SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

Check out this software product --MemStatus
Since some of you'all ran to Santa's lap or daddy's bed and begged for more memory or more expensive video cards for your computer, why don't you see if it was all worth the expense? Cool

http://nuclearplayground.com/NuclearPlayground/

MemStatus is a small app designed to show you how much system & video memory your PC is using. MemStatus is designed to be as small and bloat free as possible. It does not free, manage, or defrag your memory. It simply let's you see what your using in real time. It also remembers the peak usages for the current session.

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:55 pm Post subject:

Windows Task Manager (CTRL + ALT + DEL) / Performances -- pretty much shows you the same thing, but that is only System Memory Usage, and you do not have download anything to take up Harddrive space and MORE memory.... good tool though. Nice find

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:02 am Post subject:

You are absolutely correct. There are many tools out there to monitor our hardware. I often use my ASUS Monitor (vendor for my motherboard) to check on several items.

However, I like the ability to monitor SYSTEM and VIDEO memory at the same time. I also like the ability to monitor the "Peak Usage".

With all of these postings from the "Computer Geeks" who try to convince us that it is necessary to spend hundreds of dollars on upgrades, it is nice to be able to see whether our hardware is within tolerance. Before someone jumps on their keyboard and responds to my last comment, I'll confess that I used to be a Computer Geek. I am a past President of a local chapter of the Data Processing Management Association and I also served on the Internatonal Board of Directors. Cool

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:19 am Post subject:

nice qualifications, now if only G could come back and let you take over.. lol (played out enough i know, but had to say it lol ) Wish i had 1/2 of those qualifications. I just know my basic computer and can slap a computer together in under 5 min as long as MotherBoard is pre-programmed. (only thing i can program is a VCR {a what?? what is that???})

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:22 am Post subject:

There is also system mechanic that you can use its a good tool but very pricey

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:47 pm Post subject:

FYI:

I have been using this software for a few weeks and I just love it. I think that the feature where it tells me how much "Video Memory" that I am currently using and the maximum amount of "Video Memory" that I have used during this session is fantastic.

When it measures Video Memory, this calculation includes "Virtual Memory" which is a good indication of if and how often my system has to perform a disc I/O.

For those of you'all who think that you need a new video card with more memory, please check out this software first before reaching for your wallet. Yes, there are a lot of factors that must be evaluated before deciding when to purchase a new video card. However, this software helps to answer one of the big questions. Cool

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:00 pm Post subject:

my computer is so shocking
it runs at 70% main memory usage at idle
Embarassed

good Job im building a new one in the summer Razz

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:46 am Post subject:

Which version of Flight Simulator are you using?
How much RAM do you have installed?
What does this software tell you about your Video Memory? Cool

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:27 am Post subject: I'll....

I'll tell you what it tells me....it's tellin' me I got more resource hogs to weed out. My video memory doesnt even hit the 60% mark before all system resources are hung up. Main memory gets to about 760 or so, but even it doesnt max out. What do you think Skipper' , will adding that second gig of ram actually help if I aint using it all now? The good old 9600xt is jamming along alright. I believe my problems are process oriented. Have to count 'em up and see who needs to leave the dance floor when I start to boogaloo.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:55 am Post subject:

GroundSquirrel:

I am using the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro with 128 MB memory. I have set my Virtual Memory to 256 MB. While running this software, I have noticed that I "sometimes" have to use the Virtual Memory. Therefore, I feel that my Video Memory is not a bottleneck and do not see any need to run out to the store to purchase a new video card.

About fifteen years ago, I attended a week long IBM school in California about "Queueing Theory". We learned something very interesting. We studied a bunch of graphs that compared CPU Utilization and Disc I/Os and discovered that the Responses Times would start to depreciate right after the resource reached 70% utilization.

In response to your question, we need to make sure that our CPU and Memory do not exceed 70% Utilization if we want to maintain maximum performance. We can still run nicely above 70% but we may begin to see some slowdowns. I know that this statement is going to make some of our viewers run upto daddy's bedroom asking for a faster CPU, another Video Card or more memory. However, I would suggest that rather than spending all of Daddy's money, we learn how to "tweak" our computer resources. If our viewers use the "SEARCH" feature, they will find all kinds of suggestions within Surclaro on how to tweak their computer.

Here is a hint: Use "Enditall", "FSAUTOSTART" or manually stop non-essential processes from running in the background whenever you are running Flight Simulator.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:29 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:47 pm Post subject:

The examples that I listed above will remove the unnecessary "stuff" and FREE UP MAIN MEMORY.

You have to understand where I am coming from. Back in my other life when I used to work in the Data Processing profession, the joke around the office was "You would never see an IBM salesman without his order form". They would prefer to sell more hardware instead of help you to improve the performance of your current hardware. I get a little discouraged whenever I read all of these posts asking which is the "best video card for this and the best video card for that?". I would prefer to see someone learn (read or use the SEARCH feature) how to "tweak their computer" rather than running upto Daddy's bedroom asking for more money to buy a new video card. In many cases, a new video card will probably not help you to obtain your Private Pilot's license any sooner. Instead, it will probably just allow you to see more "eye candy". Please note that I said "in many cases". Cool

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:05 pm Post subject: lest we forget...

Lest we forget. I just got done doing an aggressive scan/clean of my registry....can you guess how much junk was in the trunk? Cut my boot time in half or better. I use the dependable stuff so I know it is usually something with my os or tweaks. The board is an Intel D865GLc with 1gigRAM running 800mhz fsb. Processor is PentiumIV@3ghz. Since I use headphones, I let the onboard sound handle the noise. It also reduces the chances for compatibility problems.

edit: Trying different things led me to try turning off the sound. So I hit "Q", and bammo! The fps jumped up and the sim became smooth as silk. So for my setup it appears that I need to reduce the sound demand with some lightweight sound sets.

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject:

Im running Fs9
but i only have 512mb ram 2x256mb in dual channel
kinda understandable apparently my system was modern 5 years ago lol
only 40% of my video memory is used 128mb

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:32 am Post subject: update...

update.....

Thinking more about my particular problem, turning off sound led me to try some other games and they all responded accordingly. So, I uninstalled my audio and downloaded and installed a clean audio driver from my motherboard manufacturer's site and "woohoo", nice smooth sim performance in Fs9 and FSX.

Hmmmmmm, aint that a forest? These trees make it so hard to tell...