Awesome thread guys. One of the best. Thank you, AviartorMoser. I need try a couple of these settings,as I have been experiencing stutters. Got to find the balance.

Lots of good info, thanks!

The setups I was comparing above are to outline the difference with the fixed setting, and not a recommendation of setup.

 

Crap Steve I messed up it was early in the morning - I have VSync ON and triple buffer OFF - fps unlimited - it floats from 59 to 61 fps consistently with this setting 

 

If I turn VSync OFF - I get some stutters - found triple buffering doesnt do much of anything so I leave it off

 

Sorry for confusion 

Yes Rich, with vsync on it's aiming for your monitor refresh 60Hz a little like the fixed fps setting. The triple buffer should work OK set on, do you get any trouble when you do that?

Yes Rich, with vsync on it's aiming for your monitor refresh 60Hz a little like the fixed fps setting. The triple buffer should work OK set on, do you get any trouble when you do that?

 

Hi Steve feels a bit sluggish while panning and if you are on the outside in spot plane view its zooming in all by itself with Vsync off - weird stuff my man

 

 

The Bottom Line:

The default setting of no affinity mask sucks. i5 users are probably not affected by it, but those who do have an i7 are subjected to very poor frame rates and rendering stability.

Hyper-threading on or off makes no difference, as long as an appropriate AF is applied.

I see no advantage in using 3 cores to free up one processor for background applications. It's best if you just just limit background applications, and run on all four cores.

Use the internal frame limiter! Frame stability depends on the internal frame lock. Unlocking the frames creates horrendous micro-stuttering. An external frame limiter does not alleviate the problem.

Overclock your CPU. The increases in frame stability and average frame rates are quantifiable.

If you still see some stutters, then temporarily lower your LOD_Radius until you are in a more suitable area to return it to the max value. Higher LOD values seem to be responsible for the longest frames, and it's probably due to the CPU just being swamped.

Luverly!

 

Since we seem to have the same CPU and motherboard type, what technique did you use to overclock your CPU?

Forgive me if I have posted this query before I'm old, and Dotty to boot

 

Thanks,

 

Chas

My i7 works better with HT OFF.

 

Unlimited is the best option IF you can sustain FPS to match your monitors refresh rate (in my case 30Hz).  If you can't then use frame limiting and set FPS 2 below your lowest recorded FPS.

 

But stutters can be caused by MANY other variables.  For example I recently disabled my HDMI audio and onboard Audio (RealTek) in favor of my MOTU USB external audio interface and long frames were reduced over my standard sample test scenario (extreme settings in dense area).  Another example that a single small BGL file intended for FSX (but used in P3D) can also be a source of significant long frames (stutters).  Entries in DLL.XML or EXE.XML can be a source ... there so many potential sources for long frames beyond just working with AM and HT.

 

It can be overwhelming for the average end user, it's a harsh reality of working with a Global view distances and a very open and robust SDK that attempts to accommodate just about everything.

 

Cheers, Rob.

My i7 works better with HT OFF.

Rob, do you mean your PC, or do you mean P3D? My PC works quite a bit better with HT enabled. For example, with HT disabled, desktop icons take longer to come up.

Hi Steve,

 

So far the entire PC ... but I don't render video with this PC, use one of my other PCs for that ... so I "imagine" (have not confirm) that HT OFF might impact Adobe video rendering.  But for everything else from desktop to other games/sims (DCS, XPlane, Ashes of Singularity, Civ V, D3, SCII, GTA V, etc. - ok I admit I don't spend much time on games and primarily focus on sims, but I do fire them up occasionally) FPS always locked at my desired refresh (either 60 or 30 ... only Xplane and P3D operate at 30hz).

