FSX-MS affinitymask i7 7700k

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

25 minutes ago, SteveW said:

The ESP documentation.

OK - got it.

Well I am going to disappoint you.. I have HT turned off on my overclocked Haswell i7 and have AM set to 14 for optimum smoothness and lowest CPU temperature (yes, that is a consideration also).

That is not to say that individuals cannot be equally happy with HT turned on and four or more cores active... (except that I would not use 92 ).

Steve, enjoyed our chat..  Over and out. 

 

[SteveW 1,792]

Lower temps = less work done - I presume you're not going to dispute that? But turning off HT disables a large part of the CPU real estate so that very high frequencies can be utilised in a hope to match the work done in HT mode. But most systems are relaxed and HT fills in for the extra throughput, owners deserve not to be brow-beaten by one sided opinions like HT Off with blank explanations. In fact a good overclock is actually moderated to allow for the increase in HT heat when throughput and reliability rather than ultimate fps is required.

[SteveW 1,792]

...maybe it's a particular trait of your system Bert but HT off *destroys* the performance of my system, an old six core.

[SteveW 1,792]

...talking to myself now 

When we understand that addons and FSX work differently with respect to where they use the CPU we have a better chance of getting performance benefit. What this means to me is that Bert could be missing that when the addon starts the jobscheduler puts it on the first LP effectively where the sim rendering stage is going to be. When the sim starts it works entirely differently because it manages its own affinity. With no AM the sim will use in fact AM=0, and that in turn is the binary representation of the CPU available LPs, on four cores=15=1111, 6 cores=63, 8 cores=255 and so on. If we do nothing about our addons they clog up the core where the sim runs the renderer, messing up our experience. We can use AM=14=1110 where many gravitate, including Bert, because this moves the sim off of core zero (on the right) to the remaining three cores - the rendering stage is not at it's leanest and does more work (problems for overclockers), even so those addons spill onto all cores anyway and disrupt the flow. Better to use AM=15, remember on a four core that's no AM=0=15=1111, but instead make sure our addons only run on the last three cores, preferably last two. Here the binary representation of a four core, from right to left core zero to core three:

1111 = AM=0=15 for the sim = no AM on four core HT off

1110 = restrict addons to these cores preferably 1100 - in this way the addons (usually SimConnect) get at minimum two cores.

 

I hope this helps some of you guys looking for a bit of explanation, with what is a very complicated system to understand, it's no shame to be unaware of the tedious detail required to get the most out of it. 

[SteveW 1,792]

Just to complete the deal then, we need really to control the addon's use of the CPU, that's really what counts. It's also what counts for a lot of differing opinion, but more likely most setups work perfectly fine, just not optimally, and sim settings play a part to destroy the ability to properly test the CPU setup.

We find we may start our FSX weather app from double-clicking a desktop icon, a shortcut (or link). We can instead start that program from a .bat file (batch) with an affinity mask - with a little work granted. This is the best way to start the app because it truly starts on those LPs we assign and we can corral it away from the sim renderer. We can make a new text file and add the command to start our addon app and save it as a .bat file, store it where we can keep it and drag and drop a desktop shortcut from it. Starts with no more hassle but obeys your law.

 

In a .bat file we would put something like:

 

start /B "" /affinity C "C:\Program Files (x86)\FSWeather\FSWeather.exe"

 

Where 'C' (in the above example) is the hexadecimal value of the affinity mask we intend to use.

C hex = 12 decimal = 1100 binary - utilises the third and fourth LPs. After saving we can drag and drop a link from it onto the desktop and it's going to start the app just as we do normally, except now it is already set with affinity when it starts.

 

Beware using some apps to control this function of altering affinity. This can mean the app starts normally without affinity, across all LPs, and then possibly while starting up is 'moved' or grouped onto less LPs - this may not work as intended (generally unseen problems do not stop the show).

Ultimately a SimConnect addon creates a 'client' process within FSX which spills onto the cores allowed within the AM, but also invokes system resources like networking anywhere upon the CPU - we do the best we can. Incidentally with FSX and more than four cores; even if we only use four cores of a six core, all six will come to bear once FSX has completed its startup routine - beware P3D is different and stays restricted by the affinity mask.

 

[Anthony Salvino 10]

On 4/2/2017 at 10:42 AM, Bert Pieke said:

116 you have 4 cores assigned,  248 you have 5 cores assigned.

