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FSFlyingSchool PPL
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:12:56 PM
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First things first.
Squadron Leader:
You may definitely quote me on the quality of FS Flying School support (and product).
It is positively the best In Flight instruction available !!
Back to the Topic Forum of Hardware:
If you weren't aware, I'm 'certified' up the ying-yang with hardware & networks (I won't try to impress anyone with the initials that follow my name - you are still only as good as the quality of work you provide)
And having said that, GAMING computers are so totally different from 'business class' computers that I had a very large learning curve with FSB, Northbridge, Southbridge, CPU multipliers, Memory Voltages, Linked/Unlinked and the rest. Suffice to say it took a while to settle on exactly what Flight Sim required.
I originally had an ASUS "Extreme Formula II" and subsequently sold it to a friend (after ASUS refused to answer my support requests) I also ordered and returned a DELL 'XPS 630' as only 1 of it's PCI/ex slots was Generation 2 (the sales rep said 'both' slots were Gen 2) If you only use a single video card it works excellent; but if you want SLI - they both get reduced to 8 bit (from the single 16 bit).
So I did a lot of research and found the (supposedly) fastest motherboard is the Ultra790i chipset by Nvidia.
From there, more research, and you need a Quad processor with 12mb cache to churn the graphics out.
From there up goes the memory to 1600mhz DDR3 Corsair.
And finally 2 x SLI nvidia 9600GT (NOT top of the line, but very very adequate)
The BEST performance thing I did for MS Flight Sim ? Install Ground Environment X !!
It replaces MS graphics with better graphics, night lights, roads and REDUCES the amount of video memory.
Flights with GEX are so much more pleasurable than the default MS graphics. (autogen)
Tweaking of Flight Sim is still required. From what I have read, (and can confirm) the more AI traffic you have, the more 'stutters' you will see in your graphics. Reducing the AI traffic increases the performance of FS/x. And, if your flying above 4000 feet, do you really need to see cars or boats ?
Reducing Clouds to minimum; reducing Terrain Densities (and on and on) increases the performance of FS/x.
Here is an excellent article about 'tweaking' the fsx.cfg file manually (and some other good articles you may enjoy) select 'tweaking solutions' 'free' and 'fsx.cfg' (some worked for me very well; but each computer is different)
I will post a couple screenshots for you to admire Ground Environment X
Best to all
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FSFlyingSchool PPL
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:12:56 PM
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(oops) someone came in, and I forgot to add the web url.
http://www.highflightsimulations.com/fsxcfg.html
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FSFlyingSchool Developer
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Friday, December 20, 2024 8:59:32 AM
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Hey Biggles - many thanks for all the juicy information.  It will be a help to us all as most of us are routinely trying to get more FPS out of FSX!  We look forward to seeing the screenshots of GEX.
Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer
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FSFlyingSchool Captain
Group: Frequent Flyer
Last Login: Saturday, September 06, 2008 7:02:33 PM
Posts: 52,
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| Biggles, Biggles (8/13/2008)
First things first.
The BEST performance thing I did for MS Flight Sim ? Install Ground Environment X !!
It replaces MS graphics with better graphics, night lights, roads and REDUCES the amount of video memory.
Flights with GEX are so much more pleasurable than the default MS graphics. (autogen)
Tweaking of Flight Sim is still required. From what I have read, (and can confirm) the more AI traffic you have, the more 'stutters' you will see in your graphics. Reducing the AI traffic increases the performance of FS/x. And, if your flying above 4000 feet, do you really need to see cars or boats ?
Reducing Clouds to minimum; reducing Terrain Densities (and on and on) increases the performance of FS/x.
Here is an excellent article about 'tweaking' the fsx.cfg file manually (and some other good articles you may enjoy) select 'tweaking solutions' 'free' and 'fsx.cfg' (some worked for me very well; but each computer is different)
I will post a couple screenshots for you to admire Ground Environment X
Best to all
Hi Biggles, Great stuff! I don't want to take away from this site for FSFS flying school stuff, but I had a question or two about Ground Environment X. From searching the web, the only one out there right now is USA Canada Alaska? Correct? So does FSX then resort back to "normal" FSX scenery say when you are flying in Europe? The scenery shots are incredible. So you are definitely quite happy with it? I'm running a Dell XPS-420 quad 4, nVidia8800GT graphics, so I'm thinking it will run fairly well with it. Although, it sounds like you could always use more memory for your video board. The mentioned website for FSX tweaks is great! I'll be digesting that site for awhile? [Edit] I came across this when finding out info about GEX. Do you also use the UTX product as well. From what it sounds like, they both work really well with each other? http://www.avsim.com/pages/0508/MultiScene/MultiScene.htm Thanks,
  Joe Mini
President/CEO/Chief Pilot for Joe Mini World Wide Tours, LLC
"If we get you to your destination in one piece, it's a miracle"
Mission Statement: We ARE the youngest fleet of pilots in the world! Our pilots average LESS than 10 hours of total flight experience. No company in the world can offer this kind of flying security. Fly with confidence knowing our pilots are there to make your flight one of the most memorable one ever! Sit back and enjoy the ride. “If we get you to your destination in one piece, it’s a miracle!” ™ Joe Mini World Wide Tours, LLC. |
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FSFlyingSchool PPL
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:12:56 PM
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Joe Mini:
I have UltimateTerrain X for Canada / USA / Europe and 'Ground Environment X' which is global from what I can tell. As I mentioned earlier, their graphics are superior to MS and REDUCE the graphic load on your video card.
