Does increasing the image cache size affect performance and stability?

From FlightSim

Q:

I changed the image cache size setting (under the scenery menu) from the default 50 MB to 80MB, and it seems to have increased the frame rate and stability of FS2K on my system (went from about 20 FPS to about 30 when running the same flight, and many fewer pauses).

I'm running a PIII at 620 MHz (overclocked PIII 500 on an Abit BX6 rev 2), 168 MB of memory, Viper 770. My disk has 3.5+ GB of free space.

Seems to help, but I can't explain it. (Does the cache use RAM or disk space memory?)

A:

Dave:

If you DID NOT do a full install of both Disks of FS2K and are running the Scenery CD while flying, then set Scenery Cache to 500. This gives the system a temporary "cache" on the HD to place the files from the CD to speed up access by FS2K.

If you DID A FULL INSTALL of FS2K, set the Scenery Cache to the lowest setting (10), which will allow FS2K to "read" the scenery directly from the hard drive which is MUCH faster!

If you have enough HD space, it's highly recommended to do the Custom (full) install.

Hope this helps,

Ben