thetford569 wrote on Apr 9^th, 2009 at 3:19pm:



Im not discounting the fact that you may have either defective hardware or a bad Windows/FSX install with this.. .or something out of sorts with BIOS or drivers.

Do keep in mind.. default FSX is a dog. Some addons like GEX actually increase perf. You should at the very least get the base environment addons installed like UTX and GEX and set up UTX right too  http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=247351&view=findpost&p=1566124   before tuning

UTX can cause all sorts of problems if not set up correctly.. Night lighting and cars in UTX are killers on perf. Read that entire post in the link provided about setting up UTX

There must be something up with the hardware here..

Post the CPU, Mainboard and the Memory Tabs from CPUz and I will look at them and see if I spot anything obvious

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz_150.zip

unzip.. run CPUz.exe

Let chat about the 3 tabs..

First, the CPU is running 1.6 because of SPEEDSTEP and/or CE1 instruction. This is a feature that will need to be disabled in the BIOS if you intend to clock along with a few other features that hold back CPUs in clocks.

The Q6600 is actually old news however it will run a max of 3.6GHz with the right support settings and the right heatsink installed. Without an upgraded heatsink from the Intel provided unit you will not get much more that 3.2 safely.

Clock settings for DDR2 800 (400MHz as shown on the memory tab) and running 3.6GHz are:

MANUAL – CPU multiplier 9x
CPU FSB- 400
CPU STRAP – 333MHz
LOAD LINE CALIBRATION – ENABLED
CPU Vcore (voltage) somewhere between 1.4 and 1.45 as you need to find the lowest stable Vcore but no more than 1.45
MEMORY SPEED – DDR2 800
CPU Spread Spectrum PCIE Spread Spectrum both: DISABLED


CPU temp can not exceed 78c under a FULL LOAD TEST using the benchmark software OCCT and temp monitored by the software CPU

When clocking ALL the items DISABLED under the ADVANCED CPU settings

Speedstep CE1, Vanderpool,,. All of it DISABLED


If you are using a 64bit OS and more than 2GB some motherboards have a setting MEMORY REMAP FEATURE under the ADVANCED CHIPSET settings.. for 64bit OS and more than 2GB this must be ENABLED


Next, the memory tab indicates you are running DDR2 800 at a timing of 5-5-5. That is not bad and appears in line. 4-4-4 timing would be better if the memory would run it stable however it may not. It would also be better if the memory would run a COMMAND RATE of 1T however that is problematical and depends on the memory itself, the motherboard stability and the memory voltage. DRAM VOLTAGE is based on what the memory manufacture specs.. some have a max spec of 2.1v, others may limit that to 2.0. That is something that needs to be checked with the memory company and set manually in the BIOS.


Last.. the Mainboard tab.. and yes,

Houston.. we have a problem

Please note the LINK value x8

You are running HALF the speed on your PCIe video card port. This will totally bottleneck the video card and will not allow it to communicate to the buss. I ASSUME you have a modern x16 PCIe video card in this system. If so, you need to get into the BIOS and see if there is a MANUAL setting for PCIe LINK WIDTH and if so make sure it is set to x16 and not x8.. may be listed as FULL or HALF.. you want FULL

When CPUz reads x16 in BOTH boxes.. LINK WIDTH and MAX SUPPORTED you are running the correct PCIe port speed

Something else that can cause that is by having 2 video cards in the system on a motherboard that does not support x16 with 2 slots populated.. this is something people should never do if their board does not support the full x16 standard when more than one card is in the system… only use one card

I dont have time at this moment to look up the manual for this board and see what is and is not in the BIOS for settings however your first mission is to get that x8 reading in CPUz to read x16

Brandon.. thats your 2nd problem

old news card.. you updated the mainbard and other parts but still using an old news card

At the VERY LEAST you should be on something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150267

8800GT or GTS

I do not know what drivers work best for your card.. I have not used a 7900 series card in years

well I just changed the only graphics settings I could find from Auto to Turbo which is the fastest it shows and it still shows x8.  I have the money for a new video card so I am assuming you recommend one of the two above that you posted?

Brandon

thanks I'm looking right now.  I love New Egg and always use them but at this point I don't mind spending some extra $ and heading to Best Buy or Fry's to pick one up today.

Brandon

can you tell if this one is it?  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8906437&type=product&id=1213046783...

I don't see anything about 216 processing cores

and Brandon.. you will need to do some clocking because that Q6600 @ default is not what I would call top end for FSX.. even clocked to the max they are not going to beat something like a Q9650. None the less, I think you are on the right track now.