FLY2HMO From United States, joined Jan 2004, 4076 posts, RR: 5 Posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 8552 times:
I'm looking into getting a quad-core computer in the not so distant future. I'd be building it myself. I'd like to know how well the Intel's quads handle FS from your experience.
Happiness is just an illusion caused by the temporary absence of reality
Nighthawk From United Kingdom (Scotland), joined Sep 2001, 4223 posts, RR: 49 Reply 1, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 8549 times:
Quoting FLY2HMO (Thread starter): I'm looking into getting a quad-core computer in the not so distant future. I'd be building it myself. I'd like to know how well the Intel's quads handle FS from your experience.
When FSX was first released it did not handle multiple cores... there was talk of a patch to fix this being released in the future, im not sure if this has been released yet or not. However searching for the answer I found this post on another forum:
Quote: VulcanB2:
FS X make PARTIAL use of dual-core systems, with approximately 20% of the second core being used especially during operations such as loading terrain. If the system has a quad-core CPU, it will NOT use cores 3 and 4 AT ALL. Core 1 will be utilized the most, ~20% of core 2 will be used sometimes, and cores 3 and 4 will sit idle.
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 8278 posts, RR: 41 Reply 2, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 8548 times:
Quoting Nighthawk (Reply 1): there was talk of a patch to fix this being released in the future, im not sure if this has been released yet or not. However searching for the answer I found this post on another forum:
One or two have suggested there's to be a fix to optimise FSX for multi-core processors but the reputable links seem to suggest that would require to much of a rewrite. I suppose some small but critical routines could be optimised. I can't help feeling some have confused this with the Vista/DX10 patch but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.
Of course, even if FSX doesn't take full advantage of multi-core processors, many of the background processes do, including the OS, so there should be less strain on the cores FSX does use.
Yegspotter From Canada, joined Dec 2003, 187 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 8511 times:
SP1 was released for FSX a few months ago. One of the main objectives of SP1, was to enable FSX to utlizize multi-core processors. Most people using multi-core processors, experienced significant performance gains, after installing SP1. If you search around, and checkout some of the dedicated flight simulator websites, you will find plenty of information on what SP1 does, how it should be installed, and what tweaks you can try to optimize performance.
B727-200 From Australia, joined Nov 1999, 1050 posts, RR: 4 Reply 5, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 8459 times:
I have a quad core, and from what I have experienced and read, if you are building a machine to run FSX then you would be better off with a high-end dual than the current quads that are around.
There is a "tweak" that can be done by adding a line in the FSX.cfg file that apparently forces the game to utilise up to 4 cores (it is a specific entry for your CPU configuration), which I have done but not fully tested yet. I made a number of adjustments to the FSX.cfg file at the same time (and experienced a significant improvement), but not sure which of them had the biggest impact.
YEGspotter From Canada, joined Dec 2003, 187 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 8406 times:
Quoting Jamesbaldwyn (Reply 4): SP1 Only allows 2 cores to be used. If you were to have a quad core processor, the other two cores would be unused for flight simulation.
Microsoft claims that FSX will utlize all available cores - I cannot confirm this though, as I only have a single core machine. There is a setting in the FSX.CFG file, that apparently enables multi-core usage (beyond a dual core). I believe it's called affinitymask (google it, I'm sure you'll get lots of hits. I've seen many people discussing it on other forums...)
Dw747400 From United States, joined Aug 2001, 981 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 8339 times:
I installed SP1 on my QX6700 system and it increased use of all four cores right out of the box... no config updates or anything. Cores 1 and 2 tend to have the highest load, with 3 and 4 kicking in when loading scenery tiles and such.
"Our multi-core support will take advantage of both 2 and 4 cores today, and more cores in the future when they become available via a config setting. This is for both Intel and AMD processors. "
FLY2HMO From United States, joined Jan 2004, 4076 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 8279 times:
Quoting David L (Reply 8): "Our multi-core support will take advantage of both 2 and 4 cores today, and more cores in the future when they become available via a config setting. This is for both Intel and AMD processors
Interesting.
Although honestly I'll use this new PC more for other games than for FSX.
Happiness is just an illusion caused by the temporary absence of reality
Sponsor Message: 
From United States, joined Jan 2004, 4076 posts, 
.gif){kind=small}
From United Kingdom (Scotland), joined Sep 2001, 4223 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 8278 posts, 
From Canada, joined Dec 2003, 187 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Australia, joined Nov 1999, 1050 posts, 
From Poland, joined Feb 2007, 104 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
