We are looking at upgrading our PC, as we have been running Fs2004 on quite an old but good desktop PC for a while now but we are torn between two choices and wonder if anyone could aid us in our decision.

The first PC is a Acer aspire TC-705 i7-4790

Quad core 3.6GHz 8gb, memory 12gb,

graphics AMD Radeon R7-740 2gb

And the second is a Asus M51BC Amd fx8300 processor

3.3GHz 8GB, memory 12gb,

graphics AMDRadeon R9 255 2gb.

I would like to hear any opinions on these pc's, particularly on how well fs2004 is reproduced on them, as this is all that we use use it for. I understand there must be some limitations as to how good that the game will get as it was created so long ago, so it would great if anyone could offer their opinions or comparisons on these two pc's.

Thanks in advance

Charlotte

FS9 will storm along on a modern PC. All specs ok but on a personal level would prefer to see NVIDIA graphics.

Charlotte unfortunately store-bought PC's are predicated on profit, not sense.

 

Whilst I agree with dogtrack in that either will run FS9 adequately ... and I note running the sim is all you intend to do on it ... both choices are flawed.

 

8 megs ram are more than sufficient.  the AMD R7 graphics card is now superceded by the R9 range.  As dogtrack noted nVidia is still the preferred card for FS9 ... not necessarily P3D however.  -_-

 

If you have not already so I would suggest you explore the Hardware forum here on AVsim and pay particular attention to the Motherboard,CPU as well as Monitors,Video Card sub-forums.

 

Remember FS9 was released in 2003 when hardware was much inferior.  Any modern computer will 'smoke' your sim.  Tuning, or harmonisation, is icing on the cake.  Unfortunately there are many opinions how best to accomplish this.  :rolleyes:

 

Whatever you do ensure FS9 is made Large Address Aware (Google it) and the 3mg/4mg patch is applied over Microsoft's 9.1 patch.

Both of those will do great with FS9. Im temporarily (until i get a new FSX/P3D machine) running FS9 on a 12.5" Lenovo X230 connected to an external display. I7-3520M mobile processor, HD 4000 integrated graphics, 8GB ram and it does just fine even with REX clouds and PMDG 747.

You don't really need a whole lot to run FS9. I have it installed on my Surface Pro, running an "Intel HD Graphics Family" GPU with an i5 at 1.9 Ghz, and it runs like a dream at all but the most crowded of airports. I'm assuming that any modern desktop computer will run it beautifully. Your choice of FS9 over FSX or Xplane is probably wise, as you'll undoubtedly save a lot of money on hardware.  

Whatever you do ensure FS9 is made Large Address Aware (Google it) and the 3mg/4mg patch is applied over Microsoft's 9.1 patch.

 

I wonder if you could enlighten me on what you are referring to with the 3mg/4mg patch and where to find it?

Regards Charlotte

I wonder if you could enlighten me on what you are referring to with the 3mg/4mg patch and where to find it?

Regards Charlotte

 

Hi Charlotte,

It allows FS9 to use up to 4gigs of memory.  32 bit applications like FS9 normally run on less memory.

I'm looking for the patch as I type this but can't seem to find it.  If somebody knows a reliable source, can you please post a link?

Hi Charlotte.

 

http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

and

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/

(Download at bottom left.)

 

Also read here ...

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/340076-migrating-fs9-from-xp-32bit-to-windows-7-64bit/

 

 

so is it worth it?

 

Yes.  

 

 

Why?

 

Why not!

 

Well we know that the lack of VAS in FSX and P3D is causing no end of OOM's, particularly as developers strive for even more realism and up the size of texture sets.  To a large extent FS9 has been isolated from this until a few years ago.  Certainly the arrival of Win 7/64 delayed these effects but Jon if you tote up the number of utilities many simmers run in conjunction with FS9 then taking into account highly detailed airports such as Aerosoft's Heathrow EGLL and iFly's 747-400 (bearing in mind airports enroute are also loaded into VAS) standard FS9 would choke.  

 

We don't know the type of simming Charlotte indulges in but it is well she prepares their new computer to cope with the future.

Thank you Appliance for your helpful advice, I will certainly look to install this patch. Flight simming is something my Dad and I did back in roughly 1999 with MSFS98, but only 18 months or so ago took it up again with fs2004. It is absolutely mind-blowing the progression it has undertaken, there is that much to add with aircraft and sceneries etc. that I think FSX or further is a long way into the future. We still have so much more to explore and try yet, despite having a pretty impressive 'hanger' of aircraft and good scenery.

Thank you all once again.

Charlotte