yes, and can reverse it by using “on” instead of “off” in the command line
On my Asus X670E, auto means it is enabled. I only noticed the additional 20 secs of memory training when changing it to disable.
As I already mentioned, on MSI, Auto means disabled. It looks like it works differently depending on the manufacturer.
That’s not true. Check any access to hiberfil.sys, and you will see it isn’t accessed until you ask the system to hibernate.
With all due respect, a lot of the advice here isn’t based on facts.
OK, my misunderstanding. Happy to be corrected. I still disable it.
I’d be curious to know what else you think is not based on facts?
It can happen to the best of us, and it was well intended.
Just for clarification, it is the pagefile that Windows uses for crash dump.
When I had it actually disabled on my msi x670e it would take a good minute to boot into windows.
Now with it on auto it takes considerably less, maybe under 20seconds.
So if it is indeed still off, a bios update must have improved boot times, I hadn’t updated the bios in a while to be fair, on latest for my board now.
I could test myself I guess, but don’t want to keep going into bios really.
I mentioned earlier that on my MSI motherboard, AUTO means disabled. I have to correct myself, though, because I got that mixed up.
So, AUTO is effectively the same as Enabled. Enabled - I can add how many days it is valid for, while Disabled is, of course, disabled.
I apologize to anyone I may have misled with my earlier post.
That is why I wrote ‘with respect’. My issue with this kind of advice is that it guides people to Windows settings they do not fully understand. In our support, we daily see the results from this kind of tinkering; it’s not always pretty.
The simple fact is that 95% of what is advised here will just have no impact whatsoever on your FPS. Inking and Typing > Off will do absolutely nothing; it is a service that is 100% dormant, taking up no (noticeable) memory and zero CPU cycles until you use it. The same goes for almost all the other advice. At best, it does not hurt, but the impact on MSFS will be negligible.
Windows 11 is extremely clever software. If it sees you’re running an application that needs a lot of resources, it will stop a lot of what it is doing and free up CPU cycles and memory. For example, search won’t run when MSFS is active. It’s not a bad idea to disable it and replace it with something that actually works (search is cr*p), but you can’t be certain that these services will be dormant when MSFS runs!
Simmers are notorious tweakers, but they are not very methodical. When I do any change (drivers, etc), I run a benchmark, do the change, and run the benchmark again. I have to because I need to test our products’ performance, so I need the sim baseline. That’s why I know GPU driver updates haven’t made any significant change in years, even though a lot of YouTubers claim they have. That’s why I know that a Windows 11 out of the box runs MSFS just as fast as one tweaked with the guides from Chris Titus.
A lot of this advice and tweaker spirit comes from a decade ago. Back then, Windows was far less optimized for gaming, and small tweaks could make a big difference. These days that is just not the case. If they do, it is often indicative of a problem.
Mathijs
Windows Update. That’s the only thing I disable. Not for performance reasons, but stability. I’ve had the sim crash because of an update being installed in the background.
I only partially agree. I agree that no drastic changes are necessary, such as “debloating Windows". However, Windows 11 is not really optimized for gaming “out of the box” as you put it. A good example was given by @Drewmorkuzy There are Windows settings that are worth disabling or changing their behavior for gaming.
That said, this thread isn’t about Windows 11. If we want to discuss Windows 11 and its impact on MSFS, I’d suggest continuing the discussion in the topic below:
Windows 11 25H2/24H2 and MSFS: observations,insights, issues and tips - Discussion Hub / General Discussion - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums
Okay, on BIOS then…
I dare anyone to show me ANY change in the default BIOS of any modern motherboard, other than EXPO or overclocking, that affects the sim. It’s just not there.
Mathijs
Post 347 in this thread has before/after testing results and they are meaningful improvements. But of course every system is different and most users (as you said) start changing things they don’t fully understand which can create a lot of problems.
On some motherboards, Resizable BAR is disabled by default (ASUS for example). It’s better to have it enabled, as it can not only add FPS but also improve frametimes.
Virtualization is enabled by default as well and on some configurations it can have a negative impact on performance.
The iGPU is also enabled by default. If you’re using a dedicated graphics card, there’s usually no need to have the iGPU enabled or to have an additional iGPU driver installed. Of course, I’m excluding users who actually use their iGPU.
Memory timings can also be poorly configured by default. With some minor tweaking, you can gain 10 FPS and get a smoother experience.
And then there are things like motherboard fan curves, which are often not configured optimally out of the box, and so on.
So yes, I agree that you don’t need to make drastic changes to a BIOS. But saying that there are no BIOS settings, other than EXPO or overclocking, that can affect the sim is simply not correct.
No problem, I will keep it on auto as I like the quick boots
In what circumstance does it do a retrain with memory context restore enabled though?
I’m guessing a windows update that requires a restart or just manually restarting pc, is that the only times it would do it?
Maybe if I unplugged from power completely that would also force a retrain? Is that called a cold boot? or is that the same as powering down/ shutdown.
The following results on SU6 1.8.14.0, tested with default vs tuned BIOS, where tuned is:
- EXPO enabled
- High Efficiency Mode (subtimings) enabled, preset “Tightest”
- PBO enabled, Advanced
- Boost Clock + 100 MHz (from 5.2 to 5.3 GHz)
- Curve Optimizer Negative 13
- 9800X3d / RTX 5090 / A330-200 at KJFK Gate C31 on APU with flight plan loaded / No traffic, Few Clouds preset, default external view
Yes, I know you said “other than EXPO or overclocking”, but just to show it can be worth the effort for those who choose to do so. I can post the numbers for anyone who needs to check the veracity.
I disagree. “They” does not differentiate among a very large group of simmers who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. Many want to learn, to experiment, and to improve and share their experiences. MSFS, for 6 years, has not been a great performer. There have been moments, but the struggle for smooth, stable, detailed performance remains ellusive - and so, “We” come here to share experiences and advice, however flawed or incomplete.
I built my PC a year ago with zero experience, and have been able to get MSFS working on triple screens, in large part because of the willingness and enthusiasm of others here to share their experiences and knowledge - however flawed it might be. That’s how we learn. I managed to see improvement, and share my findings - however flawed.
Just saying ‘very little is based on fact’ is … counter to that spirit, in my opinion, and doesn’t really contribute much other than negativity. If you want to contribute, spell out your own settings, and why, so we can learn. Don’t just say everyone is wrong.
None of the situations you mentioned would force a memory retrain.
It can happen in a few other situations:
- If you reset the BIOS - the first boot immediately after the reset may trigger a memory retrain, but subsequent boots should not, assuming MCR is still set to AUTO/Enabled.
- If you update the BIOS - the first boot after the update may trigger a memory retrain as well.
- If you are changing/tuning memory timings, I would recommend disabling Memory Context Restore while testing. Once you have finished all your stability tests, you can enable it again.
So a normal restart, a Windows Update restart or completely unplugging the PC from power should not by itself force a memory retrain.
If I’m wrong about any of this, please correct me.
Those are all very solid overclocks that will boost FPS. Your benchmarking approach is commendable! But we all know it is very rare that people do that, most just change a setting and have no real way of knowing it really does something.
Mathijs
Thanks, good point, I will disable it for now while I test with some games. Then switch it back to auto when im happy it seems stable.