FSX Utilizing 4 Cores.

[Fairford]

I have a system with a Q6600 quad core processor. I downloaded SP1 , but is there a program or somewhere in fsx to actually see if it is utilizing all 4 cores.

[BHawthorne]

I have a system with a Q6600 quad core processor. I downloaded SP1 , but is there a program or somewhere in fsx to actually see if it is utilizing all 4 cores.

Open Task Manager
View -> CPU History -> One Graph per CPU
Launch the app you want to watch and check your graphs.

[AndyT]

FSX will initially use all 4 cores as it loads, but since it was not written for multi-core, it will not fully use them. At the time FSX was having its base structure laid, multi-core usage was not very mainstream.

This has been addressed in the next version of MSFS.

[oal331]

This has been addressed in the next version of MSFS.

I cannot understand why we are having such power pcs, as FS never take advantage of them

I had a P4 Hyper Thread with 2GB ram, but also Fs9 did not support HT technology.
Now the same with FsX.

So, we are just following the technology, without the profit we could have from our systems.

Lets wait for the Fs11 to see...... if there is a change for better

[manhattan]

Open Task Manager
View -> CPU History -> One Graph per CPU
Launch the app you want to watch and check your graphs.

Hi Brad.

You have been very helpful to me regarding my new pc build, and I expect to be using the Q6600 processor with hi spec m board. One of the main reasons for the build is so that I can use pcie graphics ports for extra views which I can't do at the moment with basic pci port and single core. Do you think this will work? For the pcie cards, I was thinking of geforce 8500 gt 512mb - or do you think that this is unnecessarily heavy for the job?

Always grateful for your comments. Hope you don't mind me breaking into this thread.

TONY

[PDT 200]

The better the card the longer it will last before you have to buy an upgrade. The 8500 is better than the 6200 and when they make the 12000 then it will be better than the 8500. Get the mostest card you can get for the money you can spend. You will never buy a card that is too heavy for fltsim stuff.
Regards,.
Brian

[Kennair]

Hi Tony,

I have just built a new PC based on the Q6600 so maybe I can be of assistance. Here's my build.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P M/Board
Q6600 CPU Moderately overclocked to 3.0Ghz
Asus Arctic Square Heatsink/Fan (a must if you overclock)
4gb Corsair RAM DDR2-800
620W Corsair PSU (don't skimp on this)
Asus GT8800 512 Video overclocked (Main)
Gigabyte GT8500 512 Video (Second)
500Mb Seagate Barracuda HD
Vista64/MSFX/Ultimate Defrag

If you can buy an 8800GT video card. It uses the faster G92 processor and rivals the previous 8800GTX. The 8500 is quite low end for what you want. Having said that, FS requires CPU power more than video. Priority would be CPU, RAM, then Video, but as we all know, there are many, many other factors that end up playing a part. On my system, I have frame rates locked at 25FPS and it doesn't shift in most areas I fly. At Sydney (a known high scenery area) I get around the mid teens in the Flight1 PC12X, but that's with 6 screens hanging off the PC and sliders at about 75%.

Something similar to the system above will give you a great start and fairly future proof as the motherboard will take the new 45nm chips just being released. It's only DDR2 but serious testers on the AVSIM forums indicate the difference isn't a lot between DDR2 & DDR3, certainly not worth the high extra cost at the moment. Give it 12 months though!

Ken.

[manhattan]

The better the card the longer it will last before you have to buy an upgrade. The 8500 is better than the 6200 and when they make the 12000 then it will be better than the 8500. Get the mostest card you can get for the money you can spend. You will never buy a card that is too heavy for fltsim stuff.
Regards,.
Brian

Thanks Brian.

Do you think I will get smooth left and right views from PCIe graphics port using the dual head 8500 - without effecting the 3togo front view? I am wondering if frame rates could be a concern? I will be using a high spec board and processor.

Rgds

TONY

[manhattan]

Hi Tony,

I have just built a new PC based on the Q6600 so maybe I can be of assistance. Here's my build.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P M/Board
Q6600 CPU Moderately overclocked to 3.0Ghz
Asus Arctic Square Heatsink/Fan (a must if you overclock)
4gb Corsair RAM DDR2-800
620W Corsair PSU (don't skimp on this)
Asus GT8800 512 Video overclocked (Main)
Gigabyte GT8500 512 Video (Second)
500Mb Seagate Barracuda HD
Vista64/MSFX/Ultimate Defrag

If you can buy an 8800GT video card. It uses the faster G92 processor and rivals the previous 8800GTX. The 8500 is quite low end for what you want. Having said that, FS requires CPU power more than video. Priority would be CPU, RAM, then Video, but as we all know, there are many, many other factors that end up playing a part. On my system, I have frame rates locked at 25FPS and it doesn't shift in most areas I fly. At Sydney (a known high scenery area) I get around the mid teens in the Flight1 PC12X, but that's with 6 screens hanging off the PC and sliders at about 75%.

