have to look in to it.

-snip-

 

Wow, there must be something wrong with my laptop. Even writing is laggy.

 

At the time, I was only using some World of AI, which normally runs well. 

 

To be specific, my laptop is the 2014 HP Omen.

 

I've heard from a LinusTechTips video that the SLI 980M is right behind the desktop 970 in terms of performance.

 

Again, FSX was barely using any CPU. Usually, the fans would speed up upon launching a game, but now they aren't.

[fppilot 4,351]

 

 

You want optimization.... suggest  i7-4790K + GTX970 with fast RAM on a good quality motherboard.

 

That is certainly my goal for a new system I plan to build this fall. With at least one SSD.

 

My current i7 2600 3.40Ghz, 8GB DDR5, and EVGA GTX560TI 2GB still gives me very acceptable performance in FSX with the aircraft and routes I fly. I use a lot of Megascenry 2 and many hi-res cities and only have frame rate issues at NYC, LA area, and Chicago.  I only enable add-on sceneries for the areas I am flying on a particular day.  I fly only GA aircraft and the only aircraft that presents an issue is the Turbine Duke v2, and then only if I try to operate (2) F1 GTN750's in it. With one it is just fine.

[Jimm 437]

Firstly, I'm upgrading my old CPU, not my laptop

 

Second, I've figured my laptop is running everything slow... Tried to play GTA 5 a while ago and I was getting 3 fps as opposed to around 30-60 at very high settings. I'll have to look in to it.

 

Wow, there must be something wrong with my laptop. Even writing is laggy.

 

At the time, I was only using some World of AI, which normally runs well. 

 

To be specific, my laptop is the 2014 HP Omen.

 

I've heard from a LinusTechTips video that the SLI 980M is right behind the desktop 970 in terms of performance.

 

Again, FSX was barely using any CPU. Usually, the fans would speed up upon launching a game, but now they aren't.

If you are running FSX:SE, your fans won't speed up much, but if you are only getting 3fps, something is wrong.  Have you tried using process explorer to see how much cpu usage you were getting?

 

SLI980M could achieve that because it's two cards and if you don't mind giving away your first born child, get a laptop with two cards, but I think it's overkill for FSX.  Your main concentration is cpu when it comes to FSX.

 

-Jim

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

 

 

SLI980M could achieve that because it's two cards and if you don't mind giving away your first born child, get a laptop with two cards, but I think it's overkill for FSX.  Your main concentration is cpu when it comes to FSX.

 

-Jim

 

FSX does not have support for SLI.

[Jimm 437]

FSX does not have support for SLI.

Bert,

 

I don't think that is explicitly stated officially by either Microsoft or Dovetail.  I think the consensus believes that SLI wouldn't be much help because the sim will only run on one card.  I haven't seen definitive proof to the contrary though but perhaps there are hacks in place to get both cards to work together.  The beauty of the internet is finding anything and everything.

 

-Jim

[barrel_owl 304]

I have a laptop which was assembled by Chillblast (UK) on a Clevo backbone and has a comparable configuration: i7 4810MQ 2.8-3.8 GHz, GTX 860, SSD 500GB, FSX-SE.

Today I got 25-35 FPS on the brand new IbizaX Evolution with the Flight1 King Air B200, a known frame eater.

 

In general, I have a more than acceptable performance everywhere, with Orbx packages, payware airports and all usual addons installed and active. Based on your description, I am surprised to hear that you are experimenting so low performance. I tend to blame your settings. Before considering to upgrade to a desktop, make sure you configure FSX on your current laptop efficiently. Nothing new here, FSX is always a question of balance. No commercial level desktop will allow you to have 60 FPS constantly in any situation as long as you max out all your sliders.