"Low" FPS with High End PC!

[Evilsplashy 0]

Hello!  New AVSIM user here!

 

Why am I getting 20-30 FPS with my high end PC?  I have disabled the FPS limit in the settings  I have had my Prepar3d settings anywhere from normal to ultra, still only about a 10 FPS difference.

 

PC:
Intel Core i7 6700k @ 4.7GHZ

GTX 970 

128GB SSD

 

Addons installed:

PMDG 737NGX

REX 4 w/soft clouds (possibly the issue?)

ORBX Global/Vector

Various airport sceneries

Even in the sky, I'm getting between 20-30FPS.  It jumps all over the place.  Can anyone provide me some insight?  Thanks again and have a pleasant day  :smile:

[molleh 451]

That's just how the sim runs with PMDG and a detailed add on scenery. You aren't really going to get much better than that - you might be able to salvage some frames with a few small tweaks like lowering AI traffic and disabling the FO's displays in the NGX, but don't expect magic.

[Flic1 969]

ORBX Vector killed my performance so I did away with it quite some time ago.  I think the FTX Global product is very easy on performance although I no longer use that either.  REX soft clouds should not hurt performance much at all.  I get similar if not higher average fps on a i7-4770 @ 3.9 with the same video card when flying the NGX.  I run unlimited fps and my settings are mid to high.  Do you have road traffic enabled by chance?  That was the biggest FPS killer in tests that I have done. Are you using Nvidia Inspector?  SGSS settings in that can also kill performance. Also check your AI traffic....that can cause a big hit as well.  That being said, as long as it is smooth I would just go about your flying!

[Iceman2 110]

I've just bought myself a 6700K running at stock, will look into OCing maybe later but right now I have everything MAX out except the effects slide which is set to the far left as this seems to make the lighting look strange with higher settings. (eg apron lighting at Flightbeam KSFOHD)

 

P3D pushes more to the GPU so you maybe getting a bottleneck there, not sure as I have a Titan X and this card seems to cope very well.

 

I did however make an initial setup error where I had not set 30hz in the Nvidia graphics settings. (not Nvidia Inspector) The default was 60hz and as a result I had roughly 20 fps and even lower, massive stutters, the whole thing was very disappointing. The performance was worse than my old 2700K OC to 4.9 with a titan black factory SC'd.

 

Once I set (inside P3D) unlimited frames, Vsync ON and triple buffering which limits my frame rates to 30 and finally set the resolution settings to 30hz for my TV, I was back to fluid silky smooth flying. No stutters and frames steady at 30.

 

Not sure why but the 30hz made all the difference for me. I've tried locking the frame rates to something like 25, 30, or 60 but these settings produce stutters. I tried no Vsync or no triple buffering but I'm still worse off.

 

After all these years I'm now happy with my current build as I have finally match hardware with software to run a Flight Sim with all the eye candy and no slide show.

 

May need to discuss Overclocking settings with you someday to get 4.7ghz with my Skylake.

 

 

IM

[Michael Moe 493]

Its an art in its self to find the sweet Center of Gravity regarding graphics/performance for every possible situation

 

 

But start with normal settings and terrain shadows ,traffic and Dynamic reflections to off and work you way up. But these  sliders mentioned here can take a big hit on FPS.

 

I just tested 3.1 last night in FSDT CYVR in the new PMDG77W version with FTX PNW,REX1024 ,soft clouds etc with LOD 5.5 and maxed out complexity and Dense autogen ,some road traffic and MT6 at 5%,some shadows like the first 3 in the section and buildings and at rwy 08L i was at 36fps. Sure it did drop once or twice to 20-22fps but about 28-30fps overall.

 

The new TAXI cam is really nice but cuts FPS in at least half for now.

 

HD textures and VAS at 3.6GB

 

Later on i maxed out everything with SLI 970 and my new A2A Commanche 250 (oh boy what a feeling in that Aircraft - i crashed at Friday Harbour btw :wink: ) 

 

Here we also is about 25-35FPS in the above scenario

 

 

Flight simulation has in the past always been a very stutter party but latest P3D is really moving along and getting smoother and smoother even down to 20-24fps

 

PS!

