Bandwidth Multi Thingamajig

[BananaBob]

Out of curiosity and the fact that I was bored senseless, I tried all these tweaks, mixing and matching and found that setting my TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=10 kept me at a steady 20 FPS in New York City, Aerosoft's Manhattan at that, it was capped at 20 FPS also, I tried it twice and I don't think I was dreaming, LOL

My system is Core i7 @ 3.6Ghz, 3GB Triple Channel Memory, Nvidia 285 1GB card. Windows XP SP3


Also, I was getting bad stuttering before, from 20 down to 5fps, up and down also before trying the above.

[stansdds]

Most people will tell you to increase the bandwidth_multi setting to 60, 70, 80, maybe even 110. I've tried those settings and see no improvement (sometimes things actually got worse) with my system, nor did adding the bufferpools line do anything for me. My bandwidth_multi setting is 40, frame rates locked at 24 and it's smooth.

[harleyman]

Well... I have news....

I have had FSX on my V-Raptor with my OS as of late...Acceleration was a total bust...Removed it and went with just SP 1.....Later I added back in SP2 .......MISTAKE


There are some very new theories out about Acceleration being stupid (SP 2 also) if it sits with the OS...


Well.. I formated all my drives and started over to see....FSX now sits off my OS drive and is great....Thats with Accelerqation now again for the first time being able to use it...



So far I have done nothing....My ATI CCC has not been touched at all.... FSX config has not been touched


I have a low level of flight-- slight (very slight) stutter.... It will be no problem to remove in the config I'm sure..


Thats running FEX UTX GEX with cloud textures 4096(whatever they are) and my frames are locked at 35 and are sitting there all day.....Its in my shop on AP now just running out of fuel....LOL

[datter]

Excellent news. You've been needing FSX to be good to you for awhile, hopefully it stays this way.

[harleyman]

Hey Datter...Actually once I removed SP2 a while back its been good...It is just not happy with SP2 or Acceleration on the same drive as my OS......


But I've been flying the heck out of it...

Its in my shop now as my Card reader died, so its getting replaced...Plus its hot a hell in the computer room and my North and South Bridges were running Hot after my OC, so I;m also adding some 40mm fans on them too....

[0Artur0]

Well... if I raise the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT number to more than 40 I get even more stutters. This tweak didn't work for me at all... I don't have a very powerful video card so this could be a problem here. I'm getting GeForce 285 1GB next week. Yey..

[harleyman]

YUP...You need a fairly good card for that tweak..

Try 10...Thats what I use...

[stansdds]

Just an update, since overclocking my CPU from 3.0 GHz to 3.6 GHz, I now have my frames locked at 28 and smooth. The texture bandwidth multi tweaks did not help, the bufferpools line did not help, the best tweak I have found is a faster CPU. My system is now at its stable maximum, the specific model of my motherboard has a documented history of dying if the RAM is overclocked due to the increased voltage required to overclock, so I'm stuck even though I expect my CPU can handle more.

My feeling is that FSX needs a decent video card, my 512MB factory overclocked nVidia 8800GT seems to be adequate, but really needs a fast, multi-core CPU, fast RAM and a motherboard capable of supporting and sustaining the transfer of large amounts of data between the CPU, RAM and video card.

[0Artur0]

Well 10... I didn't try yet... seems low.. but I'll use whatever number works best.. I'll try it!
I hope my new video card will solve my problem. I'm running i7 on 4GHz and I'm still getting stutters. Crazy.

[harleyman]

I hear ya...

I keep telling folks that the i7 is not a magic cure..neighter is a super OCed CPU.. IMO


I still think that the socket 775 is all that FSX can and will ever use...



BUT...The i7 will rock other better coded games...Just not the cure for FSX...

[dswo]

I keep telling folks that the i7 is not a magic cure..neighter is a super OCed CPU.. IMO

So what is? I mean that seriously: I've put off buying/building a new machine for over a year, waiting for something that will "just work."

[harleyman]

while an i7 set up can and will run FSX...Its the same old same old...Got to get it set and tweaked....


Personally I find the old socket 775 , with a Q9650 , OCed to 3.4 or 3.6 , with good fast ram, and a decent Vid card, is all that is ever needed....

Or even a duo core socket 775 will run FSX just fine..After all. the sim is not made to run off multiple cores..but the SPs allow it to happen. Not real well though


My little E5200 OCed to 3.3 runs FSX about as flawless as any rig I have, even one with big CPUs and all the Raptor drives , along with big expensive ram does.

[Felixthreeone]

So what is? I mean that seriously: I've put off buying/building a new machine for over a year, waiting for something that will "just work."

....Agreed. I've been waiting patiently for just over 2 years now....expecting to see reasonable performance and relatively stable setups...and that does not seem to be the case. I do not want to tweak.

[harleyman]

I build them all the time for FSX that are stable and run smooth....

From 700 -1600 bucks mostly...Depending on what you want. i7 slightly higher typically

www.essentialcomputercare.com

[Felixthreeone]

I build them all the time for FSX that are stable and run smooth....

From 700 -1600 bucks mostly...Depending on what you want. i7 slightly higher typically

www.essentialcomputercare.com

....So...essentially, $1500 will get me set up and running? Without hours upon hours of tweaking? If that is true, I would like some hardware recommendations and I will buy next month. I am familiar with both Tiger Direct as well as New egg, but i lack the 'direction'. So any advice (especially that gleaned from actual experience) is welcome and appreciated. Please fee free to pm me as well, Harleyman.

[harleyman]

Whats your e mail and I will send you the components I used on the last DDR3 builds i did for FSX..Based on the Q9650...

Not all were the same..but all were built about the same....


I'm shutting down for the night now, but will send it in the AM....

[peter12213]

Harleyman I'm glad I have you as a friend, you knowledge seems endless mate and your very generous with your advice, i find etting my TBM to 11 see's me perfectly fine through most fsx scenarios, I,ve had no luck either this week my comp was decimated by a virus, its back up running now and much better as everthing has been wiped so its 100% faster (1 bonus at least) but I only had to reinstall fsx last week to because of an orbx fault, I'm tellin you twice in under a week...no luck here lol!