Ram & Performance

[almccoyjr 7]

Please, if any devs can help or shed some light, I've got a question.

 

I know CPU frequency is important as is amount of ram. I'm running 2gig on a 680i board with a X6800 @ 3.6 on air since 12/06. I change my TIM every 6 months and do other various chores to keep her up. I'd like to turn down the oc (she is getting on in years) but don't want to sacrifice to many fps.

 

Would a Virtual Ram Drive of 2-4gig in place of the swap file be of any performance benefit? Right now, I have my swap file locked at 2048.

 

If you could take what was written to the VRD and dump it into a file to be saved and reused by OFF3 again, would that aid in performance?

 

Would this be something worth while to try or just a dead end?

 

Thanks

[OvS 8]

Please, if any devs can help or shed some light, I've got a question.

 

I know CPU frequency is important as is amount of ram. I'm running 2gig on a 680i board with a X6800 @ 3.6 on air since 12/06. I change my TIM every 6 months and do other various chores to keep her up. I'd like to turn down the oc (she is getting on in years) but don't want to sacrifice to many fps.

 

Would a Virtual Ram Drive of 2-4gig in place of the swap file be of any performance benefit? Right now, I have my swap file locked at 2048.

 

If you could take what was written to the VRD and dump it into a file to be saved and reused by OFF3 again, would that aid in performance?

 

Would this be something worth while to try or just a dead end?

 

Thanks

 

Wow, that's a very interesting question almccoyjr. I'd say it won't help due to the file access time.

 

That's just a guess based on using virtual drives. Why not try it and see? Let us know.

 

OvS

[almccoyjr 7]

Wow, that's a very interesting question almccoyjr. I'd say it won't help due to the file access time.

 

That's just a guess based on using virtual drives. Why not try it and see? Let us know.

 

OvS

 

Ok....What the hey.

 

Would using QC as test be adequate? I could load 4-5 planes against me with dynamic weather, etc. I've only got one campaign flight under my belt and I don't want to "waste" any of the precious me's up there.

 

By the way, is there a program that can automatically map fps usage in the sim? I run at 1920 x 1200 and Z=tiny red markings.

[sitting_duck 3]

Ok....What the hey.

 

Would using QC as test be adequate? I could load 4-5 planes against me with dynamic weather, etc. I've only got one campaign flight under my belt and I don't want to "waste" any of the precious me's up there.

 

By the way, is there a program that can automatically map fps usage in the sim? I run at 1920 x 1200 and Z=tiny red markings.

 

 

if you have teamspeak,,,the the teamspeak overlay,,,it allows you to display fps in VERY BIG numbers

 

http://www.teamspeakoverlay.com/

 

not compatable with vista...

 

and you know,,the overlay just may run even if teamspeak is not running........

Edited March 13, 2009 by sitting_duck

[sitting_duck 3]

ok,,,didnt go so far as to take teapspeak off my compter to test,,,but ran the overlay with teamspeak running,,,and it worked.

 

so, have a feeling it may just very well work without teamspeak installed,,,worth a shot anyways

 

and,,,as far as your original post,,,that board supports 8gigs i belive,,,,with ram being so cheap,,,id take a quick hop over to the newegg site,,and see how much more memory is going to run you..

Edited March 13, 2009 by sitting_duck

[almccoyjr 7]

ok,,,didnt go so far as to take teapspeak off my compter to test,,,but ran the overlay with teamspeak running,,,and it worked.

 

so, have a feeling it may just very well work without teamspeak installed,,,worth a shot anyways

 

and,,,as far as your original post,,,that board supports 8gigs i belive,,,,with ram being so cheap,,,id take a quick hop over to the newegg site,,and see how much more memory is going to run you..

 

Thanks! I'm going to look into team speak. I was runinng @ 2048 max but Z=tiny, tiny red "thingies".

The sweet spot and best performance for my monitor is 1920 x 1200-32 75hz 16:10, so I keep it there when ever possible.

 

My board does support 8gig. XPP32 only "sees" 3.5 and 3.65 if the gods love you. Quite frankly. I've never researched to find out if in fact XPP32 will actually use all 8 but only sees 3.5. Can anyone chime in on this? It may just make experimenting with VRD a moot point. I'm running Corsair DDR2-6400@ 3-4-3-9.

[almccoyjr 7]

My board does support 8gig. XPP32 only "sees" 3.5 and 3.65 if the gods love you. Quite frankly. I've never researched to find out if in fact XPP32 will actually use all 8 but only sees 3.5. Can anyone chime in on this? It may just make experimenting with VRD a moot point. I'm running Corsair DDR2-6400@ 3-4-3-9.

