Robert McDonald

I am a longtime fan of Orbx from FSX/P3D days, but their affiliation with 3rd party devs does appear to be a bit less than ideal - as your quality of upgraded airports is inconsistent imho. I purchased this but was unhappy with both the visuals as well as performance (frames) on a 16-core AMD with 3080 GPU.

Lol. You went for Hyperthreads on the 6700k, even though you yourself have hyperthreading turned off. In P3D afaik, the Hyperthreads cause stuttering. FYI.

Hi fellow pilots! Current system is i5 2600k OC to 4ghz seems to run stable and hold 40 fps in P3dv3.1 using GTX Titan 6gb Vram card (1st gen Titan) with single 27" monitor @ 1920x1080p and vsync at 1/2 refresh rate. I have returned to P3dv3 from XPlane 10, where I was running 3 PCs with 3 graphics cards, and getting wonderful performance no break apart, via network connection. I have all the Orbx eye candy on, including Global, Vector, NorCal, SoCal, PNW, yada yada, plus Active Sky Next, which I truly love along with Rex Direct 4 and Soft Clouds. I'm perfectly happy with performance with single monitor, but I'm missing the triple displays I enjoyed with my 3PCs/3 Monitors in XPlane 10. I am wondering if 3 distinct GPU cards in just one single PC can run P3D with all the goodies and give me a smooth view across 3 monitors? If yes, which CPU would be ideal? Without offending anyone, I am NOT a fan of "WidevieW", and find the views to be distorted, non-synchronous, and prone to breaking apart on rapid movement of yoke (up/down or left/right). So I've been flying P3D with just ONE display. And wondering between a SKYLAKE i7 6700k OC chip vs a 5960X OC chip. I am well aware the base clock on the skylake blows away the 5960X. I am also aware the 5960 has much more substantial CACHE ram than Skylake in addition to double the cores. In reading the threads here, it seems that while the extra cores of the 5960X would help texture load times, the Skylake should produce markedly higher Frames rates, even as compared to my current 2600k. The BIG question is my 'ultimate goal' of three displays left at -60 FOV, center at 0 FOV and right at +60 FOV for a total field of view of about 180 degrees... I do NOT simply want the super wide stretched out nVidia "surround" display, that's why I'm thinking of three gpus off one PC, not just 3 monitors off 1 gpu card. This would be NON-SLI configuration, very important do not want SLI. I know I'll need a Maximus ROG type motherboard (I like ASUS but open to other brands) for the 5960x and new DDR4 ram. Question 1: What will performance be like? Will driving 3 video cards hurt frames?? Question 2: Is my goal 'do-able' in that I want a view as if looking out the real airplane, left side - center (straight ahead) and right side? If any of you are running such a setup I would appreciate a response, either here in forum or via PM, please. This setup would be solely for P3Dv3 and would NEVER be used for other high demand tasks like video editing, bitcoin mining, or whatever. Strictly a flight sim and ONLY P3D. All replies appreciated. Please include your chip and mobo and gpu models. oh: Must all GPUS be the same model? I would initially run with Titan X driving Center monitor and two GTX770 6gb gamer cards driving left and right monitors, thus my question if dissimilar nvidia cards would 'work' or not? Cheers!

VERY nice Michael! Thank you for sharing. Would you please send me a PM and detail which model monitors you use, also love to know the specs on your PCs including motherboard, processor, ram and overclock. thanks again, great flight setup!

<p>Since you mentioned XPlane - I want to weigh in with some advice. Buy the most Video memory you possibly can on the Gaming card. The TITAN (NOT the Titan "BLACK"!) features 6GB of VRAM which is critically important in xPlane, and certainly nothing less than 4GB in any case - because 2GB is a non-starter for advanced graphics in XPlane. Can you fly with it? Sure. Will you be able to have maximum eye candy? NO. Since XPlane is ideally suited for multiple pcs and networking- again, more memory across the board is a good thing. 32GB of system ram (XPlane, unlike FSX or P3Dv2, is 64-bit and can address ALL the ram in your system, all the way up to the terrabyte world... so traditional PCs with 16 or less GB, are simply going to limit you.</p> <p> </p> <p>Yes, I am aware of your 'budget', and I respect that. However, you need to be forewarned to be forearmed, and buying the wrong video card to begin with is going to cause pain in every game you throw at it. Not just flight simming.</p> <p> </p> <p>That said, at the end of the day, only you know what you are willing and able to spend. The Titan card alone is in the $1000 world...but a 4GB 970 would certainly work. FYI, neither FSX nor P3Dv2 can benefit from higher VRAM (video ram on the graphics card) the way that XPlane can. Xplane was designed from the ground up to take full advantage of modern graphics cards. FSX is eight or 9 years old and is CPU dependent, not GPU.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hope this gives you another tangent to consider. And of course you need good power supply, I would suggest 650 watts or more.</p> <p> </p> <p>The "Titan" nvidia card has 6gb VRAM and ONE GPU chip. The Titan Black is basically 2 Titans on one card, meaning 12GB Vram and 2 GPU chips, but this is like SLI, you only have 6GB of vram addressable...AFAIK, the Titan BLACK is wasted money in SIMMING, as none of the top 3 sims benefit from SLI afaik. The Titan Black is significantly more expensive and may have overheating issues, thus the regular TITAN is my recommended card for those with deep pockets. Titans are reference cards and do not feature the cooling pipes and dual cooling fans of non-reference designs. If you're going a 4GB 970 I strongly recommend MSI brand. Their GAMER OC edition is THE card to buy. GREAT cooling.</p> <p> </p> <p>And of course if you are thinking of overclocking, I suggest doing a LOT of research on COOLING solutions. Ultimately I had to de-clock my ASUS 4.7 Ghz i2600K system as it began to lock up at 4.70 gigahertz (overclocked). Never a good thing in gaming - especially in the middle of a long cross-country flight!</p>

