setting frame rate limit to "unlimited" increased my FR big time!

[Guest jscharpf2]

I know I know there will be skeptics.But, after installing FSX, mytraffic x, and setting graphics down fairly low, I was getting about 5 FPS at Ohare. Most settings were at mid or low. After reading about different fixes, someone somewhere said something about some users might have an increase if they put the FPS limit slider to unlimited. (default after FSX install was limit to 20FPS and everwhere I read to keep that limited).Well, I changed my FPS limit to "unlimited" and WOW! I have no idea why, it appears that maybe the ground textures were reduced ?? Does FSX change something when set to unlmited? I have no idea, all I know is after that I moved all my sliders up to about 3/4, water at 2.x, autogen normal, scenery dense, clouds 3D.Before moving this slider I had installed the reduced textures for clouds and autogen, but not until I set fps limit to "unlimited" did I see the jump in FRs..I think maybe the autogen ground looks a little worse now.. hard to tell because when I get to Chicago, it appears to be some type of photo scenery.. water looks great.. cars are moving, etc..Mytraffic AI traffic setting to about 45% both airline and GA. Vehicles/boats all set to about 15%. Visibility to 60 miles, all 3D clouds, scenery radius medium. Ground shadows OFF. My frames sometimes drop to 14 when it's really busy.. but mostly hang around 20 now.I can also see the frames jumping high (60) and an occasional "freeze" (once and a while it freezed for about a second, but doesn't happen often) but I'm willing to live with this..My system is rather old. Athlon 64 3200, Nvidia 6600GT PCIe 128M, 1G RAM... I'm VERY happy now with FSX... I hope this helps someone.Jeff

[bkeske 0]

I was to surprised to hear about the unlimited performance in previous posts. But after trying it myself, I have to say that there is something to this. I seem to get better averaged frame rates at unlimited. I have gone back and forth, but generally my rates seem to be better rather than locked at 20-30.

[aerdt 0]

Same here. If I lock my frame rates to 20, I get around 12-14 fps on average. Unlimited I get a good 23-25 fps without any blurries or any other visible impact. *shrug*Those 7-10 fps make all the difference for me.I also noticed that the AA/AF seems to work a lot better, if set on the graphic board, as it gives me another stutter and blurry-free 3-5 fps. Also the full-screen to windowed mode does not produce any errors or visual glitches anymore.I am using the latest (beta) Forceware 163.11 drivers on a Geforce 8800 GTS.Pat

[Mace 1,902]

Rather than comment on the oft-posted on various pro's and con's of framelocking or going "unlimited", I will just simply say, that's awesome! I am glad it is working so well for you! :DRhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[RFields5421 1]

It does appear to me that FSX and FS2004 react differently to locked FPS and unlimited.The key to this, like almost everything in FS, what works best for you is what you need to use.It may not work for me or the next guy.But great for you !!!

[january 19]

No question about it- at least with FS9. I'm running Triple Views on Triple Monitors with my ancient AMD XP 2200 @1.8 system :setting Unlimited FPS is decidedly better. With triple GeForce FX5200 cards and FS9 settings about mid range, I get 14-24 FPS depending on plane, scenery,weather.With the Hardware Accel for outer monitors reduced 2 slider notches, there are NO stutters. Unlimited FPS is definitely the way for me.Alex Reid

[ryanbatc 12,801]

In my experience, it does indeed increase FPS. However, the downfall is the CPU's ability to load textures and objects in a longer period of time. Also you may get some stutters at unlimited if you fly in busier areas. I usually lock FPS at around 16-20....works better for me!

[W2DR 1,859]

Unlimted works better for me also. Both with FS9 and FSX. -- Doug

[Guest MattNW]

That's what I've come up with too. It isn't a magic bullet. I have a low end system and with FRs unlimited I get a high FR in some situations but increase the scenery complexity like a busy detailed airport in a detailed aircraft having it set to unlimited will begin to bog it down. Set to 20 however I get a much smoother flight no matter what the scenery.I'd guess that those with a higher end machine will get better results with the frame rates unlimited than someone like me with a slower machine. What I think is happening is that unlocking the frame rates on a machine with a lot of system resources allows the computer to use those resources. On a lower end machine however you want the frame rates locked so the resources are freed up to keep the sim smooth. That may be why this tweak seems to work better for some than it does for others.Actually considering the computer I have I've been pleasantly surprised at the performance of FSX. I didn't expect much when I installed it but so far with some tweaks it's been almost as smooth or smoother for me as FS9. SP1 has also helped a lot. I don't have all sliders to the left but most are about mid way and the scenery and autogen looks quite good.