usairways56

Just this week I upgraded from 32gb to 64gb. I hadn't yet seen this forum / the MSFS 2024 system recommendations. But same 2 sticks, same 6000mhz, CAS Latency of 36, just doubled total GB available. I'm definitely noticing that there are less (near 0) stutters in intense areas. I.e. I used to always get stutters when panning or turning on the taxiways at KORD, in the NY Metro area. I'm not suggesting you upgrade too and that it'll resolve all your issues - I had my system pretty fine tuned visually/graphically & settings wise to my taste. No AI traffic. It's just the situations on the fringe where I used to expect stutters... they are no longer there or very minimal and I'm kinda surprised

I had a similar issue in the past week, out of nowhere. I found out that the power connector on my MSI 4080S that combines 3 8-pin power cables into one was coming loose from the gpu. Also the little plastic claw/pin that holds it to the GPU broke off. So I plugged it back in firm and haven't had any issues since. Might need to get a replacement connector at some point but good for now

I've tried just about every combination of settings I can, going back to DX11 even, changing Vsync on/off (in game and Nvidia), Triple Buffering, Pre Rendered Frames, RTSS / no RTSS, Hardware GPU scheduling (DX12) vs not (DX11) etc. No matter what I'm getting a consistent screen judder about every second. Tried the performance mode in Lossless Scaling but no difference there. Has anybody else had the consistent judder/stutter? And have been able to pinpoint a conflicting setting I have read this whole forum in it's length but unfortunately might just be something about my system/settings. Will need a weekend to really test things in depth

I had trouble redeeming in Aerosoft One / website because I was doing it wrong - FYI for anyone having trouble, you have to go to the Library tab, then down in bottom left, "enter product key" and enter the code emailed from FSS. Then it was added to my library and available to download. I had been trying to add it to my cart and then apply the code as a coupon/discount code, which obviously wasn't working

Agree with Luke. I wrote out some stuff below that I had typed up before he responded haha so I'll just post anyways. A good OC'd 2500K/2600K to ~4.3-4.5ghz should get you 20-25+ fps, given you optimize the cfg with tweaks, don't push the sliders too far, etc. You know, just be modest and fair with expectations. I previously had a 2500k @ 4.5 with a GTX670, then a GTX970, they got the job done and could manage the 25-30 fps range. The NGX and Flightbeam airports always performed the best (25-30), but flying the CS767 into payware airports would bring the sim down to 22ish fps. Given that you're running 720p, the GTX750ti should hold up alright. If it's in the budget one day (after a good CPU upgrade of course), try to get a GTX960/GTX970 or equivalent, it makes a noticeable difference in smoothness and strenuous cloudy situations. I would think you'd do well with a 2500k/2600k, especially for $100. Another possible option = 4690k, although I see on ebay that they are around $200. Those 2 generations in between make a difference in the IPC and your frame rates. If I had to put my answer into one line, it would be: 2500K < 4690K < 6600K

I have a 6600k OC'd to 4.6ghz with a GTX970. I'm seeing 40-60 fps unlocked with vsync, all the detailed addons such as PMDG, Flightbeam, ASN, REX (but I normally lock externally to 30 and it never dips). My FSX settings are pretty much for IFR, I'll post them below. And about them; you can definitely turn some things up and not really notice any fps loss when it's locked at 30 externally, like traffic up to ~40%, maybe autogen or scenery complexity up a notch. possibly even more that I haven't tested. I just keep them here because it's perfectly smooth no matter what combination of addons I use for a flight, and I just don't want to switch them every time. Honestly all I care about when I fly is that cities look populated with buildings, the ground scenery looks clear enough to pick out streets and such, airports are 3rd party, and that it's all smooth

I know this is a dead topic now, but I realized I made a mistake in my last post and I want to get it right for anyone's future reference. Jay tested speeds 1600, 1866, and 2400mhz, which should be DDR3. I can't guarantee it but from his results it would seem as though the speeds in the 3000+ mhz range DDR4 would only increase the performance further, up until possibly some diminishing returns

