HOLY COW!!! New performance pics!! 56K beware!!

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

Hey all.... well, first off, as many of you know, my system was running FSX VERY well, with high frame rates, and very smooth performance. If you havent seen, you can look at the videos in my signature to get an idea of my previous performance.

Yesterday, I changed my motherboard from an ASUS-P5NSLI to a Gigabyte-965P-DS3 ($139.99 locally). I had previously been able to overclock the P5NSLI with E6300 Core2Duo 1.86ghz up to 2.94ghz, but had been having some stability issues. I would get random reboots, lockups, etc... this was attributed to the overclocking of the RAM and the fact that the P5N was not really intended to be an overclocker. So yesterday, I picked up the new board, and a few days prior, purchased 2gigs (2x1gig) Patriot DDR2 800mhz memory... Since the P5N is rated to 667mhz, I waited to install the memory (even though the new bios flash supported it in the end).

NOW.... I literally have been up all night doing stress tests and benchmarking of this new mobo and memory, and man... I have to say... its REDICULOUS! First off, the construction of the mobo is far superior to the Asus P5N and offers solid capacitors, passive cooling, etc. Where as the ASUS was having issues in the benchmarks, and throwing out periodic errors, the DS3, FLAWLESS! The chipset is so stable, I was able to run a 5hr stress test on both overclocked CPU and Memory! Not only is it more stable, I am now running my little 1.86ghz @ 3.15ghz (there is even more potential), and my 800mhz mem at 900mhz. ALSO!!!! Please keep in mind that this is all being performed with ONLY ONE Nvidia 7600GTKO... yes, Im getting this performance from a 7600 chip!!! I have yet to find any real reason to upgrade, when Im getting this kind of performance out of it... Im almost convinced I got an 8800GTX wearing a disguise! lol.

How does this relate to FSX? Well... just look for yourself! I was getting frame rates in the mid 20's, and into the 30's in some areas... now, steady 50's in the Los Angeles area, if you have tried to fly there, you know that it is a very detailed and TAXING on the system... Here are the sliders, and some screenshots. The pics look gritty because of the limitations of photobucket. These pics were taken at 1289x1024, but photobucket only allows 1024 max. So it downsized them.

::Disclaimer::
I personally have been overclocking computers for years. I have never had a component fail on me while overclocking. Overclocking can be very reliable if done properly. Do not under any circumstance attempt to overclock your computer without first doing the proper research. Your components may not handle the added load and temperatures that result from overlocking your PC. Overclocking is a science, and if done improperly, will result in damages.

This video here shows some of the detail... this video has a few chops in it, but these are not present when playing, this is a product of the rendering, editing, compressing of the video... there are NO CHOPS or stutters when flying on my PC.

roelli98 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:51 pm

wow ... nice. Shocked

RadarMan · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:56 pm

Excellent, I'm impressed by the lack of empty lots, all the lots are filled with homes. They're also sharp and clear.
Well done, enjoy!

Radar

oldsamer · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:57 pm

Glad it's workin for you (the DS3). I tryed a DS3, it never once booted up and that's with the same cpu & ram I'm using now. Eventuly got it RMAed and am happy with an Intel p965 reference board.

Of course intels won't overclock, but their website has the best tech info of any vender.

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

I got the DS3 after observing my buddy use his with identical RAM and CPU since christmas with no errors or problems yet... I had read that some people have had problems with these boards, but Im glad I got one that didnt have an issue.... I added a short video, feel free to check it out... its at the bottom of my original post.

I found out why the video looks a little choppy in areas, the video was rendered at 29.97fps, my sim was running at 55fps, and Fraps captured it at 60fps... so with all the 3 programs, there is bound to be some misaligned frames. Sad

Also, since the posting of this video this morning, I got the CPU now running at 3.22ghz!

bawls327 · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:19 am

I am looking forward to seeing some new vids and new pictures. Keep them coming.

Guest · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:26 am

wow.... well done !!!

