Switched (back) from ATI to Nvidia - How do you deal with the stutters?

[I-Hawk]

Hi everyone

6-7 months ago I ditched Nvidia for an ATI R9 280X card, I was worried about the stutters issues and the display extraction that Nvidia may suffer from so I decided to go with ATI. But now I found that the ATI performance aren’t enough, in campaign I was getting some low FPS at some areas, and with TGP on it became really low, at the 20s area, almost unflyable… so I replaced now with a GTX-780. Performance is very good and even with 2 IR/TV in MFDs I’m getting drops to ~35-40 FPS, that with everything on and MSx7 and in ITO campaign (higher res tiles affecting FPS as well).

So I’m very happy with the card performance, but I found that I’m getting some serious stutters, especially when getting to outside views (especially when watching other ACs than mine, don’t know why…), and it gets worse if I try to move the camera around a jet while in orbit view. In cockpit I don’t see much stutters but there are small ones sometimes.

I’m running 1920x1200 and other screen at 1440x900 (IIRC) for displays and MFDE gauges. Running MSx7 in sim and AFx16 in driver, VSync forced to off, all other settings on Nvidia pannel at default but doesn’t seem like any makes a difference.
I’m with the latest driver 340.52 and windows 8.1

Anyone has an idea?

[Archer]

I have a Nvidia 760 GTX 4GB super clocked, I use to get those stutters but now only when i am on the Ground some times and specially looking at the Cockpit panels. I started Using nvidia inspector and tried every setting and found a sweet spot. I will post the setting tonight with screen shots once i get home.

P.S i am running a 4k monitor so maybe my stutters on the ground are because of that.

[A.S]

@Archer:

P.S i am running a 4k monitor so maybe my stutters on the ground are because of that.

maybe :drink:

[ALAS]

Congratulations for your new 780, I think it will give you a lot of satisfaction, specially if it is EVGA (very good quality assembly)

I can only speak for Nvidia 780, but I cannot give you comparison with ATI.

I am assuming you have experience but if you need clarification please ask. Also I am giving you the values by heart, if you need me to be more precise just tell me so.

With stock BMS the flight with the 780 should be totally smooth for you, even in campaign, or the ramp start mission.
Adding some detailed models will increase the burden, but you should still sense fluid flight.

Recently I did a new install and start having what you described.
I had stutters in ramp start mission (flying around the base) if I looked left or right.
So I started to isolate the problem and here you a a guide of the steps that I did to get rid of the problem.

• Disable AA both in BMS and in nvidia control panel. (asa side note I recommend you nvidia inspector as a better alternative to nvidia control panel)
• Disabled vsync and anisotropic filtering too.
• Checked the stutters were gone.
• Enabled SMAA in Sweet FX. Check. Image ok, but shimmering in airbases and distant objects.
• Added AA (override mode) in nvidia inspector, step by step (2x, 4x, 8QX…) until got rid of shimmering while free of stutters. (You will have to find the exact compromise that suits you).
• Added anisotropic filtering 16x in nvidia inspector. Check.
• Configure the rest of parameters: Negative load bias (Clamp), texture optimization (prefer performance), trilinear filtering off. Basically these 3 are the most important ones.
• Finally Vsync: Can you live with screen tearing? leave it disabled; no? enable it. Do it in nvidia inspector (force on)

I trust more my eyes than the FPS counter, but as a rough orientation, you should be having constant 80 FPS minimum with Vsync disabled. Of course if you enable it, it will be 60 FPS constant. The minimum, should 35 FPS in certain situations (that you should not notice unless you are looking at the FPS counter)

My last advice: get rid of the FPS counter.

Finally I have to add that I am over 40, so I’ve got natural AA in my eyes, that makes me see sims and women more beautiful than they probably are

[Arty]

@I-Hawk:

Hi everyone

6-7 months ago I ditched Nvidia for an ATI R9 280X card, I was worried about the stutters issues and the display extraction that Nvidia may suffer from so I decided to go with ATI. But now I found that the ATI performance aren’t enough, in campaign I was getting some low FPS at some areas, and with TGP on it became really low, at the 20s area, almost unflyable… so I replaced now with a GTX-780. Performance is very good and even with 2 IR/TV in MFDs I’m getting drops to ~35-40 FPS, that with everything on and MSx7 and in ITO campaign (higher res tiles affecting FPS as well).

