Hello all, hope this topic is acceptable for the forum. If not, my apologies.

After many years, I'm considering the switch from FSX to X-Plane. It's a difficult decision from the stand point that I've put a lot of money and time into making FSX fun, but it's beginning to show its age pretty badly.

I have an older computer: 1st gen I7-920 with 12 gb ram and a GeForce 970. I tried the XP 11.3 demo recently and it ran pretty well. I only tried the Cessna 172 in the demo area, but didn't notice any issues. However, I read somewhere that XP was moving to a new graphics engine and I was concerned about how that might affect performance on my old pc.

I was wondering if anyone else was using XP on an older computer like I am or if anyone could offer any advice on this.

Thanks!

Ken

Hello Ken,

With your specs it should run well enough. You might need to overclock your CPU if possible. The i7 4970K is more of the basline for X-Plane 11 

The new Vulcan API should give you more benefits, rather than less. but be also aware that addons such as the A320 might take more framerate. The Zibo  737 (freeware) would be a good benchmark for testing. If this performs well enough, then you should be happy  https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/138974-b737-800x-zibo-mod-info-installation-download-links/ 

 

Hi Jude, thank you so much for your reply. I hope to build myself a new system one of these days, but can't afford it right now. Based on your input and what I've seen of the demo, I'm pretty sure I'll be okay to proceed. It may be that I'll use FSX for some things and XP for others, at least for the time being. I've put a stupid amount of money into FSX scenery and other add-ons, so it's not easy to just make the switch. I'm just wanting something a little more up to date and can't justify the money required to get into P3d (nor do I honestly qualify for any of the licenses it has available). I'm thinking XP is my future, so I'll probably buy soon.

My main concern has already been allayed. In XP 10, I was never able to get any controllers set up properly. Trying to taxi, take off or land had tires constantly screeching on the pavement, etc. However, XP 11 has such better controller setup that I don't have the problem.

I feel your pain. I'd been an FSX user since 2006 and all them addons, it doesn't bare thinking about. However a lot of your addons can be converted from FSX to X-Plane

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/24-fs2xplane-fs2004fsx-add-on-scenery-converter/

The FS9 versions of scenery tend to convert easier than FSX ones.

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/86829-msfs-payware-and-conversion-results-2-of-2/

Plus look into any freeware by MisterX6

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/misterx6/

KBOS, KPDX and KPHX are excellent freeware airports.

Awesome, thank you!

Hi Ken and welcome to the future. You may remember me from spelling out the shortcomings of the old sims in the other forums, for which I accepted a few months of bans.

X-Plane scales pretty well on older hardware, and this will only get better with Vulkan, so don't worry.

One thing to remember is that the included planes are an order of magnitude better than planes included with FSX or P3D, such as the C172 or the 737-800, and on top of that, they get constant updates included with X-Plane updates (something FSX users have never heard of).

That said, your experience will get worse once you install add-on planes. Even the Zibo 737 will axe your performance, so better stay away from these and enjoy the planes that come with the sim. Without losing performance, you may improve the experience with the standard planes by installing scripts such as "XP Realistic", which I highly recommend.

Thanks very much for the info! I don't plan to get any add on aircraft for the time being,  so that shouldn't be a big problem. I enjoy GA flying, so the included 172 should work very well for me. If I ever build a new computer, I may consider some more complex aircraft. For now, I can always use FSX or FS9 if I want to use the ones I already have.