Having switched to XP10 over a year ago, I've never looked back at FSX.   X-plane has a few warts, but still gives me more of what I want out of a Flight simulator than FSX did. Not that FSX was bad. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed it for 7 years and bought tons of Add-ons for FSX, but it was time to move on and try something new.

 

As for the question on GPU importance, Both the CPU and GPU are important in XP10.  In FSX, a very expensive GPU would not do a whole lot for performance unless you’re making a major jump (like going from a 10 year old video card to a top of the line current card). In XPX, the GPU plays a much more important role. You will want something with a decent size amount of VRAM (AT least 2GB VRAM but better to get 4GB). Now that we have a 64 bit version of XP, don't skimp on the Ram either.

 

Take your time with X-plane and download lots of Freeware add-on airports and stuff from AVSIM, X-pilot.com, X-Plane.org and Simheaven. Don't forget Aipilotx's mesh. All of this will take X-plane X to a new level. You can also recycle some of your FSX stuff using FS2XP although only some stuff converts well.

 

I have bought and downloaded so much stuff (both freeware & Payware) over the last year, It’s hard to find an airport without airport building’s on it, and the autogen looks amazing especially with simheavens OSM stuff. Here are some examples.

 

Play around with the settings, Set everything to low and work up from there until you find what works best for your system.

 

Rob 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats great! And what about the CPU overclock? Right now mine is at 4.3ghz which is getting me 75°c+ under load so I would like to reduce it if possible, unless it will decrease my performance. 

Good luck with that!

 

See you back in the FSX section, after the novelty has worn off, and the frustration kicks in!

There is a grain of truth in this statement, as XP10 isn't all that different than FSX or P3d. Some people are going to respond and say, "How could it be different? It's a PC-based flight simulator." But that's really the point.

 

Is there anything "frustrating" about using XP10? I don't see it. Its GUI is more intuitive and diverse than its competition. It runs fine under Win8 and it supports a good range of hardware. It has an active beta program, which is more than can be said for the deceased FSX and P3d, which doesn't get updated at frequent intervals.

 

The major difference that I have noticed is that if you have a high end GPU, with XP10, you never have to worry about frame rates. For some setups, that's a major consideration and cancels out the advantage that FSX/P3d both have with their large array of 3rd party add-ons.

5) Do you like to fly rotary wing? Ten X-Plane10 beats hands down any add-on you can have for FSX.

If you really like to fly rotary wing - go for DCS.

Yes I use HDR and all "special effects" on, except the silly "deers" and water effects (because I don´t like how it looks at night - the star reflex on water is awful). Anisotropic-filter at 16x, anti-aliasing at "4X SSAA+FXAA", texture resolution "extreme res", world detail distance "very high", airport detail "extreme", shadow detail "global(high)", number of trees "populated", number of objects "too many", number of roads "extreme", number of cars "New York Burrough", cloud detail 80%.

 

Plane add-ons have shown less FPS impact than in FSX.

 

I don´t know how the Radeon 6870 performs on XP. I've been using NVIDIA on my flight sims for decades.

 

Im actually going to buy that card. Do you use HDR? What about plane addons? And do you think i will see an improvement from my HD 6870?

Not mentioned above, is the ability to design your own airports onto the areas that are not populated in X-Plane.  The free program, WED, is a CAD based program which allows you to build your airport to reasonably represent the ones you fly in and out of.  This, to me, is one of the beauties of X-Plane.. When you invest a small amount of time in WED, you end up with something that looks familiar as opposed to the generic airports in FSX.

 

John

Yes I use HDR and all "special effects" on, except the silly "deers" and water effects (because I don´t like how it looks at night - the star reflex on water is awful). Anisotropic-filter at 16x, anti-aliasing at "4X SSAA+FXAA", texture resolution "extreme res", world detail distance "very high", airport detail "extreme", shadow detail "global(high)", number of trees "populated", number of objects "too many", number of roads "extreme", number of cars "New York Burrough", cloud detail 80%.

 

Plane add-ons have shown less FPS impact than in FSX.

 

I don´t know how the Radeon 6870 performs on XP. I've been using NVIDIA on my flight sims for decades.

Judging by what your running and if your getting good frames, I should see a HUGE improvement. 

Not mentioned above, is the ability to design your own airports onto the areas that are not populated in X-Plane.  The free program, WED, is a CAD based program which allows you to build your airport to reasonably represent the ones you fly in and out of.  This, to me, is one of the beauties of X-Plane.. When you invest a small amount of time in WED, you end up with something that looks familiar as opposed to the generic airports in FSX.

 

John

Yes ive heard of that. Is it user friendly? I know there were ways to develop scenery for FSX but there were a lot of programs needed and it was quite complicated. 

Artie,

 

There is a learning curve but it is not that hard.  Hey, I'm 70 years old and figured it out with a little help from the guys on this board.  If you run into a problem, just ask.  You will get an answer without being ridiculed.

 

John

Thanks!

CPU overclock is a must no matter what flight simulator you use. My CPU default clock is 3.6Ghz with 4 cores at full speed. I'm running overclocked at 4662MHz with 4 cores at full speed. A 29.5% gain with a "cheap" i7-3820.

 

In addition, a have enabled PCI-E 3.0 using the enabler program from NVIDIA, which gives me extra FPS.

Thats great! And what about the CPU overclock? Right now mine is at 4.3ghz which is getting me 75°c+ under load so I would like to reduce it if possible, unless it will decrease my performance.

"What is dead may never die."

 

:lol:

 

"What is dead may never die."

 

:lol:

How can it be dead, it is still being developed.

It would be really great if P3D comes in 64-bit, fully multi-threading capable, better lighting model (at night), non flat runways, cloud shadows, etc. I would buy it! But I have no hope. Sorry. :cray:

 

That's what they said about MS Flight.