I tried the Process Lasso thing - there's a video on YT highly recommending it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMpjEThHZNM&ab_channel=IslandSimPilot

I have the AMD 7800x3d so there are no separated performance/efficiency cores but still

-took msfs out of core0 (cpu sets 1-7)

-all the msfs related processes (vatsim, batc, fstl etc) to different cores (cpu sets 8-11)

-all the unrelated apps to different cores (cpu sets 11-15)

Maybe its a coincidence, but overall it seems to improve performance, especially on complex scenery (mountains etc). There is one glitch though - where stutters do happen, also audio is stuttering (breaking). And while I think during normal flying there are less stutters in general, while flying Vatsim with high amount of traffic there was quite a lot of it (possibly more than without PL), which was annoying with the audio breaks. DAE tried their luck with plasso and msfs?

Tried it years ago, immediate audio stutter. Never touched it again.

I've been using PL for years (home and work) and has worked flawlessly.

I've never had an issue with Process Lasso. Been using it for a long time.

8 hours ago, SimianFlu said:

I have the AMD 7800x3d so there are no separated performance/efficiency cores but still

-took msfs out of core0 (cpu sets 1-7)

-all the msfs related processes (vatsim, batc, fstl etc) to different cores (cpu sets 8-11)

-all the unrelated apps to different cores (cpu sets 11-15)

Maybe its a coincidence, but overall it seems to improve performance, especially on complex scenery (mountains etc). There is one glitch though - where stutters do happen, also audio is stuttering (breaking). And while I think during normal flying there are less stutters in general, while flying Vatsim with high amount of traffic there was quite a lot of it (possibly more than without PL), which was annoying with the audio breaks. DAE tried their luck with plasso and msfs?

From what you've written, it appears you have a flawed idea of how processor cores and virtual CPUs relate to one another.

The 7800X3D has eight cores, which are physical processing units on the chip.

With SMT on, each of those cores splits it's time between two virtual CPUs running on it--IOW each pair of vCPUs shares a single physical core.

So looking at the CPU assignments in Process Lasso, virtual CPU 0 and 1 share core 0, virtual CPUs 2 and 3 share core 1, etc.

What you have described above is a pretty dysfunctional CPU assignment mapping for the sim.  You have excluded MSFS from using one of the two virtual CPUs on core 0, and restricted it to run on virtual CPUs 1-7, which means it runs on half of core 0 and on cores 1-3 (CPU1 shares core 0 with CPU0).  So your powerful 8-core CPU is less than half-utilized for running the sim.  You've reserved CPUs 8-11 (cores 4 and 5) for ancillary processes that certainly should not need their own dedicated resources, and CPUs 12-15 (cores 6 & 7) for other apps that really shouldn't be running with MSFS if indeed they need that much of the system's resources dedicated to them.

 

I find Process Lasso to /not/ be useful for my 7800X3D + MSFS.  i.e. no meaningful improvement

2 hours ago, Mace said:

I find Process Lasso to /not/ be useful for my 7800X3D + MSFS.  i.e. no meaningful improvement

Agreed--the 7800X3D runs MSFS like a boss right out of the box in stock configuration.  The only change I made to the motherboard's default settings was to enable my 6000 MHz Expo RAM profile.  There hasn't been any need to mess with SMT on or off, micromanaging processor assignments, overclocking, any of that.  It's truly the most "hands-off" configuration I've had in 30 years of flight simming. 

I still find Process Lasso a useful tool for watching what else is running on the computer, for sequestering ancillary processes if needed, etc.

4 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

From what you've written, it appears you have a flawed idea of how processor cores and virtual CPUs relate to one another.

The 7800X3D has eight cores, which are physical processing units on the chip.

With SMT on, each of those cores splits it's time between two virtual CPUs running on it--IOW each pair of vCPUs shares a single physical core.

So looking at the CPU assignments in Process Lasso, virtual CPU 0 and 1 share core 0, virtual CPUs 2 and 3 share core 1, etc.

What you have described above is a pretty dysfunctional CPU assignment mapping for the sim.  You have excluded MSFS from using one of the two virtual CPUs on core 0, and restricted it to run on virtual CPUs 1-7, which means it runs on half of core 0 and on cores 1-3 (CPU1 shares core 0 with CPU0).  So your powerful 8-core CPU is less than half-utilized for running the sim.  You've reserved CPUs 8-11 (cores 4 and 5) for ancillary processes that certainly should not need their own dedicated resources, and CPUs 12-15 (cores 6 & 7) for other apps that really shouldn't be running with MSFS if indeed they need that much of the system's resources dedicated to them.

 

Thanks for elabotate info. Is MSFS able to utilize multiple cores anyway?

as for the audio issue, giving audiodg.exe above normal priority solved it

other non-msfs related apps are essentially only spotify and 2 chrome tabs for simbrief and vatsim radar

Edited October 8, 20241 yr by SimianFlu

3 minutes ago, SimianFlu said:

Thanks for elabotate info. Is MSFS able to utilize multiple cores anyway?

as for the audio issue, giving audiodg.exe above normal priority solved it

other non-msfs related apps are essentially only spotify and 2 chrome tabs for simbrief and vatsim radar

Yes, MSFS makes significant use of multi-threading--just watch the CPU load bars in the upper-right corner of the PL window while the sim runs, and you'll see that a lot of work is being distributed across the virtual processors and by extension, the cores.

