Stuttering in FS9

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Maybe Stans can help me -- I get quite a bit of stuttering in FS9 with high detail settings- I have a decent CPU and Graphics processor, but still cannot emulate what I see in your "videos"- Is there a way to force FS9 to use more of the graphics processor and less of the CPU?

[Stans 29]

Nope, that's hard coded to the program and FS2004 is very CPU intensive. When I had my Athlon 3500+ CPU the CPU fan would go into hyper-active after about two minutes of flying. With the 4000+ CPU it hardly breaks a sweat. What my system now needs is a new video card and faster RAM, but that is cost prohibitive at this time. Here is what I have and how I run it.

AMD A64 4000+ San Diego 1.35 volt

2GB Corsair Value PC3200 RAM (4 x 512MB)

WD-120 HD with 8MB cache

SB Audigy 2ZS sound card

eVGA NV6800 Ultra PCIe video card

TrackIR 3Pro with Vector Expansion

CH Products USB Fighterstick

CH Products USB Pro Pedals

Windows XP SP2

Video Card:

91.47 driver

4xFSAA

No AF

Image setting High Quality

Vsync ON

Force mipmaps Trilinear

Conformant texture clamp ON

Extension limit OFF

Trilinear optimization OFF

Anisotropic mip filter optimization OFF

Anisotripic sample optimization OFF

Triple buffering Off

Transparent AA multisampling

Negative LOD bias CLAMP

FS2004 settings:

Display - scenery:

Global scenery quality = custom

Special effects detail = high

Terrain:

mesh complexity = 100

texture size = high

detail = land only

water effects = high

dawn/dusk blending on

extended terrain textures on

Scenery objects:

complexity = very dense

autogen density = dense

add dynamic scenery on, extremely dense

ground scenery casts shadows on

Sun glare on

Lens flare off

Display - aircraft:

Global aircraft quality high

Virtual cockpit gauge quality high

Reflections on

Aircraft cast shadows on

Landing lights on

Display - weather:

Global weather quality = custom

Sight distance 60mi/96km

Cloud draw distance 40mi/64km

3-D cloud percentage 90

Cloud detail = detailed

Cloud coverage density = high

Display - hardware:

Device = NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Series

Target frame rate 30

Display resolution 800 x 600 x 16

Hardware rendering:

render to texture on

transform and lighting on

anti-aliasing on

Filtering trilinear

MIP mapping quality 8

Hardware rendered lights 8

Global max texture size = high

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Settings look about the same. My CPU is a Celery 2.54 GHz and 1 GB of RAM (This latter might be the problem). My CPU fan also goes into hyper-active mode- especially in summer when my "office" temps are running in the upper 30's. I often get CTD's when running FS9 while the same never happens with IL 2 (Oleg rulez OK! ). Question -- if I upgrade CPU's- does this mean that I would have to change the MBO as well- in effect a new computer then. And if I go this way- what would the requirements for FSX be??

Sorry for all the Q's-- but I do enjoy FS9, and I would like to fly in a "real" world-- without the pauses and stutters.

I run a 6800 Nvidia as well-128MB (Is this a problem-- probably not with FS(????) )

[Stans 29]

Odds are the CPU is your bottleneck. What platform is your current CPU? Pentium 3 or 4? What CPU's will your motherboard support. If you end up needing a new motherboard, then a whole new system will be needed. If that is the case, is your graphics card AGP or PCIexpress?

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Motherboard- Pentium 4

AGP slot on the video card.

Sounds like a new system????

[Stans 29]

Maybe not, what Pentium 4 CPU's does your motherboard support? You have sufficient RAM and FS2004 is CPU intensive, not video card intensive. IL2 is more video card intensive.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Finally-- found the MOB manual-- it says....

" Zocalo de CPU 478.... sorry-- wrong place.... Support socket 478 pour CPU..."

Does this answer your Q?

