We are lucky to have MS as far as I am concerned.

18 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Now running 4.4 and all VPs are working, not just 0 and 2 (mostly) as was the case with 4.3.

Ray, that's Logical Processors, LPs, each pair share a core. On the graphs in Task Manager, make your P3D settings so that those don't show 100% all the time. Just knocking on 90-100% when parked at your favourite airport. To do that you set VSync=On and Unlimited on the fps slider in the P3D display settings. With HT on and no AM you will see all LPs in use. That means that some are coexisting on a core where they might be better having a core to themselves. That's what all the AM fuss is about mainly. With your rig you'll see ample performance in any case. What the job of tuning does is reduce unnecessary heat and improves performance at the same time. Just like in aircraft engines.

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by SteveW

14 minutes ago, SteveW said:

I see what you are saying, and I quite agree. When there's more than one variable adding to the problem the obviousness of the cause is taken out of focus. However, any attempt I made to fix such a problem involves moving out the hubs and USB devices completely in the first place and building up one by one. Having a kit of spare USB devices in my bag means I can get to that elimination very quickly.

I had two older hubs but only one power cable so once we plugged in 3 GoFlight units and the problem went away it became clear where the problem lay.

Of course it’s easy to be wise after the event but my suspicions were always towards W10 rather than a simple powered hub. It just never entered my mind the hub was responsible. And it took over an hour before the consultant decided to investigate connected devices rather than entries in Device Manager.

This has been an exhausting time so you’ll pardon me if I call it a day on this topic.

Just now, Ray Proudfoot said:

my suspicions were always towards W10

Yes, and that is why you failed. When you  are more familiar with Win10 I expect your suspicions will dampen a little.

2 minutes ago, SteveW said:

We are lucky to have MS as far as I am concerned.

Ray, that's Logical Processors, LPs, each pair share a core. On the graphs in Task Manager, make your P3D settings so that those don't show 100% all the time. Just knocking on 90-100% when parked at your favourite airport. To do that you set VSync=On and Unlimited on the fps slider in the P3D display settings. With HT on and no AM you will see all LPs in use. That means that some are coexisting on a core where they might be better having a core to themselves. That's what all the AM fuss is about mainly. With your rig you'll see ample performance in any case. What the job of tuning does is reduce unnecessary heat and improves performance at the same time. Just like in aircraft engines.

Thanks Steve. I use a 3rd party utility for checking CPU usage, temps etc. The hardest bit is finding the most complex area to use as a test. Above T5 at EGLL looking east looks best.

I have VSync on and t/b set with unlimited rates. Pretty much all logical cores are running well. Only small adjustments are required. 

3 minutes ago, SteveW said:

Yes, and that is why you failed. When you  are more familiar with Win10 I expect your suspicions will dampen a little.

The consultant was on the beta team and 95% of them advised it should not be released when it was. They went ahead anyway. Bean counters rule!

It will still take me a while to love W10 as much as I did 7, perhaps never.

Well, as I said. With HT enabled those LPs running well or not are all sharing throughput of their core with another, understanding that two showing 100% are actually at 50% each which will not be so good for your settings. Understanding that is key.

As I mentioned, an engineer can show up with a kit of USB parts and fix it in 5 minutes - which he did. The extra time is taken up accepting a cup of tea and stroking the cat. knocking MS is wasting your time. Maybe the subject of conversation for when in a lift.

So I have put this down in my book as an easy fix. When it comes to problems like this the kit of parts known to work on modern hardware is paramount. The average PC user can't just swap out all their stuff. So the aspect I return to is stripping back to the minimum. Or more wisely stepping carefully adding one thing at a time, especially with older kit. For new PC's and USB3 prevailing, get hold of new hubs if they are more than six years old.

Ray, I'm not sure if your third party CPU tools work so well as the Task Manager graphs, so I would suggest at least comparing. Remember with your rig, being very powerful, it will always show adequate performance. Fine tuned or not.

 

54 minutes ago, SteveW said:

Ray, I'm not sure if your third party CPU tools work so well as the Task Manager graphs, so I would suggest at least comparing. Remember with your rig, being very powerful, it will always show adequate performance. Fine tuned or not.

HWMonitor (or something like that) gives an instantaneous readout of the CPU load, not a graph. It also shows the max value so is useful for clock speed and temps. I'll use the TM graphs too to get a visual idea of performance.

3 hours ago, SteveW said:

As I mentioned, an engineer can show up with a kit of USB parts and fix it in 5 minutes - which he did. The extra time is taken up accepting a cup of tea and stroking the cat. knocking MS is wasting your time. Maybe the subject of conversation for when in a lift.

Ah, but you are forgetting that mere mortals such as myself are not sufficiently privileged in being able to share your hard earned insights into MS’s grand scheme of things. Frequently, it seems, we have to cope, somehow, with stuff that originate from brains muddled in confusion and with no clear directive other than to draw us into participating towards achieving their sometimes devious financially driven objectives whilst surreptitiously invading our privacy.

Originally, with Windows 10, desktop users were not MS’s prime target audience...and it showed. However, I do accept that things are slowly changing for the better, but can’t help wondering whether innovative progress would have proceeded along a better path with Bill Gates still at the helm.

Stroking our cat would earn many extra brownie points in this household!

Best,

Mike

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by Cruachan

New USB hub received and installed. Problem has been resolved. If anyone needs a recommendation for a powered USB hub this works for me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Powered-Charging-Smartphones-including-Orico/dp/B0725WHBX6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1546874801&sr=8-13&keywords=powered+usb+hub

I've got the same, seem good quality and no problems.

Although I did have a panic attack after plugging everything in and checking the config in the GF software. No GF166 displays when P3D loaded. Turns out I'd forgotten to point GF software to P3D so relevant drivers weren't being loaded.

When choosing a new USB hub with many ports, I always check out the PSU rating supplied with them first. Those Orico's are pretty good, but plugging in 10 fully lit-up control panels might be a problem so get two hubs and spread the load if any doubts.

17 minutes ago, SteveW said:

When choosing a new USB hub with many ports, I always check out the PSU rating supplied with them first. Those Orico's are pretty good, but plugging in 10 fully lit-up control panels might be a problem so get two hubs and spread the load if any doubts.

Only two have displays - the GF166s. There are two T8s, 1 P8 and 1 LGT. No problems so far.

The pedals and yokes use up a bit of juice so too many of those can overload the hub. So far I've not found the limit on the ten port Oricos, they seem OK..