Ultimate performance achieved (for me)

[Guest ajm254]

I am fortunate to have been able to recently purchase a new computer which, for me, provides the ultimate in FSX performance. I have SP2 installed but not acceleration on Vista 32 bit SP1. I have not messed with the FSX.CFG file in any way. I have all sliders maxed out though bloom is turned off. As we speak I have added the following to the default installation.Scotflight200+ WOAI packagesUpdated AFCADS for as many airports as I can findLDS 767Ifly 747F1 C172 (Though I cant get it to work)Glasgow Extreme SceneryI flew this morning from Glasgow to Islay with the default C172 and I cant think of anything more perfect in terms of a flight and I have been doing this since the early days! The image quality and the flight experience are amazing. I dont look at FPS. What did I do to achieve this?Dell XPS 720 H2CIntel Core 2 Extreme CPU Q6800 @3.73Ghz4 GB Ram2 x Geforce 8800 GTXNVIDIA Stripe 1.36tb DriveI still using my faithful Dell P1130 CRT Monitor set at 1600 x 1200 resolution and yes I know that I could enhance it more but I dont see the point. For the enjoyment I get from FS, the expenditure was worth it to me and I reiterate that I know Im fortunate to be able to buy this equipment.Just another perspectiveRgds

[MatthewS 761]

Nice computer! Congrats.What FPS do you get with LDS767?I have Q6600 (2.4 ghz) and get around 22 fps in the VC with no autogen. Be interested to know what you get with and without autogen.I'll have to overclock mine to 3.0ghz sometime.

[virtualstuff 758]

so through FSX is a real animal to configure for every PC / hardware different...But when configured and found the sweet spot for your system is great experience and huge step forward and amazing skies to fly in :-)Thanks to ACES for there hard work to give us the enjoyment to fulfill our aviation dreams :-)Have fun that's all about it!If you know your way around Vista (and I do lol) you can gain there a lot of performance to :-)http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

[Sartanius 399]

ajm254,I have the exact same PC and get decent FPS (high teens to mid 20s) in high density areas with no autogen and AI at 20%Could you please start up the LDS767 at gate E28 in Atlanta (KATL) at dusk and tell me what FPS you get sitting at the gate with engines running?I really feel I should be getting better performance from this beast but it's really marginal IMHO. If you're getting much better performance then I'd like to talk with you more about your PC configuration as well as your FSX.cfg settings.DougDell XPS 720H2C (3.73GHz) | 4GB DDR2 @ 1066 | 300GB RAID0, 10k RPM (C: ) | 500GB (D: ) | 2 x 768MB nVidia 8800GTX in SLI (FW 175.16) | SB X-Fi Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | Vista Ultimate x32 SP1 | DirectX 10.0

[Guest firehawk44]

"I have the exact same PC and get decent FPS (high teens to mid 20s) in high density areas with no autogen and AI at 20%"Same here! But I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents too."Could you please start up the LDS767 at gate E28 in Atlanta (KATL) at dusk and tell me what FPS you get sitting at the gate with engines running?"I'm getting between 15-22 fps in VC and up to 26 fps in spot view. FWIW, I get absolutely no stuttering and the sim runs extremely well so I wouldn't worry about not having high fps at this airport. Dusk and nighttime scenery really taxes any system. I also have DX10 Preview turned on and that increases fps too. The LDS767 at gate E28 at dusk looks awesome!Hope you saw Nvidia just released new WHQL motherboard drivers for the 680i SLI motherboard. If you wait for Dell to update the drivers on their site, you may be waiting for a long time...Best regards,Jim

[tf51d 284]

>ajm254,>>I have the exact same PC and get decent FPS (high teens to mid>20s) in high density areas with no autogen and AI at 20%>>Could you please start up the LDS767 at gate E28 in Atlanta>(KATL) at dusk and tell me what FPS you get sitting at the>gate with engines running?>>I really feel I should be getting better performance from this>beast but it's really marginal IMHO. If you're getting much>better performance then I'd like to talk with you more about>your PC configuration as well as your FSX.cfg settings.>>Doug>>Dell XPS 720H2C (3.73GHz) | 4GB DDR2 @ 1066 | 300GB RAID0, 10k>RPM (C: ) | 500GB (D: ) | 2 x 768MB nVidia 8800GTX in SLI (FW>175.16) | SB X-Fi Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | Vista Ultimate>x32 SP1 | DirectX 10.0This is what I get at KATL Gate E28 on my Dell XPS 720. and my settings are rather dense, see my settings youtube videos.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189916.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189917.jpg

[Sartanius 399]