If you are not using an SSD HDD for simulation you should always remember to defrag from time to time as well.

 

Good luck and welcome

 

Michael Moe

 

 

 

 

I7-4770K@4,7

2 x GTX970´s SC EVGA (SLI is really handy with GA aircrafts to max AA and shadows, Dynamic reflections)

[swiesma 625]

At most points flying high and fast you are CPU limited.

 

I also have a 6700k, running it at ~4.5 GHz and a Asus Strix 970 GTX.

It always depends on at which airport I am, which plane I am using, how much AI traffic there is and especially how the ASN weather is like!

 

You can open the task manager to see how your CPU works during flying and install MSI afterburner to see the GPU usage. That gives you a hint where your limitations are.

[Nyxx 6,993]

To add from all above,

 

Well,

Lets start with vector. You need to turn OFF all secondary roads and all the stuff at FL30 you dont need e.g power lines. Just leave main roads and beaches and then see.

 

Rex4, Soft clouds, make sure your useing the lowest textures DX....for clouds.

 

Dont use nvidia inspecter with AA setting, if you have, then even if you have deleted inspecter you need to reset you normal global setting within nvidia. Having said 980/980ti can cope but a 970? I dont know.

 

Delete you config file and let it build a new one. That can sometime work wonders.

 

I have 4790 @4.6 and a 780 6GB and I can saddly tell you some were you have a problem, because you should see a lot more FPS, Try unlimited fps I have it set that way unlike FSX when I always had to run 30 locked P3D is different.

[Guest]

Hopefully your monitor supports a refresh rate of 30hz but leave it a 60hz for now.

Set your Frame Rate under display setting to unlimited.

Set up a nice hard hitting scenario for example PMDG 777

at a addon airport from FSDT or FT for example in an

ORBX region. Set your weather to building storm.

 

From the gate taxi to the active runway take off,

Fly a circuit, land and taxi back to the gate.

 

You will need to be able to see the frame counter.

I like the ShadowPlay frame counter because its easy to see.

 

At the beginning of the scenario at the gate go to the locked spot camera

and circle the aircraft about 10 time. This help to load textures or something to

that effect to memory.

 

Go back to the VC. If the FPS does not read 33FPS or higher

go into the display setting and reduce something. Start with Road traffic, Ship, Traffic, Airport ground traffic and Last Airline AI traffic. After that Terrain setting, Water Setting and lighting setting.

 

Once you have about at least 33 fps at the gate, push back and taxi to the active runway all the while looking around and observing the FPS. If you see it drop below 33 go back into the display setting and further reduce. BTW just ignore any stutters you see at this point.

 

Continue to take off and fly the circuit at about 5000' from the VC view all the while looking around and monitoring the FPS.

 

When you get to final you will probably see the FPS drop quite a bit despite having 33+ FPS taxiing and taking of from the same airport. Don't worry about that at this point don't reduce your setting any further.

 

Once you have establish that you can maintain at least 33fps though that test flight except perhaps on final save your setting give them a name like "Base setting". Exit the SIM, restart your system

 

As I said at the beginning hopefully your Display supports 30hz

Go to the Nvidia control panel and set your refresh rate to 30hz IF ITS SUPPORTED!

 

Start the Sim and Load the same scenario. (Don't save a default scenario with a PMDG Aircraft)

Go to setting and and make sure Vsync is on. Leave Triple buffing of for the moment.

 

Go fly the same circuit and with any luck your experience will be silky smooth but for some stutters on approach.

 

If your display does not support 30hz then the only thing I can think that you can try is adaptive 1/2 refresh rate in NCP under the P3D profile in NVidia Control panel.

 

Here is how your sim should look at 30fps if it all works out :smile:

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GAkuBwzhjPc

[Nyxx 6,993]

 

If your display does not support 30hz then the only thing I can think that you can try is adaptive 1/2 refresh rate in NCP under the P3D profile in NVidia Control panel.

