System Question

[Pips]

For some time now I have been unhappy with how my system performs with FSX. And being a computer moron :) doesn't help when it comes to even identifying what parts make up my system, let alone trying to analyse what's needed to improve it.

Then the other day a kind soul pointed me to a small programme that at least makes identifying all parts easy. It's called the SIW, by Gabriel Topala.

So now I can post my specs and see what suggestions you kind folks may want to make as to how I can gain some improvements in performance. Specs are:

Motherboard: ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
CPU: Intel Pentium D CP 3.00GHz with 2GB RAM
Card: ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 1GB DDR3 RAM
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
Game resolution is 1440 x 900 x 32

Not sure what else is needed so just tell me.

The problem is I'm only able to run FSX in a fairly low scale fashion. I've locked fps @ 20, with settings at:
Graphics High
Aircraft Ultra high
Scenery Medium low
Weather Medium low
Traffic zero
Autogen sparse

Fps fluctuate between 15-20 over countryside, and I avoid cities if I want to keep fps in double digits.

I would have thought that I should be getting better performance with my system. Whadda you guys think??

[harleyman]

Pips..


Start here....http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=16294



You could use a tad more ram....(4 gigs total)


Not sure how your CPU does with FSX...

[stansdds]

I'd guess that the CPU is the bottleneck. I now have my system running FSX at a pretty stable 28 fps.

[Pips]

Hi Harleyman,

Tried those settings of yours with the Catalyst changes. Upped the fps to 35 and the game all but died on me - big stutters and great green coloured streaks across sky and land. So I dropped all traffic to zero and reduced both Autogen and Scenery Complexity to normal. With fps still set to 35.

Was comfortably flyable, although fps did flucuate between 10 (Canberra ACT) and 35 (countryside).

[txnetcop]

For some time now I have been unhappy with how my system performs with FSX. And being a computer moron :) doesn't help when it comes to even identifying what parts make up my system, let alone trying to analyse what's needed to improve it.

Then the other day a kind soul pointed me to a small programme that at least makes identifying all parts easy. It's called the SIW, by Gabriel Topala.

So now I can post my specs and see what suggestions you kind folks may want to make as to how I can gain some improvements in performance. Specs are:

Motherboard: ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
CPU: Intel Pentium D CP 3.00GHz with 2GB RAM
Card: ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 1GB DDR3 RAM
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
Game resolution is 1440 x 900 x 32

Not sure what else is needed so just tell me.

The problem is I'm only able to run FSX in a fairly low scale fashion. I've locked fps @ 20, with settings at:
Graphics High
Aircraft Ultra high
Scenery Medium low
Weather Medium low
Traffic zero
Autogen sparse

Fps fluctuate between 15-20 over countryside, and I avoid cities if I want to keep fps in double digits.

I would have thought that I should be getting better performance with my system. Whadda you guys think??

You ain't gonna like this but the motherboard and processor are your problem your PCI-E slot is only 4x not 16x and cannot use the full potential of your video card. It also uses the old Hyperthreading utility for the Pentium D which is either running at 533 mhz or 800 and you may not have memory type to match. You will have a hard time getting this board to do much better than you have now even if you changed out the memory, your PCI-Express slot would still limit your ability for good graphics. The other bottleneck is the old style 880 VIA chipset. Very slow.

ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2

Product Specifications

General CPU- LGA 775 for Intel® Core™ 2 Quad* / Core™ 2 Extreme* / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® XE / Pentium® D / Pentium® Dual Core / Pentium® 4 / Celeron® / Celeron® D, supporting Quad Core Kentsfield processors
- FSB 1066/800/533 MHz
- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports EM64T CPU

*When you adopt Quad Core CPU, FSB may be reduced 5%
Chipset- Northbridge: VIA® PT880 Pro/PT880 Ultra
- Southbridge: VIA® VT8237S Memory- Dual Channel DDR/DDRII memory technology*
- 2 x DDR2 DIMM slots
- Supports DDRII667/533 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 2GB
- 2 x DDR DIMM slots
- Supports DDR400/333/266 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 2GB

*DDRII and DDR are supported separately
BIOS- 4Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports Jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Ted

[Pips]

No problemo Ted, I had a sneaking feeling that the Motherboard might be one of the causes - it's an old board, I've had it for several years now.

Is "your PCI-Express slot would still limit your ability for good graphics. The other bottleneck is the old style 880 VIA chipset. Very slow" related to the MB, CPU or both?

And do you have any recommendations for upgrade? And which should be done first (because it will be a staged thing). :)

Ok, now this next question is going to show just how much of an idiot I am when it comes to computers. :redf: :redf: Does replacing the MB and CPU affect the Hard Drives? Or are they a seperate thing?

[harleyman]

I love the Gigabyte M31 motherboard...its fast and inexpensive.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128357

Couple that with a E8400 and you are back in business...

Many times the HDDs can plug back in and work with the same installed OS..BUT NOT always..



For now drop your frames to 18-20

[txnetcop]

Pips I also recommend that inexpensive little board that Harleyman is advocating if you think you will never use SLI or CROSSFIRE (more than one graphics card). With either an E9550 or cheaper E8400 you will be able to take advantage of the PCI Express 16x version 2.0 video drivers. Of course make sure that you have a high grade 800 or 1066 mhz ram with that board.

After you make the switch over to a new motherboard start up your computer in safe mode with networking and you should be able to load your new motherboard chipset without any problems. If you hard drive is formated in NTFS you should have no problems. Back to work now, no rest for the weary...have fun
Ted

[harleyman]

Thanks Txnetcop for all your wonderful ideas and help...:applause:

[Pips]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it. Now I'll start planning what to get and when! :)