FSX under the hood

Hi,

I've been doing some research on how FSX performs and what it is doing when you are flying. I've used some software from Intel called Graphics Performance Analyzer, which captures 5 seconds of frames in FSX and tells me exactly what FSX is doing at the time. This is using DirectX 10. I used KJFK runway 4R for the maximum test, and Banff Alberta for the minimum test.

I've taken note of the draw calls (CPU), as well as the pixel and vertex shader calls (GPU). It also lists the commands FSX uses in the bottom of each screenshot and how long it took to execute each task (individual, average and total). In the Engine 0 tab, everything above the dotted line is being rendered by the GPU, while everything below the line is on it's way to the GPU waiting to be rendered.

At the very top is essentially the time it takes to get the frame from the CPU to the GPU to be rendered. Doesn't seem to be much of a lag there.

Here is what FSX looks like with minimal settings (all sliders left, everything unchecked except DX10) and a light aircraft (Trike ultralight).




Here's what it looks like with the absolute maximum settings possible (every slider to the right, all boxes checked) with a payware aircraft (PMDG 777).

Edited January 11, 201610 yr by magnetite