As Steve said, 4 cores works well, but try it and decide what you like best!

I have i6700 with 8 cores. This driving me nuts. I have it at 255 right now affinity mask. I learned on a YT video to activate all my cores at once in “mscfg” in windows, something like that, and it improves everything a lot.  Maybe i’ll just leave AM off.  

[Gabe777 132]

Try 116 for an i7 7700k. Works great for FSX

[vortex681 806]

I know it's late to the topic but if you're using FSX:SE (and sorry if this has been mentioned earlier) affinity mask is calculated automatically. See: https://fsxinsider.com/new-patch-for-fsx-steam-edition-released/ - "The configuration file AFFINITYMASK value is now correctly calculated for all Core i3, i5 and i7 generation Intel CPUs."

[Gabe_62 1]

On ‎03‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 2:52 AM, SteveW said:

...talking to myself now 

When we understand that addons and FSX work differently with respect to where they use the CPU we have a better chance of getting performance benefit. What this means to me is that Bert could be missing that when the addon starts the jobscheduler puts it on the first LP effectively where the sim rendering stage is going to be. When the sim starts it works entirely differently because it manages its own affinity. With no AM the sim will use in fact AM=0, and that in turn is the binary representation of the CPU available LPs, on four cores=15=1111, 6 cores=63, 8 cores=255 and so on. If we do nothing about our addons they clog up the core where the sim runs the renderer, messing up our experience. We can use AM=14=1110 where many gravitate, including Bert, because this moves the sim off of core zero (on the right) to the remaining three cores - the rendering stage is not at it's leanest and does more work (problems for overclockers), even so those addons spill onto all cores anyway and disrupt the flow. Better to use AM=15, remember on a four core that's no AM=0=15=1111, but instead make sure our addons only run on the last three cores, preferably last two. Here the binary representation of a four core, from right to left core zero to core three:

1111 = AM=0=15 for the sim = no AM on four core HT off

1110 = restrict addons to these cores preferably 1100 - in this way the addons (usually SimConnect) get at minimum two cores.

 

I hope this helps some of you guys looking for a bit of explanation, with what is a very complicated system to understand, it's no shame to be unaware of the tedious detail required to get the most out of it. 

No Steve, you are never talking to yourself, as there are lurkers........ everywhere !

 

So, I finally have P3D - what a marvel !

Having just switched from FSX, you can imagine what kind of heaven I'm in....

Of course I do just have vanilla - but to be honest it already looks almost as good, and certainly runs better than FSX heavily modded.

.....

..... Anyhow,  I was running FSX (on your advice) using the 116 affinity mask, which just used 4 LPs, and it was really smooth.

However, I seem to remember a post where you suggested using just 5 LPs with P3D.

Is this still the best way to go with P3D vv2 ?

 

This would mean leaving the 1st Core completely alone for 3rd party apps and the O/S, using just 1 LP of the second core, and all the others:

So, I should use 244  --  11,11,01,00

 

This then allows Active Sky and the GTN / Dash 8 FDE etc., free to use the 1st 2 LPs (i.e. the entire 1st Core (Core 0), and the P3D app uses just the 1st LP of the 2nd core.

Is this still the best case, or would it better to use both LPs of the 2nd Core -- 11.11.11.00. thereby using 6 LPs.

 

Thnx for any advice.

 

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

I am not Steve, but this works for me in P3Dv4:

[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=244

on a quad core Haswell with HT enabled.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Bert Pieke

[SteveW 1,792]

Yes depending on addons, 244 is a good one (4core HT on) - it leaves a whole core free (core zero) for other stuff, it uses only one LP of the main sim core. Addons and other stuff finds that free core to use, but remember it is only using three cores for P3D.

If your addons are not too "heavy" (in other words don't require a full core free)  it is also worth trying 253 (11,11,11,01) and using  10,10,00,00 for addons (P3D v4, four core HT enabled). You have to direct addons to use those end cores though. That might work very well but could be affected by occasional stuff coming to life like your email and so on.

Addons being generally "SimConnect attached" use the network resources irrespective of any other PCs on the network. Due to this it is always best to provide a minimum of two LPs for addons as they can spend additional time waiting for events on one LP.

Edited March 11, 2018 by SteveW

[Dane Watson 38]

On 3/10/2018 at 2:56 PM, Bert Pieke said:

I am not Steve, but this works for me in P3Dv4:

[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=244

on a quad core Haswell with HT enabled.

