Win7 i7490K @4.79Ghz GTX TintanX

 

Been having heavy stutters since installing ProATC. Miles better than RC4 and the co-pilot is super from takeoff to approach and even vectors the plane himself.

 

Anyway using processlaso where I can see each cpu cores load as a bar, making eight bars for eight cores in my case.

 

I noticed my stutters occurring only when proatc using sound atc or back chatter

 

checking process laso I can see the cpu bars for the cores proatc is on (01) rises and falls like equaliser bars on for sound.

 

So at that point I used laso to lower cpu, IO and memory priority for proatc.

 

The result was smoother flight for longer periods, with very heavy lagging occasionally when proatc speaks.

 

So at that point I decided to allow proatc to use more cores to avoid the situation where it was driving 01 cores to max. changed proatc cors to 01 and 67.

 

The result was the best, taming proatc too much was leading to very heavy stutters, giving it 4 cores and raising its priority from idle to below normal fixed this.

 

 

So removing stutters is also about checking cpu core, disk , IO etc  usage during flight, and dealing with each process in the way.

 

But my experiment shows, just starving process to keep them out of the way leads to stutters.

 

Also don't forget laso aallows config profiles, so that my sim profile in laso has replaced game booster, shuts down all kinds of crap, even svchost is confined to 01 cores for sim mode laso.

 

 

So get a tool to check resource usage when those stutters are happening unique for every system, Process Laso , windows Resource monitor, process viewer etc.

 

Helps a lot to check which cores are least used, those barely reaching full bar, and moving stuff to those cores, that how I placed proatc on my cores 6/7 cause they were least used.

 

 

Measure 3 times with the right tool, then make one cut.

 

 

 

I tried Process lasso on my system a couple of months ago the instant result was sound stutters. I uninstalled it. 

I still have issues (sometimes not all the the time ,strange enough) with sounds and PMDG NGX,777 during takeoff and landing. The 777 has an option to preload the sounds (VAS eater 100-250mb) so you are supposed not to have the stutter/mini freezing during these critical fases . It do spoil a little of the emmersion for sure.

 

I guess its related to a bad soundcard build- in Asus Z87-Pro motherboards or just a slow HDD i guess. Maybe SSD is better?

 

So as you experienced its not always about FPS for sure

 

Michael Moe

Hi Michael-

 

I installed one of these quite a while ago. Cured the sound issues on my Z87 board. Be sure to turn HD sound off in the BIOS after install. YMMV.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E

 

Cheers,

Mark

@Bob

 

Laso is very powerfull, I forgot to mention use with caution, but nothing I seen gets better results when used as much as you slooowly undertand.

 

My worst experience in my early days of laso was allowing it to manage part of boot process, which resulted in me not being able to login to PC till I rebooted in safe mode.

 

From that point on I limited its powers to asmuch as I undertand and trust the tool, currently it only starts after I loging to pc. And its got enough bells and wisles

 

Generally speaking these tools are essential now.

@Bob

 

Laso is very powerfull, I forgot to mention use with caution, but nothing I seen gets better results when used as much as you slooowly undertand.

 

My worst experience in my early days of laso was allowing it to manage part of boot process, which resulted in me not being able to login to PC till I rebooted in safe mode.

 

From that point on I limited its powers to asmuch as I undertand and trust the tool, currently it only starts after I loging to pc. And its got enough bells and wisles

 

Generally speaking these tools are essential now.

 

I use Jet Boost to cut down on excess activity running  in the background, and it doesn't cause any issues. http://www.bluesprig.com/jetboost.html

The best measure against stutters is to run other FS related programs off a networked PC and not on the flightsim PC (ASN, PROATC, PFPX, ...)

...decided to allow proatc to use more cores to avoid the situation where it was driving 01 cores to max..

I'm presuming you mean LP0 and LP1 when you say "01 cores".

 

So what cores is P3D on then? If you've not applied an Affinity Mask then P3D will be on LPs0 through 7. The main thread on LP0 will compete with proatc on LP0 and it's own thread on LP1, giving stutters.

 

P3D works best with 4 logical processors (LPs). Trouble with a 4 core CPU, 8 LPs, is the addon wants to run on LP0. This contends for throughput of core 0 with the main thread of P3D.

 

In order to avoid that and remain with 4 LPS use an Affinity Mask = 116=(01,11,01,00), so (on the right) core zero is free (LP0 and LP1) for addons. LP2 will be the main thread of P3D having core 1 with no other P3D threads, LPs 4 and 5 will be utilised by P3D secondary threads on core 2, along with LP6 on core 3.

 

The trick with this is that when P3D loads terrain, LPs 1, 5, and 6 will max out, LP1 on core 1 to itself, LP 5 shares core 2 with LP4, but P3D will not be using this LP so much during terrain loading leaving LP5 maximum throughput.

