Has FSX met it's (hardware) match, yet?

[codeseven]

I brought this question up at the end of another thread but I wanted to start a topic all it's own.

Most games/sims are created with some sort of 'futureproofing' in mind in that in order to extend it's shellflife their peak performance is aimed at future hardware developemnt. Since it's introduction in 2006 FSX users have been eagerly aquiring the latest in computer hardware in search of a 'maxed out' FSX. With the arrival of multi core CPU's, powerful GPU's and screaming fast Memory you would think this several year old sim would now be behind the hardware curve and finaly could be maxed out whatever sliders you turned up or complex addons you put into it.

So, has FSX finaly met it's hardware match yet? Can you now build a computer that you can say will handle anything FSX can throw at it and still have everything maxed out with smooth gameplay?

Or, are we still waiting for newer hardware, faster cores and super quick memory to finaly tame this sim? Some may say FSX's has just enough programming bugs to never allow for smooth, maxed out gameplay. Others may say that they are already getting maxed out gameplay, on their older slower computers for some reason, but crappy performance on their newer screaming fast computers,??

What say you??

 

[djscoo]

I can run all sliders full right in DX10 mode and get 30 frames minimum at flyTampa's Kai Tak...out of DX10 I'm in the 10's though.

 

[Boomer]

Yes & no....

With a clean install of FSX I can run everything Maxed out with very high frames.

Now that I have installed all my meshes, high rez textures & scenery I have to be more practical in my expectations.

 

[kilo delta]

I've been running FSX with all sliders maxxed ,as have many others on these forums, for quite some time now.
There are lots of variables that can affect frame rates, ....background running processes,directx mode, gameplay resolution,AA/AF filtering, fs addons etc. So long as you've a computer running an Intel dual/quad core chip at or above ~3.6GHZ, 4GB of fast memory and a decent GFX card you should be good to go!


As Bob has stated........a virgin install of FSX (with sp's) will run very fluid. Problems seem to arise only when you start loading on the Addons and get a craving for yet more eye candy!

 

[Bone]

I can run all sliders full right in DX10 mode and get 30 frames minimum at flyTampa's Kai Tak...out of DX10 I'm in the 10's though.

I've seen other people post that they get better FPS with DX10 preview enabled, but I have the opposite experience. My system is no slouch, either. It has a QX9650 brain running on Vista. Another weird thing is, I get a drop in FPS when running my GPU's in SLI mode.

 

[Boomer]

I Another weird thing is, I get a drop in FPS when running my GPU's in SLI mode.

I see no real difference in DX10 or not but I also take a hit when running in SLI. Very odd!

 

[guzler]

I thought FSX doesn't support SLI ? Could that be why ?

Great thread as I am looing to upgrade for FSX pleasures

 

[Kiwikat]

If not, it is getting close. Right now I am testing my overclock around NYC. I've got it set to 35 fps and it is pinned. So far I've tested it with the Skysim Hawk, RealAir Spitfire, and AlphaSim Long-EZ. I am about to pull out the MD-11 That's with max scenery complexity, very dense autogen, UTX, REX, GEX, fsgenesis USA mesh, and ASX running. Only thing not way high/maxed is traffic. I don't use traffic because I always fly online.

I really can't believe how well this computer is ripping apart fsx.:faint:

EDIT: (with the PMDG MD-11) On the ground at JFK my FPS averaged about 30. Once I got into the air they went up to around 32-33, and once I got to 5000 feet or so (which happened to be above Manhattan, with all of the NYC buildings in sight) it was pinned at 35.

 

[Major_Spittle]

Ok, I got an 8800gt super clock gpu, 4 gigs ddr2 running at 1120, and a Q9450 clocked at 3.8 with a FSB of 1900 and I can't get 16fps with everything maxed. btw, I have a 22" monitor running at 1920 X 1200.

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

 

[Kiwikat]

Ok, I got an 8800gt super clock gpu, 4 gigs ddr2 running at 1120, and a Q9450 clocked at 3.8 with a FSB of 1900 and I can't get 16fps with everything maxed. btw, I have a 22" monitor running at 1920 X 1200.