(a win win win situation) Night flights are very impressive.
I use a small utility called 'memstatus.exe' that displays system & video memory. My bro-in-law was using 390meg video memory on default FS/x. With all the above loaded, he now runs at 280meg video memory.
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FSFlyingSchool Training Captain
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:42:12 PM
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| All you wise, comptent people reading this forum. Could you please look over the below thoughts, and tell me if these items are okay value for my money, and will kick FSX good enough. Help me spend my money wisely. I am getting myself a new rig, for FSX. I will get something that can run FSX flawlessly. I am willing to spend a little more that $2000, but not much, something like 2500 at the most, but then again, I have a good big, cabinet, and a Samsung 500GB sata2 HD, so I "only" need a Motherboard, a CPU, 4 gigs of decent ram, 2 graphics cards, a cooler, and a PSU. Here is what I am thinking about at the moment: (edited 1 time) Motherboard: ASUS Maximus II Formula $300 CPU Core 2 Quad Q9550 12 MB (Intel Boxed) $400 Graphics cards Club3D Radeon 4870X2 - 2 GB DDR5 - PCI-E $700 Ram Corsair XMS3 DHX 2 x 2 GB $300 Cooler Thermalright Ultima-90I $100 PSU Antec TruePower Quattro 1000 – EC $250 All in all $2.050 Anything better for about the same money?
Regards
Ole Andreasen, Denmark
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FSFlyingSchool Training Captain
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:42:12 PM
Posts: 1,645,
Visits: 14,276
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FSFlyingSchool Training Captain
Group: Frequent Flyer
Last Login: Friday, January 25, 2013 5:31:09 AM
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Visits: 1,932
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| Ole, I wish I was smart enough to help you out with your computer selection. I'm just and average Joe "Schmoe" dude with "some" computer skills. It sounds like you are building one kick butt computer. I've used flight sim since the Commodore 64 days, which isn't saying much, but the point I'm trying to make is it seems like almost all the improvements you see have to do with graphics. So my humble opinion, is make sure your graphics is kick butt and maybe can handle some future changes. I think I read that there will be a FS11 coming, so lord knows it will drag all my new computer system down. Seriously, it looks like you can do programming for NASA with it. Hey, what is that chart telling me?
[edit] - Oops just seen it...FPS (frames...) Joe
Joe MiniPresident/CEO/Chief Pilot for Joe Mini World Wide Tours, LLC.
"If we get you to your destination in one piece, it's a miracle" 
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FSFlyingSchool Training Captain
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:42:12 PM
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Hi Joe.
I think the GPU is state of the art, and noone can do more than that. I´m confident with it.
Regarding FS11, I read over at simviations forum, a guy named Nick N, who seems to be REALLY an expert on FS and hardware. He just wrote a short time ago, that FS11 will be out in October 2010 or October 2011. I don´t know where he gets his info, but he seems to know everything, so I think we are "stuck" with FSX for a couple of years more, which is good news for me, as FS11 will demand even more butt-kicking computers, and I have a wife who frowns everytime I mention upgrades.... 
But this upgrade is necessary, and approved. 
Regards
Ole Andreasen, Denmark
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FSFlyingSchool Training Captain
Group: Frequent Flyer
Last Login: Friday, January 25, 2013 5:31:09 AM
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oleandreasen (8/29/2008)
Hi Joe. I think the GPU is state of the art, and noone can do more than that. I´m confident with it. Regarding FS11, I read over at simviations forum, a guy named Nick N, who seems to be REALLY an expert on FS and hardware. He just wrote a short time ago, that FS11 will be out in October 2010 or October 2011. I don´t know where he gets his info, but he seems to know everything, so I think we are "stuck" with FSX for a couple of years more, which is good news for me, as FS11 will demand even more butt-kicking computers, and I have a wife who frowns everytime I mention upgrades.... But this upgrade is necessary, and approved. I think that NickN dude is the same guy who helped me out with all of my scenery issues from Flight1 and Simforums.com. NickN appears to be one heck of a Flight sim Guru. He knows his hardware and Scenery. Wow...you too! It's comical when I tell my wife this will be my last computer upgrade for awhile, knowing full well I'm lying out of my butt. I'm with you, I'm going to enjoy FSX for a long time, and not rush to automatically get the new FSXX when it comes out, because more than likely Microsoft won't test it all correctly, and bring everyone down to a skreeching halt along with 8 more operating system software hose-ups....Sheez. Soapbox over. I flat out told my wifey on this last one I got, it was going to be one that would run FSX better, and I'm going to get it to specifically fly flight sim...my passion. Looks like I'll be purchasing one more piece of scenery software....Mesh Terrain stuff. Just waiting to hear on other forums what people have to say about it.... Know anything about FS Global 2008 or FS Genesis software?
Joe MiniPresident/CEO/Chief Pilot for Joe Mini World Wide Tours, LLC.
"If we get you to your destination in one piece, it's a miracle"
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