Assuming one has the capable hardware...

v4 will have the better visuals - Lockheed improved the atmosphere and ambience of the sim in v4 with their lighting and volumetric fog improvements. There's also the 64-bit nature of v4 which helps anyone with memory pressures and the willingness to (re-)invest in 64-bit addons.

v3 has a much higher degree of addon compatibility. Being the last 32-bit version, it will still run a good chunk of addons which theoretically are FSX-only, plus others that are P3D ready but haven't yet been bumped up to v4.

If you're going into Prepar3D with the hopes of using as much of your existing FSX library as possible, v3 may be your best bet.

If you're OK with losing some of your library but gaining a nice visual bump, v4 is your answer.

Good luck!

Hi,

I have just migrated from FSX SE (DX10) to P3D V4 and am extremely happy I have done so. The idea was to build a new system but this would set me back $4000 to $5000 Canadian dollars  for the system I want which I don’t want to do just yet.

System is from 2012 (except for GPU)

i7 2700k @ 4.8ghz ,water cooled

MSI 1070ti

ASUS P8z77 pro thunderbolt Mobo

corsair 800w PSU

blah blah blah

My settings are Medium/High or the same as FSX SE but with some of the “goodies” turned off or low, P3D V4 runs better, looks better, feels better and is way way way smoother with all of my V4 compatible addons installed, ie: All ORBX, Carenado, Alabeo, Q-400, ASV4, REX and many others. PMDG and A2A will be re purchased later on.

Bottom line, if you get P3D V4 I’m sure you will be extremely happy, if not, you have 60 days to return 

Hope this helps,

Edited May 18, 20188 yr by ziggy

Rayhan, go v3 ! 

Hundreds of add-ons fully ready and fully compatible with your v3, that "much better" talk is placebo, check youtube videos,depending on your machine the difference is almost imperceptible.

By the way,check those crashes with the "stable" P3Dv4 from another users (source Google, today) link below:

 

"ucrtbase.dll/ntdll.dll crash every time I try and start up P3D v4 ...
https://www.avsim.com › ... › Crash To Desktop (CTD) Forum

P3D v4.2 CTD (kernelbase.dll & ucrtbase.dll 

CTD Immediately Upon Loading Flight w/ P3D v4 - General discussion ...
forum.aerosoft.com › ... › General discussion and support

CRJ 700/900 X crashes my P3D V4

P3D V4 crashes when loading

P3DV4 Crash - FSDreamTeam
www.fsdreamteam.com › ... › Charlotte KCLT Support FSX/P3D

CTD P3Dv4 when loading PMDG on Scenario  "

 

Just google it yourself and check what I said.

 

Edited May 18, 20188 yr by hmuller

4, unless there are some v3 only addons you can't live without.

I have v4 running on a 3 year old asus rog notebook fully loaded with addons,   runs well but you always have to compromise for acceptable performance,  even with a brand new rig not just notebooks

 

Wayne

7 hours ago, hmuller said:

Hundreds of add-ons fully ready and fully compatible with your v3, that "much better" talk is placebo, check youtube videos,depending on your machine the difference is almost imperceptible.

Well, the OOM is a thing of the past for me on P3D v4.  Way too many flights using complex add-on aircraft with complex sceneries ended on approach with the dreaded OOM in V3.  If that's placebo effect, give me the placebo, please.

Most of the scenery add-ons that worked in V3 also work without modification in V4, and even more still have been updated to take advantage of new P3Dv4 features, such as new ground polys, materials, dynamic lighting etc.  A bunch of the updated sceneries have really upped the game in terms of frame rate performance in V4.

There's some good advice upthread to take advantage of LM's 60-day money-back offer (or go month-to-month with the developer's license) while you try each version out.  That way you can decide for yourself what, if any, compatibility issues really exist on your system, and what's really an improvement.

Also keep in mind that a good number of the best add-on scenery makers (FlyTampa, FSDreamTeam, FlightBeam, 29 Palms et al) have already declared that they are no longer developing new products for the 32-bit platforms (P3D v3 and below, FSX/FSX-SE).

Cheers

 

I would certainly recommend anyone new to P3D to go for v4. I have not upgraded yet, but addon developers will be concentrating on the 64bit version for all future product releases, so it would seem to be a bit silly to go for v3 now when it is effectively a "dead end". The reason that I am still using v3 is mainly because I have a full suite of AI addons that are working, and also because at least one major airport package (Aerosoft Dublin) is not yet compatible with v4. I also want to be able to run v4 at very high detail levels when I decide to upgrade, and that will inevitably mean buying a new PC (my current i5 4690k powered system is four years old).

8 hours ago, w6kd said:

If that's placebo effect, give me the placebo, please.

Ok Bob,so that´s with your system:  i7-7700K@5.0GHz w/c with custom loop, ASUS TUF Z270 Mk 1 mobo, 32GB 3200MHz DDR4, 2x 1080Ti eVGA FTW3 Elite GPUs in SLI,etc. If it were you asking (with the configuration of your PC) I would certainly say P3Dv4.

But, did you even read his question?... The Rayhan states:

" I´m currently playing fsx SE. and it runs well to about 25-35 fps. Now the thing is my laptop is  from 2015. and so i was thinking which to choose, the v4 or the v3? "

So, you, with your system (described above) says "take advantage of new P3Dv4 features, such as new ground polys, materials, dynamic lighting etc."

You must be kidding,but seriously Bob, what percentage of P3D users around the world (that "would take advantage of new P3Dv4 features") do you think have a PC configuration like yours?

Regards,
 

 

Edited May 19, 20188 yr by hmuller

If you use the default ATC you may find that it doesn't work with 4.2; at least I can't get it to work.

