Perf Deterioration

[SubZer0]

Hey everyone,

I noticed that lately my FSX performance has decreased to the point where I think a reinstall is in order for sometime in the near future. I keep my system healthy of any viruses/malware/spyware with NOD32 and Spybot Search&Destroy as Nick suggests, keep the drives defragged and clean, and have stable, overclocked hardware working well.

Lately my perf has dropped and I've tried checking to make sure to overclocks were still there, scanned for viruses/malware, and defragged the drives to make sure everything was clean. None of this helped. After a little thinking, I blame it on my hard drives. I'm running the OS and FS9 on and older SATA drive with 16MB cache I believe, 250GB with about 100GB left, and my FSX drive is the new 150GB VelociRaptor which only has less than 60GB free.

Could the hard drives indeed be the reason for my drop in performance or is there any other reason of which I am unaware? I'm thinking of getting a 300GB VelociRaptor for FSX, putting FS9 on the 150GB VRaptor, and getting a newer, bigger SATA II drive for the OS, all during the summer.

Any thoughts, comments? Thanks!

Andy




Asus P6T Deluxe
i7 920 @ 3.8ghz
6GB DDR3 1600
GTX 260 @ 670/1444
PC Power&Cooling 750W PSU
VRaptor for FSX (150GB)
SATA I 250GB for OS/FS9

[jwenham]

Ive read that it is best to try not to exceed 50% full or performance may suffer. If you are going to get a new HD just make a image of your old one and restore to your new one and your back in business without all the fuss of reloading things one by one.

Jim

[NickN]

Performance as in what? Frames?

just under 60GB is pushin it but I dont see any significant frame loss from that especially on a Vrap

I would say its possible some perf from a crowded drive may be creeping in but if this is some kinda constant lower FPS gripe I dont see that being the center of such a problem

uninstall a big addon like all the FTX stuff, defrag and see what happens.. dont assume anything but if it gets better or is fixed its either the addon you removed or the space at that point but I hafta question frame issues with a Vrap and 60GB free

[SubZer0]

My frames have definitely dropped but that's not the only thing that's changed. Stutters are starting to appear and texture loading is getting really bad as well. That's what led me to believe it is the hard drives that are the problem now.

[jwenham]

Maybe its time to let FSX build a new CFG? Just a guess.

[SubZer0]

Maybe its time to let FSX build a new CFG? Just a guess.

I've tried that several times with different tweaks... Didn't work :-/




Anyways, I've decided to go with a FSX reinstall and install only REX and FTX as that's all I'll be using for a while, until I get my new VRaptor and SATA II drive.

After installing Acceleration and booting the default flight, I rebooted and BSOD! Right ouf of nowhere...

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

No idea what that is so I'll leave it to someone to explain

[NickN]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 57625.aspx


I would say you either have a clocking issue or somethin goin bad

It can be from defective memory, improper voltages, heat, defective hard drive, corrupt OS files from clocking too high


That Vrap @ 60GB freespace is not causing a frame loss

[SubZer0]

That's no good... :-/

I'll just stick to FS9 until I'm able to purchase the new hardware. My case is getting really dusty too so I'll have to clean that up as well.

Thanks for your help

[NickN]

I thought you were running new hardware and a 920 i7?

Is this error seen over and over or only once?

[jwenham]

I got that page fault error when I first built my system and it turned out to be a faulty DVD/CD drive. Does your event viewer tell you anything? See what it is saying under the system tab. For what its worth this is how I would address this problem:

Disconnect everything you can, non OS HD, CD/DVD, joysticks, except for what is needed, ie keyboard, mouse. Then add back things one by one seeing if the problem shows after adding a piece of harware. Hopefully you will see the problem that way. I would say it is hardware related of some sort.

Good Luck and dont give up!

[SubZer0]

It has only appeared once but it was weird because I haven't had any problems with anything since I got this system. It's no big deal, I just wanted to know what could have caused the error, but it hasn't reappeared so no worries with that.

I reinstalled FSX and have only installed REX and FTX and performance is still the same as before. I found that a little weird. The system wasn't like this before so I don't know what's going on with it, but I can settle with FS9 until I get those new drives and reinstall the OS and everything.

[jwenham]

Maybe a driver didnt load properly or something like that.

[NickN]

I think the system reload is the best way to go here.. but please make sure you reinstall everything UNCLOCKED and on correct default BIOS settings..

Clocking is LAST



It is possible something in the clock at one point partially corrupted the OS system files and perf has dropped. I have seen that many, many times over the years.

[SubZer0]

I think that may have been it, Nick. I think I clocked it as soon as I had the OS set up and before I installed FSX... My friend is giving me an old IDE drive (80 gb) which I'll connect via USB and use it as an external for storage and addons. As soon as I finish my finals next week I'll jump on that reinstall. Thanks a lot