If you can't answer it, then I'm afraid you don't know what you're talking about.

I can give you this nice quote you supplied: inadequate memory in a PC can cause performance issues that will not necessarily show up as excessive disk access.

Inadequate memory in a system will result in one of two things: caching to the Windows paging file for less used memory or a BSOD.

Information that needs to be manipulated for the program to continue running can't simply disappear into thin air.

So, in other words, you're refusing to accept the challenge as I posted?

(Nice try to evade it, there...but either you accept or not; Julian's question has squat to do with anything, and I've not said I can't answer it, there's no need to - as I already said - he's not an authoritative source, so answering his question won't resolve anything).

C'mon, if you're so damned sure, let's make it worthwhile....

Of course when i said arrogance i was referring solely to the Knowledge Breaker, the latest post added another spotlight. It has to be the RAM, don't you see, it's the authority argument. It doesn't matter some people know their RoF inside-out from a tightly personal relation with the sim from his inception till now, changing hardware and observing how RoF acts and reacts. No. A simple general glance at the requirements, made by an expert external eye can put aside any opinions. This was supposed to be a help thread, instead it become a 'i know better than you' one. Who am i to speak? Who are you to speak? How much do i earn in dollars? Am i a big shot in reality? WTF? Is the forum such a 'big mouth' Kreator? Or it has to be Pantera:

Pantera is awesome.

Squat to do with anything? See above.

You won't answer my question because I'm "not an authoritative source"? Seriously? Calling someone's post "uninformed drivel", and then refusing to explain why, instead entering a pissing contest is not what I like to see in a professional.

Cutting through all the crap about length of employment in IT etc, the biggest improvement for me with ROF was to upgrade my CPU, I started with a single core CPU an 8800gt and 2gb of DDR2 on Win XP my last upgrade was a new mobo an I7 920 and 3gbddr3 still with the 8800gt, after the CPU upgrade I have been able to run ROF with no issues, although I am unsure how many planes I can handle as I mainly play online these days, but still some extra ram wouldn't hurt, I have recently switched to Win 7 mainly for CoD, but this has had no effect on ROF from what I can see.

I will be upgrading my GPU and adding more ram soon mainly because the Aussie dollar is strong at the moment and RAM is dirt cheap.

As far as I can tell RoF is mainly CPU dependent. As Tiger did, I upgraded from an Intel Dual Core to the 1055T 6 core with twice the RAM. I gained some noticeable improvements with many AI in a battle but was still experiencing slowdowns in time.

Now when I overclocked my new 1055T from 2.8ghz to 3.7ghz I saw an amazing difference. FPS rarely gets below 35 even during the largest air battles with max settings.

Is it really recommended to disable hyperthreading in Bios? I thought HT boosts performance?

Laser - I don't know why all of a sudden you decide to attack me directly...but, whatever. I already told you - it's not the least arrogant to post fact in order to address the question of experience; that's all I did. I posted a description of factual experience, for comparison to others - it's up to the reader to decide who's who here. (I noticed neither NattyIced nor Julian posted anything in any detail about experience, other than to say essentially "I'm a network administrator" - but then, those certificates are a dime a dozen these days. And I've seen nothing to rebut that point)

As for "It has to be the RAM, don't you see, it's the authority argument.", I never made such an "argument". I simply offered a suggestion to resolve the argument. To consult an authority on these matters; an unbiased third party who we could all agree in advance was a recognized expert. A perfectly logical means by which to resolve the matter being discussed, which relies on neither my word, NattyIced's, Julian's, or anyone else involved in this discussion. By design, totally neutral.

But it's OK, guys, I see that even a suggestion to consult an outside, unbiased, recognized expert isn't good enough for you folks. What the hell would Intel, or the motherboard manufacturers know about how memory is used in a PC?

We don't need expert input here, we have Julian and NattyIced!!!

The fact that even a perfectly logical suggestion for resolving an argument isn't good enough...well, that speaks volumes about what's going on here.

But, by all means, have it your way: I encourage the OP to go out and buy a CPU like you all seem to want. Let's see, here's what we'll be comparing, then, in the way of the two potential outcomes:

Upgrade 1, when complete, will result in a machine that has:
- GTX260 GPU
- a quad core CPU
- W7x64
- 4G RAM (at least; preferably 6 or 8 - that's 200-400% more than it has now)

Upgrade 2 will have:
- GTX260 GPU (same as present)
- a quad core CPU (that's only around 15% better than one he already has, or will else be outrageously expensive. Keeping in mind, of course, that the CPU he has already can be easily overclocked, for free, and that his motherboard is limited to socket 775 CPUs)
- W7x64 (same as present)
- 2G RAM (same as present)

To me - and to a lot of other people, I'd bet, it's no contest which of the two systems above is more "balanced"...and the first upgrade is probably going to cost less, too...