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

I'm on a Samsung T220 (22 inches if you didn't gather that by the name) at native 1680x1050x32 resolution with FSX on full screen (not windowed)...:naturesm:

 

[Major_Spittle]

I'm on a Samsung T220 (22 inches if you didn't gather that by the name) at native 1680x1050x32 resolution with FSX on full screen (not windowed)...:naturesm:

I honestly don't know how people do it. I limit my autogen trees to 500 and autogen buildings to 1500 in .cfg file also. The only thing I can think of is that FSX doesn't like Vista64.

 

[Kiwikat]

I honestly don't know how people do it. I limit my autogen trees to 500 and autogen buildings to 1500 in .cfg file also. The only thing I can think of is that FSX doesn't like Vista64.

I don't know either. FSX runs awesome on some PC's and terrible on others. It is really really strange. I still haven't even begun to figure out why that is. Maybe someone with a bit more FSX knowledge can fill us in. (cue Phil Taylor or someone like that )

I'm on Vista 64 though too. By far the most solid OS I've ever used.

 

[n4gix]

I thought FSX doesn't support SLI ? Could that be why ?

SLI doesn't require "support." It either works or it doesn't.

It would be accurate to say that SLI doesn't "do anything" for FSX.

 

[Bone]

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

Hehe, now that cracks me up. I've got a Gateway 30" that runs at 2560x1600. Most of my sliders are somewhere between half and 3/4's to the right, with the exception of the autogen, which is either at a minimum or completely off. I keep my FPS locked at 37 to eliminate the "stutters", and the FPS doesn't vary much. I'm a professional pilot, and quite frankly most of the FS world looks more realistic with the autogen off. The trees are just too big.

 

[kilo delta]

I'm running a native 2560x1600 resolution....fps locked @ 30fps...and Vista Ultimate 64bit.

Major_Spittle Have you tried following Nick N's guides? http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041

 

[MCDesigns]

Ok, I got an 8800gt super clock gpu, 4 gigs ddr2 running at 1120, and a Q9450 clocked at 3.8 with a FSB of 1900 and I can't get 16fps with everything maxed. btw, I have a 22" monitor running at 1920 X 1200.

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

See, posts like this scare the crap out of me since I am about to upgrade and this isn't the first one like this I have seen.

My specs are below and well below most here. I have mine locked at 30 and without real weather and outside of cities, it stays there. So in comparison, you should be able to get MUCH better performance than myself and when i upgrade I "should" be able to get better than what i get now (crosses fingers!!!)

 

[txnetcop]

Codeseven I am very sorry I haven't contributed. I have been swamped with a server swith-over from Vista back to Linux on four servers and the corresponding software. I came to drain the swamp and end up with alligators up my arse.

I think starting with the X48 motherboards FSX has been tamed, and with a healthy overclock on the i7 920s I've been building for folks I have been averaging 35-40 fps locked all over the place. That is with Nvidia and ATI video cards. I am using Corsair Dominator 1800mhz memory and overclocking it and the CPU.
Here is a pretty idea of the results you can expect:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2161&page=4

I posted pics in here of flying in a heavy thunderstorm over NYC at 30+ fps no tricks with everything full right except texture resolution at 2 and mesh resolution at 10 and it pegs and stays there. That is on a Gigabyte X48 DQ-6 with an E8600 OC'd to 3.8Ghz and 4GB of OCZ Flex Memory with an ATI HIS HD4870 ICE-Q4 Turbo video card. It isn't a fluke it is constant and I have other people in here I have built for that doing very well in FSX as well. I still can't tell the difference between 40 and 20 fps in FSX when it is so fluid but people like to chase the frame rates I guess. It could be my age too... lol

It is too hard to help people over the phone so I quit that. There is no point in anyone asking me to give away my secrets for free, I won't! I've been severely criticized for that and I don't care. I'm in business to make a profit on gamer builds, as this is all I have now for income besides managing a physicians network for next to nothing financially, but I will tell what parts I buy and test at Tech Corp. While I can't give detail specs, as we test for mfgs and report to them, I will tell what runs great to help you guys out. I am telling you though that you can build a system that runs FSX just great starting with the X-48 boards and up.

Michael you sounded worried, but I can assure you that you can move your sliders further right and still get about a 20-24% boost. I use Windows 7 64bit right now and it runs slick as grease. I hope I can keep it until Windows 7 final is out. It is for me the next XP only better.

