Couple questions....

[Silver1SWA]

I am wondering just how much your soundcard affects system performance, especially for gaming.  I know it has something to do with it, but I'm not sure if it's time for me to upgrade my card or not.  It seems I still have a bottleneck somewhere and I just can't figure it out.  I have the Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+.  It's over a year old, in fact its probably going on 2 years now.  But looking at Creatives current products, I can't see a whole lot that appears to be better than my current card.  What would be a current, up to date, gaming friendly sound card?!  And is it time for an upgrade?  Would it be worth it?

Also, I'm still having trouble with system temps.  My system, although running in the green, runs hot.  Could this cause significant slowdowns when playing 3D games?  Also what do you guys think about water cooling systems?  My friend just bought one...seems to be working fine.  What are your thoughts?  Thanks.

[Ivan]

creative audigy 1... what motherboard chipset do you have?

about the temps: which processor?

[4_Series_Scania]

I can't see an Audigy being a "bottleneck" rather I'd say heats your problem here.

An easy way to check, is to get a large desktop fan, open your case, and direct the airflow straight at your motherboard, power up the pc and run a few benchmarks, no lockups would indicate heat indeed being the issue, if the lockups continue, try the usual round of motherboard / Graphics Sound driver updates from your respective manufacturers website.

For what its worth, I have a Soundblaster Live 5.1 card, and it performs just fine, no plans to upgrade it whatsoever!

[Gixer]

I have no sound card and mine runs fine! I have naff ole AC97 onboard sound on this mobo too!

Radom crashes sounds like over heating or somthing is overclocked too high on your system.  Have you altered the ram timings at all? could be this too.

I dont see any bad bottleneck in your system really.  I was informed on my system (see sig) my CPU is my bottleneck and its equivilent to a P4 3.2GHz so maybe your in the same situation.  

As we have all said before to get FS2004 running its best its all about the way your PC is setup.  Even with my system FS-GS got it running way better than I ever had even though I have really good PC components.  I would say you have a strong enough system to run it all maxxed you just have to optimise your PC setup now to achieve this.

I tell you what instead of blasting

[Silver1SWA]

I never said anything about random system crashes.  I get high FPS (averages around 25-30 in most situations) but I have problems with it fluidity.  When I turn, or pitch up on take-off, its like the scenery jumps a bit.  It's an annoying stutter problem I just can't get rid of.  It seems when this happens, the FPS drop real quick.  Like I'll be in a turn and at 30FPS and when the stutter hits, during that very instant, it will drop to 20FPS or lower...just for that second though.

And I just can't seem to get over the 30FPS hurdle...no matter what i try, or what settings I reduce, my FPS pretty much always top out at 30FPS (and yes the slider is on unlimited).  Shouldn't it get higher as I get higher in the air?  Most people report up to 60+ when at cruise.  Im always stuck around 30.  30 is good, but it just feels like something isn't quite right.

I have seriously been considering FS-GS, but unfortunately I just don't have that kind of time right now.  I'm working a LOT and I'm not sure how I can squeeze that kind of time and attention into my limited free schedule.  Not to mention, I wish I could learn more about what is specifically done to my computer with that service.  The website is very vague, and of course happy customers won't get too deep in describing it (rightfully so).

[Gixer]

Well it wont tell you much otherwise you would just go and do it  ;)

This stuttering you have is caused as your computer isn't working to its full potential.  The FS-GS service will get your computer setup so that it runs the sim silky smooth though a few things may have to be done.  As you are stuck on time at the moment then the FS-GS service may be a little tricky for you to do.  I will say I had stutters like you even with my setup!  sometimes my game would just hang for 2-3seconds then carry on.  Once the FS-GS service was complete I had none of this.  It was basically down to how I had my PC setup.  You may have to make some sacrifices if you carry out the FS-GS services though.  I had to re-format to get my PC set up at its best.  You will also be advised about what anti-virus and firewall software is best though Michael does suggest freeware and payware stuff so you dont have to spend out if you dont want too.  

Basically the service will enable your PC to flow data extremely efficiently.  This means nothing ever gets held up and you dont get stutters!  

As for your FPS with mine setup as it is if I look directly up at the bottom of teh aircraft I get about 75fps.  Generally over heavyily populated areas and stuff I get 30ish out in the open looking aroun 40-42ish.  Some areas where there is lots of AI and scenery I can drop to 20 but it still flies silky smooth so am not worried.

I too was curious as to how the service worked but thought sod it and went for it.  I am not sorry I did use the service either!!

[Gixer]

The best way really to find out stuff is contact Michael (Ramsa) of FS-GS and have a chat.  He will firstly go through your system and tell you what is right/wrong and how you can make things better.  He will also tell you if he can get your sim working better or not with the equipment you have.  This is all done before the main service takes place to hopefully give you an understanding of how stuff works and what should be achieved etc etc.

[michaelmichael]

very interesting topic as i am also always on the look out for smoothing out my system for CFS2. would one of you point me in the right direction regarding FS-GS, please. what is it and how can i take advantage of it to maximize my performance.  thanks

michaelmichael

[Gixer]

Their site is www.FS-GS.com

Or send Ramsa a PM on here.  Just look in the payware screenshot section and look for a post made by Ramsa then send a PM  like that.

[congo]

Modern soundcards shouldn't hold back a 3.2ghz system, even if they do, it is fairly negligable.

If your temps are in the green then it's not hot.

Your frame rates are dictated by how hard your graphics card is working, and you have a good card, so it's affected by your driver settings (anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, quality etc.) and your Game or Sim's detail levels and graphics settings.

Software developers are taking advantage the new PC technologies and developing some pretty heavy programs, so, don't be surprised if you still get the odd pause despite your great rig.

Getting your system leaned out to run smooth can make all the difference, and FS-GS may be good for you. (well, it will be good!).

There is a lot to taming most software, (Windows XP in particular!), so that your PC isn't running all sorts of garbage all the time. One thing I found with Creative Soundcards, is that they load a lot of crud on your system with the installation disk........it's better just to load the driver only, forget all the added software which runs in the background.

[Silver1SWA]

Yeah I always install only the drivers.