 

Addendum:

 

[ Doesn't matter if its Vista or XP a 32bit OS will only address 4 GBs of ram max. Contrary to what someone said 32bit Vista, just like 32bit XP will use 4GBs of ram. That 4GBs, thou, includes the memory in your sub systems like your video card and PCI cards. Since the OS needs the sub systems to run it allocates the subsystem's memory first then will only address the remainder of that 4GBs in your installed ram. Just using a 512MB video card for the sub system, as an example, after allocating the 512MBs of memory on the video card your OS would then only address 3 1/2 GBs of your 4Gbs of installed ram and thats why you only see 3 1/2 GBs of ram when you have 4 GBs installed. Exception is Vista SP1 where you can now see all 4 GBs if you have it installed but thats it. You just see it and its not all being addressed. If you took your 512MB card out and replaced it with a 256MB video card then you would see your ram jump from 3 1/2 GBs to 3 3/4 GBs because, with 256MBs of less ram in the sub system to address the OS can address 256MB more of the installed ram. You could use 64bit XP and use all 8 GBs of ram but I suggest against it because 64bit XP is the most incompatible OS I've ever seen. ]

 

Copied from Yahoo_Ram_Tech Support. This one sums it up nicely.

 

So, that leads me back to my initial question about VRD.

 

There's probably a lot of folks running XPP32 with 2gb ram with procs from 2-3ghz.

 

I'm also a cat lover and over the years, the curiosity of the owner's I've lived with as rubbed off on me.

 

I'm going to go back to box stock @ 2.93 and see what happens using a VRD. I'll start making preps this weekend and take one logical step at a time.

 

I'll try to "ignore" my wife's " are you still..." as much as she can tolerate.

 

I'll type later.

[sitting_duck 3]

in case you didnt catch my typo i ran the overlay WITHOUT teamspeak running,,,and the overlay still works

 

not that teamspeak isnt a good thing to have,,,,

 

heaven forbid you should ever consider multiplayer,,,its great to be able to talk with whoever your flying with.

 

another good way of getting fps is fraps,,(video capture software,,,,if your not recording video,,,it does not seem to be much of a resource hog,,,and the fps counter in that is much bigger than the teamspeak overlay one.

 

and,,,i know ill get alot of static for even mentioning xp64, but thats the route i took.

 

memory is way to cheap (respectivly) to be stuck at 3 gigs.

[almccoyjr 7]

in case you didnt catch my typo i ran the overlay WITHOUT teamspeak running,,,and the overlay still works

 

not that teamspeak isnt a good thing to have,,,,

 

heaven forbid you should ever consider multiplayer,,,its great to be able to talk with whoever your flying with.

 

another good way of getting fps is fraps,,(video capture software,,,,if your not recording video,,,it does not seem to be much of a resource hog,,,and the fps counter in that is much bigger than the teamspeak overlay one.

 

and,,,i know ill get alot of static for even mentioning xp64, but thats the route i took.

 

memory is way to cheap (respectivly) to be stuck at 3 gigs.

 

Thanks sitting_duck

 

I've download TeamSpeak and I'm going to get it installed this weekend so I can see Z. It looks like it will also help keep my monitor cleaner as well by eliminating nose smudges.

 

I might or might not get an additional 2gb after I've run several scenarios using VRD if there is no appreciable performance gain; I just don't know. Unfortunately, XPP32 won't use all 8 like XPP64 will.

 

You're a brave one for going XP64 as are all those who went Vista. If you got X64 up and humming and working well, you'll get no static from me, only admiration. I'm going to have to revisit X64 and see what state it's in now: I've still got the software. That 8gb is awfully enticing.

[sitting_duck 3]

well,,,i may be crazy,,,but im not stupid,,,vista was out of the question...

 

and,,just to be sureyou know.,,,teamspeak does not give you the overlay,,,,its the teamspeak overlay program that does.....

[almccoyjr 7]

Wow, that's a very interesting question almccoyjr. I'd say it won't help due to the file access time.

 

That's just a guess based on using virtual drives. Why not try it and see? Let us know.

 

OvS

 

It looks like your "guess" (haha) was right on the mark. Thanks. It was a good learning experience.

 

1st run in QC 1:1...bad.

 

2nd run 1:2... a little worse.

 

3rd run 1:4... really bad

 

4th run 1:4 w/dynamic weather...not flyable.

 

Trying VRD even with more ram will not get any better either. It's a dead end.

[sitting_duck 3]

if i may expand on your question,

 

If I have amble ram (8 gig in this case), would it be advantagous to MINIMIZE my swap file?