Sorry I didn't read every single comment here cause it started to seem like personal comments. However, even if we are considering 4790k vs 6700k, there's more to it than IPC. The DDR4 speeds have translated into improvement in many games, FSX/P3D/X-Plane included. I know this is coded differently, but Jayztwocentz on youtube tested BF4 with no dedicated GPU, and only swapped ram sticks between 2133 and up to 3400mhz. 2133 offered around 30fps on medium settings, whereas 3400 was pushing 70 to even 90fps. I know there's more to it like CPU/MOBO/ so on, and I know it didn't test DDR3, but there is definitely some weight to the ram speeds. I had a 2500k OC'd to 4.5ghz and now have a 6600k at 4.6ghz. I use pretty much all the hardcore addons that many of us use (REX, ASN, PMDG, Flightbeam, FSDT). I used to see dips down to 22fps worst case, and best case a flat 30. Now, I'm at a rock solid 30 locked, even after turning up autogen, and between 40-60 constant when unlocked. The 6600k was the best upgrade I've ever made, and have never loved simming more. How about we just focus on that?

About the cooler - The Hyper 212 should be able to get you that 4.6-4.7ghz no problem really. It would be my first choice if I didn't have my current cooler. If you're open to recommendations, however, I would strongly recommend a Noctua NH-D14 or NH-D15(S). I have a -D14. At 4.6 ghz and 1.3v on my 6600k, I'll see a max of about 55 degrees C. I could probably go to 5ghz if that were possible. The temps are crazy good with it, the problem is the voltage limitations on the chips. I went from a Hyper 212 evo on my old 2500k to a NH-D14 and the difference while overclocked allowed me to push from 65-70*C max @ 4.2ghz to ~58*C max at 4.5ghz. On my 6600k @ 4.6ghz, FSX will max out at about 50-55*C also. I've heard that the NH-D14 outperforms many water cooling loops. The only thing is that it's big. You have to have a decent case make sure that there's enough ram clearance, and they provide that info on their website. I got my Noctua on ebay for $35, it used to retail for $80+. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend anything else. It has been flawless, and I think every overclocker should have one.

Thanks for your help, Flavio. When I opened it with Administrator Rights it works. It's interesting that it still doesn't register when I click on it normally but does under Admin. I have FSX installed in its own folder on a separate SSD. It doesn't matter much now that I have it working, but do you think that running the original installer as Admin could have stopped this issue?

Forgive me for having to post this specific issue on the general FSX forum, but I see there is no Leonardo Maddog dedicated support forum here, and the forums on their website are very inactive. I reinstalled my Leonardo Maddog 2010 version from Simmarket today. Every time I open up the "Manager & Setup" now it prompts me with the screen to enter my Enable Key. Once I do, it accepts it and everything's fine. But it never saves my key, so I have to do this every single time I open the program. The plane will fly fine in FSX, but I rely on the manager obviously for fuel and load planning, and changing the aircraft options. It's very annoying, and it saved the key in the past with no problems. I sent an email to [email protected] earlier today but I have heard that support is almost non-existent. Has anybody else ever run into this problem and do you know of a solution? *If I try to enter my email and Purchase Code, it says that my email is not in the database.*

Usually when I've had that skin problem with the NGX, I ran the installer and chose "repair"

*Should mention I'm running FSX:SE, not P3D* I went from a 4.5ghz 2500k to a 4.6ghz 6600k. Very noticeable improvement in the amount of headroom now available. I lock fps to 30, but I used to see dips down to 25 at times with the most intensive addons. It has never budged more than .5 of a frame on my new system, and I'm also able to turn up autogen and scenery complexity a notch. In the times where I took off the limiter, I would see 40-60fps at Flightbeam airports with the PMDG NGX, whereas the old system would be ~28 to 35 but stuttery. After finding my sweet spot between NVinspector, settings, and tweaks (like FFTF), my locked 30 fps looks so smooth that I actually can't tell a difference between the sim and a 60 fps video. It could help your loading times a little (possibly texture loading), but getting an SSD for the sim would be the true answer to that. If you are happy with your current setup, then you could hold off and continue to let prices trickle down. But if you're ready, I'd definitely be able to recommend a Skylake 6600k or 6700k, as it's currently the best of the best. Since upgrading, this is the happiest I have ever been with flight sim

Nice pics Grady. What is this the fps difference that you've experienced? Just curious. A year ago I would've switched upon hearing that, but now that I have a 6600k, FSX:SE is running as well as I could hope for and I don't want to pay for dual PMDG licenses haha

ASUS Z170-A here. It offered plenty of USBs, and fan connectors (i think like 6 of them). Easy to overclock in bios, and I prefer to do it manually. It's been solid for the $140 range, as I found that anything pricier included hardware that I didn't need. I was anxious about the number of negative reviews on a lot of Skylake boards but I was reminded by friends on this forum that most people who have good experiences don't bother rating the products, it's mainly the ones who have problems. Good luck with whatever you choose, the important part is to make sure that everything is compatible (i.e. check the qualified vendor lists for DDR4 compatibility and such).