 

Below shows 116 in action on a 4 core with addons on LPs 0 and 1, and maximum throughput during terrain loading. At the top LPs 1, 5, and 6 maxed during terrain transfers, and below relaxed during normal flight:

 

in my case got p3d on cores 2-7

proatc on 0-1 and 6-7

 

and stutter in that setting provided I leave proatc priority below normal

 

HT on

 

And don't use affinity masks anymore, all setup in laso.

So you have P3D main thread on LP2 (an HT core has two LPs) and with the second P3D thread on LP3 shares core 1 with LP2, this causes poor performance for the main thread, see in my lower shot LP 2 maxed with LP 3 empty is key, and better with only 4 LPs allocated.

I'm presuming you mean LP0 and LP1 when you say "01 cores".

 

So what cores is P3D on then? If you've not applied an Affinity Mask then P3D will be on LPs0 through 7. The main thread on LP0 will compete with proatc on LP0 and it's own thread on LP1, giving stutters.

 

P3D works best with 4 logical processors (LPs). Trouble with a 4 core CPU, 8 LPs, is the addon wants to run on LP0. This contends for throughput of core 0 with the main thread of P3D.

 

In order to avoid that and remain with 4 LPS use an Affinity Mask = 116=(01,11,01,00), so (on the right) core zero is free (LP0 and LP1) for addons. LP2 will be the main thread of P3D having core 1 with no other P3D threads, LPs 4 and 5 will be utilised by P3D secondary threads on core 2, along with LP6 on core 3.

 

The trick with this is that when P3D loads terrain, LPs 1, 5, and 6 will max out, LP1 on core 1 to itself, LP 5 shares core 2 with LP4, but P3D will not be using this LP so much during terrain loading leaving LP5 maximum throughput.

 

Below shows 116 in action on a 4 core with addons on LPs 0 and 1, and maximum throughput during terrain loading. At the top LPs 1, 5, and 6 maxed during terrain transfers, and below relaxed during normal flight:

 

 

I tried AM=116 since I have a few addons one of them is cpu heavy. What I found is that with all the addons running, if I manage to find a combination of sim settings where none of the cores are ever maxed out (yes including core-0!) and the GPU never maxes out either, there is no point apply any affinity mask because even with all the add-ons under the sun, affinity won't be the solution to micro-stuttering and can even degrade it.

 

Do you agree that just to make it completely clear - bothering to change the affinity in an attempt to cure micro-stuttering is only ever important when a core hits 100% - regardless of addons or not? You would think that is an obvious statement - but I still get slight microstutters even when none of the cores or GPU are pushed. For quite a while I thought that applying affinity masks was a way of eliminating microstutters because it completely separates addon processors from interfering with the sim threads, but I know longer believe it matters unless a core hits 100%.

Some stutters cannot be stopped with the current sim, for example when AI traffic communicates with ATC. When talking of maxed cores with HT enabled, we need to look at the pairs. Where the first sim thread sits being fed by secondary threads. If you use more than four LPs the sim stutters as too many threads sync with the main thread. So in my shot with LP2 maxed and LP3 not, means that core 1 is maxed with the main sim thread on LP2 not competing with LP3. If there's something on LP3 showing, the sim main thread is stalling and spurting. This can show as a few more fps in-sim, but in fact is less performance. If the PC is not overclocked and in turbo mode this is worse.

 

...Comparing fps, which hardly changes, to the rate of change in fps, which changes a lot, shows that checking fps is not good enough. I'm testing with repeatable scenarios and comparing the rate of change of fps.

Thanks good advise for tuning. If you needed to run multiple addons as well as the simulator on the same machine and you wanted to minimize the chance of micro-stutters, what do you think is best, a slower 6 core processor like the 5820k where you can physically isolate the addons onto their own core, or a faster 4 core cpu like the 4790k that can absorb more clock cycles for both addons and the sim?

@glider

 

Shoot first ask questions later, in FSX world that means, get the fastest core you can like 4790K or better if there is.

 

Then you can ask questions. Cause fsx p3d is mostly about speed of cpu.

 

Then get process laso to help direct resouces of PC away from other stuff to the P3D.  I have not seen any tool that can even compete with half I mean half of what process laso can do. Amongst other things it disables core parking for faster cpu performance.

 

Since it sounds like you going for new pc, try to get a case with very good cooling, but also a case possible with a top opening that can allow you to direct a fan or portable ac into the case. That will do very much for how far you can overclock you cpu.

 

In my case, I have 4790K running at 4.8Ghz, in summer I have portable AC that allows me to use that overclock in summer, else its like only 4.5Ghz I can do. But when flying there is significant difference in smoothness and FPS  between 4.8Ghz and 4.5Ghz.

 

So get fastest core you can, but don't mean much unless you get a case with good cooling, however I think its very effective to get a case that will also allow you to use external fan or cheap portable ac(best option), mostly for the summer months.

 

I advice you get the new preconfigured water cooling solution for cpu/gpu. Was always scared of water cooling, but these new easy install ready to go water cooling solutions are great and easy to fit like air cooler.

 

I can get my to 5Ghz, but don't last long on p3d before crash. With AC I can do 4.88Ghz - 4.84Ghz in p3d.

 

So cooling is processor speed