Settings and Adjustment options for one specific FSX Tuned System

[Spirit Flyer_old]

Hello,

Perhaps it is a good idea to share how we have been able to make FSX work in our Flight Sim Computers. Here is how mine is currently setup and seems to be consistently producing satisfactory results with smooth stutter free and fast FPS flights. I have used other people’s ideas to experiment and have kept those that I found worked best in my computer. What works in yours machine may be entirely different.

I recently changed my 6g of Kingston 1600mhz Hyper X ram with a cas latency of 9 to 6g of Mushkin 1600mhz ram with a cas latency of 6. The new and faster ram can not be overclocked without raising the timings, so I reduced my CPU overclock from 4.34Ghz to 4.2Ghz to compensate.

I have left all other setting the same for a few weeks without problems so the system is essentially stable, but please be careful of using these bios settings for if you do so, it is at your own risk. My computer is well cooled, so I suggest you do not overclock your CPU unless yours is likewise. Water cooling is best, but I use instead the Prolima Tech Megahelems pictured here:

Darrington Start – FPS recorded on each screenshot are generally representative of performance

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280403758.jpg

Specifications

Belarc Advisor Current Profile

[img width=705 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280437873.jpg

Start Screen

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280395579.jpg

Bios 1

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280380597.jpg

Bios 2

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280429399.jpg

Ram Timings

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280400433.jpg

CPU-Z 1

CPU-Z 2

CPU-Z 3

CPU-Z 4

CPU-Z 5

GPU-Z 1

GPU-Z 2

GPU Settings

High Temperatures inside and out (no air conditioning) on Test Day

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280403900.jpg

GPU Idle Temperature

CPU Idle Temperatures

Kombuster Settings

MSI Kombuster GPU Test

[img width=1145 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280396216.jpg

Kombuster Test Results

CFG 1

[img width=510 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280417982.jpg

CFG 2

[img width=530 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280377854.jpg

CFG 3

[img width=498 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280410892.jpg

CFG 4

[img width=519 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280408928.jpg

CFG 5

[img width=496 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280444649.jpg

CFG 6

[img width=517 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280432671.jpg

CFG 7

[img width=496 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280395615.jpg

FSX1

[img width=991 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280422926.jpg

FSX2

FSX3

[img width=994 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280356252.jpg

FSX4

FSX5

[img width=1001 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280430117.jpg

FSX6

[img width=1003 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280373931.jpg

FSX7

FSX8

[img width=1001 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280410321.jpg

FSX9

[img width=1002 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280382941.jpg

Concrete

[img width=1029 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280397750.jpg

Israel’s Farm

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280441405.jpg

Stuart Island

[img width=1031 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280405993.jpg

Speiden Island

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280355215.jpg

CPU Temperatures running FSX

MSI Afterburner after long flight

Long Creek Oregon

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280384311.jpg

Twin Oakes

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280419926.jpg

Portland International

[img width=1027 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280411892.jpg

I hope this helps you to fine tune your computer and FSX software to help you experience what it means to really fly!

Kind Regards,

[Griff]

Thanks for taking the time to post your results as well as the various screenshots.  I have been out of the FSX loop for a while pending a new system upgrade and this definitely helps point me in the right direction.  I'm narrowing down the build so I hope to be able to fly again soon......

Regards,

Chad

[tennyson]

Thanx Stephen,

That's a mighty thread, mate.

I've picked up on a few pointers from you that I've been doing wrong, so I'll give it a go and see if it makes improvements.

Thanx again, mate,

Frank

[gheeD]

Nice and very informative thread, Stephen! I just "found" cool little thing to improve fps, when you select windows classic theme, it gives you around 10 fps more compared to windows 7 basic theme.

Can you post how much improvement that thas on your computer? On desktop right clic -> personalize and scroll down, there's windows classic themes.

[NZ255]

Maybe you should copy and paste your whole CFG? Save people copying out.

Paste CFG here

[paj]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for listing your settings. I read your other postings where you described your computer with great interest since it is quite similar to my new hardware. I've been trying to get a stable overclock past 4.1GHz and had wondered what your settings were for uncore multiplier and key voltages - now I know and will try some of your values above.

Do you know your load temps?

[EDIT] Doh! Sorry, I overlooked your FSX load temps near the bottom of your post. Have you tried stress testing with Prime95/IntelBurntest/Linx etc? If so, would you know what temps they generated?

I was surprised at how high your CPU-PLL voltage is set - did you find this was necessary to achieve stability?

Many thanks

Peter

[Spirit Flyer_old]

I have made a small change in my bios settings to reflect a reduction in my overclock settings from 4.3GHZ to 4.2GHZ. The voltage numbers showing in the first set of bios screenshots in this thread were what was required for my computer to remain perfectly stable at 4.34GHZ. I bought faster ram (6g Mushkin 1600mhz) which would not maintain its very low timings of 6-8-6-24 if I overclocked the CPU any higher than 4.2GHZ. I would rather have a lot tighter ram timings than a wee bit faster CPU. The previous 4.3GHZ overclock and voltage settings shown in the original bios screenshots worked well with my 6g of Kingston Hyper X 1600mhz with a cas latency of 9.

Here are the new settings and numbers as well as the results of the extreme OCCT stress test. Ambient temperatures in the house are a very uncomfortable 30+ C, so the computer is not the only thing running a little warm. In fact it seems to me that the machine is running at least 10 degrees C hotter than it does when the air is cooler, but it is well in the safe zone. There are discrepancies in the temperatures between the various monitoring and controlling programs, so I do not know for certain which ones are correct. The OCCT maximum reached 79C, but the Real Temp shows 5 degrees over that at 84C, and the ASUS AI suite 9 degrees lower at 70C. That is a 14C difference. In any case, they are all still safe.