 

Mmm, I thought half refresh vsync is not supported on p3d! P3D don't have a real fullscreen!

 

Correct me if am wrong.

[carlito777 712]

Correct me if am wrong.

 

You are right. It doesn't work. Has been explained a million times here and at the Prepar3D forum.

 

Regarding the OP: Reading the initial post, I get the feeling that expectations are somewhat wrong. First of all: Don't expect to get 60 fps in every situation with your powerful (however it's not high end!) system in a PMDG aircraft. Wrong settings can easily degrade performance, so it's worth trying to find balanced settings. With balanced settings you should get around 30 fps at heavy airports and 50-60 fps in mid flight. That's what you can expect.

[Guest]

Well I was going to put that caveat in my post and bear in mind I did say if your display does not support 30hz you can "Try" adaptive half refresh rate. I have a good understanding of how the 1/2 refresh rate worked in FSX. I don't know what the term "adaptive" refers to in this context but I have it on good authority that applying this setting in NCP if you are stuck with 60hz has a smoothing effect on frames. I tried it running at 30hz but only realized that it had no discernible effect at 30hz when I changed the setting back to the default. I haven't tested it with 60hz but know of someone who has and confirms it has a smoothing effect. It takes no time at all to "try" it. enough said :-)

[dgraham1284 92]

I guarantee this is all due to how you have your sim configured. It's not bottle necks or any of that silly stuff. Not monitor refresh rate. Low settings+high end hardware=garbage frames. Drivers either not installed or improperly installed=garbage performance. Windows set to balanced mode? Not good for performance. Low graphics settings won't utilize your hardware. Therefore, a miserable experience. Delete your prepar3d.cfg and shaders and start over as well. 

Hello!  New AVSIM user here!

 

Why am I getting 20-30 FPS with my high end PC?  I have disabled the FPS limit in the settings  I have had my Prepar3d settings anywhere from normal to ultra, still only about a 10 FPS difference.

 

PC:
Intel Core i7 6700k @ 4.7GHZ

GTX 970 

128GB SSD

 

Addons installed:

PMDG 737NGX

REX 4 w/soft clouds (possibly the issue?)

ORBX Global/Vector

Various airport sceneries

Even in the sky, I'm getting between 20-30FPS.  It jumps all over the place.  Can anyone provide me some insight?  Thanks again and have a pleasant day  :smile:

 

 

[Guest]

and start over as well

 

This is very good advise, but a bitter pile to swallow for someone who has already arrived at the point of having all their addons installed and is ready to rock and roll.

 

Nevertheless, it is wise to find a reputable guide to selecting the appropriate hardware, setting up windows for best performance, and installing the Simulator and addons correctly and finally tuning the simulator. Unfortunately, even getting the best out of Prepar3D V3 is not a simple matter of just installing it and off you go. Never Mind FSX. That was far worse. Its just not as simple as your regular computer game.

[Evilsplashy 0]

Thanks for the reply's everyone!  I'll try to go over everyone's reply..

 

-I don't have any traffic added at all..I use VATSIM every once in a while, so that's why.

-CPU Usage is at or below 25%

-I understand that I probably won't get 60FPS, but getting a consistent 35 would be nice and not dropping to 15 or 20 every 5 seconds.  My refresh rate on my monitor is 60hz (1080p).  

-I have tried putting triple buffering on and had no luck either.

-Once I get off work tomorrow I will try and decrease the textures on my REX 4 settings and configure ORBX Vector a bit more.  I have a feeling these are the issue as stated in the OP.  It shouldn't be anything with my hardware, as I don't have any other issues with other games.  I've been dealing with hardware and configuring that stuff for quite a while. 

-Windows is set to performance mode and I'm trying to shy away from deleting my config file and reinstalling. I'm sure there's something.

 

Once again thank you for your support.  Sorry for the slow reply, I'll try all of your advice this weekend!

[dgraham1284 92]

By start over. I only ment your cfg and shaders. Not a complete reinstall