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In search of a new computer

Quicksand

Quicksand

SOH-CM-2023
Hi all. I've not posted in a long while, as my computer is making my flying experience an exercise in futility. I'm unable to fly the newer aircraft. They will load and display, but for framerates I'm getting a slideshow. My old machine is a seven year old HP Pavillion laptop, and served me well until recently. What specs should I look for when picking out a new machine. I'd really like to get back in the air soon. Thanks for any insight you guys can provide.
 
I'm afraid that, in this day and age, laptops are futile for flightsim if you're looking for the biggest bang for the buck. I.e. laptops are more expensive and offer less performance.

You should be searching for a machine with at least this (for FSX or P3Dv4)


  • Intel i5 CPU as close to or surpassing 4 Ghz
  • at least 8 Gb's of RAM
  • nvidia GTX970 or 1070

This is of course just my humble opinion.

Priller
 
Thanks Joe. I'm really wanting to stay away from any more laptops. I'm doing everything I used to do with my laptop, except fly of course, on my phone now. You are right, Priller. I was fortunate that my laptop kept up as long as it did.
 
I use the laptop so I’m not locked away in the den separated from everyone else, and with that laptop the only compromise I made was a GTX1080 instead of the TI, of course I had to pay for it.
 
Priller said:
I'm afraid that, in this day and age, laptops are futile for flightsim if you're looking for the biggest bang for the buck. I.e. laptops are more expensive and offer less performance.

You should be searching for a machine with at least this (for FSX or P3Dv4)


  • Intel i5 CPU as close to or surpassing 4 Ghz
  • at least 8 Gb's of RAM
  • nvidia GTX970 or 1070

This is of course just my humble opinion.

Priller
Click to expand...
This....except forget a 970...go with a 980 - much better card.
Keep well away from laptops if you want to run around in FSX....[instead you'll be walking]...;)
 
If your only concern is FSX, you don't even need to spend much, as FSX doesn't care for core count. Even a cheap pentium today should get the job done, although I'd go with an i3 8100, which is actually a quad-core like previous generation i5's.

As for graphics cards, a GTX 1060 is roughly equivalent to a 970, and doesn't cost much, I'd go with that. (get the 6gb one)
 
Jafo said:
Keep well away from laptops if you want to run around in FSX....[instead you'll be walking]...;)
Click to expand...

Your living in the past, the modern gaming laptop has more than enough power for the 12 year old FSX.

In my rig I have an i7-7820HK, 32GB of ram, a GTX1080 video card and a 1TB M2 SSD (with a 2TB magnetic disk for extra storage). Not only does it run FSX well, it runs P3D4 well.

Biggest downside is that when a newer better video card comes out it will be very hard to upgrade.
 
blanston12 said:
Your living in the past, the modern gaming laptop has more than enough power for the 12 year old FSX.

In my rig I have an i7-7820HK, 32GB of ram, a GTX1080 video card and a 1TB M2 SSD (with a 2TB magnetic disk for extra storage). Not only does it run FSX well, it runs P3D4 well.

Biggest downside is that when a newer better video card comes out it will be very hard to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Biggest downside is it costs a fortune.
 
Do you want to run Windows 7 or 10? Beware that Windows 7 is only supported up to the 6th generation of Intel chipsets+processors (and similar generations for AMD, but I don't know the exact details there).
I just upgraded from a 10 years old computer to an i7-6700K on a Z170 mainboard with 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM. I would say this is the best you can get if you want to stay with Windows 7 (as I do). There are 6th gen CPUs with more than 4 CPU cores, but they (and the corresponding mainboard) are far too expensive.
I already had an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, which I consider enough for a single monitor with 1920x1080px, but if you can afford a bigger model, that will probably be a benefit.
 
I think the only time to consider win 7 or 10 is when win 7 is already installed. If your getting a new machine get 10.

Also so are you going to stick with FSX or upgrade to P3d? If you thinking of trying P3d (I recommend it) get at least a GTX 1070 video card and 16gb of ram.
 
I normally agree with the gaming laptop coming from a long running ASUS 17" G-series rig that was doing fine with FSX and my other sims (settings lowered). I was just going to upgrade to the latest series gaming laptop, but honestly I don't bring my TM Warthog on the road, so hauling this huge brick around was now pointless. I was also so worried about it I purchased a Pelican case for my overseas trips. Agree with specs as I also transition to P3D, take a look on Newegg.com.
 
It takes about a couple hours to put together a PC, less if you have some experience. Anyone can do it. It's cheaper, more personal, and the only one responsible for the build quality is you. My opinion.
 
Stefano Zibell said:
It takes about a couple hours to put together a PC, less if you have some experience. Anyone can do it. It's cheaper, more personal, and the only one responsible for the build quality is you. My opinion.
Click to expand...

Yes I have done that many times, but make sure you get quality components (especially the motherboard), otherwise when things go wrong it can be very harry.
 
Honestly, I've never thought about running p3d. When I upgrade, my biggest concern is to make sure my rig will keep up with the increasing complexity of the add-ons that are available now, and those that are on the horizon. Thanks for all of replies. I appreciate everyone's insight.
 
blanston12 said:
I think the only time to consider win 7 or 10 is when win 7 is already installed. If your getting a new machine get 10.
Click to expand...
Yes, I was still using my old hard disks, and despite skipping 10 years of hardware it worked absolutely flawless, but of course I needed to activate Windows 7 again (via telephone), and FSX (boxed), too.
 
Quicksand said:
Honestly, I've never thought about running p3d. When I upgrade, my biggest concern is to make sure my rig will keep up with the increasing complexity of the add-ons that are available now, and those that are on the horizon. Thanks for all of replies. I appreciate everyone's insight.
Click to expand...

To be brutally frank, it comes down to how much money you want to spend. :biggrin-new:
Like tuning a car 'How fast can you make it go?'....................'How much money can you spend?'
Building your own rig is worth considering, at least you can choose your own components with an eye toward upgrading and it is a very satisfying experience.
While you might want to stick with FSX eventually you might also to go P3D4 and it is nice to have the option of tweaking your very own custom built box!:encouragement:
And a BTW:Laptops suck, good for business purposes etc but not much else.
 
Quicksand said:
Honestly, I've never thought about running p3d. When I upgrade, my biggest concern is to make sure my rig will keep up with the increasing complexity of the add-ons that are available now, and those that are on the horizon. Thanks for all of replies. I appreciate everyone's insight.
Click to expand...

That was my concern also, its already getting to the point where the limiting factor is FSX itself, thats why 64bit P3D4 should be considered.
 
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