FSX & FPS today.

[JaimeH]

So I am kinda coming back to FSX after a couple years away from it. I thought my system would be able to run FSX no problems:

i5 3570k
Windows 7 64bit
8GB RAM
GTX 780 Superclocked

Apparently not. I am gaming in 1440p with most of the setting set half way (some on full) but still I struggle to get past 30fps.
Yes, I am a graphics whore, love my pretty games, especially since I put so much money into my system. I guess my main question is whats the biggests FPS killer in
FSX? Any out of game (like .ini adjustments)?
DX10 seems to help a little..
Is just a matter of more raw power? I am thinking of going to SLI 980's in a month or two.


Thanks for any feedback!

[Joeflyer]

Jaime, I thought you were using Vista OS based on the support topic you posted. At any rate, your system in quite similar to mine with the exception
of the CPU. I still run a i7 2600k overclocked to 4.6Ghz. That is the key with FSX...it's CPU hungry. Do you have the i5 overclocked at all?
I also use DX10 with Steve's Fixer and enjoy quite solid frame rates at 35 (70Hz refresh rate and using 1/2 refresh rate vsync in Nvidia Inspector).
Most sliders are maxed except for autogen, water and AI. Water is High 2.0, AG is very dense currently but I change it back to dense when using the
PMDG 777. I vary AI between 10-30%...depending on which addons I use for each flight. My FSX.cfg does have a few tweaks like
[BufferPools]...UsePools=0, FiberFrameTimeFraction=0.18, HIGHMEMFIX=1, and AffinityMask=14. These work quite well on my system.

Since every system is different and reacts to the various tweaks differently, your mileage may vary with any tweak you apply. Going SLI will not help
you with FSX. In fact, SLI could potentially cause more performance issues if the CPU is not up to the task. SLI doesn't work well with FSX as far as
I have gathered.

My system:

i7 2600k, OC'd 4.6 Ghz, liquid cooled with Azetek 570XL
Asus P8Z68 V-Pro Mobo
8G Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 1600 Mhz (2 x 4G)
EVGA 780GTX SC
Samsung 840 Pro SSD (512G) for Win7 Ultimate
3- Western Digital VelociRaptor HDDs @ 10,000 RPM----1 dedicated for FSX, 1 dedicated for Prepar3D and 1 dedicated for FS9 and storage.
1,000W Thermaltake PSU
AOC 29" ISP monitor, 2560x1080
Creative Fatal1ty Champion Series sound card

I have been looking at the latest generation mobos and CPU combos to see which are more suitable for higher overclocks. I really would like a system I
can overclock to at least 5 ghz or better without cooking the CPU too much. It may take me some time to decide on what I will go with.



Post Edited ( 03-09-15 04:14 )

[darrinward777]

Hello JamieH,

The system you have is very good. If you are getting 30 fps in dense scenery then you are doing well in FSX. Anything 4.0 gig or higher on the CPU is great. I noticed
your AffinityMask=14 which is the safe standard. you could try 255. I assume you have Wide Screen set to True. All your settings look good!
If you are not having any stutters and the simulation is smooth, I would leave things as they are. There is little more to gain over a dense city than a 30 fps with third party
airports, scenery, sky, and aircraft running.
You have a great system for a 32 bit 4 gig VAS max program.
Cheers!

[Joeflyer]

Doesn't AffinityMask=255 refer to 6 to 8 core processors? The 3570k is a 4 core processor that could take better advantage of AM=14 or 15.
If hyperthreading is enabled then possibly AM=255 may work but not guaranteed.

[darrinward777]

There is a video post from a guy known as flight sim addict. I think he is a member of the REX group? Anyway it was a setting he recommended to try for this card. There
is a better way to make sure. http://www.gatwick-fsg.org.uk/affinityma...m=hardware Use this on line calculator.

[JaimeH]

Thanks for the quick responses.. So its mostly CPU I gather. Well hopefully I can upgrade to a Z97 system with the i7-4790K in the coming month or two. We'll see..