I do have alot of information on how to set the Windows 7 up for gaming it isn't hard and it is very easy to use.

I was over at the General's(Wh61 in the forum) house for a few minutes today and saw his new 26 and 28 inch monitors. He is running full right on all but mesh and texture resolution with light bloom with an X48 board and E8400 OC'd to 3.4Ghz with an ATI HD3870 on computer and an X48 board E6850 and HD3870 on another...it was gorgeous and that is one happy man. So yes you can build a unit that runs FSX just great.

FSX has been tamed but not conquered.
Ted

I brought this question up at the end of another thread but I wanted to start a topic all it's own.

Most games/sims are created with some sort of 'futureproofing' in mind in that in order to extend it's shellflife their peak performance is aimed at future hardware developemnt. Since it's introduction in 2006 FSX users have been eagerly aquiring the latest in computer hardware in search of a 'maxed out' FSX. With the arrival of multi core CPU's, powerful GPU's and screaming fast Memory you would think this several year old sim would now be behind the hardware curve and finaly could be maxed out whatever sliders you turned up or complex addons you put into it.

So, has FSX finaly met it's hardware match yet? Can you now build a computer that you can say will handle anything FSX can throw at it and still have everything maxed out with smooth gameplay?

Or, are we still waiting for newer hardware, faster cores and super quick memory to finaly tame this sim? Some may say FSX's has just enough programming bugs to never allow for smooth, maxed out gameplay. Others may say that they are already getting maxed out gameplay, on their older slower computers for some reason, but crappy performance on their newer screaming fast computers,??

What say you??

 

[djscoo]

Ok, I got an 8800gt super clock gpu, 4 gigs ddr2 running at 1120, and a Q9450 clocked at 3.8 with a FSB of 1900 and I can't get 16fps with everything maxed. btw, I have a 22" monitor running at 1920 X 1200.

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

Are you using DX10? I get around 9-15 fps with it off, but 30+ with it on.

 

[MudMarine]

Ok, I got an 8800gt super clock gpu, 4 gigs ddr2 running at 1120, and a Q9450 clocked at 3.8 with a FSB of 1900 and I can't get 16fps with everything maxed. btw, I have a 22" monitor running at 1920 X 1200.

I think a lot of people on here are full of crap, running at crap resolutions on small monitors, or running FSX in a 4in X 4in window. :gossip:

I have almost the exact same system, not overclocked and I average around 20-25 fps about 18 in heavy areas, sometimes worse.

 

[codeseven]

Thanks guys.

I sometimes wonder if it's just a matter of throwing enough horsepower at FSX in order to be able to max everything out and have smooth gameplay, or not. It's been pointed out that even new builds mysteriously fail to run FSX better than the owners older build. Some say it's a matter of 'luck' whether your shiny new comp will run FSX well or not. You would think it would be just a matter of time before a game engine is finaly 'overpowered' by newer, faster, more powerful technology than it was ever meant to be run by.

Just popping in a game, downloading all the addons you like, setting all the sliders to max and hitting play would seem a bit unrealistic for any game. Everyone has their own taste in a how a game looks and plays. Thats when a few custom tweaks here and there should come into play. But strictly following an OS Install Guide, shutting down specific services, messing with the registry, ect ect, then comes the Game Install Guide, adding lines and changing specific numbers in the cfg. file then adjusting and re-adjusting just about every setting in game and out via yet another Guide for the GPU to squeek out every bit of performance you can get just to hope you can come close to smooth gameplay seems a bit much.

I realize that there are some guys that have managed to get FSX to run beautifully. But as long as even the folks with the newest, fastest stuff still need to tweak their systems, from OS to cfg. files, in order to get smooth gameplay at max settings then either the hardware hasn't yet caught up to FSX's max potential or there is something wrong the game itself.

Dont get me wrong, I love the game and I've managed to get 'acceptable' gameplay on my less than cutting edge system but geez it took alot to get to that point and it looks like even the best hardware you can currently buy will only run FSX 'close' to maxed out as long as all the right tweaks are done and even then it's not a done deal.

Maybe there is something wrong with the game itself, perhaps in the coding or something. If not, whether OS or hardware, I dont think were quite there yet.