Hi fellow simmers :smile:

 

I am new to forums so don't really know if i am posting this in the correct place or not so please let me know.

 

I'm wondering if any of you can help me in finding out what kind of graphics card/hardware i need in order to achieve a really good realistic flight simulator... I've been looking online recently and have seen that people have got extremely good graphics even when at mega airports    

 

I struggle at the moment to get good FPS when at LHR (EGLL) even when my setting are extremely low. I have updated my PC over the past couple of years but it still isn't great, what do you guys think i should look at purchasing next?

 

My current specs are:

 

Ram: 4.00GB

AMD FX -4100 Quad Core Processor 3.60GHz

64 Bit Operating System 

NVIDIA GeForce GT640

 

Any ideas on what i can change so that i can get ultra realism?

 

p.s im kinda looking for this kind of level: 

 

thanks for the help in advance !! :smile:

That kind of realism can't be achieved by upgrading your hardware alone... you need various addons, like for the airport, the scenery, the plane, the clouds... absolutely nothing is default in that video. Also don't forget that a lot of realistic video'S have been enhanced in various ways and often look nothing like the sim.

 

Anyway, apart from all that: I don't think it will be useful to upgrade one piece of your hardware: you need a new PC, I think. You should also consider what sim you want to use. Switching to P3D may make things a bit more realistic out of the box already (better lighting system, better performance, etc.).

Hey Louuieg,

 

The Thing that really sticks out for Me Is, You are Way short on Ram, 8gb Min, or as much as You can Afford, or Your MB can handle . this will Help Smooth out Your Graphics . Is Your GT 640 1gb, or 2gb, if You replace Your Graphics Card, Make sure it is at least 2gb . These two Items will increase Your Performance, and Shouldn't Break the Piggy Bank - Johnman  B)

 

 

Hey Louuieg,

 

The Thing that really sticks out for Me Is, You are Way short on Ram, 8gb Min, or as much as You can Afford, or Your MB can handle . this will Help Smooth out Your Graphics . Is Your GT 640 1gb, or 2gb, if You replace Your Graphics Card, Make sure it is at least 2gb . These two Items will increase Your Performance, and Shouldn't Break the Piggy Bank - Johnman  B)

 

 

Yeah, I agree. RAM is way too little. 4GB ain't gonna get you far.

Forget about achieving the appearance of the sim in that video. There is a whole bunch of post production processing going on there including recording the footage at perhaps 1/2 speed because with the setting required to get that level of complexity and AI you will only get about 15 fps. The footage is then speedup X2 in a video processing software making the playback run at normal speed at double the fps. Its a well known trick and it annoys me that those who make FSX and P3D videos using this technique rarely disclose it, tying to make out that they are actually achieving this kind of performance.

 

Unfortunately the other posters here are right. You system is very weak for Flight Sim.

Don't bother getting extra RAM. In your case it will make no difference.

 

If you are not on a budget you should build a new system with all first gen components. i.e. i7 6XXX, GTX1080, DDR4 etc.

 

If you are on a budget you could build a system which is comparable to mine which is now 3 generations old buying used parts. i.e. i7 4770K, GTX 780 etc.

 

if you want to see what is really achievable with this hardware, instead of looking at those faked video, you can check out my Flight Sim YouTube Channel and see real footage videos made on the system outlines above:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRNwgxdkcGFLbACIgLe_6w?view_as=public

 

If you go with the budget option above and you are diligent with your build and setup and lucky with your CPU you should be able to achieve the performance shown in my FSX or P3D videos.

 

To be honest if you go with the 1st gen option I don't think you will do much better.

 

If you are going to build I would recommend the build and optimization guides of NickN over at http://www.simforums.com/forums/hardware-software-and-computer-technology_forum29.html

 

its a lot of work but the results speak for themselves :smile:

 

Bottom line is don't spend any money on your current build it will be wasted. Sell all of the components for what you can get and start a new build.