Smittymatt · Trainee Joined: Apr 10, 2007 Posts: 9

JEALOUS

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

No need to be jealous... I'm just posting my experiences and results as to help guide others in their current and future configurations...

anonymouse91 · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:07 am

I'm glad to hear yours is working great. I have a very similar system (specs below) and I hope that once I get an 8 series card, it will use its full potential.

BTW, do you have any tips on making it work better?

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz (E6600)
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
Kingston ValueRAM 2.5GB DDR2
Geforce 7600GT GDDR3 256MB
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA
Windows Vista Ultimate x86

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

The E6600 and DS3 also have a ton of potential. With the proper cooling, I have seen people reach a very stable 4ghz. You can reach 3.6ghz without even trying. People are doing this with air cooling as well, just wouldnt reccomend it with the stock cooler... Zalman at the very least.

You did not mention how fast your memory was... and 2.5 is a mismatched dual channel setup. You only want matched memory size and speed, and if possible, brand.

Depending on the type of cooling that you have, I would suggest reading up on overclocking with the DS3 and getting some free power. I have seen people reach a stable 3ghz with the stock cooler.

You are using Vista with the MINUMUM reality requirements... they reccomend memory requirements that are far less than they actually need. I personally have not gone to Vista, and probably wont for about another year. I never buy new operating systems, I usually wait until the first service pack... but I personally need another 2gigs to be happy with vista.

Guest · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:48 pm

Looks good but put it to the real test. Put aviation traffic sliders to over half way, and goto the most busiest airport, Heathrow, Hong kong, etc.

No offence but my PC can do that.

onlymeee · Guest

i'm not surprised by the performance boost you can get by pulling the asus board. I had an Asus board (P5P800) for a few years and I thought it was quite a performer...that's until it went smokey one day, so I upgraded to an asrock...same cpu....the performance doubled.....

it was like the cpu was running at half the speed in the Asus board and full speed in the asrock board Shocked

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

Running traffic at 50% at LAX..... over 35fps

Guest · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:13 am

mossy · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:50 pm

very nice. I was thinking about replacing my motherboard so I can add more RAM. I wondered though: when you replace a motherboard do you have to reinstall all your software, windows, etc? or can you remove the hard drive and fit it to the new motherboard?

anonymouse91 · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:29 pm

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

No. Im not using any add-on programs right now. Until SP1 is out, I dont plan on it since Im not sure what will and wont work at that point.

chrisjoi · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:50 pm

Very nice video. Maybe there is hope for FSX

JLangevin · Captain Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 501

This is actualyl quite old, Ive put up some more videos, and reached 162fps. There is a ton of hope for FSX!

lamborgini8 · Trainee Joined: Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 4

Wow! Nice

Rozal · Trainee Joined: Aug 04, 2007 Posts: 15

I have:
e6600 @2.66Ghz (Cooler - Thermaltake Blue Orb 2)
ASrock 755dual-vsta Motherboard
7900GS OC @ 580 core 1180 mem
2gb DDR 400, (2x 1gb, both exactly the same)
Forton 450Watt PSU
200GB Seagate
I can't OC my board over 2.7Ghz or it will hang.

I have a better CPU, and GPU, aswell as the same amount of RAM (Slow speeds) which I do plan to replace with a P35 motherboard.

Here's the game plan: I ran exactly what you ran in the scenery tab, with some mildness on the other tabs and i'll get 2-3 FPS.

Then I will run the same scenery settings, but everything else on the lowest, and run FSX at 1024x786, I get about 8-10 fps.

It's just not fair! I need some tips dude! Are you replacing files to improve performance?

RadarMan · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:10 am

Rozal · Trainee Joined: Aug 04, 2007 Posts: 15

I've got plenty of power with my current. I'd think I would only need 700w if I was going sli with a 8880GTX. FSP Group is well known in PSU, may not be the best but they are solid.

I am also running a special modded XP, it only runs 16 processes opposed to 30+ on regular XP. It uses only around 100mb of ram

My psu (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104954)