So I’m very happy with the card performance, but I found that I’m getting some serious stutters, especially when getting to outside views (especially when watching other ACs than mine, don’t know why…), and it gets worse if I try to move the camera around a jet while in orbit view. In cockpit I don’t see much stutters but there are small ones sometimes.

I’m running 1920x1200 and other screen at 1440x900 (IIRC) for displays and MFDE gauges. Running MSx7 in sim and AFx16 in driver, VSync forced to off, all other settings on Nvidia pannel at default but doesn’t seem like any makes a difference.
I’m with the latest driver 340.52 and windows 8.1

Anyone has an idea?

IIRC:
ditch the AFx16… not needed since u use MS, have it in app controlled.
Vsync forced to off in nvidia and On in Falcon. Or viceversa. Yeap not making sense that is what “they” say and it works ok.
Also MSx7 is a bit high and not noticeable, reduce it till u see a difference, 2-4 I believe will be ok.

[CobaltUK]

I`m lucky that ive never EVER suffered stutters even on a modest GTX 460 3GHZ Intel 1920x1200. Now on I7 4770K 3.5GHZ with GTX 560Ti. All win7 64bit. MS4 (was MS7 and not sure how got lowered). Very playable in campaign though now shaders are turned off for an almost constant 60fps. Turned off as an experiment and after a break from bms forgot was off and not missed.
Occasionally extract displays getting a minor loss of fps. Maybe not going beyond a 5 series Nvidia and so being able to use an older proven driver is to my benefit.

[Archer]

Please leave everything to default in your nvidia control panel.

[Seabass]

Whats the point if you have the shaders off?

[Gyro]

Putting shaders or shadows on involves a load more computation and light ray tracing, god i remember pandora tomorrow was the worst id ever seen. Lets face it, do you really need to see a shadow of a tree at 5000ft for a micro second. Here in Britain its overcast 75% of the time and we dont see shadows very often, maybe Korea is the same who knows.

But seriously if your a gung ho lets have it all hangin out and overclocked and sat in a freezer, may I recommend the Ayes Pit if its still around. As for the component part of any graphics card, memory, 2GB is good, DDR5 is good, the 2 on one card is awesome. Then of course come the little glitches like Falcon preferring Nvidia as I think at one point it relied on Glide technology. Its already on the blacklist in ffdshow so thats a major codec out the window.

So what to do and where to go. Overclocking, if you absolutely have to overclock then your gear isnt up to spec, did you check to see each part is compatable with the other prior to purchase, probably not. Comp[atability is what gives good results, not overclocking. overclocking causes errors in memory both graphics and sound cards as well as onboard memory because the virtual memory cant keep up, hence the stutters.

[Malc]

@Gyro:

But seriously if your a gung ho lets have it all hangin out and overclocked and sat in a freezer, may I recommend the Ayes Pit if its still around.

Recommend Aeyes pit for what? BMS4.32? You really do have a lot of catching up to do! Eric’s very fine work is sadly incompatible with the 3D only BMS4.32 cockpit representation.

[ASharpe]

@Gyro:

overclocking causes errors in memory both graphics and sound cards as well as onboard memory because the virtual memory cant keep up, hence the stutters.

More importantly, and what should have been mentioned first in bold italics and underlined:

Overlocking can permanently break your hardware.

[Arty]

And also Overclocking can save you money for other peripherals needed for Falcon or extend your hw life cycle.
Needs just good preparation thus reading and research it’s not black magic. Also no need to drive the hw to it’s OC limits.

[Shadow]

Overclocking can be linked to increases in teen pregnancy and street violence and in older people reduces fertility levels, high blood pressure, sleepless nights and a burning sensation under the desk.

Todays drivers and Mobo chipset driver setup disk provide OCing apps supplied by the manufactures in most cases.
Lower power demands, better active cooling solutions, internal clock/thermal protection etc all lead to a safer way for the average gamer to play at the edges of Overclocking.
GTX xxxx Ti/OC/superclocked whatever, it’s all marketing.
Gone are the days of real overclocking where one did get to “blow shit up”