Run FSX on a Win 7 Laptop?

[Cat_Dad 17]

I have not bought a boxed computer in years and do not know if a laptop with win7 will run FSX. I currently have a Q8400 intel with a ati 4650 video card and 2 gb of ram on a 10 year old ADI 19" monitor.

 

Except for all of the fan noise from my 10 year old computer box 6 fans, FSX seems to work ok locked at 30 FPS. I am running XP os.. From what I have read in the forums, win 8 is not a good way to go at this time with FSX and staying with win 7 is much better.

 

Can I get the same or better performance from a laptop computer and then plug in a larger (24 plus inch) monitor) when running FSX?

 

Terry

[Bob Scott 7,719]

Laptops are really a suboptimal platform for FSX...the optimizations made in their design to minimize power consumption and heat typically result in diminished performance in flight sim, which needs a fast CPU and fast 3D graphics pretty much continuously while it's running.

 

Can it be done?  Yes.  Can it be done well?  Not especially, and then only with a very expensive high-end gaming laptop.

 

Regards

[Cat_Dad 17]

Hi Col.

 

  Thank you for both your service in uniform and here on the forum. I understand where you are coming from on the performance and heat problems. I use to work on the F-4E and F-111D flight simulators  and they took a whole room full of electrons and several commercial grade air-conditioning systems to cool them down. Now more power sits on our desk/laps than in those bays.

 

I was hoping to use the laptop for double duty as a gaming platform and have more than just a tablet for around the house needs. Kind of like taking a air superiority fighter and hanging iron bombs on it and expecting it to still shoot down the bad guys.

 

Regards

 

Terry Turner

 

Tsgt, USAF (ret)

CFI, Aircraft Dispatcher

[Bob Scott 7,719]

Hi Col.

 

  Thank you for both your service in uniform and here on the forum. I understand where you are coming from on the performance and heat problems. I use to work on the F-4E and F-111D flight simulators  and they took a whole room full of electrons and several commercial grade air-conditioning systems to cool them down. Now more power sits on our desk/laps than in those bays.

 

I was hoping to use the laptop for double duty as a gaming platform and have more than just a tablet for around the house needs. Kind of like taking a air superiority fighter and hanging iron bombs on it and expecting it to still shoot down the bad guys.

 

Regards

 

Terry Turner

 

Tsgt, USAF (ret)

CFI, Aircraft Dispatcher

 

And thank you for your service, Terry.

 

If you want to run flight sim on a laptop, you might also consider FS9...it actually runs very well on many newer high-end laptops (must have a 3D card and not integrated graphics).  FSX, OTOH, still needs every bit of processing power you can throw at it, and laptops generally make compromises in that processing power to enhance portability and long battery life. 

 

I've tried FSX on a "gaming" laptop, whose weight and power requirements make it more of a portable desktop computer than an on-the-go mobile computing platform, and it ran FSX at a minimally acceptable level in terms of frame rate and image quality, but not nearly as well as a mid-range desktop for far less money.  It might be that two computers--a mid-level desktop for flight sim and a low-end laptop for portable web access etc--might be a cheaper, better solution than a costly high-end laptop capable of running FSX with acceptable performance.

 

Cheers

[Cat_Dad 17]

That is what I have been thinking about since writing the post here yesterday, going to two computers.

 

Terry

[Humpty 751]

I run it on the Satellite L755. It works smooth but you will get the heating issue.  Have tried all types of cooling for the laptop but it does not work.

 

I ran it for a couple of hours and it has also reached 99-100 C  

 

Mine's an i5 2430m with GT525m.

[Planeblogger 11]

 

 

Can it be done?  Yes.  Can it be done well?  Not especially, and then only with a very expensive high-end gaming laptop.

 

Depends on what you call expensive.

 

I have FSX running on a Lenovo Y500:

 

i7 3630QM 3.4 GHz

2x GT650m SLI

1920x1080px 15/6"

16GB RAM (Kingston HyperX)

2X SSD (1x Samsung 840PRO 256GB, 1x 256GB Crucial m4)

 

With FSX in DX10, using the fixer, all sliders maxed except of roadtraffic (=0) and whater (2.x medium), I get about 18-22 FPS at OMDB with 100% traffic in UT2 with the latest schedule while flying the NGX..

 

Temps reach about 88 degrees C, using a laptop cooler.

 

Erik

[jtwhite 36]

What got me back into flight simming and FSX was when I purchased an HP Pavilion G6 laptop a while back. It has a dual core 2.0 GHz processor setup, and I brought the memory up to 8 GB. It ran FSX quite well, and with moderate settings on scenery, Megasceneryearth's 2.0 scenery and frame rates locked at 30. Traffic was set to zero, or course, but hooked to an external monitor, I really had no real problems. It did seem to run a little hot at times, and I only went to a desktop because I got a good deal on craigslist on a quad-core machine.

[mgh 89]

I too have FSX on an HP Pavilion G6 with the standard 4GB of memory and have no problems either with reasonable setting. I don't know if it runs hot because I never bother checking

[wilailuk 7]

FSX on my Asus G73JH, 1920x1080, with an i7 920XM and ATI 5870 runs fine, no problems at all.

Pls. note, I use only the setup and tuning advise from Nick at Simforums.

Heat? Yes, sure, but you can handle it with this one:

 

http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/mobile/notepal-series/notepal-u3.html

 

- or other brands with same power.

[Cat_Dad 17]

Thanks everyone for the input and advice. 

 

Terry

[Humpty 751]

I am running fsx on Satellite, ya she gets hot but I kept the CPU speed to 2.2 Ghz and all scenery settings on Max except water and special effects. 

 

 Of course no addons except Oscars clouds , NL2000 and a couple aircrafts, plus I am trying FSDT Kjfk and I am pulling highs of 29 and lows of 17 and that also barely goes to 17,

 

 

I have coolermaster it may cool everything else but I have not seen a temp drop on my laptop. 

 

 Maybe the Coolermaster U3 would a different and better one for cooling.

[wilailuk 7]

@Ironmaiden: I´ve removed the bottom lid on my G73JH, temps dropped considerably using the U3 on full speed.

[Humpty 751]

@Ironmaiden: I´ve removed the bottom lid on my G73JH, temps dropped considerably using the U3 on full speed.

 

 

LOL, even if I remove the bottom panel on my laptop I would expect the temps to drop. Try it with the lid and post the temp results including at what clock speeds as that would give a better idea.

[Wobbie 938]

Mmmm, I run FS9 & P3D on a i5, 4gb ram with no problems at all, for the last 2 years. I belong to a VA here in Cape Town, & take my laptop along to the meetings with my CH products yoke & pedals. I'm not concerned at all about frames, as we cannot recognise more than 25fpm anyway. As long as things are smooth, I'm happy. So, yes, the sims do run on a laptop.