Yeah ^ Just a side note, a Z170-A would not be going all out, at all really. It's actually low to mid range of the middle tier of motherboards. I would consider going all out to be like the ASUS Z170 Deluxe or Maximus VIII Extreme (getting into the $300/400/500 range). But anyways, yeah just make sure the chipset is Z170 if you want to overclock. Also check to make sure the ram/mobo are compatible.

Hey Matt, you're on the right track. You could improve your current setup if on a tight budget, with say, some faster DDR3 and a GTX900 series gpu. Also, what you posted would perform well, I just have a couple recommendations if you're looking for "ideal" My recommendation would be to go with a 6700K or 6600K and be able to overclock. I'm not sure how comfortable you are with overclocking but it's very simple now on some motherboards. Paying the extra ~$30 is worth it in my opinion. In my case, running 4.6ghz is 118% of the turbo boost speed of a 6600K, and for FSX that means 18% higher FPS and/or overhead room for computation. A second note on the 6700K/6600K: Unless you need the hyperthreading from the 6700K for other games/software, there isn't much need because FSX can't take advantage of the 4 extra threads. There is some debate here on the forums and internet in general about running hyperthreading and if it helps or hurts performance in flight sims. I believe there are a few posts down in the hardware section of the avsim forums. Another recommendation: I haven't found any direct study on DDR3 vs DDR4 specifically for FSX, but DDR4 is what's going to be used from now on with new computers. I've heard that it could account for as much as 5-10% performance increase in FSX but I can't confirm it. Yesterday, I watched a video on youtube by jayztwocents where the higher speeds of ram made a GPU unnecessary to run Battlefield 4 at acceptable levels. He tested different speed sticks (1600/1866/2133) and 1600 produced around 35 fps on average whereas 2133 would see around 60-80 fps. Now, obviously BF4 is coded differently and Jay used DDR3 not DDR4, but it shows that ram speed can have a noticeable impact. If you go with DDR4 and a compatible motherboard, you'll be set for future upgrades. And if you go with an overclocking cpu, you can definitely maximize your FSX performance for just slightly more $. If you look at my specs in my signature, that's essentially what I'd recommend if you're going for ideal FSX performance. I lock my fps at 30 and with the right v-sync settings it's butter smooth, pretty much all addons imaginable. In theory, if you go for a 6600K you can use the saved $ towards DDR4 (16gb is good enough for FSX, but also dependent on other programs you're running) and a motherboard with good overclocking features. I know that's a lot, sorry. A 6700 based system like you laid out would run FSX very well, but if you want next level, then there you go haha *edit* : I have not run into any issues with latency or anything actually with my G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4. It's been flawless, all that you have to do is make sure that the ram and motherboard are compatible according to the qualified vendors lists. Not sure about the overkill, but sooner or later programs will catch up to the headroom that DDR4 currently has

Randoms from the last 20 or so flights I have flown. Most of these are out of order, and also not technically route/airline correct. But I was just flying for fun. Anyways, take a look:

I went with an ASUS Z170-A. It offers plenty of fan connectors, 6 SATA ports, plenty of USBs. Pretty high ratings all over the internet, and it's been amazing for the $130 I bought it for. (I see it's going for $150 now on Amazon, back up for some reason.) I would recommend it if you can afford a bit more than $100. For my personal needs (OC'ing, USBs, # fans), I found that dipping lower into the $100 range kind of worried me with respect to build quality (from reviews), or there was a sacrifice in hardware capability. I'm sure there are good boards for around $100 given that you don't plan to overclock and you won't be running too high a speed of DDR4, but unfortunately I'm not too familiar with any. I would encourage you to rethink the overclocking idea, especially if you are getting a 6700K. Getting an overclocking-capable board (Z170 vs say H110, H170) is definitely worth the extra $ relative to the value of the whole computer. As you know, the motherboard is the most vital part of the computer so you wouldn't want to skimp on it, and if you later decide to change it you may have to get a new Windows license and reinstall everything. Overclocking really is easy now on these Skylake motherboards - In order to OC, I click 2 things: the core multiplier and then set a manual voltage, everything else changes automatically. You could easily get that 6700k up to 4.4-4.6ghz (given you have an aftermarket cooler), which could be a potential 5-10% increase in frames/performance over the 4.2 turbo boost.