I certainly suspect a corrupted aircraft file or folder. Beyond that your guess is as good as mine. Do you get this error on all 3 view pcs or just ONE? You may not be properly copying the files back into your Xplane install folders. it's real hard to diagnose problems like yours without having all your pcs in front of me... Maybe have a trusted friend teamview into your setup to check the files? You could do a reinstall of XPlane into all 3 of your view pcs, but into a new folder, eg C:\XPlaneDup and just do a barebones setup (do not install the 'world wide' scenery) to test it. If the XPlaneDup folders on each of your 3 new installs works ok, you could clone the aircraft files from the DUP folder to the 'real' xplane folders. Just a workaround idea... As ALWAYS, back UP your XPlane folders BEFORE you begin this type of effort. So you can REVERT to what you currently have if you NEED to. Acronis True Image Home 2015 is my recommended backup solution.

Beta 3 of XP 10.4 is out now.. use the Installer inside the main XPlane folder.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your kind comment. I'm quite happy with 10.4 BETA 2 Good catch Jim, thanks! I edited it over at YouTube to the correct runway number. Typically on the Serfer1 West Transition, ATC gives 28L. In this case I was coming in from Las Vegas, and thus they gave me the right side. drop me a PM if you still need them. Be sure to read my post about the OLDER nVidia drivers. I lost a lot of performance when windows update swapped me up to the 'latest' nVidia drivers. Stuttering!! :(( somehow I right clicked on the display adapter and discovered that! 337.88 WHQL drivers are best for xp10 and nvidia GTX TITAN and GTX 7xx series adapters. Later cards will need newer drivers. Haven't heard that one. I do know that enabling DSF has a frames cost, which is a new feature in XP10.4 Beta 2. There are also new 'quick render settings' choices in the lower right corner of the rendering options window, to allow fast switching between high eye candy and higher frames... which is system dependent.

May be easier to use INSTALLER in main root folder of XPlane folder. Beta 1 was glitchy and crashed on startup. No issues with Beta 2. Here is a video shot in 10.4 Beta 2 Newest features found on the RENDERING SETTINGS page User selectable EXTENDED DSF SCENERY tickbox greatly improves views at high altitude (less mud!!!) Introduction of new "Presets" buttons in lower right corner of Rendering Options page. Quick setups to try to maximize a wider variety of hardware.

Not available "yet" but a preview of CGI-like graphics coming to a sim near you soon.

It's going to be wonderful to have PMDG bring this and (hopefully) other products to the XPlane world. Each platform has it's pluses and minuses, but the 64-bitness of it all coupled with being able to address ALL of your Video Card's VRAM and much more multi-screen/multi-PC network friendly - XPlane will change many hearts and minds. The sheer smoothness and astounding frame rates and the death and riddance of OOM's once and for all... are game-changers. Laminar has been hard at work working on upcoming 10.4 which promises several 'new' features which are long-awaited. PMDG could release a flying wastebasket for XPlane, and I'd buy it. Many have said that the automation in the tubeliners doesn't make for solid pilots, and I can testify I never knew how MUCH I didn't know till I flew a little Cessna without all the cool GPS, CDUs and glass cockpit. Any airplane is a joy, but of different types, and flight simulation can mean a lot of different things to different people. Some just want the closest to real flight model, and aren't really concerned with scenery, whilst others want something that looks like a modern CGI motion picture in terms of realistic scenery. XPlane has a number of stellar airports plus some ortho scenery packs and HD Textures that can truly dazzle the scenery-hungry. Now that PMDG is bringing it on... it can only add to the joy. Applause and gratitude as always to PMDG-- Their 737NGX is my first love (from FSX days). And you NEVER forget your first love! Oh, and for those that don't know it- XPlane 10 means ALL of your sim stuff lives in ONE SINGLE FOLDER, not scattered to the winds as in FSX/P3D. Much easier to backup and restore FYI. And all that time you used to blow trying to squeeze out 1 or 2 fps in FSX/P3D? Nah. Now you can just fly. 64 bits will change your world.

