Hi everyone, I haven't been on here or simming since 2008! So I have a few questions.

 

First, whats changed?!

 

I need to build a new PC or laptop, whats the best sim, fsx or xplane these days?

 

Can anyone also get me up to date with the latest and best cpus etc for xplane/fsx?

 

I was away because I was taking flying lessons!

 

Cheers

Ian

You will get many different answers ;-)

if you're in a hurry get an i7 3750k or 3770k on a z77 board. I can recommend asus maximus v formula, very OC friendly setup. Get Flightsim on an SSD, eventually OS too.

I need to build a new PC or laptop, whats the best sim, fsx or xplane these days?

 

Congrats on your training!

 

I'm really not the guy to respond to the 'what's the best sim' question since I don't use XP, but I think we are starting to come to a crossroads as to which direction a new/returing simmer might want to come in at. FSX is hamstrung by old code that is not 64-bit, not optimized for multicore hardware, limited in memory utilization, and unable to utilize current graphical APIs well (such as DirectX 11 or its OGL equivalent). Xplane 64-bit isn't limited by any of these. However, FSX will offer a lot more in terms of available add ons right now. This begs the question of whether or not you want to spend a lot of money & time on a dying platform, or jump into one that appears to have much more upside potential. Lockheed Martin purchased the code for FSX and have converted it into Prepar3D, and there is rumor version 2 will add some additional functionality, maybe DX11, doubtful 64-bit, but also the licensing emphasis for P3D is for commercial/training use over 'entertainment' per se. This last piece may not really be relevant but it does come up in discussions on P3D's future. It currently uses many/most addons made for FSX.

FSX is also more realistically interactive with the "world" thanks to add-ons and native menus. It has a lot of entertaining missions for when you want to take a break from your own planned A to B flights. My reference is comparing to X-Plane 9. And concidering the vast ammount of add-ons and FSX users I'd say that FSX is dying a very slow death.

In terms of flight dynamics X-Plane gives you a more realistic feel in small GA aircraft at least (the overall limits of my use in XP).

Short version, must tuck in son :-)

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

What about this:-

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/410027-chillblast-fusion-gtx3000-gaming-pc-ivygtx3000w8

 

Is it good enough, and is it a good price?

Yes but they're skimping on quality RAM (too slow timings) and the video card is a little lower than what I'd get ( I'd get a GTX670).

 

I don't know the conversion but you can spend around 1500 USD on a near top of the line system for FSX or XP10.

 

 

I'd also like a SSD, the faster boot and load times just makes the whole computing experience so much nicer, I'd never go back to a mechanical drive for anything other than data storage.