Win XP dual core patch from MS - Helped my C2D!

[GHarrall 494]

Well,I just came across this Microsoft update over at the MSI forums. I thought I would give it a go and low and behold my FSX performance has just increased from 18-20 FPS to 24FPS!!!!!Not sure why or how it has worked, but it has.You can disable it's effects in the registry after installation if you don't think it's helping you but it's made a big difference for me!!This fix and the upcoming SP1 may save FSX after all......hooray!GlennLink to patch:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

[vonmar 121]

Hi,Normally, you would have to backup your "changed/modified" files prior to installing a patch.The patch will over existing files to update your program (FX).Then, you could re-modify any file(s) as you originally did for whatever your reasons were at the time.

[Guest JackDanielsDrinker]

It looks like it fixes a problem in the Windows power saving code. This code will detect how much work the processor is doing. If its not doing a lot of work, it will scale the processor frequency (say from 2.4 ghz to 1.2 ghz) down to save power. It scales the frequency up and down constantly depending on need.The problem was Windows was not accurately estimating how much work was being done. It was underestimating how much work the processor was doing, so it was incorrectly scaling the frequency down when the processor should have been running a maximum frequency.That could definitly help FPS in FSX.

[Mace 1,896]

>It looks like it fixes a problem in the Windows power saving>code. This code will detect how much work the processor is>doing. If its not doing a lot of work, it will scale the>processor frequency (say from 2.4 ghz to 1.2 ghz) down to save>power. It scales the frequency up and down constantly>depending on need.>>The problem was Windows was not accurately estimating how much>work was being done. It was underestimating how much work the>processor was doing, so it was incorrectly scaling the>frequency down when the processor should have been running a>maximum frequency.>>That could definitly help FPS in FSX. Do you think this would help ANY cpu?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

[Guest JackDanielsDrinker]

1. It would only help you if you have the power saving function turned on. If its not on, then you're probably not having the problem (you processor is at maximum frequency all the time).I'm speculating here...2. It might help an AMD chip, but I'm not sure. AMD uses their own driver to do PowerNow (their power saving scheme). If that driver is what tells Windows what the load on a processor is, then the AMD chips probably don't have the problem (since the problem is in Windows).It wouldn't hurt to try and compare FPS. I'd try, but I run Vista.Before installing the fix on an AMD system, read the Microsoft article carefully to make sure there are no issues with AMD chips.

[Guest n99wb]

>1. It would only help you if you have the power saving>function turned on. If its not on, then you're probably not>having the problem (you processor is at maximum frequency all>the time).>>I'm speculating here...>>2. It might help an AMD chip, but I'm not sure. AMD has it's own re-timing file patch for their chip. It's on their website.This is in addition to their power saving driver.

[Guest Ozzie]

Just another "OVERSIGHT" from the magnificent Giant?Yawn - how many more yet to come to the surface?

[GHarrall 494]

I actually already had Speedstep disabled in the BIOS and I have stil seen the increase in FPS.Not sure why that would be based on the above information?Glenn

[GHarrall 494]

It's an OS patch for Win XP, not a patch for FSX itself.Glenn

[Guest JackDanielsDrinker]

I could be wrong--I was speculating. If you saw a significant change in FPS and that was your only change, then it definitely had an effect.Or, the "Magnificent Giant" strangely decided to help out one of its customers/slaves and passed a secret message through your power cables to Windows that said, "Unlock 4 FPS in FSX". }(

[Guest wesgarrard]

Thanks for the info. Also, in case anyone missed it, AMD came out with an optimizer for the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor wn of last year at:http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Techni...1_13118,00.htmlWes

[GHarrall 494]

LOL,Not sure, but I'm not complaining. It was the only change I made.I simply installed the patch, rebooted and hey presto, 4 more FSP in my default flight at CYYZGlenn

[GHarrall 494]

From reading the info supplied with the patch, I think this applies to all dual core CPU's on Win XP regardless of Intel or AMDIt seems as though there is something wrong with the way Win XP handles dual core CPU's.Anyway, give it a go. It's easily reversible with a reg edit.Glenn

[Guest JackDanielsDrinker]

Sweet. That rocks. I just got about 4-6 FPS increase by going to the 100.64 Nvidia drivers. That was a nice surprise.Tonight, I'm going to try Alchemy (from Creative) to see if I can get the sound hardware accelerated. By default in Vista with an X-fi card, DirectSound3D is not hardware accelerated (long story).Alchemy translates the DirectSound3D calls into OpenAL calls, which is hardware accelerated in Vista.We'll see.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

No change at all in FPS for me after installing this hotfix, as verified using the FS benchmark found in this thread: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=24071&page=Glad it's helping some of you out.Gary