My system (i7-4770 @ 3.90 GHz, ZOTAC GeForce 750 Ti 2GB video card with 8GB RAM MB) definitely likes v3 better than v4; so if your computer is clocked lower than that I would say that your v4 experience will be disappointing.

13 minutes ago, hmuller said:

Ok Bob,so that´s with your system:  i7-7700K@5.0GHz w/c with custom loop, ASUS TUF Z270 Mk 1 mobo, 32GB 3200MHz DDR4, 2x 1080Ti eVGA FTW3 Elite GPUs in SLI,etc. If it were you asking (with the configuration of your PC) I would certainly say P3Dv4.

But, did you even read his question?... The Rayhan states:

" I´m currently playing fsx SE. and it runs well to about 25-35 fps. Now the thing is my laptop is  from 2015. and so i was thinking which to choose, the v4 or the v3? "

So, you, with your system (described above) says "take advantage of new P3Dv4 features, such as new ground polys, materials, dynamic lighting etc."

You must be kidding,but seriously Bob, what percentage of P3D users around the world (that "would take advantage of new P3Dv4 features") do you think have a PC configuration like yours?

A powerful system can take advantage of more of v4's features, run smoothly with more AI, more cloud layers, more autogen, and higher resolutions at higher frame rates etc, but that does not mean a powerful system is required to run V4 (and run it well) with perfectly acceptable performance through judicious management of the sliders and add-on workload.  64-bit operating systems and hardware have been the standard for at least 5 years now, so a 2015-vintage laptop should still be able to run it and take great advantage of losing the 32-bit VAS constraint.

I have tried to run the FSLabs A320 in P3D v3, and that VAS-hungry add-on was an absolute nightmare due to OOM crashes, on my current machine as well as on my previous sim machine (also dating from 2015).

IMHO, P3Dv3 isn't going to be much of a leap from the OP's current FSX-SE config, as it's plagued by the same 32-bit VAS limitations. 

Regards

 

V3 is essentially stagnant. Sure, it runs and runs quite well but no further development by LM is planned. Why takes the time and effort to set up a new system with a dead program when you can stay current and be quite happy with the performance.

The comments regarding older addons is quite valid and may be a major consideration for you but if your main concern is performance, then V4 would be more than acceptable on your current system.

Vic

 

One thing to consider which I see has been lightly mentioned is if you have a substantial hangar of aircraft (and scenery addons), many of those would need to be re-purchased in order to work on th 64bit platform.  This can be quite $$$.  And you may have a few favorites that are still not available for v4. 

Having said that, I switched from FSX to P3Dv1 when it was released and have not looked back.  Currently with v4.  Yes, miss several favorite aircraft but I do have version 3 still loaded.

 

On 5/18/2018 at 4:57 PM, hmuller said:

Hundreds of add-ons fully ready and fully compatible with your v3, that "much better" talk is placebo, check youtube videos,depending on your machine the difference is almost imperceptible.

With all due respect, Youtube videos are not an effective way to compare software performance.

I have used all of the P3D versions from V2 through V4, and by far V4 is the most stable and polished of any of the ESP-based simulators.  It is the first version of P3D that frankly feels "finished" in the sense that there are few, if any, remaining significant (meaning sim- or immersion-breaking) bugs, despite being only at 4.2.  CTD's are an exceedingly rare occurrence (gosh, I remember having to limit view changes in previous versions because too much switching would inevitably lead to a CTD, or worrying that clicking on the menus too much would do the same), assuming one is disciplined in using add-ons that are specifically compatible with v4. Many users who complain that they don't get the "same performance" in v4 as in v3 are trying to run autogen settings that far exceed what was even possible in v3.  The update mechanism, although the process could still be improved, is far easier than the mess that was v3.

To be honest, I felt that v3 was never "finished" in that there were still features that did not function completely when the transition was made to the next full version...

Yes, if backwards compatibility of third-party software is an important consideration, or if one is running hardware with limited performance headroom, then v3 may be something to consider.  But frankly, for 90% of users I can't see how v3 makes any sense at all.

I ran v3 and v4 side-by-side for some time when v4 first came out, and I can attest that the performance and stability difference was stark.

 

Edited May 19, 20188 yr by PurdueKev

1 hour ago, PurdueKev said:

With all due respect, Youtube videos are not an effective way to compare software performance.

I have used all of the P3D versions from V2 through V4, and by far V4 is the most stable and polished of any of the ESP-based simulators.  It is the first version of P3D that frankly feels "finished" in the sense that there are few, if any, remaining significant (meaning sim- or immersion-breaking) bugs, despite being only at 4.2.  CTD's are an exceedingly rare occurrence (gosh, I remember having to limit view changes in previous versions because too much switching would inevitably lead to a CTD, or worrying that clicking on the menus too much would do the same), assuming one is disciplined in using add-ons that are specifically compatible with v4. Many users who complain that they don't get the "same performance" in v4 as in v3 are trying to run autogen settings that far exceed what was even possible in v3.  The update mechanism, although the process could still be improved, is far easier than the mess that was v3.

To be honest, I felt that v3 was never "finished" in that there were still features that did not function completely when the transition was made to the next full version...

Yes, if backwards compatibility of third-party software is an important consideration, or if one is running hardware with limited performance headroom, then v3 may be something to consider.  But frankly, for 90% of users I can't see how v3 makes any sense at all.

I ran v3 and v4 side-by-side for some time when v4 first came out, and I can attest that the performance and stability difference was stark.

 

You must have had major problems with your Version 3 installation. I have been flying 3.4 for almost 2 years and have never had a crash, and have all kinds of add ons running. No OOMs either. I will say that I have never used the Migration tool. If something isn't made for P3D, I don't install it. 

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

If something isn't made for P3D, I don't install it. 

Hint hint!!🙂