737 Help...

[jbrett2634 24]

Hey everyone,

 

I need help deciding which 737 to purchase. I have recently upgraded my PC and started flying again. 99% of my flights are low and slow over ORBX scenery, but I'm ready to change things up a bit.

 

I know that the PMDG NGX is the most advanced and sophisticated 737 (and expensive!), but I'm not sure that my PC will be able to handle it. I'm running a 2500K at 3.3 (no overclock) / 460GTX / 8gb RAM. Flying in and out of Seattle and Portland today in the default CRJ700, I was getting 20-30 fps.

 

Also, I'm not against learning a complex aircraft, but I don't want to spend more time dealing with systems than flying seeing as how I don't have much time to fly on a weekly basis.

 

So, should I go with PMDG? or should I opt for the iFly or Wilco Evolution? Will I be able to fly into KSEA, KPDX, etc. with the PMDG?

 

Thanks!

[MrBenevolent 0]

The PMDG is arguably the best FSX 737 on the market. I don't think you will find many here who will tell you otherwise!

 

Seattle and Portland are notoriously heavy areas in FSX anyway and you will likely take an additional hit with the NGX. IMHO that hit is probably worth it as the NGX really is an amazing beast. You will need to learn the systems in order to get the most out of it, but when I first got behind the yoke, I just spooled up the engines, took off and flew around for a bit without any prep or plan, so it is possible!

 

I have heard good things about the iFly 737 - I gather it runs a close second to the PMDG in terms of fidelity and accuracy and I have also heard it has a lighter footprint as far as system resources and FPS are concerned too, though I am afraid I cannot vouch for this personally.

 

 

That said, you do have a CPU which should easily clock to 4.3Ghz without much effort as long as you have a decent cooler and PSU. With a bit more tweaking and practice you would likely get it to 4.5-4.8 without over-stressing it or compromising stability. At those sort of speeds, you would likely nullify any FPS hit the NGX would give and indeed, improve your FPS beyond what you have now.

 

There are plenty of good guides in the HW thread here if this is something you feel you want to try!

[Chock 17,769]

Your PC will be able to handle all of them I should think, so it depends on what you actually want. Yes the PMDG does take a fairly decent computer to run it because it has a lot of complex systems modeling going on out of sight, but you in fact have a fairly decent computer, so that's not something which should concern you too greatly.

 

You should not confuse the fact that the PMDG FSX NG's complex simulation with that equating to a complex learning curve, after all, airliner systems are not designed to be complex, they are designed to ease the workload, and really, a couple of hours looking at the tutorials in the manual which comes with any of the fancy 737s you can get for FSX would see you able to carry out flights. The 737 is not an especially complex airliner, in fact by truly modern standards, it is actually quite basic in some respects, it was actually one of the first jet airliners ever designed to be operated without a flight engineer. So there really is little to choose between the Wilco Evolution, iFly and PMDG 737s where a basic understanding of inputting a standard flight plan into the FMC is concerned, and that's the only slightly tough part to learn, effectively this means they will all have the same learning curve in that regard, although for some of the more esoteric and fancy functions an FMC can do, the PMDG one is the top of the stack, and it is certainly the one best able to simulate things going awry, if that kind of thing interests you, because of the way it has been simulated.

 

Both the iFly and the PMDG NGs have the HGS (head up display) simulated, but it's a much more sophisticated simulation of that function in the PMDG one, and there's basically a lot more going on 'under the hood' with the PMDG NG, although to be fair the iFly 737 NG is not exactly dumbed down at least on the face of it, however, where the iFly really scores in comparison to the PMDG NG, is that it is a little bit easier on FPS plus you get the entire range of 737 NGs and BBJs with it (apart from the 900ER, although you do get the 900). The Wilco Evolution 737 is a different variant of 737 of course, and that too comes with a lot of the sub-variant models in the range it simulates (i.e. you get the 300, 400 and 500, both with and without winglets) and it too is a complex and accurate simulation of the Classic 737 variants which runs to a very high frame rate, although an operational difference on the panel of the Classic as opposed to the NGs, is less modern avionics, so you won't be seeing terrain warning displays on a PFD in a Classic 737 as you would on an NG variant.