>Hope you saw Nvidia just released new WHQL motherboard drivers>for the 680i SLI motherboard. If you wait for Dell to update>the drivers on their site, you may be waiting for a long>time...>>Best regards,>Jim>Jim,Has there been any report that updating the motherboard drivers enhances FSX performance? Since I've had this machine I've shied away from updating the motherboard drivers since I understand this can be a bit delicate and could hose my system. Are there any detailed instructions on how to do this without breaking my 720 H2C?DougDell XPS 720H2C (3.73GHz) | 4GB DDR2 @ 1066 | 300GB RAID0, 10k RPM (C: ) | 500GB (D: ) | 2 x 768MB nVidia 8800GTX in SLI (FW 169.25b) | SB X-Fi Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | Vista Ultimate x32 SP1 RC1 | DirectX 10.0

[Sartanius 399]

Hi Tom,Thanks for weighing in on this! I watched your videos and reviewed your settings. I'm impressed that you use such a high AI setting for airlines plus autogen at "dense". Autogen at any level slams my system so I avoid it altogether.One interesting thing I just discovered... I have been running my twin nVidia 768MB 8800GTX cards in SLI with nVidia's latest drivers (175.16) and got the performance I described above. On a hunch I disabled SLI and went back to just one card and my FPS at KATL Gate 28 jumped to 30! Woot! There's obviously something amiss with the SLI implementation on this rig, likely drivers.DougDell XPS 720H2C (3.73GHz) | 4GB DDR2 @ 1066 | 300GB RAID0, 10k RPM (C: ) | 500GB (D: ) | 2 x 768MB nVidia 8800GTX in SLI (FW 175.16) | SB X-Fi Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | Vista Ultimate x32 SP1 | DirectX 10.0

[Guest firehawk44]

"Has there been any report that updating the motherboard drivers enhances FSX performance? Since I've had this machine I've shied away from updating the motherboard drivers since I understand this can be a bit delicate and could hose my system. Are there any detailed instructions on how to do this without breaking my 720 H2C?"Doug,I don't know if updating the MB will enhance FSX performance. It probably will but it will be negligible. There is a detailed manual that you can view prior to running the setup. I simply downloaded the new drivers (15.07), ran setup, selected everything except Ethernet (you have Broadcom for your Ethernet), and it did its thing. I did not update the SATA/RAID drivers as that would wipe out my current RAID config but will probably do it if I ever reinstall Vista. If you are happy with the performance of your system, I'd forget about updating to the latest and greatest as the changes are probably really negligible. Best regards,Jim

[mjrhealth 820]

Be interesetd to know how much FSX will use, get memstatus it shows how much video ram and mobo ram is used. With setting reasonably high in a dense city i dont think its got above 1.7 gig mobo ram and 350 meg video ram, so would be interseted to know.

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

I'd defer to other experts here, but from what I've read, FSX barely pushes a single 512 mg video card. SLI offers no benefits to FSX, and multiple cards will not affect frames.Put your money in cores. It's the only way.

[Sartanius 399]

I agree, Kevin. I wouldn't have believed it unless I'd seen it for myself. What's more peculiar is I get much higher marks with SLI in the 3DMark06 benchmark utility than what I get with a single GPU. Yet FSX does better with one than with SLI.Very strange, but I'll be using one from now on. My 4 core QX6800 overclocked to 3.73GHz is doing a great job!DougDell XPS 720H2C (3.73GHz) | 4GB DDR2 @ 1066 | 300GB RAID0, 10k RPM (C: ) | 500GB (D: ) | 2 x 768MB nVidia 8800GTX (FW 175.16) | SB X-Fi Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | Vista Ultimate x32 SP1 | DirectX 10.0

[Guest ajm254]

DougSorry for the late reply, I was away.I tried the scenario you suggested and here are the results. First my settingsForceware 169.25 Drivers1600x1200x32 resolutionSLI - OFFPreview DX10 - OFFLens Flare - OFFLight Bloom - OFFAdvanced animation - ONGlobal texture Resolution - VERY HIGHFiltering - TRILINEARAnti aliasing - ONAll Exterior Settings - OFFAll Terrain & Water settings - MAXAutogen - DENSEGround scenery Shadow - OFFSpecial Effects - HIGHAirline traffic - 98%GA Traffic - 97%Airport Veh density - MedLand & sea TrafficRoad veh 20%Ships 40%Leisure 40%In the cockpit I'm getting about 11 FPSOutside I'm getting between 8-10 FPSNot very good when I compare to our friend with the same system? As I said before, Im really happy with what I have, but now you have me eager to understand whether or not I should do something different to improve things!I did try SLI and the latest drivers and it gave me BSOD's so I went back. Have you had this experience? Also have you had problems with your SB X-Fi sound? I cannot get the latest beta drivers from creative to recognise the card.I look forward to hearing from you soonAdrian