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What is making KSP run slow on my aging PC?


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According to Windows Task Manager, none of my four processor cores are at capacity (they all seem to be contributing equally at 30-40% and according to GPU-Z my GPU is at 30-40%. The simulation is running at less than real-time (it takes about four real-life seconds to simulate one in-game second). Could it be my memory speed? I'd have to look up the exact timings they're set to in the BIOS.

System specs are as follows:

OS: Win 7 64-bit Home Premium

Mainboard: Gigabyte GA 790FXTA-UD5

CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 X4

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor (4C 3.42GHz, 2GHz IMC, 4x 512kB L2, 4x 6MB L3)

RAM: OCZ Black Ed 2x2GB DDR3-1600 + Corsair 2x2GB DDR3-1600 (8 GB total)

OCZ OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-8500U DDR3-1600 (8-8-8-18 5-30-9-5)

Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C8 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (8-8-8-24 5-34-10-5)

Graphics: Sapphire HD 5770 1GB GDDR5

AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series (10CU 800SP SM5.0 850MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

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Seems that for some people, KSP runs slower than before on the same hardware. Haven't noticed this myself, it seems to be running faster for me.

That machine should run it just fine, except that I think KSP is still only 1 core.

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It's not a problem specific to 1.0. It's been this way as long as I can recall. It's mostly an issue with larger craft. If it's being limited by maxing out a single core then I think this would be reflected in Windows Task Manager but none of the cores are maxed out; the load seems to be fairly evenly distributed. If I recall correctly, it's only the physics calculations that are limited to a single core. It must be something else causing the bottleneck.

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RAM: OCZ Black Ed 2x2GB DDR3-1600 + Corsair 2x2GB DDR3-1600 (8 GB total)

OCZ OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-8500U DDR3-1600 (8-8-8-18 5-30-9-5)

Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C8 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (8-8-8-24 5-34-10-5)

In my experience, mismatched RAM is rarely a good idea. Your motherboard will be limited by the slower RAM even though there is faster RAM installed. It may or may not be related. Have you noticed speed or stability issues in applications outside of KSP? If yes, then I would blame this.

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In my experience, mismatched RAM is rarely a good idea. Your motherboard will be limited by the slower RAM even though there is faster RAM installed. It may or may not be related. Have you noticed speed or stability issues in applications outside of KSP? If yes, then I would blame this.

I was told it was a bad idea but did it anyway since I couldn't get any more of the memory I already had. I've run Memtest for over 20 cycles and that doesn't report any errors. I've set the timings manually so they're both running at least as fast if not faster than their specification. I need to see if there's a way to determine whether memory speed is limiting like you can with the GPU and CPU.

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In my experience, mismatched RAM is rarely a good idea. Your motherboard will be limited by the slower RAM even though there is faster RAM installed. It may or may not be related. Have you noticed speed or stability issues in applications outside of KSP? If yes, then I would blame this.

all of those are rated at 1600MHz, right?

OCZ OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-8500U DDR3-1600

This is odd... PC3-8500U should relate to DDR3-1066.

I've set the timings manually so they're both running at least as fast if not faster than their specification. .

Wait, you're overclocking things?

Do you really NEED 8GB, or is it just "because all the cool kids have more than 4GB"?

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ram.php?ram=OCZ+OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G+2GB&id=799

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ram.php?ram=Corsair+CMX4GX3M2A1600C8+2GB&id=1036

What you shoved in there utterly sucks; very bottom of the line memory. Synchronization matters quite a bit in a computer, far more than you can possibly imagine, throwing synch off can easily cause slowdowns (and with how poor that memory performs in comparison... sheesh)

Edited by Fel
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all of those are rated at 1600MHz, right?

OCZ OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-8500U DDR3-1600

This is odd... PC3-8500U should relate to DDR3-1066.

Wait, you're overclocking things?

Do you really NEED 8GB, or is it just "because all the cool kids have more than 4GB"?

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ram.php?ram=OCZ+OCZ3BE1600C8LV2G+2GB&id=799

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ram.php?ram=Corsair+CMX4GX3M2A1600C8+2GB&id=1036

What you shoved in there utterly sucks; very bottom of the line memory. Synchronization matters quite a bit in a computer, far more than you can possibly imagine, throwing synch off can easily cause slowdowns (and with how poor that memory performs in comparison... sheesh)

It didn't suck (and wasn't bottom-of-the-line) five years ago! When I run Firefox and KSP together, I'm using just over 6 GB. If I want to run Second Life and KSP together, I have to close almost everything else down to have things running close to smooth. The extra 4 GB is very much needed.

- - - Updated - - -

i have nearly the same system but with diffrent ram. i have no problems so i suspect that the people saying it is your ram configuration are right

srry for the double post

Would you mind sharing your motherboard, graphics card and RAM information?

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Motgerboard: gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI

graphics: club 3D ati 5770

ram: kinston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G 16 gig

procesor: AMD phenonII 965 black

same processor same mobo chipset and a nearly identical Graphical card (same series)

:( Your memory has a lower spec than mine except you have more. I still have the slow downs with 500 MB free/2000 MB available though). What size vessels are you launching though? Perhaps you haven't been launching things with as many parts as I have.

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