Forget about achieving the appearance of the sim in that video. There is a whole bunch of post production processing going on there including recording the footage at perhaps 1/2 speed because with the setting required to get that level of complexity and AI you will only get about 15 fps. The footage is then speedup X2 in a video processing software making the playback run at normal speed at double the fps. Its a well known trick and it annoys me that those who make FSX and P3D videos using this technique rarely disclose it, tying to make out that they are actually achieving this kind of performance. Unfortunately the other posters here are right. You system is very weak for Flight Sim.Don't bother getting extra RAM. In your case it will make no difference. If you are not on a budget you should build a new system with all first gen components. i.e. i7 6XXX, GTX1080, DDR4 etc. If you are on a budget you could build a system which is comparable to mine which is now 3 generations old buying used parts. i.e. i7 4770K, GTX 780 etc. if you want to see what is really achievable with this hardware, instead of looking at those faked video, you can check out my Flight Sim YouTube Channel and see real footage videos made on the system outlines above: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRNwgxdkcGFLbACIgLe_6w?view_as=public If you go with the budget option above and you are diligent with your build and setup and lucky with your CPU you should be able to achieve the performance shown in my FSX or P3D videos. To be honest if you go with the 1st gen option I don't think you will do much better. If you are going to build I would recommend the build and optimization guides of NickN over at http://www.simforums.com/forums/hardware-software-and-computer-technology_forum29.html its a lot of work but the results speak for themselves :smile: Bottom line is don't spend any money on your current build it will be wasted. Sell all of the components for what you can get and start a new build.

 

 

Thanks for the advice, I have been looking into getting a new PC, what's your opinion on this one?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B017XQM10A/ref=mp_s_a_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1479027397&sr=8-34π=AC_SX280_SY350_QL65&keywords=pc+computer

Yeah, I agree. RAM is way too little. 4GB ain't gonna get you far.

 

 

 

Hey Louuieg, The Thing that really sticks out for Me Is, You are Way short on Ram, 8gb Min, or as much as You can Afford, or Your MB can handle . this will Help Smooth out Your Graphics . Is Your GT 640 1gb, or 2gb, if You replace Your Graphics Card, Make sure it is at least 2gb . These two Items will increase Your Performance, and Shouldn't Break the Piggy Bank - Johnman  B)

 

That kind of realism can't be achieved by upgrading your hardware alone... you need various addons, like for the airport, the scenery, the plane, the clouds... absolutely nothing is default in that video. Also don't forget that a lot of realistic video'S have been enhanced in various ways and often look nothing like the sim.Anyway, apart from all that: I don't think it will be useful to upgrade one piece of your hardware: you need a new PC, I think. You should also consider what sim you want to use. Switching to P3D may make things a bit more realistic out of the box already (better lighting system, better performance, etc.).

 

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I will just get a new PC with better specs, I'm not to great with the techy side of FSX, what's your opinions on this system:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B017XQM10A/ref=mp_s_a_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1479027397&sr=8-34π=AC_SX280_SY350_QL65&keywords=pc+computer

 

 

Thanks for the advice, I have been looking into getting a new PC, what's your opinion on this one?

https://www.amazon.c...rds=pc computer

 

Stay well away from anything AMD,

FSX/P3D run far better on Intel CPU's and Nvidia GPU's, that's always been the case

I just purchased a machine at Best Buy that was a No Name  called IBuyPower. Started researching it and was surprised a how well it was built up:

 

MSI System Board

I-7 Processor 3.4 GB Turbo to 4.0

8 GB DDR4 2133 Ram

Nvidia GTX 1070 with 8 GB

700 Watt Power Supply

120GB SSD

1 TB HDD

 

System was priced at  $ 1149 US

 

Fresh Install of FSX-SE set itself at Ultra High settings.

Ran in the 45-65 FPS with just the clean install, even at Las Vegas and Chicago

Loaded up all my ORBX and Aircraft and still holding decent FPS. I will have to back off some of the settings, but very happy overall. I will add another * GB of system RAM.

 

Les

 

 

 

I will add another * GB of system RAM.

