P3Dv4 CTD OOM error - In need of basic setup help.

[richjb2 195]

I upgraded to P3Dv4 last week, fully aware that may 6 year old system might be a bit weak.  I have an I7 2600i LGA 1155. 3.4GHz overclocked to 4.0.  I have 8 GB of 2133 RAM. I just ordered another 8 GB due for arrival on Saturday.  I have a Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 2GB card, which has not been OC'd.

While awaiting PMDG's 777 and NGX, I have been flying the stock B36 Bonanza by Carenado, which I suspect is one of the more system-intensive airplanes in P3Dv4.  I have Orbx to include SCA and NCA.  I also have the open beta AS for P3Dv4.  With these running, my Physical Memory usage get just below and sometimes just above 7.0 GB, with P3D taking up appox. 5.0 to 5.3 of that.

I have been experimenting with graphics settings to see what works and what does not. I have been flying out of KSMO with Orbx SCA which is a fairly robust test environment.  I'm having some issues with stuttering, but not too back. Twice now, I have experienced what I believe to be OOMs where P3Dv4 just stops and eventually the "Prepare3D Has Stopped Responding" message appears.

I am an admitted noob where it comes to P3D.  Just a quick few questions.

1.  I am running an older HP 25" flat panel monitor at 1080p, 1920x1000 resolution.  Is there any reason for me to be running at the 4096 texture resolution setting?

2. I'm running AA at 4xMSAA.  Is that appropriate?  Should I be running SSAA?  I was running SSAA in FSX using Steve's DX10 Fixer without issues.

3.  Texture Filtering.   I attempted running 8x, but believe that one cause of my OOMs.  I have backed it down to 4x.  is that appropriate for this system?

Saturday's arrival of another 8 GB of RAM will help, I'm sure.  I'm not ready or at point where I can upgrade to fancier rig.

Any thoughts on other changes that might help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rich Boll

Wichita, KS.

 

[WarpD 824]

Your memory issue is probably in your video card.  It is insanely underpowered for v4.

[joemiller 269]

25 minutes ago, WarpD said:

Your memory issue is probably in your video card.  It is insanely underpowered for v4.

Absolutely! Your weakest component is your graphics card- too weak.. You'd be better off with at least 6Gb++ card. 

With you current system, don't set your resolution at 4096; your card is not able to keep up. Use half of that resolution if possible. 

[BusheFlyer 87]

If this helps in anyway; my system is older than yours: i7 930 3Ghz with 6GB RAM, 4xSSD's, GTX 750Ti (2GB card) and not experienced any issues with OOM or indeed crashes, it is running smoother with higher fps at higher graphic settings than I ever could get away with in FSX. I will be upgrading the PC shortly, but honestly it's running nicely enough right now. I use MSAA 4x, Anisotropic 16x, 5m mesh, 4096 textures all autogen Dense. Ai traffic 15%. Cloud shadows on the ground and volumetric fog. Generally I get around 40fps or 25fps-30fps in clouds.. but it's silky smooth.. no stuttering whatsoever.

In terms of your memory usage.. you absolutely WANT P3D to make use of the ram you have installed, given that windows and background processes take about 1g of ram then 7g usage in your case is ideal. To be clear, unused ram is wasted ram. If you add more ram to the system you will find P3D will utilize it, however it in itself is unlikely to be the cause of your woes. I think you are thinking of OOM because of the history with 32bit.. but that is a different sort of OOM. In 64x bit you will not get that issue at all.

[richjb2 195]

Thanks everyone,

Good to have a reality check from those experienced with P3D. 

I already have the RAM on order and I do multi-task quite a bit while the sim running, so it couldn't hurt.

i get good performance with the A36 Bonanza outside of the Orbx SCA area.  At my home airport in Wichita, I'm getting between 40 and 50 FPS, but then there's nothing major in this area the Orbx has to draw.  I'm just concerned what will happen when I add the PMDG birds, which my usual airplanes.

Maybe it's time to shop for another video card?   Would it make any difference with my current 10 year old monitor?

Thanks again!

Rich Boll