 

Personally, I think they are all worth having for various merits they offer, which is in fact why I bought all of them. The PMDG one for the most faithful complex simulation of all the systems on the NG (apart from the WX radar), the iFly one for its comprehensive coverage of the NG range at a good price and with pretty high fidelity, and the Wilco EVO for its virtues which are broadly similar to the iFly but with a Classic rather than an NG (and with a radar).

 

You could of course also go for an Original variant, of which there are two available (soon to be three, when MILVIZ release theirs). The Captain Sim 200/200ADV is presenly the more sophisticated of the two available (it too has a radar), the Just Flight 200ADV less so, but still reasonably good. Of course the 200 variant 737s have no FMC, so that would mean you don't have to learn that, and the autopilot is a bit simpler too, and if you already know how to navigate with radio aids, then you can effectively regard the 737-200 as a 'big jet Cessna twin' as far as operational navigational knowledge requirements are concerned, even more so if you flew the smaller 737-100 variants which both CS and JF offer at an extra cost. Both the JF and the CS 737-200s get very good FPS incidentally. Although if you want to simulate modern airline flights, Original 200 series 737s are getting a bit thin on the ground these days.

 

Hope that helps to narrow things down a bit.

 

Al

[Kosta 122]

If iFly or PMDG in terms of frames, it's I think the same thing. They both perform very similarly, and you can tune the NGX to perform better by tuning displays, turning off NG displays, lowering texture quality etc. You can squeeze couple of frames out.

I think you'll be able to run NGX on the airport at about 10-20fps (depending on your settings and scenery), in the air you are looking at 20-25fps I guess.

 

And you should really look into overclocking. It's a shame not to overclock a 2500K.

 

And maybe use my guide to setting up FSX, you might get surprised how well it works.

[jbrett2634 24]

Thanks for the great information!

 

I guess I'll take the plunge and try to OC my system and hopefully not destroy it. As well as break the bank and go with the PMDG NGX. I do like the older models (200/400) but I'll start with PMDG.

[Chock 17,769]

Good choice - just do the tutorial in the manual and you won't struggle with it at all.

 

Al

[audiohavoc 24]

Thanks for the great information!

 

I guess I'll take the plunge and try to OC my system and hopefully not destroy it. As well as break the bank and go with the PMDG NGX. I do like the older models (200/400) but I'll start with PMDG.

 

If you have a good aftermarket CPU cooler, you shouldn't have much trouble getting to the 4.5 to 4.6 Ghz range with your 2500k. Then you will be running the NGX or iFly quite well. In my experience, the PMDG NGX actually runs a little better than the iFly. Also, in my opinion the NGX surpasses the iFly in every area except price and the number of models you get for your money.

[jbrett2634 24]

If you have a good aftermarket CPU cooler, you shouldn't have much trouble getting to the 4.5 to 4.6 Ghz range with your 2500k. Then you will be running the NGX or iFly quite well. In my experience, the PMDG NGX actually runs a little better than the iFly. Also, in my opinion the NGX surpasses the iFly in every area except price and the number of models you get for your money.

 

I've got a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ Evo and I've read where people can get 4.5+ with these. I don't know much about overclocking and my one experience was a bad one (had to purchase a new CPU). I know there is a ton of information out there, I guess I just need to start reading...

 

I have an ASUS Z68 3rd Gen board and have the ASUS Turbo Suite installed that will automatically OC (I believe to around 4.2). Does anyone know if this will work like a true OC? I would feel better using this than manually overclocking.

[MrBenevolent 0]

 

 

I have an ASUS Z68 3rd Gen board and have the ASUS Turbo Suite installed that will automatically OC (I believe to around 4.2). Does anyone know if this will work like a true OC? I would feel better using this than manually overclocking.

 

IME the auto-tune apps tend to push the voltage higher than needed and when I experimented with the function on my ASUS P8P67 deluxe, it also increased the BCLK, which is not really recommended on SandyBridge - you should OC with the multiplier only.

 

So no - I would probably avoid using it!

 

Read the guides and links in the HW forum - they should ease your worries and give you the info you need to OC with confidence. Keep the temps and voltage down and you should be fine.