Something similar to the system above will give you a great start and fairly future proof as the motherboard will take the new 45nm chips just being released. It's only DDR2 but serious testers on the AVSIM forums indicate the difference isn't a lot between DDR2 & DDR3, certainly not worth the high extra cost at the moment. Give it 12 months though!

Ken.

Hi Ken.

Your PC looks awesome!! I have a pretty good understanding, but have not built a computer yet. There is a company here (UK) called Novatech that offers what they call a "barebones" deal which involves them fitting a motherboard, processor heatsink and fan, ram and psu into a suitable case leaving the customer to finish the installation. The hard bits are done by the company, and the price is VERY reasonable.
There's a couple of deals that appeal to me, and I hope you don't mind me mentioning them here for your comments?

Deal 1 - AMD X2 AM2 6000 Dual Core 2gb
667mhz Dual Channel Hiper 420w PSU MSI nForce 570
SLi Motherboard
Installed memory 2X1024mb 667mhz PC5400 240 pin DDR2

Graphics 2 PCI Express x16 slots
Expansion 1 PCIX1.
3 PCI - £285 assembled in a case.

Deal 2. - Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2048mb
800mhz DDR2 Heatsink & Fan nVidia 6801 SLI Mothrboard.
Installed memory2x 1024mb DDR2 800mhz PC6400 240 pin

Graphics 2XPCI Express X16 Sli
Expansion 2X PCI Express X16
1X PCI Express X1
2X PCI - £434 assembled in a case

Of course, there is more tec spec, but I thought you might have an opinion on the basics. If I can use this company, it would be a lot easier for me as a novice!

Thanks for your time.


Regards,


TONY

Computer company's site http://www.novatech.co.uk

[Kennair]

Tony,

This is a subject that you will find a thousand different opinions on, so this is just mine, which is gathered from others who I believe to have experience in the field far greater than me. Basically you get what you pay for. If the deal seems too good to be true it probably is, however it isn't so much the case for PC hardware. If you are willing to do some investigating (and if you're into simming then you are use to this!) you can get yourself a system that will satisfy for the next 5 years or so. A very good piece of advice I read from an experienced hardware simmer on Avsim stated "if you can't get a 10 fold increase in performance from an upgrade it's not worth the extra expense". Many enthusiasts talk about a CPU upgrade that will cost them an extra $500 but give an extra 5 FPS increase. Up to the individual whether that's worth the cost (I'd say not).

Now, with the cost of hardware today being so competitive and sometimes reasonably priced, upgraders are in an ideal position. BUT, you have to know what you're looking for! For example, the system I spec'd, was built for $1600 AUD. Not a bank-breaking amount by anyones language, and it has the capacity to upgrade in the next 12 months to the newest processors (at a more reasonable cost).

To get to your Bare-bones system specs, definitely go for the second deal utilizing the Intel Q6600 and the 800Mhz RAM. I use to be an AMD fan but these days Intel has it over AMD when it comes to processors (that of course may change in future and ultimately is only my, and the general, opinion). Go for the motherboard that will accommodate the fastest processor, plus the ability to have extra PCIE cards. You need to map out exactly what your sim will require such as the number of monitors which will determine the number of video outlet etc.

So in a nutshell: Get a good quality motherboard such as Gigabyte, Asus, MSI etc. preferably of the P35 variety (best value currently), with 2 x PCIe slots (doesn't matter whether both slots run at 16x as the second video simply hangs off the first and SLI doesn't offer a lot with FS. The faster RAM the better, so get the 800Mhz. 2Gb RAM should be a minimum for simming and will assist FS greatly. Get an aftermarket CPU heatsink and fan if you intend to overclock, which is a cinch today. Here's a LINK to overclocking the Q6600 which I used successfully. Get a name brand power supply of at least 600W to accommodate the components and overclocking.

The second deal you mentioned fits into my recommended category so you won't be dissapointed. As for the graphics card, FS is more dependent on CPU than GPU so video memory isn't as important an issue, however if you intend running multiple monitors, memory is an issue, so again it depends on your setup. However, the 8800GT is far and above the better deal these days both price-wise and power-wise, so don't go for the 8500 as your main video card, instead use it as your secondary card. As for hard-drives, many advocate RAID but I have opted for a single fast drive as my system is dedicated to simming and will do no other task. Again it's up to your requirements as to what you decide on.

As for operating system, if I wasn't looking to use 4Gb of RAM I would have stayed with WinXP as it is rock solid and there's no issue with driver/software incompatablites, so for you looking at 2Gb of RAM get WinXP Home or Pro (doesn't really matter sim-wise). Vista offers support for DirectX-10 but you can probably do without that for the moment. Having said that I have had no issue with Vista64 (SP1) and all its upgrades so far, and it runs FSX beautifully.

The computer store I deal with will build my personal system for $100AUD if I wanted (which I didn't cause it's fun!!) so getting the pro's to build it for you isn't a huge expense. I would get the second system pre-built and configured ready to load all your favourite FS system and addons and watch it fly when you load it up!!! You won't be dissapointed.

Regards,

Ken.