 

But I'll always maintain that GHz and memory bandwidth/latency will rule the performance day when it comes to sims/games (providing one finds stability).  Unfortunately Intel seem intent on selling us more cores at ever lower and lower GHz -- that trend apparently is going to continue on into the future unfortunately.  Intel see no profit in less cores at higher frequency and larger L1-L3 cache (it's not a technical challenge, it's profit decision) ... this is where we really need AMD to challenge Intel again (unlikely) if we want to see desktop CPU's for simmers rather than desktop CPUs for video editors.

 

Cheers, Rob.

You're right Rob. I think a lot of apps can trip over their own feet with HT enabled because it invites them to start more jobs, two to a core. Doubling activity on cores is great for some apps, but scuppers the main line performance of others.

Hi Steve

Best wishes. I'm a big fan of yours, by the way!

 

 

Talking about HT, I suppose it kind of fits better in the power management focus of these processors. You don't get so much searing throughput, it's a bit more evened out in general.

 

"But I just turned HT on" no need to worry. If care is taken the HT mode is an advantage when used right, but it can be a headache. The only people doing anything are us simmers, we're such fanatics.

But stutters can be caused by MANY other variables. 

 

 

Excellent post as always. Your observations match mine.

 

There is an interesting set of threads on both the VRS forums (TacPack) and the Hi Fi official forum (ASN). A user of Tacpack and ASN was having severe P3d 2.5 stuttering problems, but then he disabled ASN and the stutters disappeared. He also tried to reduce the IQ settings within the ASN UI, but the stutters continued.

 

He became curious and took a look at the ASN log files. Much to his amazement, there were many SimConnect exceptions being logged (although the ASN log does not note which app was causing the exceptions). One of the VRS developers responded that P3d (since version 1.x, in fact) treats one continuing SimConnect exception as multiple exceptions as long as the exception remains active. This apparently floods the SimConnect channel and if an app logs all exceptions (even repetitive versions of the same exception) it causes the logging app to generate an enormous amount of extraneous file I/O. VRS only logs each continuing exception one time, but Hi Fi  apparently does not. Hi Fi has not yet responded to a request to either look into this or allow the user to disable logging in ASN.

 

This demonstrates your point about difficult it is to track down stuttering issues, especially when one has multiple 3rd party apps installed.

Luverly!

 

Since we seem to have the same CPU and motherboard type, what technique did you use to overclock your CPU?

Forgive me if I have posted this query before I'm old, and Dotty to boot

 

Thanks,

 

Chas

 

Um, I overclocked using the BIOS to 4.7 GHz, and reached a voltage of about 1.30 volts under full load. I just always run this processor at that frequency and voltage, so I don't have to worry about different power states. I've been running this configuration for years.

 

I use IntelBurnTest to monitor maximum temperatures and Prime95 to test stability.

Um, I overclocked using the BIOS to 4.7 GHz, and reached a voltage of about 1.30 volts under full load. I just always run this processor at that frequency and voltage, so I don't have to worry about different power states. I've been running this configuration for years.

 

I use IntelBurnTest to monitor maximum temperatures and Prime95 to test stability.

I have a P67A-GD65 MOBO, with a turbo switch Does your MOBO have one and if so, do you use it?

 

..I've heard that the graphical bios doesn't have direct access to over clocking...Ill have to double check.

 

Thanks,

Chas

Hi Jay,

 

Didn't know that about SimConnect exception logging - good to know, but did know that one has to carefully manage the SimConnect message system or be overloaded with data.  But stutters can come from just about anything internal and external to P3D.

 

"stutters" aren't just a P3D phenomena - other games/sims have them also from the most recent highly optimized releases to those a decade old.

 

Hey Steve,

 

Agree, threading a "real time" simulation of a global environment with an SDK where everything about that environment must be "timed" in order to make physical sense ... this is probably one of the most difficult programming challenges (both design and code) ... and the physics needs to make reasonably accurate sense in the virtual real time world.  Threading out the tasks and bringing them back together so a single frame of pixel colors can be set to provide a realistic image leaves me with a level of appreciation for the code complexity that I have never encounter in any other programming I've done over my 34+ years of coding.

 

Cheers, Rob.