What is the best combination to enhance Prepared3D?

[hesynergy]

We have a $20 copy of Win8 Pro, a new 27 inch touch monitor and a 500 GB SSD to deploy. What is the best combination to enhance prepared 3-D?

 

1.If Win8 has better touch environment & upgradability to Win10(AND This is huge... directX-12..."At its Siggraph.... http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/187970-directx-12-reduces-power-consumption-by-50-boosts-fps-by-60-in-new-tech-demo ..." DirectX 12 consumed 50% less power than the DirectX 11 version. In a similar demo, the higher efficiency and lower overheads of DX12 allowed for a 60% increase in frame rate over DX11 while consuming the same amount of power. "), split SSD partitions 230 GB Win8 OS, 270GB to fully re-installed P3D, configs,scenery,weather,aircraft.

 

2. Install Win8 on 1/2 SSD as dual boot OS; Complete full P3D 2.4. Partition (image) copy On other half of SSD. By freeing the old drive letter and reassigning to the SSD clone of p3d, everything should work booting from old Win7 Pro.

 

Day to day, boot to Win8Pro. For P3d, boot to old Win7 Pro but launch PDV2.4 from cloned SSD, thus faster access and loading.

 

3. A.Clone current bootable Win7 Pro ~ 180GB To SSD.

B. Clone current I: (PDV2.4 ~260GB) to remainder of SSD.

C. Forget Win 8 for now.

 

4. ?

...5?? your suggestions...

 

 

Chas

[denali]

Based on that article it looks like ms may have finally fixed their very lame fibering model.

[hesynergy]

Based on that article it looks like ms may have finally fixed their very lame fibering model.

But would you be so kind as to offer your opinion re my dilemma?

 

C

[BimmerCop]

Hello Chas,

 

I have no experience with Windows 8, so I can't really help you there. I think your first stop needs to be by NickN's Tuning Bible. Google that up and you will quickly find it. Trust me, if you follow the guide STEP BY STEP, you will end up with an extremely well setup system for both FSX/P3D.

 

Is there any possible way you can perhaps get another drive for Windows? This way you can keep your current SSD for P3D ONLY.

 

I would definitely go without Windows 8, but that is just my opinion.

 

Hopefully, more knowledgable members will chime in with their suggestions.

[hesynergy]

Thanks Efrain!

[Guest]

Partitioning a single SSD will not gain you anything ... you would be better off with two 256GB SSDs.  But, I honestly doubt you'll see any difference with just one fast, good quality 512GB SSD.

 

Win8 ... if you need touch screen it's really your only option.  If not stay with Win7 and wait for Win10 to come out next year.

 

I'm not really sure what the dilemma is about?  Performance wise any of those options will render pretty much the same performance results.  Going from Win7 to Win10 or Win8 to Win10 will be no different ... both should be wiped and installed from scratch.

 

DX12 will benefit the upper end of the GPU scale in terms of performance so long as the developers code for it ... this opens lots of doors in terms of getting the most out of a GPU, but there's no magic that will make a less capable GPU be faster.  I'll disagree that DX12 is all about reduced power consumption ... it's much more than that.  But more graphics processing should be GPU bound and not CPU bound.  As CPU development seems to be focused more on lower clock speeds, less power consumption, and more cores -- this long standing trend/direction Intel/AMD are pursuing doesn't help the paradigm of flight simulation -- there will always be a synchronizing main thread in order for flight to make any logical sense.  BUT, having the GPU do more and more work will help out that main synchronizing thread.

 

There is definitely a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the number of CPU cores and Flight Simulators.  For example I'm almost certain a 4 core CPU running at 5.7Ghz with a much large set of Cache's would perform far better with P3D than a 8 core CPU at 4.3Ghz -- assuming the same chipset and memory bandwidth.

 

I think we'll need to see AMD challenge Intel again for top CPU spot ... sadly, I can't see that happening as it appears AMD have tossed in the towel for top dog CPU performance ... AMD had their day in the sun some years ago, but I'm not seeing that day returning any time soon ... which is unfortunately for all of us as competition is needed.

 

My 2 cents and probably more than you wanted to know and I have no idea if I've answered your question.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[hesynergy]

Partitioning a single SSD will not gain you anything ... you would be better off with two 256GB SSDs. But, I honestly doubt you'll see any difference with just one fast, good quality 512GB SSD.

 

Win8 ... if you need touch screen it's really your only option. If not stay with Win7 and wait for Win10 to come out next year.

 

I'm not really sure what the dilemma is about? ...

 

...My 2 cents and probably more than you wanted to know and I have no idea if I've answered your question.

Wow!...thanks so much Rob!

 

That's a lot to chew on, so I infer:

one 256GB To boot Win7, and one for P3D?

 

BTW windows touch works pretty swimmingly in Win 7Pro -64 ...not sure how much BETTER "touch" is in Win8.1 though...I'm going to be chewing on the rest for a few hours/days…

 

Chas

[jabloomf1230]

My thoughts on this. P3d would be better on a non-OS drive, so 2 smaller SSDs would be a better option than one larger one. But the difference won't be that great, no matter which way you decide to go. Rob is correct. Splitting the larger SSD into two partitions gains you nothing, so don't consider that option at all.

 

As to the OS, Win 8 still has the joystick bug, which can be worked around with FSUIPC. The advantage of Win 8 is that you get a free upgrade to Windows 10, some time during 2015. Else, Win 7 64 bit is fine for running P3d.

[hesynergy]

My thoughts on this. P3d would be better on a non-OS drive, so 2 smaller SSDs would be a better option than one larger one. But the difference won't be that great, no matter which way you decide to go. Rob is correct. Splitting the larger SSD into two partitions gains you nothing, so don't consider that option at all.

 

As to the OS, Win 8 still has the joystick bug, which can be worked around with FSUIPC. The advantage of Win 8 is that you get a free upgrade to Windows 10, some time during 2015. Else, Win 7 64 bit is fine for running P3d.

Thanks for your input!

 

Chas

[Guest]

 

 

one 256GB To boot Win7, and one for P3D?

 

That's the preferred option.  It's a lot easier to migrate a non OS install drive to another larger driver so if your P3D add-ons exceed the 256GB then you can move up to 512GB, etc. etc.

 

I've cloned OS drives before, sometimes it's relatively smooth, sometimes not (triggers all kinds of copy protection schemes with the change in drive GUID).  Just be sure to keep your OS drive with at least 40GB free at all times.

 

Cheers, Rob.