Hello Everyone! Need some input please

[Saucey12 38]

I want to introduce myself:  My name is Jason and I have been out of the sim world for about ten years.  My last experience was FS9, with my old PC that I had built from the ground up.  I loved FS9.  I fell out of the sim world over the past decade because I have been busy trying to get my career on track, yada yada.  Well I am now ready to reenter the world that I loved.  I know that there has been a lot of changes in technology since my day of flight sim and I'm attempting to catch back up. I am hoping that I can connect with people on here to get their input and help.  I would appreciate the conversation and help.  I am not a big techie type person,  I do not know how to write computer code or anything like that, I've never painted my own livere or anything like that.  I know a lot about aviation and flying, just not about the in depth computer technical world.  I will explain what I would like to do point by point and I welcome any suggestions or input that you guys could offer!

 

I am going to build a new computer from the ground up with a good processor, the best video card I can get, and buy myself a good monitor or two.  Here is where I need suggestions:

 

I am into both private and commercial aviation aircraft.  Not really the type that is into the combat sim thing.  Mostly old and new GA and airline aircraft.  Would FS10 be my best option as far as being able to download and incorporate new aircraft into the program?  I know that you must pay for the well designed ones that work well and efficiently and I'd be willing to invest in that down the road. 

 

Also.. The OS of the computer.. I will have a Windows OS.  Do you guys think that Windows 10 will run the sim programs as well as Win 7 or 8 does?  Because if there's any doubts I want to be sure and get a copy of the older Windows OS before much time passes.  

 

And as far as the video card is concerned.. Is the most expensive and latest Geoforce with 4gb of vram the best I can expect for a new PC I am building?  

 

Keep in mind that when you talk to me I do have a good understanding of computer terms, but I am by far a pro LOL, now if you are talking real aviation lingo, chances are I will understand just fine.  

 

I look forward to hearing from some of you!

 

Thanks,

Jason

[cat 2]

I have a new computer 5 months old. Stuck with Win7, which goes really well. I have a

500 gig flash drive, which makes FSX extremely fast. As you say, buy the fastest computer & video card you can afford. Elsewhere people are having good success with Win10.

I use PIC737 Evolution, which is good, also FSrealWX, which is very good for weather.

Make sure when you begin to install, that you thoroughly test every new

addon, to avoid troubles later, when you can't find out what, is causing some significant

failure!

Good luck,

Peter Sydney  Australia

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

At present, the recommended configuration is

 

i7-6700K CPU,  G.SKill Ripjaws RAM, and your choice of GTX 970 or 980i GPU (depending on your budget).

 

Suitable motherboard: Asus Z170-A.

 

Least problematic OS:  Win7-64

 

Many also report good results with Win10.

 

Read this:  http://www.avsim.com/topic/488409-windows-7-or-10/#entry3419405

 

FSX may be old, but still very popular and lots of addon aircraft available.. some have moved to P3D.

[Saucey12 38]

Thank you so much guys.  I am going to be buying this new rig piece by piece.  Now as far as FSX is concerned, is one version better than the other?  I was planning on getting the gold edition of FSX.

[Boeing or not going 578]

If money and some compatibility issues with payware is not a large problem. Go with P3D for the most bug free and better environment.

 

FSX Steam has compatibility with almost every big payware and freeware product out there. And some bug fixes. You can get this on Steam sales for 4.99

 

FSX Gold I do not recommend as a platform unless you have products that will not work with FSX Steam. I upgraded to Win10 Pro and do not have an issue it is more stable for my setup. Make sure your user account is an administrator and make sure you install FSX/P3D to a folder outside the c:\program files folder and give your user account full permissions. P3D requires setting the exe and any addon exe's to compatibility mode set as administrator, I think Steam too. FSX Gold I run without compatibility permission changes.

[SKEWR 364]

HI Saucey.

 

Some swear by Win7, but I'm doing fine on Win10 x64

 

For the setup, I echo most of Bert's suggestions above with the exception of getting the GTX1080 graphics card.

 

Sim choice? Check into P3D v3. Some swear by it, but ti hasn't worked as well on my aging system. I hear that FSX:Steam Edition is a better running version (via an update to some parts of it's inner workings) of FSX Gold.