I would not recommend intervening in process affinity assignments without a clear understanding of what I was doing and how it might solve a specific problem, and I would certainly not give those other background apps exclusive use of any CPU resources.  The OS is pretty capable when it comes to deciding which threads go to which vCPU.  With MSFS, I have not found the need to intervene in process affinity...between Windows and the sim, it gets handled well, and probably better than I would do it.  It was a more useful technique with older sims on older Windows versions where there was fairly predictable behavior w/r/t process affinity assignments.

2 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

There hasn't been any need to mess with SMT on or off, micromanaging processor assignments, overclocking, any of that.  It's truly the most "hands-off" configuration I've had in 30 years of flight simming. 

Same conclusion I came to when I built my new rig a couple weeks ago - I was pleasantly surprised at not having to really tinker with anything.  Unfortunately in reinstalling w10, Microsoft more than made up for it............

Has anyone had success using PL to move the FSTL traffic injector off the main MSFS thread?  The only time I have headroom issues is when FSTL is doing it's thing in busy airspaces.

I didn’t intend to use Lasso with my 7950XRD, but decided to give it a go. I put everything on CCD1 except for MSFS which runs exclusively on CCD0 (the “cache” cores). 

With Lasso I got a 15% increase in FPS vs without. https://youtu.be/ZXOo2UeBC24?si=pNva4B6Kks2EZ9n4

2 hours ago, SimianFlu said:

as for the audio issue, giving audiodg.exe above normal priority solved it

I’ll try this to see if it gets rid of the audio stutters I’ve been having.

Edited October 9, 20241 yr by Cpt_Piett

in the  youtube video I mentioned (which I found on this site btw), the guy suggests taking msfs off the core 0, as the system itself uses it. Link to the video:

 

@Bob Scott what  you think about assigning msfs to cores 1-7, everything else on 8?

@Cpt_Piett And I also had the feeling the sim become more responsive in busy areas with PL on. This might be placebo effect though. Update from a minute ago - overshot the runway at Tampa in a 788 coming in hot and FS did a stutterfest after touch down so did not manage to brake and stop argh. 😛

4 hours ago, SimianFlu said:

in the  youtube video I mentioned (which I found on this site btw), the guy suggests taking msfs off the core 0, as the system itself uses it.

@Bob Scott what  you think about assigning msfs to cores 1-7, everything else on 8?

I haven't seen credible evidence that it's either necessary or beneficial--when the sim is running, the OS should only be doing light background processing that doesn't come close to saturating a processor core, so by masking it off you deprive the sim processes access to the rest of that core's processing capability 100% of the time, even when it's sitting idle.

And...to reiterate..."cores" 1-7 is not the same as "CPUs" 1-7 in Process Lasso (and PL uses an ordinal range of 0 to num_processors-1 rather than 1 to num_processors when designating processor affinity).

As far as your audio issues, I've found in the past that bad drivers or having multiple unused audio devices active can cause those sorts of problems--one oft-overlooked culprit being the HD audio device integrated into most GPUs.  And when you upgrade your video drivers, it can re-enable the companion HD audio device even after it's been previously disabled.  USB or BT audio devices like headsets are also potential suspects.  If you have any active audio devices you're not using, you might try disabling the device(s) in the Windows Device Manager and see if your audio issues remain.

4 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I didn’t intend to use Lasso with my 7950XRD, but decided to give it a go. I put everything on CCD1 except for MSFS which runs exclusively on CCD0 (the “cache” cores). 

With Lasso I got a 15% increase in FPS vs without. https://youtu.be/ZXOo2UeBC24?si=pNva4B6Kks2EZ9n4

With a multi-CCD CPU like the 7900X3D or 7950X3D, PL's affinity masking capability is a legit means of making sure the sim uses only the cores located on the CCD with the 3D cache.  It's a considerably different situation than use of affinity masking on a single-CCD processor like the 5800X3D or 7800X3D.

7800X3d is a single CCD unit .. As @Bob Scott correctly stated No tinkering necessary. If you do not know what your doing your best bet is to ensure that you have set your Memory to EXPO settings and then step away from the BIOS. If you insist on chasing some performance then i suggest learning how to best set your PBO up if you need to tinker.

7900X3D and 7950X3D are two CCD units. more user intervention is required to get maximum performance when gaming. What works for those DUAL CCD CPUS WILL NOT WORK for the SINGLE CCD CPUS. So lets not add to the confusion.

@SimianFlu. since you have a 7800X3D. unless you know how to tighten memory timings or overclock memory (which may or may not provide any tangible benefit anyways) I suggest you not use process lasso, set your Memory Expo, stop tinkering and enjoy your PC.