hello guys umm im new to pc flight sims and i was looking at a laptop thats older but has pretty good specs and i wanted to know if it would run fsx 

2.50GHz Intel Core i5 3210M dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM

320GB hard drive 

 

thanks,

2 hours ago, flairlite said:

hello guys umm im new to pc flight sims and i was looking at a laptop thats older but has pretty good specs and i wanted to know if it would run fsx 

2.50GHz Intel Core i5 3210M dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM

320GB hard drive 

 

thanks,

That's pretty low spec to run FSX at a reasonable level of enjoyment, but it depends on if you plan to leave it stock or add payware planes, addon scenery, etc. If you want to run it stock, with low settings it will work but don't expect to be able to add much without turning it into a slide show. You'd probably be better off with FS9 if you have the disks or can buy a copy of it.

For FSX you'd need at least the following to get acceptable performance, especially if you want to add planes, airports, AI packages, etc.

64 bit OS, ie Win7 or Win10 and 8GB RAM

CPU with at least 3.0 or higher clock speed, preferably 3.5 or higher

2 GB video card 

I run an older 2700K at 3.85, 8GB RAM, 2 GB GTX670 video card and Win7 64bit. I have the sim loaded with all the PMDG planes, tons of addon scenery, AI and utilities and it runs great, no issues.

If you do decide to try, but the FSX Steam Edition. Sometimes it's on sale for as little as $5 if I recall. Not too much to invest if it doesn't work out for you.

Here's the original specs from MS

Here are the Microsoft Flight Simulator X system requirements (minimum)

    CPU: Pentium III/Athlon or better
    CPU SPEED: 1 GHz
    RAM: 256 MB for Windows XP, 512 MB for Windows Vista
    OS: Windows XP
    VIDEO CARD: 32 MB 100% DirectX 9.0c video card with Pixel Shader 2.0
    DIRECTX VERSION: 9.0c
    SOUND CARD: Yes
    FREE DISK SPACE: 14 GB
    DVD-ROM: Yes

Microsoft Flight Simulator X Recommended Requirements

    CPU: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
    CPU SPEED: 2.4 GHz
    RAM: 512 MB
    OS: Windows XP
    VIDEO CARD: 256 MB 100% DirectX 9.0c video card (NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better)
    DIRECTX VERSION: 9.0c
    SOUND CARD: Yes
    FREE DISK SPACE: 14 GB
    DVD-ROM: Yes

@cmpbellsjc what pc or laptop do u have

9 hours ago, JustanotherPilot said:

Here's the original specs from MS

But those specs were to run the default FSX without any modern add-ons.

Remember also that the resolution you intend to run it at makes a big difference to how well it will perform. Without mentioning the resolution, it's meaningless to say "it runs great for me" - a system which runs FSX well at full HD or less may well be rubbish at QHD or 4k.

1 hour ago, vortex681 said:

But those specs were to run the default FSX without any modern add-ons.

Remember also that the resolution you intend to run it at makes a big difference to how well it will perform. Without mentioning the resolution, it's meaningless to say "it runs great for me" - a system which runs FSX well at full HD or less may well be rubbish at QHD or 4k.

Merely a guide as quoted by Microsoft, they are their recommendations, not mine.

5 hours ago, flairlite said:

@cmpbellsjc what pc or laptop do u have

It's a PC but not a brand name. I picked out all the components and had it built a few years ago. It's usually much cheaper to do it this way than to buy an off the shelf name brand computer. The last name brand computer I had was a Dell back in the early 2000's. When it was time to upgrade I wanted to change certain parts only to find out some parts were proprietary and couldn't really be replaced with better after market components like large power supplies, etc. I was going to buy another newer, faster Dell, but they were really expensive at the time. I found I could go to a computer shop or online shop, pick out all the components I wanted and either build it myself or have it assembled for a much lower cost. So that's what I've done ever since and have been very happy with the last two builds.

BTW, I wouldn't go by the minimum or recommended computer specs that are listed for FSX. You really need a more powerful rig than what they say will work.

On 10/4/2017 at 11:42 PM, flairlite said:

hello guys umm im new to pc flight sims and i was looking at a laptop thats older but has pretty good specs and i wanted to know if it would run fsx 

2.50GHz Intel Core i5 3210M dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM

320GB hard drive 

 

thanks,

That PC may run FSX, but I would not add on any scenery, weather, complex aircraft, or air traffic programs.   I expect you will also need to keep the scenery settings and AI traffic to a minimum.  The video card does make a difference.  Many laptop PC's use Intel integrated graphics, which is about the worst available, and actually uses the PC RAM as its video RAM, again, that is a really bad combination.