Hi all,

 

 I am going to being building a dedicated rig for my flight sim, right now I use FSX gold on my laptop. The only add on's I have is A2A 180 cherokee, iFly 737 and Active sky next. So as you see not a lot invested. My question and it's not really a what's better P3d or FSX but if you had to start from scratch which would you choose.

 

Just wondering if with not a lot invested P3d would be the way to go.

 

Thanks,

 

Ed M.

I suggest that first up, consider your budget. P3D is going to cost you a little and I presume you already have FSX. If money is no issue, the P3D is the future right now and the best way to go. That said, it still carries some of the FSX bugs along with it, so don't think it is perfect. There are plenty posts here on Avsim about P3D crashing, VAS issues etc. ( I still use FSX but will be making the change with the next system upgrade).

 

Coming back to the budget, spend the max you can on your system. For example, if you are going to buy down on your new PC to be able to accommodate P3D, that is in my opinion, a very bad idea.

 

If going the FSX route, strongly advise getting the DX 10 fixer also, brings FSX a lot closer to P3D.

Well, if you are building a new rig with modern GPU, I'm not sure why you'd go for FSX. P3D already makes better use of the GPU than FSX ever did, and this is only likely to improve.

 

Beyond that, it's just the usual P3D/FSX debate which will rage on forever. You will have to re-buy the C180, but ASN should be free, not sure about iFly.

 

But as Greg said, buy the system you want first, don't compromise it for P3D costs, it will still be there when budget allows.

Thanks guys. I am not looking to stir the pot on which is better just looking to get a feel for which road to take. I see pro's and con's for both but leaning towards P3d because of the support and the continued support for the future.

 

I like FSX and if I wasn't using maxing my laptop to run it I would stick with it but with "starting over" with a new rig and not a lot invested at this time I think P3d should be the way I should go for now and 10 years from now.

 

thanks again for your input.

 

Ed M.

Good luck, Ed, with your decision. I really think that you have made the right decision, with the right reasons. In 10 years time, P3D will have really matured, FSX will be 20 years old!!

I'm still running both. Quite a few add-on makers are providing multi-installers now so P3D and FSX can quite happily co-exist on the same machine and even share most scenery assets (so the space premium of a dual system isn't a big deal either.)

My take is that MicroSoft is done with FSX, LM is still actively developing P3D.  My next computer will most likely be geared towards P3D unless Dovetail Games comes out with a 64-bit version of FSX.

Stans, while correct. Microsoft has been 'done' with gaming ever since they closed their Aces Gaming Studio about 6 years ago, could even be longer. We will probably never see a 64bit version of FSX, as Dovetail only had a license to redistribute FSX with so called slight modifications, without Modding the main core of the game. We are all waiting to see what their own sim is like,probably, as they use Steam as an outlet, it will be targeted at gamers, as flight simmers are probably a very small niche market of theirs.64bit? Well,all addons will probably have to be rewritten. Try X-Plane if you want a 64 bit game.