I like 244 for the best FPS, except I get slow airport texture loading (black for about a second or two).

My home airport is CZBB by Don Grovestine, it is a busy texture airport but is my favorite - I did a test using no Affinity mask, AM 116, AM 244, AM 252 and here are my results - now I realize that my system is at the lower end of power and speed but this is what I have - my specs are below in my signature.

The test was - startup, taxi, takeoff RWY 25, right circuit, downwind pan view at the airport black textures appeared, then landing.

If I could stop the black slow loading textures I would be happy. As it is now I stick with no affinity mask. By the way my TextureMaxLoad=30

[JOBSCHEDULER]
//No Affinity Mask = 25-35 FPS fast texture loading - no black 
//AffinityMask=116 //25-40 FPS slow texture loading - black
//AffinityMask=244 //30-40 FPS slow texture loading - black
//AffinityMask=252 //30-35 FPS slow texture loading - black

Edited March 12, 2018 by Dane Watson

[Gabe777 132]

On 11/03/2018 at 10:56 AM, SteveW said:

Yes depending on addons, 244 is a good one (4core HT on) - it leaves a whole core free (core zero) for other stuff, it uses only one LP of the main sim core. Addons and other stuff finds that free core to use, but remember it is only using three cores for P3D.

If your addons are not too "heavy" (in other words don't require a full core free)  it is also worth trying 253 (11,11,11,01) and using  10,10,00,00 for addons (P3D v4, four core HT enabled). You have to direct addons to use those end cores though. That might work very well but could be affected by occasional stuff coming to life like your email and so on.

Addons being generally "SimConnect attached" use the network resources irrespective of any other PCs on the network. Due to this it is always best to provide a minimum of two LPs for addons as they can spend additional time waiting for events on one LP.

Thnx Steve.

 

I find with 244 - set by Simstarter NG (not a plug... just simply brilliant and wish I had found it years ago !) - the 3 "free" cores, barely get any use... like 5 to 10 percent, as I have the OS pretty streamlined (no notifications, no antivirus and no updates, and I use "OO Shut Up Windows", to turn all the spying and logging crud, off !

But, I have not installed AS16 yet, as I am still experimenting with the Flight1 GTN gauge. 

This GTN gauge is in 2 chunks: the Flight1 gauge itself, which has a config app that allows the user to set its affinity, AND the actual Garmin Trainer. So, I need to find the best settings for those, and then worry about the damn weather program.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Gabe777

[SteveW 1,792]

You should let the sim to do its own affinity setting in the cfg and not override it from an app, although it can be done by the app with careful programming it's not required. Instead - use an app or a batchfile to start apps that *do not* set their own affinity.

[SteveW 1,792]

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 6:00 AM, Dane Watson said:

I like 244 for the best FPS, except I get slow airport texture loading (black for about a second or two).

My home airport is CZBB by Don Grovestine, it is a busy texture airport but is my favorite - I did a test using no Affinity mask, AM 116, AM 244, AM 252 and here are my results - now I realize that my system is at the lower end of power and speed but this is what I have - my specs are below in my signature.

The test was - startup, taxi, takeoff RWY 25, right circuit, downwind pan view at the airport black textures appeared, then landing.

If I could stop the black slow loading textures I would be happy. As it is now I stick with no affinity mask. By the way my TextureMaxLoad=30

[JOBSCHEDULER]
//No Affinity Mask = 25-35 FPS fast texture loading - no black 
//AffinityMask=116 //25-40 FPS slow texture loading - black
//AffinityMask=244 //30-40 FPS slow texture loading - black
//AffinityMask=252 //30-35 FPS slow texture loading - black

Hi Dane,

Have you got HT enabled and four cores?

In that case, looking at your chosen AMs - they appear to be more aligned with FSX/P3Dv3 rather than P3Dv4 so P3Dv4 users take note that's slightly different. Now they all show use of only three cores. No AM uses four cores and will naturally load big texture airports faster. Default FSX and a heavy addon exe on core zero are more suited to those AMs. Your chance to improve fps might slow down the loading of those big textures, maybe not - in that case I would try 253 which uses four cores but dedicates the first whole core to one sim process (the main one), making sure to load addon exe apps on two LPs of the last two cores.