 

I have 350gb raid 0, and only thing i have on here is off3, so with that much free space, originally had made my swap file bigger.

 

Dont know that much about virtual memory, not sure if the os uses it even if ram is available.

[almccoyjr 7]

if i may expand on your question,

 

If I have amble ram (8 gig in this case), would it be advantagous to MINIMIZE my swap file?

 

I have 350gb raid 0, and only thing i have on here is off3, so with that much free space, originally had made my swap file bigger.

 

Dont know that much about virtual memory, not sure if the os uses it even if ram is available.

 

What I was hoping was that the VRD write-to files I saved to folder after QC 1:1 would be additive to the write-to files that that would be generated in QC2 1:2.

 

When I exited OFF, I dumped the write-to files that were generated back into VRD and as expected, the next QC 1:1 was very good. When running QC2 1:2, the initial response was also very good but went south rapidly when more hd files were needed due to the change in the parameters of the sim. QC3 1:4 was bad immediately because the parameters of the sim were much more drastic and ram was going to VRD first to prefetch and then to hd for what was needed. QC4 grounded the sim. More real ram would allow a much larger VRD to be created, but the dynamics of a campaign would overwhelm the VRD.

 

Now, I use VRD to run a software image where a cd is required. It's several hundred times faster than my CD/DVD drive. I was hoping to extend that capability by being able to "reuse" the write-to files that were generated and "redumping" them in an additive fashion.

 

MS stated that the reason it was better to lock the swap file was to help eliminate them being scattered through out the swap file's disk area in a fragmented fashion. This makes sense: if the file is locked in/out in one physical location and not scattered here and there in a swap file that modulates in size the better the prefetch would be between ram and swap before having to go to hd.

 

What I haven't tried is the impact of different locked swap file sizes on OFF. It seems logical that between proc freqency (a given), the number of background services and not just apps that are running (a given), ram (a given) and swap file size (?), there is a real "sweet spot" that would give more consistent in sim fps.

[steve58 0]

Something else you may want to try/consider if you have Vista and a spare readyboost compatible flash drive handy...

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-v...readyboost.aspx

[+Polovski 460]

Problem is you are using your much needed RAM to instead be a "hard drive". Probably more performance to be had keeping it as RAM. Once the sim is loaded, HD access will be reduced.

 

If you are going to bother with Vista then go for Vista 64. Works very well in terms of driver support and most things I ran work fine. Can access all your memory - I have an install with 8GB .

Windows 7 will be the one to go for though, so if budget is tight go for XP and get Win7 later.

[almccoyjr 7]

Problem is you are using your much needed RAM to instead be a "hard drive". Probably more performance to be had keeping it as RAM. Once the sim is loaded, HD access will be reduced.

 

If you are going to bother with Vista then go for Vista 64. Works very well in terms of driver support and most things I ran work fine. Can access all your memory - I have an install with 8GB .

Windows 7 will be the one to go for though, so if budget is tight go for XP and get Win7 later.

 

I agree completely; ram is critical. I would think that the DDR2's timing would also be important, but keeping ram locked to bus,having a higher bus speed and ram frequency to match it now seems the way to go. Timing issues don't seem to "hit" performance where higher bus/ram frequency is in play.

 

I've got XPP64, but didn't go down that road because of all the "early" driver and compatibility issues. I'm going to be revisiting various sites to see where it's at today. I stayed away from Vista. I'll wait to see what happens with W7.

 

At least with X64, all 8gb are available for board/OS, etc.

 

I've noticed several mentions of End-It-All. Its an excellent program. Something I haven't seen much talk about are stopping services. I've used www.blackbird.com to modify ALL services in XPP32 SP3. I've been using that site since W2K Pro. When I was doing my QC VRD runs, I was using the "tweaked" values I normally run. After I saw what was happening in QC2, I went with the "bare bones" guide to see if I could get any more fps, but the timing wasn't there. the blackbird guide also supports XPP64 and Vista 32/64 as well.

[almccoyjr 7]

I've noticed several mentions of End-It-All. Its an excellent program. Something I haven't seen much talk about are stopping services. I've used www.blackbird.com to modify ALL services in XPP32 SP3. I've been using that site since W2K Pro. When I was doing my QC VRD runs, I was using the "tweaked" values I normally run. After I saw what was happening in QC2, I went with the "bare bones" guide to see if I could get any more fps, but the timing wasn't there. the blackbird guide also supports XPP64 and Vista 32/64 as well.

 

{ www.BLACKVIPER.com....not blackbird.

 

I was talking to my dad in JAX about the SR71 in the air museum in Dayton when I was posting. To late to be multitasking. Goodnite.