 

Enjoy!

[Saucey12 38]

HI Saucey.

 

Some swear by Win7, but I'm doing fine on Win10 x64

 

For the setup, I echo most of Bert's suggestions above with the exception of getting the GTX1080 graphics card.

 

Sim choice? Check into P3D v3. Some swear by it, but ti hasn't worked as well on my aging system. I hear that FSX:Steam Edition is a better running version (via an update to some parts of it's inner workings) of FSX Gold.

 

Enjoy!

So the Steam edition is gonna be more compatibly with any ad-on scenery, aircraft, weather, etc that I may chose to get down the road? I had no idea what steam was until i recently began reading things on here.  Is it some gaming share community for flight sims and all other types of games?  You know how convoluted things can be on the internet when researching items sometimes..

[SKEWR 364]

Yes FSX :SE (Steam edition) is compatible with everything I'm aware of.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

So the Steam edition is gonna be more compatibly with any ad-on scenery, aircraft, weather, etc that I may chose to get down the road? I had no idea what steam was until i recently began reading things on here.  Is it some gaming share community for flight sims and all other types of games?  You know how convoluted things can be on the internet when researching items sometimes..

 

FSX Gold is just as compatible with addons as the Steam edition, if not more.

 

It is just hard to find a copy these days..

Yes FSX :SE (Steam edition) is compatible with everything I'm aware of.

 

With some exceptions like the Reality XP set of products..

For the setup, I echo most of Bert's suggestions above with the exception of getting the GTX1080 graphics card.

 

 

The GTX1080 is a LOT more money... and total overkill for FSX..

[Boeing or not going 578]

I like the 1070 the best thing in my opinion is the large decrease in energy usage in the nextgen cards. P3d may do aliasing of clouds faster.

[Saucey12 38]

FSX Gold is just as compatible with addons as the Steam edition, if not more.

 

It is just hard to find a copy these days..

 

With some exceptions like the Reality XP set of products..

 

The GTX1080 is a LOT more money... and total overkill for FSX..

Yea I pretty get that the consensus is that FSX leans on the cpu more so than the graphics card.  Ten years ago it was essential to have the best graphics card you could get to run FS9, 

[martin-w 3,234]

Ten years ago it was essential to have the best graphics card you could get to run FS9, 

 

 

 

Nope, FS9 was CPU bound too.

 

Graphics card helps, but it was, and still is about CPU power.

 

P3D is a different story and nudges somewhat more in the direction of graphics card.

[SteveW 1,792]

At present, the recommended configuration is

 

i7-6700K CPU,  G.SKill Ripjaws RAM, and your choice of GTX 970 or 980i GPU (depending on your budget).

 

Suitable motherboard: Asus Z170-A.

 

Least problematic OS:  Win7-64

 

Many also report good results with Win10.

 

Read this:  http://www.avsim.com/topic/488409-windows-7-or-10/#entry3419405

 

FSX may be old, but still very popular and lots of addon aircraft available.. some have moved to P3D.

Good post Bert.

 

 

If you wait a few months (maybe longer) there's some new CPUs coming out, and the new NVidia GPU GTX1080 is just arriving.

[Wobbie 937]

So, Steam is just a software distribution site.

FSX Gold - about 10 years old.. Development frozen

FSX: SE Steam edition - same as FSX Gold, re-distributed by Dovetail Gamining via Steam, BUT with tweaks to make it run on more modern PC's .. Development frozen

P3D (or Prepar3d) - Built on ESP, Microsoft's professional/commercial version of FSX... under constant development. About 7-8 upgrades/updates as campared to FSX. There are some compatibility issues & should be regarded as a brand new sim & not an upgrade of FSX. See the Prepar3d site for more info.

 

Then there is Dovetail's new sim that we nothing about. It will be based of FSX but with no backward compatibility as according to their spokesman. Unlike the others, it will be 64bit & DX11. The advantages of which are speculated at this stage, as the sim will/may only be realeased next year or the following year.

 

So, do you go for a 10 year old frozen developed sim, or something more updated & with constand development? Add-ons are freely available for all.