FSX-SE FSX: SE GPU issues (low performance)

[dolbinau 72]

Hi all,

I recently started using my computer for the first time in 6 months...FPS was terrible. I uninstalled my GPU driver and had Windows 10 re-install the stock one, suddenly everything started working. A week later I'm having the same issues.

Basically I'll get smooth 30+ FPS then suddenly it'll go down to 5-10FPS while my GPU will spike to 99%. It's a Nvidia GTX 1060 3GB. Any ideas? My i7 utilisation still remains only at 50% during the time. 

 

Thanks

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

See the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide for FSX and video card settings.  You should have seen most of us in 2007 when FSX was first released.  Single digits most of the time and struggling to get to 15 fps.  Getting to 30 fps was only possible by lowing our settings to the default or lower.  We all had the most powerful GPU for the time (a GTX 8800) and that did not help.  We were told FSX was never programmed to take advantage of the GPU and uses mostly the CPU to run application.  Perhaps, if FSX had been upgraded by Microsoft back then, the techs would have been able to program FSX to use the GPU but Microsoft got rid of them before they could improve the FSX application. Meanwhile, FSX addon developers continued to keep FSX alive by creating new CPU intensive add-ons and things got worse.  Then, in 2011, Intel released the i7 2600K and it was like night and day.  Most members could easily overclock their CPU and fps get better.  Still, FSX is a program that mostly uses the CPU.  The GPU is mostly important to keep the jaggies and blurries away just like it does for every application on your desktop.  FSX is still not programmed to take advantage of the GPU and it never will. 

So, if FSX uses the CPU the most and it remains at 50% utilization, then, your FSX settings are low and your GPU settings for the video card are very high.  You have a tweak that is causing the spikes to 99%.  That should never happen.  There are several causes - high display driver settings, or resource intensive add-ons are the most common.   Your GPU is under-powered with just 3GB's of memory.  FSX is an application that cannot be maxed out in settings.  If you do not like the scenery with reduced settings, then FSX is not for you as FSX will never ever get any better.  Be happy you can get 30 fps most of the time with fps dropping into the teens and single digits occasionally.  That's a huge upgrade from the days from when we first got FSX and had to suffer with fps in single digits and nothing higher than 20 fps most of the time.  If you want better fps, then you should upgrade to P3D which is based off of the FSX engine but constantly being upgraded.  Otherwise, lower your GPU settings.  High settings do not work with FSX.

[stans 703]

3 hours ago, dolbinau said:

Hi all,

I recently started using my computer for the first time in 6 months...FPS was terrible. I uninstalled my GPU driver and had Windows 10 re-install the stock one, suddenly everything started working. A week later I'm having the same issues.

Basically I'll get smooth 30+ FPS then suddenly it'll go down to 5-10FPS while my GPU will spike to 99%. It's a Nvidia GTX 1060 3GB. Any ideas? My i7 utilisation still remains only at 50% during the time. 

 

Thanks

 

Perhaps Windows is automatically updating your drivers.

[dolbinau 72]

Yes I wonder if this is something to do with Windows 10 creators or drivers or otherwise. I've been with FSX including using this same hardware since 2016 and these issues are only new. Something has gone wrong...

Edited September 23, 2018 by dolbinau

[dolbinau 72]

Just to update in case anyone encounters this, a system restore seemed to fix - at least temporarily.

[Wblackret 25]

That will do the trick until windows update changes something, like your GPU Driver. I had disabled Nvidia in the background as well as windows update. I then select the updates I want. Seemed like I was always chasing problems until I did this. Pretty stable now.

[vortex681 806]

On 24 December 2018 at 3:27 PM, Wblackret said:

That will do the trick until windows update changes something, like your GPU Driver.

The easiest way to avoid this is to disable ONLY driver updates and still allow security updates: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-automatic-driver-updates-windows-10

[Taylor Suid 0]

Did you check the task manager to see whats causing your performance to tank? All you do is right click on Windows and click on Task Manager to see what applications are taking up the most utilization and kill the task by right clicking and ending the task.