Best way to check computer capability?

[p3eps]

I've upgraded a couple of components in my SIM PC, which I thought would take it up to the top level - but it's still struggling.
I also recently purchased FSX, which looks like cartoon software! I've seen YouTube videos of it where it looks much better than on my PC. I just have a bright blue sky (no clouds), no shadows or movement for the trees, and the grass is only 2 shades of green rather than being rendered!!
Is there something I can use to check out how well my PC is performing? There must be something wrong?

I'm running...
nVidia GeForce 1070 8gb GFX Card
16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2400mhz RAM
Intel i5 3.2ghz Haswell Quad Core processor (4460)
Asus H81M-Plus motherboard
Corsair CX600M PSU
2tb Seagate Barracuda HDD
Windows 10

I could probably upgrade the processor to an i7 and stick in an SSD - but I don't think these would be slowing it down 'that' much?

[FaultyClubs]

...would take it up to the top level - but it's still struggling...

What does "top level" and "still struggling" mean exactly?

[p3eps]

In TGC I was previously on detail HIGH, object level 3, and the tree levels both set to minimum with my old GFX card (nVidia GTX760).
It was fairly smooth, but the whole image was a bit blurry.
I've now gone to object level 5 with the 2 tree settings set to the middle... but it's stuttering quite a lot. Maybe I'm just trying courses with too much detail?

My FSX looks like this:



It looks a bit like something I would have played on my 486DX 20+ years ago!
I've watched a couple of videos of FSX on YouTube, including this one from KS-MAN (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYa_3wu0cIY), and the difference in graphics is chalk and cheese. I can't see why I'm getting such poor and non existent graphics levels. It wouldn't bother me so much if it stuttered a bit because my processor couldn't handle it. I MUST be missing switching some settings on, but there isn't much to choose from in the menus.

Maybe I'm expecting too much? I thought that buying the "second best" GFX card in the world at the moment would give me high detail and a smooth frame rate. I bumped my RAM from 8gb up to 16gb today, but that hasn't made any difference at all.

[aeroburner]

i see nothing that shows below requirements in your hardware it must be a setting issue maybe in your graphics card maybe faulty has an idea.

[FaultyClubs]

I can't help on fsx but for tgc try setting protees recommended settings and let us know. It should look and run great.

http://csc.protee-united.com/hc/en-us/articles/217534667-TGC-Recommended-Graphics-Settings

[wbond]

I thought we wanted vsync off. What does that do anyway?

[keither5150]

vsync matches your FPS with your refresh rate. Most monitors are running 60 Hz thus, you would max out at 60FPS like me. There is no use going past 60FPS even if your monitor or projector can handle it. Using vsync will restrict FPS so the GPU's horsepower can be put to better use like image quality or draw distance. I use it.

@ p3eps Go to detail level 1 or 2 and put the trees at about 50% of max. You will have a smooth framerate. Then turn everything to max..... you will not really see a big or noticeable difference in image quality. Go for smoothness rather than a marginally better image.

[FaultyClubs]

EDIT: Deleted since I posted same time as Keither and he wants p3 to do something different than Protee's recommended settings. No sense pulling p3 in different directions and confusing him.

[keither5150]

I based my recommendations on that his system will perform similar to my GTX 980ti. Some courses, I can turn the trees to max if I go down to level 1 detail.

[p3eps]

Thanks for all the replies.
The purpose of me spending £450 on a new GFX card and new RAM was to be able to up the performance and detail levels.
I'll give both suggestions a try tonight and see what works out / looks best. It makes me wonder what sort of PC would be required to actually run TGC stutter free at high details!

Having just spent nearly $3000 on FSX and several courses, I'm more worried about why it looks dreadful! I've contacted Foresight to see if they have any info. I imagine they can probably remote desktop my PC and look at my settings like ProTee can? My PC should be more than capable of running it with good detail levels.

[wbond]

Something is not right. Mine is completely stutter free at high detail with a 1070 card, I5-3570 cpu and 16gb of ram. My tree count is higher, tree distance is closer and object detail is higher.

I will turn AA and Vsync back on.

[p3eps]

I've had a bit of a play with the settings.
At ProTee's recommended settings, it runs pretty smoothly. I then tried adjusting the detail level up gradually, and it didn't make much difference to either the frame rate or the picture.
As I put the trees up and the distance up, it became more stuttery. I can't remember the name of the course, but it was one of TGC's own, and has loads of trees.

Maybe I was just expecting too much... to be able to put the settings right up and have a smooth high quality image. I'm projecting at 1600x1200, so I'm never going to get a great quality image anyway.

Im still stumped as to why my FSX looks like it does though. I'm waiting for Foresight to get back in touch about it.

Thanks for the help and advise.

[aja]

I'm interested in why you think that projecting at 1600 x 1200 doesn't give you a good quality image. That resolution has more vertical lines than HD's 1080. You should be getting a very good image.

Is it possible that your projector is downscaling it? Projectors "downscale" when the image sent to it has more pixels than the projector's "native" resolution (the amount of pixels that it is capable of putting out...).

I project at 1024 x 768 and that's far from HD quality but it's still usable. 1600 x 1200 would be miles better.

Which projector are you using?

[p3eps]

I'm using a Benq TH682ST - http://www.benq.co.uk/product/projector/th682st/
It's native resolution is 1080p, so although I'm getting the 1600 wide pixels, I'm only projecting 1080 up and down, and I assume its merging the other 120 pixels into these?

I don't mean its bad quality. I'm only 10ft from the screen, and can almost see the individual pixels on the screen.
It's never going to be as sharp as my 4k TV or 5k iMac picture.

[Vincent_Vega]

For me, the biggest difference was turning depth of field off. I saw vast improvement with it off.