Everyone that I have heard from has said no, it's not possible, unfortunately. I recently built a new computer and my only choice was to clean install everything because my previous Windows was OEM. If you have a retail version of Windows you should be able to use the same license and not pay for Windows again, but the new hardware will most likely not work with the old OS SSD. I'm betting you will have to clean install Windows. And once you do, you'll then have to reinstall FSX because Windows will not know that FSX is already installed, the previous registry entries will have been deleted. My recommendation and what I had to do is to: 1) Transfer all addon installation .exe's and 3rd party files from FSX drive (or wherever they're stored) to an external hard drive/thumb drive (don't forget to write down serial numbers) 2) Clean install Windows on the OS drive. *have only the OS SSD plugged in to simplify things* 3) Make sure Windows was successfully installed. Log in, then plug in old non-OS hard drive and double check you have all the files you need before erasing it all 4) Format this non-OS drive as a new one 5) Reinstall FSX 6) Reinstall addons from the external hard drive/thumb drive It would be a different story if you were just swapping non-OS hard drives, which can be done no problem, but a new mobo and old OS don't match. The upside to all of this is that you'll have a fresh machine with nothing to slow it down. It'll be a beast too. My rig is pretty similar to what yours will be and I pretty much ran into the same problem, I'm happy to answer any questions that I can about it

I recently bought the boxed PMDG MD-11X since I was in need of some new heavy metal to learn to operate. Love this plane so far, it's actually my favorite one yet. I'll have to buy FSDT's KMEM soon to take advantage of all the routes. Here are some recent shots, and one NGX flight that slipped in there:

First of all, I'm running FSX:SE in DX10 with Steve's Fixer, and tons of addons like Flightbeam & FSDT airports, PMDG & QW planes, ASN, Orbx FTX Global, REX textures. I recently upgraded to a 6600k and have a pretty powerful machine, can get 45-60 fps constant with all of those addons using my "personally optimized" settings I guess you could say. That's great, but running unlimited fps to get them that high just causes unplayable stutters and I don't really know if there's a way to run on unlimited without big spikes on my PC. Anyways - Up until a few days ago everything was running smooth as I could expect. For some reason the last couple days I started noticing small stutters repeating consistently every 2-3 seconds. No settings have been changed to my knowledge (maybe it's because I've been simming a lot lately and am getting nit-picky, don't know). When I was doing some trial and error testing, I found that the smoothness came back when I set my monitor to refresh at 59hz, 1/2 v-sync & maximum pre-rendered frames of 1 in NV Inspector, and FSX internally limited to 31fps. Previously I had been running 60hz, 1/2 v-sync & 1 pre-rendered frame, and FSX internal 30fps lock. Those are just the things that I have messed with today, but I am fully aware there many more settings and tweaks that could have an effect. I'm not necessarily looking for any answer to this, but I'm curious if anyone else has had a similar experience and/or any v-sync recommendations?

One thing I will add is switching to a Nvidia card might improve the fps slightly, but the biggest difference will be smoothness. It has to be something in the code or architecture.. way beyond my comprehension. I would still recommend switching to Nvidia at some point, and I'd love to have a GTX1070 haha. It's just for the sake of cost efficiency given current hardware, CPU performance is the biggest improvement

Agree with Vincent. The 290 actually performs very close to the GTX970 in benchmarks, and even though benchmarks don't necessarily translate into FSX/P3D performance, it's no slouch. The best thing you could do is overclock your 4790k to around 4.5ghz. That'd be about a 12.5% overclock, and you could expect your frames to increase by approximately the same percentage. However you do have to have the correct motherboard, proper cooling, and to do some research. I'm not sure if you've ever overclocked or have any knowledge of it, but it would definitely be the most effective *I am not too familiar with the 4790k with respect to the default turbo boost. Under load it may be running more than 4.0ghz, and in that case overclocking to 4.5ghz would be less than a 12.5% increase, but it would provide some gains*

I tested a little more by trial and error. I found that the 1.1/0.2 combination gave me higher voltage during load than expected, near 1.36v. It appears that a 1.29 additional voltage and +0.01 offset gives me the same results as 1.2 with +0.09. Not sure which one to stick with however