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Dumb FS9 Question...

Blackbird686

Blackbird686

SOH-CM-2025
I have a question regarding FS9, I'm planning to run it on a medium power system. Just need ask about video card compatibility and if you all think I need to upgrade the card.

Processor: AMD Athlon II Quad4 Processor, 3.0Ghz
Power: 300W
Video Card: Ati HD 4200 - 1GB Video Memory
RAM: 8GB DDR3
Monitor: Samsung HDMI 21.5" Wide Screen

I have a brand new Ati (ASUS) HD 6450 Video Card sitting in the box. When I installed the new monitor, FS9 seemed to get a case of the "jitters" when in VC mode over anything but water. Also, in the spot plane view, a memory intensive model got the 'jits' when clouds were present.

Just curious, I can upgrade the video card but I thought the current specs for this particular machine would easily handle FS9.

Regards -- BB686
 
Tom,

I would think that rig would run FS9 pretty well! Personally, the only thing I'd do is to change the PSU to a 450W or 550W for a little more leeway, but that's just me.

One thing I've noticed is... if I use FSRealWxLite for RW Weather instead of the Default FS9 engine, I get smoother transitions in cloudy conditions, and there's not as
many stutters when flying through clouds.

Maybe there's other processes running in the background that could cause your stutters, perhaps?

Hope this helps...

Alan :encouragement:
 
I have a 350 watt power supply and consider that very low. My video card is an nvidia 450 1 gig vram which is ok. Even a 460 would be too much power. But there are lags and stutters and a slide show when overcast. I finally got tired of it after all these years. Yesterday I took the old gal in and got a 550 power supply. Today I'll get my new video card in the mail. A 750 ti overclock with 2 gig vram. Sometimes you just need to bite the bullet I guess. Also, I've read nvidia is a better card for flight simulator than Ati. Another thing, unless you have a 64 bit operating system and have redone your fs9 exe file, you won't use much of your 8 gig of ram.
 
Actually, the machine is pretty clean as far as what's running. I have had FS9 on this machine for quite some time, but installing a 21.5" widescreen monitor (because the 15" standard bit the dust after 8 years) has definitely had a negative impact on my FPS. My initial thinking was to upgrade to a newer video card with a faster chipset. The Radeon HD 4200 is current on any updates out there for it, but the "current" update was released back in June 2011. Like I say, I have a brand new (ASUS) Ati HD 6450 video card sitting in the box. Same memory but a much faster and more powerful chipset. The thinking here is that because the 6450 card supports wide screen formats and is a much faster chipset, it may, if nothing else, give back some of the performance I had previously. I do have a 450 watt power supply sitting on the shelf, but thought I'd start simple.

The OS is Win7 64bit.

BB686
 
There are sites where you can plug in all your stuff to see how much power it needs. 300 watts is really low and some video cards need a lot of power. I did that a while back (went to three sites) and it was very informative. I'm surprised your monitor cause a problem because it plugs into the wall.
 
Blackbird686 said:
Actually, the machine is pretty clean as far as what's running. I have had FS9 on this machine for quite some time, but installing a 21.5" widescreen monitor (because the 15" standard bit the dust after 8 years) has definitely had a negative impact on my FPS. My initial thinking was to upgrade to a newer video card with a faster chipset. The Radeon HD 4200 is current on any updates out there for it, but the "current" update was released back in June 2011. Like I say, I have a brand new (ASUS) Ati HD 6450 video card sitting in the box. Same memory but a much faster and more powerful chipset. The thinking here is that because the 6450 card supports wide screen formats and is a much faster chipset, it may, if nothing else, give back some of the performance I had previously. I do have a 450 watt power supply sitting on the shelf, but thought I'd start simple.
The OS is Win7 64bit.
BB686
Click to expand...

I'd be loading in the 450W PSU and HD6450 faster than a Seagull onto a piece of hot fat ......... :biggrin-new:
There should a series of drivers available for that card, and if you have the PSU then I really think it might as well go in at the same time as the VC.
FWIW, there are no 'dumb questions', only dumb answers.
 
wombat666 said:
I'd be loading in the 450W PSU and HD6450 faster than a Seagull onto a piece of hot fat ......... :biggrin-new:
There should a series of drivers available for that card, and if you have the PSU then I really think it might as well go in at the same time as the VC.
FWIW, there are no 'dumb questions', only dumb answers.
Click to expand...

THAT'S pretty fast, mate. :dizzy: I've been doing some reading and talking with folks in the PC world about the HD6450 card and they're saying that it may use less power than the HD4200. At any rate, the HD6450 will be the next mod that I make to the machine.
I ran a "Driver Manager" program I had from Microsoft and the HD4200 was up to date. I looked on the Ati/AMD website and here again... the drivers for the HD4200 were up to date.

I'm not sure why I have that spare 450W PSW down in the basement. Is there a way to test it before I install it? Now I'm confused as to whether it's any good or not. :banghead:

BB686
 
What a DIFFERENCE!!! WOW!

What a DIFFERENCE!!! Got the 450W PSU and the new Video card installed, and FS9 ROCKS on this little machine!!! I still have to go in and make some tweaks to the video settings but in the sim, all sliders are ramped to the right. Before, this PC ran FS9 reasonably well with only the occasional stutter in highly populated areas, now it runs like, (As Wombat666 would say)... "Faster than a seagull onto a piece of hot fat".

It took some doing, but it was worth the effort. Thanks for all the replies, chaps! Much appreciated.

BB686
 
ViperPilot2 said:
Tom,

One thing I've noticed is... if I use FSRealWxLite for RW Weather instead of the Default FS9 engine, I get smoother transitions in cloudy conditions, and there's not as
many stutters when flying through clouds.

Alan :encouragement:
Click to expand...

Is FSRealWxLite compatible with ASE or are they mutually exclusive?
 
Hey Alan --

Where did you find "FSRealWxLite"? is it payware? (Another dumb FS question)...:p87:.

Doing my hardware upgrades to this machine make flying through even the thickest clouds a 'breeze'... but if there is a better WX program out there, I'd like to have a go.

BB686
 
Blackbird686 said:
Hey Alan --

Where did you find "FSRealWxLite"? is it payware? (Another dumb FS question)...:p87:.

Doing my hardware upgrades to this machine make flying through even the thickest clouds a 'breeze'... but if there is a better WX program out there, I'd like to have a go.

BB686
Click to expand...


Freeware from here ----> http://www.fsrealwx.net/
It's a METAR decoder that works with FSUIPC to generate actual weather.

ttfn

Pete
 
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