FSX SP1:Intel news

[Guest scon]

WOW this is great news 2 questions from me How will SP1 effect an HT CPUAnd will the CLS e-boost have to backed out

[Guest]

HT CPU will benefit just as much (or little) as any other single core CPU.

[crvm 0]

NICE :-)Best,Randy J. Smith<<>>

[Badge 1]

WHAT ABOUT SLI SUPPORT????

[greggerm 312]

FSX supports SLI right now - the "problem" is that FSX doesn't tax your graphics card anywhere near as much as other games do. SLI only helps out if you start exceeding the capacity of a single video card, and in most MSFS cases, the GPU is not bottlenecked at all. It has been noted that SLI assists MSFS when you get to HIGH resolutions (1600x1200+) with HIGH quality settings (16x AF, 8x AA, etc), but this is due to the video systems high settings challenging the hardware. Most users don't push their video systems to such high degrees of expected performance.

[jordanal 70]

When SLI was new, I was running it at 1280x1024x85 @ 4xAA/8AF but a while later I noticed a descent FPS increase when I disabled SLI and actually removed the second video card. Ever since then, I have been an advocate of a single GPU in FS. Have you actually compared a saved FS location/settings (with identical GPU settings) with one card and then two? I do mean actually removing the second card, not just disableing it. I would be interested to know if this scenario, coupled with the logic that higher GPU settings only then start taxing the GPU, has changed from FS9 to FSX.Thanks...

[Guest LSflyguy]

I don't think it's technically correct to say that FSX "supports" SLI, at least not in the sense that FSX is actually programmed to take advantage of any dual-card technology. Various testers (notably HardOCP.com) have found that an SLI setup will enhance FSX's antialiasing, but that's it. No improvement in fps as the result of an SLI setup. At last September's AVSIM conference, ACES team members were very forthright in stating that they had a choice to make regarding SLI: the current SLI technology is incompatible with multi-monitor support, and they felt that losing mutiple monitors was too high a price to pay. FSX therefore does not include any SLI-specific code. I believe ACES made the right call on this. Multiple monitors have become a very popular feature for a great many users, and there would have been howls of protest if multi-monitor support had been withdrawn. Also, keep in mind that FSX is generally CPU-bound and not as limited by the capabilities of one's video card. In light of FSX's CPU-boundness, it's entirely possible that the performance benefits of SLI would actually be minimal. An interesting question is whether a future generation of dual-GPU technology will actually be compatible with multiple-monitor setups. I haven't heard anything one way or the other about this, but I'd guess it's not going to happen anytime soon.

[Mace 1,938]

>>Also, keep in mind that FSX is generally CPU-bound and not as>limited by the capabilities of one's video card. In light of>FSX's CPU-boundness, it's entirely possible that the>performance benefits of SLI would actually be minimal. >That is what Microsoft has said.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

[PhilTaylor 45]

I wasnt at the event, I dont know what was said.I know graphics.I dont believe there is anything for FSX to do here.Quoting from the NV GPU Programming Guide for Series 7 GPUS, pg 59:"When the two graphics boards are then linked via an external SLI bridge connector, the driver recognizes the configuration and allows you to enter SLI Multi-GPU mode. In SLI Multi-GPU mode the driver configures both boards as a single device: the two GPUs look like a single logical device to all graphics applications."So the magic happens in the driver. Then there is the issue of modes, quoting from pg 60:"When running an application on a SLI system, it may run in one of several modes: compatibility mode, alternate frame rendering (AFR), or split frame rendering (SFR) mode."Compat mode is "single GPU" and does nothing.AFR, "the driver renders all of frame n on GPU 0 and all of frame n+1 on GPU 1"SFR, "the driver assigns the top portion of a frame to GPU 0 and the bottom portion to GPU 1.".Two other niggles , covered on pg 61 and 62:1) dont throttle frame rates ( choose unlimited )2) disable VSYNCThis is also covered in the supplemental SLI docs at ftp://download.nvidia.com/developer/prese..._and_Stereo.pdf on page 3.If you create a profile for FSX in the control panel and pick AFR - AFR should just work without any effort from FSX or Aces. And this is how the reviewers were able to test it.So SLI works without any code change to FSX. The fact that FSX is CPU-bound means it doesnt add any benefit until the card resolution+AA settings causes fill rate requirements to be very high.SP1 may or may not change that enough to make SLI worthwhile. We have to see the final bits first.But lets put to rest the myth that somehow FSX is blocking SLI, that just isnt true.

[scott967 62]

Thanks for the good insight.I wonder though if certain operations perform better than others in SLi mode, and thus could be targeted by an app.scott s..

[Arklight1 140]

Will you guys (FSX Devs) be adding glass shine to all of the aircraft external glass?I love the effect on the glider and other aircraft, but it's missing on the CRJ and Lear (it was on the CRJ in the Beta and then disappeared in the release candidate).Thanks and can't wait for the patch!

[PhilTaylor 45]

There are a couple things to look out for besides throttling and vsync1)dont use techniques to block frame buffering2)dont skip render-target updates, do them per-frameand there is general memory pooling advice but thats more general perf and not specifically a blocker. I dont believe we do any of these techniques and thus dont unintentionally block SLI.The nVidia developer docs are usually a good read.

[tf51d 284]

Phil, does ATI's Crossfire technology method benefit any better with SP1??Thanks!

[PhilTaylor 45]

I believe either technology would show a similar benefit.

[FaxCap 13]

Speaking of FSX and video cards can someone point me to a hardware test site that actually uses FSX or FS9 in video card tests?For the life of me I'll never understand why hardware testers ignore a huge selling game like FS9 or FSX in their tests.FaxCap