FSX - A comparison between WinXP and Vista on a Quad Core

[cgarfield]

Or the thread could be called "A Newbies guide to building FSX from scratch".

What I intend to do is document a comparison of FSX, running on both WinXP Pro and Vista Ultimate 64 bit version. The PC that will be used is a 7 month old Dell XPS 710 with the following Specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Core 2.66GHz - overclocked to 3.19 GHz
4 gigs of 667 MHz RAM - overclocked to 727.5 MHz
2 Nvidia 7950 GX2's running in Quad SLI mode
2 SATA RAID Partitions, one for WinXP - 1.5 TByte & Vista - 1 TByte

I will be installing clean copies of FSX Deluxe on both partitions and then defragmenting with O&O Defrag Version 10. I will use the 'Complete-Name' method. Right now I am working on my test format, Time to load, etc. As soon as I have all of my test points set up I will start the testing.

What I'm trying to do is both document the testing, and help people who are just getting started with setting up FSX by giving them an example of how to set up a proper FSX Build.

My end goal is to have FSX set up on three systems networked together on a LAN using WideView or some such utiltiy. I have three Acer 16x10 monitors and three different PC's that I will be using. The first step on this projrct is to figure out what OS will give me the best performance. Plus there is some interest in what type of frame rates a Quad Core will produce.

Hence the bulk of the testing and documentation will be done on the Dell.

[cgarfield]

Step 1 one will be to make sure that ALL updates have been downloaded and installed from Microsoft. Once that is completed I will install FSX Deluxe on both XP and Vista partitions. Then I will defragment both partitions with O&O Defrag Version 10. The reason for using O&O is becuase I have several scenery upgrades that I will be doing (MegaScenery, etc.) that work best if you have their files laid down sequentially on the hard drive in their respective directories. It saves time on loading the scenery when you are flying, and wear and tear on the hard drives.

[angels355]

Hi C,

Looking forward to your results, and thanks very much for your efforts, I've been looking forward to this kind of testing for a while.

Remember, you can not install your scenery or other addons before installing SP1, that will mess up SP1 and your SP1 test results. In order to make the tests true, IF you do want to test FSX without SP1 and WITH your addon scenery, you can do that, however, in order to make the tests valid, you will then have to unintall completely FSX and your scenery addons, then install FSX again from scratch, in a completely clean install, activate, then install SP1, then install your scenery addons again.

Or you could leave out your scenery addons and test FSX without SP1, then add SP1 test FSX SP1 clean, then test again with the addon scenery.

Looking forward to your screen shots.

I just purchased my third unit of FS2002, I just purchased a computer that is FS2002 capable with some work.

Thanks for your efforts.

[OTTODAD]

Hi Curtis !

Would it not be a good idea to wait for the MTFS-X DirectX-10 update, install a DirectX-10 graphics card on your computer and then give us a report of what your results are ?

I am not investing in a new computer for VISTA until after the dust has settled regarding VISTA, DirectX-10, MSFS-X and MS Trains2 ! ;-)

I also do not like this idea of "Overclocking" CPUs on computers which were not designed for it, power units and cooling to mention but 2 areas where problems could ensue. It's like adding an overdrive gearbox to a car, the engine of which not having the horse power to use it efficiently. ;-)

O t t o