 

Les

Unless it's for something other than FSX, I wouldn't bother. As it's a 32bit program, FSX can only access 4GB RAM so anything in excess of that is only used by other running programs or background processes. Have a look in Task Manager whilst FSX is running to check how much physical memory is being used. Stopping anything non-essential before starting FSX is always a good idea anyway, irrespective of how much memory you have, just so that nothing is using up additional CPU capacity.

+1 Stay away from AMD and Radeon. FSX/P3D call for Intel CPU and Nvidia graphics cards. My advice is to build your own system from either new or used parts or a combination of both. It's not rocket science so long as you follow the guides.

Learning to fly fly in Flight Sim following real world procedure is far more demanding and complex :smile:

The recommendation above for the Haswell processor (i7-4770K) is spot on, though I'd recommend the 4790K (barely costs more than the 4790K).  Top of the line processor, handles FSX wonderfully and will save you some money over the new processors.  It's easy enough to compare the processors on the Internet, so I won't create a long post with a spec comparison. Of course if money is no object, then go with a later processor (though I still run a Haswell on my computer, and have absolutely no plans to change it).

 

For RAM, you'll need to remember that the motherboard will have two memory busses, so with two DIMMs you'll need to place one on each, and if you want more than you'll want to increase the DIMMs by 2 (not 3).

 

My preference these days has been with Gigabyte motherboards, with #2 being ASUS.  MSI also produce quality boards.

 

Given the investment in hardware, I'd like to stress my recommendation for using a Water Cooler.  It will allow your processor to run far cooler, not only extending it's life but also providing a smooth sim experience.  After a minimum of 3 months (I recommend a year) you can also overclock the processor and the watercooler will help out tremendously with heat and stability. Note however that I don't overclock, but I do use the Gigabyte software to run my i7-4770K in Turbo mode up to 4.5GHz.

 

Regarding the operating system, I've marked a tremendous increase in frame rates when moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  Now, I run a 55 inch 4K as my main monitor, with three 23 inch LCD monitors, all on a single GTX960 (the lower end of the 900 Series graphics cards).  On Windows 7, I would only get 6 to 12fps on the 4K and had to reduce the FSX and P3D window by 40% of full size in order to achieve more than 20fps. Moving to Windows 10, I nailed 139+ fps with the P3D default ISIS F-22 at Eglin AFB.  Forgive me, but I won't specifically recall the fps with the myrid of payware airliners, but it was significantly better than under Windows 7.  I kept my system in dual boot (Windows 7 or Windows 10) for over a month for comparative testing, and both FSX and P3D ran significantly better under Windows 10.  So much so that I eventually formatted over my Windows 7 installation.

 

For graphics cards, I'm of the opinion that NVIDIA still produces better graphics for FSX and P3D, though ATI seems to be closing the gap.  For NVIDIA, you'll want at least a 900 Series card if you ever want to run a 4K TV which I highly recommend especially with the prices dropping so fast.  For size, I recommend around a 40 inch. I purchased a Samsung 55 inch with Premium HDR only because it was on sale, and truth be told it's a little too large - which is why I recommend 40-ish inches.  It honestly changes your flight sim experience.  NOTE:  Only certain brand 4K (6K or even 8K) T.V.s are compatible with FSX/P3D.  Search the forums here at AVSIM for 4K TV and you'll find some excellent posts and guides for the requirements.  That said, any new Samsung or LG should be fine, but it's always best to confirm.

 

I sincerely hope this has been helpful, and extend to you my very best wishes.

I disagree on the Haswell, better go for Skylake. Also don't bother upgrading that system.

 

If money is not an issue:
 

i7 6700K
Z170 chipset motherboard
GTX 1080
16GB+ RAM 3000 MHz+ 
SSD
Watercooling

Overclock that to 5 GHz. 

 

Never get below 30 FPS again, assuming you don't throw crazy amounts of AI traffic at it.

 

It's also important to think ahead of what you will be running in a few years. FSX will be dead soon, and people will be using XPlane or P3D. In a future in those sims, you will benefit a lot more from a proper video card than you would now in FSX.

 

Don't be fooled by these "ultra realistic" videos. They are edited and FSX doesn't look like that all, no matter what add-on you use.