But, that's fine. Go ahead, get another CPU. I never said it wouldn't make RoF run better (didn't say one way or the other, actually - although I doubt it'll change much, considering the platform we're talking about here).

But the fact is, you'd still have a machine that was low on memory. A little tidbit, directly from Microsoft themselves:

If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:

•1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

(http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/system-requirements)

Now, see that little line there, in the OS producer's stated requirements? 2G RAM, in the exact 64-bit OS our OP is running, is the MINIMUM, just for running the OS.

But, hey - like I said, what does Microsoft know? We have far better experts, right here on SimHQ.

And you're all exactly right: I couldn't possibly be familiar enough with the OS enough to know these requirements. I couldn't possibly identify a machine that barely meets the stated requirements upon inspection, and without a whole bunch of 'troubleshooting'...

I'll see you later, fellas. I'm off to write a sternly-worded letter to Microsoft, telling them they need to get their asses over here to SimHQ, because they're missing out on some truly brilliant technical ability...

Well - at the risk of being attacked again, I'd say:

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't recommend disabling it (unless something is peculiar to RoF that needs it disabled or there's empirical data to suggest it helps - but again, I don't know for sure).

As I understand it, HT is/was a technological 'ancestor' to multi-core CPUs. Without actaully having multiple cores, it theoretically allows a single-core CPU to process multiple threads at one time. So, I'd say it should help run demanding, multi-threaded apps (like RoF, if I understand correctly) better.

(BTW, it's sort of silly of someone to have actually suggested disabling HT on a multi-core CPU like the OP's Q6600, because I don't think any of the 'real' multi-core CPU's actually even support HyperThreading, proper...but do stop by Intel's website and confirm that, by all means).

Maybe someone who knows the 'guts' of RoF better can tell you if there's some specific reason to do this - otherwise, I wouldn't think so.

The thread is here to present ideas and hardware experiences to increase RoF performance, so as far as I'm concerned, take your personal challenges to your PMs if you can't agree to disagree.

Every quad core i7 iMac I work on reports 8 cpus; I was under the impression that was due to hyperthreading.

Feathered, clock the Q6600 to 3 gig, add another 2 gig of same brand Ram. Plus to get a little more oomph if you want to push the boat out, search for a good price on a 480gtx. I know in the UK that have dropped price considerably in the last month.
That would extend the life of your PC and make it easily enough to handle the latest updates for RoF.

Yes, Mahoney...I actually own an i7 (see sig below), so I'm quite familiar with how they work with regards to threading.

However, it appears your mistake was in not noticing three things I actually stated about this (interestingly enough, you quoted one above):

1. I wrote HyperThreading (notice the "title case"). That's Intel's trademark for a certain technology that (if I recall) existed primarily in the late-model P4's, before actual multi-core CPUs.

2. I wrote HyperThreading, proper - meaning CPU's that support the above Intel trademarked technology - opposed to "hyperthreading" that isn't part of the HyperThreading technology.

3. I wrote [sic] "by all means, do stop by the Intel site to confirm this..."

You might take a moment to read more carefully before responding, sir. Maybe do some research, as I encouraged in my statements.

Perhaps if people weren't so willing to jump all over me here, things might be better...too bad, that. Trouble here is that a lot of folks are just determined to misquote, spread uninformed drivel, and thereby jump on the "You're wrong" bandwagon...

Doesn't bother me, you're only hurting yourselves (and unfortunately, those who listen to you).

Best of luck, guys.

A very lucid and well-thought out approach, if I may say so.

I'll just go ahead and quote myself here. The bolded statement is a method to gain free performance increases without purchasing additional, most likely unneeded items.

Nice tantrum KnowBreaks...

I'll drop my simple request ("I don't see how you can have a lack of RAM resulting in slower performance, without the HD being used. If there is a way, please tell me!") as it appears that you are incapable of explaining your divine reasoning.


I haven't mentioned my line of work or experience level.

Keep it up!

Nerds!

Absolutely! It's pretty much a given on a flight sim forum.

I think the OP should overclock his Q6600 before he tries anything else. It runs at 2.4ghz stock, right? He could easily push it past 3ghz and beyond without increasing the voltage.

P.S. I have never noticed RoF accessing my hard disk during a large AI furball, and I'm on XP.