[Stans 29]

Most of the Celeron 478's run a 533 mHz front side bus, so the RAM is usually designed for the same. Most of the Pentiums run an 800 mHz FSB, so you may need new RAM to match a Pentium CPU. Could you post the specs of your current computer? Motherboard manufacturer and model and RAM specs.

I just looked at the current crop of 478 motherboards, they all seem to use DDR400 (PC3200) RAM, if you are using PC3200 RAM, then you are probably good to go with upgrading to a faster Pentium in the 478 line. You may want to check your motherboard manufacturer's website for chipset and bios updates and information on which Pentiums you can use.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

The MBO is an EPOX 4 PLAI (foreplay???!!!)

The RAM ??? Do I have to open the box to look or is there a way to get the other specs??

The MBO manual says" 2 banks of 184 pin DDR SDRAM DIMM memory 233/333/400 MHz" (I think I have the 400 jobs installed)

[Stans 29]

I just e-mailed a small program that will tell you the specs of your current CPU and RAM. How about a sound card? Onboard sound eats up CPU cycles and will slow performance with sims.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Dein Lederhosen sind mit Ahlen gefult

Dein Lederhosen sind mit Ahlen gefult

Zhe tools received and report mailed

Zhe tools received and report mailed

Die Lindenbaum ist mit Kondomen dekoriert

Die Lindenbaum ist mit Kondomen dekoriert.....

Aus

Stanz---

I installed off-board sound and disabled the on-board stuff a long time ago- the on-board thingmy used to pick up - I think - the hard drive whine and distorted sound- especially in IL 2

[Stans 29]

Report received, you have PC-3200 RAM installed, I think you are good to go with upgrading to a faster Pentium 4 socket 478 CPU. I just checked NewEgg.com and the fastest 478 Pentiums they have are 3.0 Ghz, so that is faster than what you currently use and the Pentiums have 1 MB of L2 cache, four times the amount on the Celeron series. So overall you will see a performance increase, theoretically about 18% or so, but that's theory. The 478 platform Pentiums went up to 3.4 Ghz, now if you can use a 3.4 Ghz CPU you would see a big performance increase in FS2004 and probably an increase in IL2.

As for the AGP slot, there are newer AGP cards out there, but AGP is going away and if you are going to buy a new video card, then I would suggest a whole new computer and switch to the PCIexpress video platform.

If you decide to upgrade the CPU, it looks like the prices on the Pentium 478 socket series have really dropped.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Danke Herr Stans-- you not only know about toothzez-- alzo Komputerz!!! I will shop around for a Pentium 4 processor-- the 478's are becomming scarce.....

[Stans 29]

Yeah, everything seems to be going dual core these days, even though there is very little software that can utilize two cores, much less 64 bit systems. The 478's are still out there, you'll just have to search a bit unless you want to pay for international shipping.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

I can get a "Intel Celeron 2.8 GHz: Socket 478, Prescott" - is this any good? No real Pentiums around locally it seems,but I also found a "Intel Pentium 4 'Extreme' CPU - mPGA-478 - 3.2GHz"- is this last one a valid option?-- I do not understand the " mPGA-478" bit? This last one also costs more than a full computer!!!

[Stans 29]

That's not going to be much an improvement, if any, over your current Celeron. Celerons may be able to crunch numbers as fast as Pentiums, but Pentiums have 1 MB of L2 on chip cache as opposed to the Celeron's 256 KB, so Pentiums can keep the data flowing more smoothly. And you already have 2.53 GHz CPU, 2.8 GHz is not much faster. I would hold out for a minumum of a 3.0 GHz, preferable 3.4, Pentium. The Extreme edition Pentiums are nice, they have a much bigger L1 cache and will generally out perform the standard Pentium of the same speed. Make sure your motherboard and drivers will support your new CPU. Your motherboard manufacturer should have a website and there you should find this information as well as updated drivers.

[Edwin Rommel 0]

Just been to my local 'puter shoppe--- Nada 478 socket processors (sure the guy sniggered when he said that!! ) Looks like a new 'puter?!

[Stans 29]

Ja, zhat lookz like dein bezt bet.