Revised Bios

Revised Ram Timings

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280466975.jpg

CPU-Z 1

CPU-Z 2

CPU-Z 3

CPU-Z 4

CPU-Z 5

OCCT Test Results with Revised Bios (picture taken when completed so showing lowered temperatures)

Core Usage Under Load

Maximum Temperatures using AI Suite

Maximum Temperatures with Real Temp

I hope this helps clarify these things. Hopefully some others may be able to have lower voltages at these settings. Mine seems to take a little more than some.

Kind Regards

[timmo32]

great info stephen we are all very thankfull for the info mate

[elthi]

Thanks Stephen for sharing these informations. I am sure that will help many simers!

Regards.

Laurent

[Hugh Johnston]

Great post Stephen.

Just currently getting setup and am pretty happy with how it's turning out. At the moment I am managing to get 4.3 out of my system. I did try 4.4 and seemed fine but happy with where I'm at. The i7's were meant to be overclocked. I'm seriously impressed. Those max temps are when fsx was running and I'm pretty happy with the results.

[Spirit Flyer_old]

Hi Hugh,

The i930 is a rocketship! You have a really great system there topped off with the wonderful 470 GTX!  Great choices all! I had my i930 running FSX briefly at 4.4GHZ and once at 4.5GHZ, but it failed the stress and stability tests, producing errors. At 4.2GHZ it will run at lower voltages but had failed when using them under long term stress tests with OCCT, which I think is likely the more difficult stress software to successfully pass than some others. I changed my voltages over time, upping them a bit whenever I had instability or a blue screen crash. You might find the same, or yours might be the better chip and never need adjusting. I hope so.

Congratulations! This is so exciting!

Kind Regards,

[Iain Emms]

Loads of information there Stephen, seems like your on to a winner with your overclock a very interesting post indeed im still running my i7 at stock as i must admit i dont know enough about overclocking to do it and will not take the chance of busting another system i cant afford another big spend.

cheers

Iain

[Dwho]

I currently have my i7 930 stable at 4.2Ghz, i did try for 4.305Ghz (205x21) but it BSOD in Prime95 after the first 30sec, though with 4.2Ghz at 100% load my CPU temps dont pass 70°C and idles around 32°C with the room temp at 24°C. Like they say overclocking isnt a science its more of an art form 

[gheeD]

I got 4.2 GHz allmost stable at 1.3789 (or something like that) vcore, 200MHzx21 &RAM at 1600MHz. I'm getting pretty acceptable temps of 79-80-76-74c after switching Fractal's 120mm fan from the front to bottom, since they get pretty much same airflow both places, and there is dust covers in both places. Also, now air flows directly into GTX480 and i7 without anything blocking it, as when fan was infront air flew to HDD cases which are in ridiculous direction when thinking about good airflow. (See pic As you can see.) So now air is going directly to components that need it. Also tested installing it into side panel, which on my last case (antec 900) was blocked by cooler, so 25mm thick fan didn't fit in it. Now i tested it with Fractal Silent  120x120x25mm  1200rpm fan, and it fit perfectly when inserting the cover onto the case, so im going to get some beastly 120mm fan into that. Also replacing AND adding bottom 140mm fans (fractal has 2 spots for 140mm in bottom) and also getting another one to pull air out from the top. Maybe. It might screw up the CPU fan pulling air in the cpu block, so i have to think about that. Also gonna get another one in front, so i'll have all fan spots filled with fans. 

Maybe then i'll be able to even achieve 4.3GHz without having AC cooling room at 13c and fan blowing into case 

[Spirit Flyer_old]

Hello,

I was very surprised to find out that my Asus P6TD Deluxe motherboard had an out of date bios, which was totally incorrect for my i930 CPU (version 0303). Possibly it had been an RMA and had not been re-flashed, or had sat around in a warehouse waiting for me to buy it.

Regardless, I thought it had been updated when installed, but evidently not. In any case, the problem was overlooked. That changed when it became apparent that even though I was getting excellent performance from my CPU, it was taking a lot more power to run and overclock than others that had the exact same kind of motherboard and CPU.

Strange, I never even noticed how old the bios dates were. In any case, here is what my opening screen recorded:

In order for me to overclock to 4.3GHz I had to pour the coal on to get it stable as follows:

CPU Voltage 1.44375

CPU PLL Voltage 2.16

QPI/DRAM Core Voltage 1.44375

Here is what it looked like before I changed the settings after I was forced to downclock to 4.2Ghz to fit my hot new Mushkin ram.

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1280380597.jpg

Once I realized what was wrong, and downloaded and flashed the latest bios for my CPU (0501), everything became as it should be. In fact, I was able to increase my overclock back up to over 4.3Ghz with a lot less power and cooler temperatures. Whereas before my low timings (6-8-6-24) ram would not overclock beyond it’s stock 1600 Mhz (+ or -), now there is no problem! Obviously the new bios has made a big improvement in almost everything. This only goes to show that the best plans can go south when some obvious, but un-noticed factor is overlooked.

Anyway, here is what it looks like now:

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1281122436.jpg

and the incredible reduction in voltage the bios update has permitted.

[img width=933 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1281041999.jpg

[img width=372 height=700]http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1281083462.jpg

Well, I am on track to never let a day go by when I don't learn something new!

Kind Regards,

[alainneedle1]

Yeap! this is the first thing you have to look for when installing a new mobo, they come on the market with their first bios and after 6 or 12 month several new bios are released but you still have the first one on the disc with the mobo.

Keep on eye on your Asus forums new bios are released from time to time.....