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O.T: ATI 5850 "Tweaks"

B

Barnstorm

"Molon Labe"
When I built my system last year I was on a pretty strict budget. I tried to do as much research on the available components as possible. Using bench tests from sources like Tom's Hardware, Comp Pilot, the SOH and Combat Aces forums, ect. I had always used Nvidia VC's, but the price point for the 5850 and comparison to the 295 (I think) made me look real close. The 5850 has 1 GB of DDR5 and matched-up close in performance and spec's. I had read that CFS3 did run well with ATI cards, but FSX proved to actually run "faster". With the $$ diff at > $150 US, at the time (Feb 2010), I opted for the 5850.

My OFF P3 install did NOT run well with the default settings. With trial and error and much needed suggestions from Parky and Red Wolf from the OFF forum, here are the settings that greatly improved my video experience....the FPS literally doubled (from the low 20's to the mid 50's) and the "jaggies" (triangle shaped artifact on the scenery caused from changing the POV too fast using TrackerIR5) disappeared. All of my 'Sliders' are set to 4

In the CFSconfig.exe utility: All of my 'Sliders' are set to 4


In the overrides section clear the tick in the 'Dual Pass Render' box and tick the 'High Resolution Z-buffer' box immediately below it.


Now click on 'Window' at the top of the page again and this time click on 'Texture Info' and set the following:


Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed
Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget
Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed
Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget
Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Default
Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default
Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip
Now click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of the screen.
Next click on 'File' and choose 'Exit' - do not use the X close button as this will lose the settings you have just made.


In the ATI CCC:



A/A: 16x (Wide Tent)

A/S: 8X
AI: Advanced
Mipmap: Performance
Vertical Refresh: Always On
A/A Mode: Performance (Multi-Sample)
Triple Buffering: On (check)


Note: I have OC’d my 5850 using the on-board ATI utility.
GPU=870 MHz

MEM Clock= 1130 MHz

My display: 24" ASUS, 1920x1080x60 (maximum)

These settings work for my system. On the csfconfig.exe settings, it is stated by some that turning off the "messages" and "chat" func's, along with the Targeting Cone, HUD, lables and TAC will also increase FPS. I have not found this necessary.

I hope someone finds this data of value.

Regards,

 
Barnstorm said:
. I had always used Nvidia VC's, but the price point for the 5850 and comparison to the 295 (I think) made me look real close.

I hope someone finds this data of value.

Regards,
Click to expand...

Your 5850 compares to the Nvidia GTX 480. The price of the Nvidia 295 (you think) is half the price of your 5850 or, vice versa, your 5850 is twice the price of the 295 (you think).
Can you verify?
 
richcreator,
I 'm not sure at this point in time exactly what the Nvidia model was in February of 2010; 275, 280, 295...Just not sure anymore. I paid $219.00 US and the Nvidia that I was too comparing cost like $356.00 US. No, I have no documentation from Jan-Feb 2010 when I was in the process of building my system. My point is that with the proper adjustments, ATI VC's should be able to display CFS3 and FSX as well as a comparable Nvidia VC....At least that is the result on MY system.

Best regards,
 
I have all settings maxed out to the limit in CFS3 and all expansion packs

and FSX, although while running FSX I get a CPU attention window that it's

under stress but it never glitches using a Nvidia GTX 560Ti, so tweaking is

not a problem with much higher end cards & systems. . . just sayin' . . . . .

and, nothing personal, but I have had ATI cards in the past but I'm sure I will never have another

in the future.
 
That's great...Glad you're satisfied with your system. I was only sharing data that I found to be usefully in maximizing the performance of a particular VC in my system. I am by no means a 'cheerleader' for ATI...or Nvidia for that matter.... And was not interested in starting a Nvidia vs ATI thread---That field has been plowed before.
 
Barnstorm said:
richcreator,
My point is that with the proper adjustments, ATI VC's should be able to display CFS3 and FSX as well as a comparable Nvidia VC....At least that is the result on MY system.

Best regards,
Click to expand...

Hi Barnstorm,
There's nothing wrong with ATI graphics cards per se. However there is a small problem with them, when using CFS3. A long time ago ATI changed its drivers so they no longer rendered the sheen provided in CFS3 models by the "*_s.dds" textures.

Its perhaps a small price to pay and if you can otherwise save a bundle by buying an ATI card, people will probably choose the ATI card.

But I would not agree with your statement that the ATI cards can display CFS3 as well as a comparable Nvidia card.....Until ATI fixes this issue, people thinking of buying an ATI card should at least do so in the knowledge of the shortcomings.

There is a "work around" tweak as described in the "tweaks and tips" thread at the top of this forum's board - where specular enable can be specified in one of the xml files.

David
 
Thanks, thats a great point. I am still running the ATI drivers v. 10.3; any drivers above that and CFS3 won't run worth do-do. I do apologize for making a blanket statement regarding the performance of any comparable VC to another...as every system and display (and operator expectations) vary greatly. As I said, this is my first ATI VC, and it took several days to get it configured.
 
The computer I got came with a ATI 5770 installed. I'm running it in Eyefinity with 3 wide screen monitors. You do take somewhat of an FPS hit but not really that much and the view is very cool. I miss it when I on a single monitor computer.
 
Barnstorm said:
Thanks, thats a great point. I am still running the ATI drivers v. 10.3; any drivers above that and CFS3 won't run worth do-do. I do apologize for making a blanket statement regarding the performance of any comparable VC to another...as every system and display (and operator expectations) vary greatly. As I said, this is my first ATI VC, and it took several days to get it configured.
Click to expand...

Hi Barnstorm,
no worries at all. I just want to make sure that the issue with the dds sheets is not forgotten. :ernae:

By the way, have you looked at the Groundcrew Design tips for config setup? They are similar to what you have discovered already, but may offer one or two things new.

Groundcrew files are now located in Regshanger.com

cheers,
D
 
D-
No, I did realize Ground Crew had any config suggestions listed...thanks for the head-up...will seek them out.

Regards,
 
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