If you eventually hope to go the multi-monitor / multi PC route, it seems XPlane is worlds easier to network and to set those synchronized views out the cockpit windows. You can compare both worlds on my YouTube channel. Ultimately, the 64-bit XPlane 10 advantage trumps all IMHO. Take advantage of ALL your system ram, and ALL the VRAM you paid for on your graphics cards. Not to say that if LM would convert P3D to 64-bits and bring easy networking support for mutli-monitors there could be a real clash of the titans. Less tweaking more flying? That seems to be XPlane. For a long time I thought the 'blank airports' and lack of 4 seasons in XPlane were severe negatives. Then I flew P3D and encountered the world of Lego airports. Not so thrilling. Too similar. XPlane 10.3x is adding airports by the moment and a wealth of freeware and payware as well on Xplane,org (which is NOT owned by Laminar Research AFAIK) All sims offer some value, it's up to each pilot to fly what they enjoy. And if you are not into a lot of real-world cockpit hardware/electronics. the PMDG aircraft in any platform is the 'go to' for max enjoyment and complex modeling. There IS a frame rate impact as the aircraft complexity increases.

Matt, you're right, my post had the word "GPU" (my bad) instead of "CPU". My point was not with respect to multi GPUs but multi CPUs. The OP mentioned a 'monster' system with dual Octagon CPUs and SLI GPUS. AFAIK, you have to run server-based software if you have a multi-CPU system. This would EXCLUDE Win7/8/10. With regard to XPlane and it's ancient cousin FSX, I am certain your point is well made, SLI is useless or even a detriment. We have all been waiting for the "mud on the horizon" to go away, Ben S. (of XPlane Dev team) has strongly hinted that fix is 'on the horizon' (no pun intended) and thrown out the 10.40 version number you allude to. That said, I'd be astounded (and yet thrilled) if that fix happens any time soon. I am among the MANY who are praying for sooner rather than later. I have 32gb x 3 render PCs installed and waiting... Another salient concern is the problems with programing proper VNav/LNav magenta-line autopilot behavior for XPlane tubeliners. This has created a big thorn for some third party avionics firms, which remains imperfect even today. IMHO, this might be part of what led PMDG to bring the Steam-gauge DC 6B to the XPlane party in lieu of their wildly popular NGX and Triple-7 models, both of which have done well in FSX. The NGX was recently released for P3D v2. If you're a tubeliner fan and don't have a lot of physical hardware to interface, you can't do better than PMDG in my view. Once you start using things like MCP/EFIS panels, TQ's, real scale FMCs, radios, overhead panels and so forth, you likely will need something more esoteric to interface that hardware to your sim-of-choice. I'm a fan of Sim-Avionics from FlightDeck Solutions, but there are other choices out there as well. If you're a cockpit builder, you're wanting third-party avionics. Without getting into the age old debacle between 64-bit (Xplane) and 32-bit (P3D and FSX), XPlane currently enjoys a huge edge in terms of being able to address a much larger VAS (Virtual Address Space) because of the 64-bit advantage. In addition, XPlane is VERY V-Ram (Video Ram) hungry... and more is definitely better. 4GB is the current price point 'sweet spot' in GPU for XPlane 10, better if money is not an object to go 6GB on the Titan or Titan Black nVidia cards. Still, P3D has a world that is extremely well-populated with lego airports, and can handle the four seasons, both of which remain as shortcomings in the competitor from Laminar. When you throw in some of the very nice ORBX vector landclass packages (particular favorite Orbx NorCal), your GA world becomes VERY close to the RW. This again is a bit of an issue in XPlane. Tubeliner captains are not as concerned but GA enthusiasts appreciate landmarks that are depicted in the proper place. Both platforms offer freeware/payware airport upgrades, some of which are spectacularly rendered. Again, to each their own. I am an XPlane fan, but am looking hard at also flying P3D for GA training. I have set up my system to be able to fly either sim with a couple of mouse-clicks.

I don't know for sure, but if I had to 'guess' I would surmise possibly you may have installed a different driver than you thought? Locking the monitors at 30 frames via adaptive half refresh rate seems like a good protocol for most peeps I've run into. Assuming your Benqs refresh at 60 fps...