FSX SP1 News:Intel quote
Today Intel announced their new 2.93G QX6800 Quad Core processor here.
As part of this press release, Aces Studio participated with a quote about our improved multi-core support in SP1. The quote stated
“The latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator* X, Service Pack One (SP1), due out later this month, is a great match for the extreme multi-core processing delivered by the new Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor”
and
“Flight Sim X SP1 greatly increases multicore utilization and will scale as more threads are available leading to reduced load times as well as frame rate improvements and greater visual complexity during flight. The Flight Simulator team at Microsoft is pleased to work with Intel to provide our end users with a great gaming experience."
And I wanted to take some time and explain what this means for FSX and FSX flyers.
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.
At load time, we run the terrain loading on threads across the cores. This can result in reduced load times, the actual percent reduction can vary but it could be reduced by as much as 1/3.
At render time, we run the terrain texture synthesis on threads across the cores. During flight on multi-core machines, as terrain and terrain textures are loaded you will notice significant multi-core usage. As all tiles are loaded, the multi-core usage will fall off, this is expected. As the terrain is re-lit, approximately every minute, you will see multi-core usage increase. As you bank and load terrain tiles, or as you fly forward and force a load of more terrain tiles, you will see the multi-core usage increase.
At render time, we now perform more extensive batching of objects to reduce our API Draw calls. The batch rebuilds are also performed on a thread and scheduled on cores.
For those of you on single core machines, we did do some performance work to benefit you as well. The batching work will help even on a single core. Plus we made some changes to animations to make them perform better and we modified how we draw trees to reduce API SetTexture calls.
So we really tried to hit all the wickets with our performance work. I still don’t want to make any final FPS gain claims, and will stick with my conservative 20%. We expect it to be more, but we need to get Beta2 out and see where we are.
As far as the release date for SP1, we need to get Beta2 out and see what remains. The last day of April is still possible, but any significant Beta2 bugs will cause us to fix them and delay – we want SP1 to be right for the community and are not tied to a date.
Note - hyperthreaded is not multi-core. Our current plan is to treat HT machines as single-core since we noticed extensive collisions between threads which caused stutters.
Comments
Anonymous
April 09, 2007
PingBack from http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/announcements/1136-fsx-service-pack-1-update.html#post6271Anonymous
April 09, 2007
Keep up the Good Work on FSX!! I've been an FS user for 12 years now. The FS9 version really got me going with the PMDG 737-600 which I fly all over the world in real time. As an Egineer myself I am amazed at how far the software has come in such a short time. I'm looking forward to the FSX SP1 update and DX10. I've been perusing the latest and greatest Dell and Alienware PC's and soon will make a major purchase so I can continue to enjoy FSX. My current Dell is almost 5 years old and it's time for a new one. It's to bad there are so many impatient whiners out there. This product just gets better and better and I know you guys work very hard to make it so. Thanks for all your efforts to push the realism and performance of this product!Anonymous
April 09, 2007
Approx Release Date - Check Legal copy of FSX - Check AMD Dual Core Processor, with 256Mb graphics Card - Check Standing by, awaiting for final clearance from Team FSX SP1Anonymous
April 10, 2007
This simulator is so beautiful now even with some shutters and slow frame rates. I can't wait so see it run smooth on both my cores. I just upgraded to my new core 2 duo system a month ago. I may have to go upgrade my processor to a 4 core just for this simulator. E6700, 2GB, 8800GTXAnonymous
April 10, 2007
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April 10, 2007
Hi Phil, I thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, namely for your simple explanations of programming complexities and genuine good will. With that said, I have two concerns, the first being more general and the second more specific, which may in fact be demoted to a support issue, like a student asking about one problem on a test. Still, they are related.
- Recently I transitioned to Vista and noticed a siginificant drop in fsx performance. Frame rate was lower overall and dense autogen became sparse. More important, a few complex add ons no longer ran so well even with autogen off. Now this may be an issue with nvidia drivers but since the program is not so gpu bound, and other ATI owners are experiencing a similar phenomenon (though acknowledging that their drivers are not mature as well), I wonder otherwise. I have also noticed that those with conroe chips have experienced less of a relative hit, probably due to the os threading itself across the other cores. Obviously SP1 will improve the situation, more so on XP, however. Do you think a directx 10 update will be able to close the gap between operating systems, more precisely is that what ACES hopes? For now I've reverted to keeping fsx and xp on another drive.
- Many of us running single cores, I gather, are choosing to wait for the next jump to 45nm technology before upgrading. Is it worth it to buy a cheaper pentium D 940-50 in the meantime, assuming money is a tolerable object, but not no object. Much appreciated, jsolomon
- Anonymous
April 10, 2007
Hi Phil, I thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, namely for your simple explanations of programming complexities and genuine good will. With that said, I have two concerns, the first being more general and the second more specific, which may in fact be demoted to a support issue, like a student asking about one problem on a test. Still, they are related.
- Recently I transitioned to Vista and noticed a siginificant drop in fsx performance. Frame rate was lower overall and dense autogen became sparse. More important, a few complex add ons no longer ran so well even with autogen off. Now this may be an issue with nvidia drivers but since the program is not so gpu bound, and other ATI owners are experiencing a similar phenomenon (though acknowledging that their drivers are not mature as well), I wonder otherwise. I have also noticed that those with conroe chips have experienced less of a relative hit, probably due to the os threading itself across the other cores. Obviously SP1 will improve the situation, more so on XP, however. Do you think a directx 10 update will be able to close the gap between operating systems, more precisely is that what ACES hopes? For now I've reverted to keeping fsx and xp on another drive.
- Many of us running single cores, I gather, are choosing to wait for the next jump to 45nm technology before upgrading. Is it worth it to buy a cheaper pentium D 940-50 in the meantime, assuming money is a tolerable object, but not no object? Much appreciated, jsolomon
Anonymous
April 10, 2007
I happen to have two Opteron 244 CPUs powering a struggling 7800 GTX GPU. If I turn all settings down, I can manage about 20-25 fps @ 1280x800. This is exactly half the resolution and half the fps I'm gunning for... To upgrade to a contemporary CPU, I'd have to dump 4GB memory down the drain, so, could you give me an idea of what performance gains we'll see with SP1? Should I buy two Opteron 254 (single core @ 2.8GHz) or two Opteron 280 (dual core @ 2.4GHz)? Or will a 8800 GTX be the way out?Anonymous
April 10, 2007
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April 11, 2007
...and while we're at it: How about a x64 version of FSX? A 64-bit executable should boost performance by 10%, possibly more if FSX can appreciate >2GB memory space and large continuous blocks of memory. (but yeah, there's plenty of optimizations that should be done first, but recompiling well-written code can be a cheap way to achieve a quick boost)Anonymous
April 11, 2007
Hi Phil, I think you was not getting me in avsim so I wil post it here ;-) I´ve written: Very good news. Hope SP will be out end of the month. But further testing is much better than a buggy SP You´ve spoken about the core 2 duo and quad cpu´s in your blog. I have an "older" d945 3.4 Dual Core Pentium. Will this CPU also take advantage of the Dual Core ability of SP1?Anonymous
April 11, 2007
If the CPU reports multiple physical cores, we will schedule threads on it. Logical cores, eg Hyperthreaded, we will not schedule threads on.Anonymous
April 11, 2007
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April 11, 2007
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April 11, 2007
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April 12, 2007
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April 12, 2007
Thanks Bikedude. Glad to see that knowone took what i said to literal....i was jsut stressing a valid point :) . I am thinking of trying that , but i dont remember the Vista having defender on it. Or does it ? And you can , disable thoughs things? well im thinking of giving it a try i have hdv FSX on vista running great at 1 time but that lasted as long as it lasted LOL..... thanks , NaterAnonymous
April 12, 2007
Thanks Bikedude. Glad to see that knowone took what i said to literal....i was jsut stressing a valid point :) . I am thinking of trying that , but i dont remember the Vista having defender on it. Or does it ? And you can , disable thoughs things? well im thinking of giving it a try i have hdv FSX on vista running great at 1 time but that lasted as long as it lasted LOL..... thanks , NaterAnonymous
April 12, 2007
Jon Patch (why is this bloke not a MVP yet) pointed out that Phil’s and Paul’s useful FSXAnonymous
April 12, 2007
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April 12, 2007
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April 13, 2007
What does this mean to Pentium D users? I feel that FSX is not making good use of what I have.Anonymous
April 13, 2007
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April 13, 2007
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April 13, 2007
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April 13, 2007
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April 14, 2007
This game still not fixed yet? Would you buy gaming software for your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 from these guys? They got my money, money I thought was for a final release, not a beta. Kinda odd how its taking forever to even get a patch going. When was this software released?Anonymous
April 14, 2007
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April 14, 2007
Dad: Happy Birthday Son !!!!!!!!! Dad: Guess what I got you for your birthday? Dad: I got something I know you are really going to enjoy!! (son looking on with excitement in his eyes) Son: What dad??!! What did you get me??!! Dad: I got you that Microsoft Flight Simulator X you told me about that you really wanted. I even got the Deluxe version!!! Son: Aaaaah cool Dad, you are the best !!!! Son: I can't wait to try it out !!!!! Dad: But wait son, there is more. Son: Really Dad ??!! Dad: Yeah son, I thought you should also have the best of the best in hardware also, after all its your birthday right? Son: Huh?? !! Dad: Well son, since you have been doing so well in school also, I got you a brand new computer. It has the latest CPU. the best videocard money can buy, a superfast harddrive, and tons and tons of ram. Son: Wow dad, that is so incredible. You are the best !!!! (24 hours go by. My son is playing Call of Duty3) Dad: Hi Son. How come I never see you using FSX? I thought this was the simulator you raved about and really wanted? Son: Well, I'd like to dad, but its almost unusable. "And now you know....................the rest of the story"Anonymous
April 14, 2007
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April 15, 2007
Any news on the FSX SP1? I am very very curious myslef to see if they even took the time to help thoughs with HT cpu. Bank they have not , but hey never know. Anyways, so when MS says april they mean , May ?Anonymous
April 21, 2007
So am I, has beta 2 testing finished? otherwise it looks as it will be May before we see it. That'll make it 6 months since FSX came out. I don't about others here, but there seems to be very little add on scenery etc for FSX compared to FS9 ad I wonder if performance has something to do with it and add on devlopers either free or payware are waiting to see what the SP does. Not trying to look as I'm complaining, as I can get FPS of 10 to 15 depending on what I'm doing and settings no where maxed out and that is one third of what I used to get with FS9 Anyway Phil, thanks for keeping us in the loop.Anonymous
May 11, 2007
Will SP1 of FSX support SLI or Crossfire graphics?Anonymous
May 11, 2007
Antonism: did you see my blog post about SLI? Same is true for Crossfire.