Could it make any sense to buy P3D V4 now ?

[jlund 380]

I would say, wait for MSFS or P3Dv5 and see what specs they require. I'm pretty sure you can't use the payware planes you have for P3D v2,5 without having to pay for them again, so save the money and wait.

[warbirds 555]

1080Ti is still the best bang for the buck....get one used..and yes get the monthly subscription to P3dV4 that way you can just cancel anytime. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by warbirds

[jfri 42]

30 minutes ago, warbirds said:

1080Ti is still the best bang for the buck....get one used..and yes get the monthly subscription to P3dV4 that way you can just cancel anytime. 

Could only find one sold where I live (demo) and at a significantly higher price than for those I considered

[jfri 42]

4 hours ago, w6kd said:

+1  You can also start by taking advantage of the 45-day money-back guarantee on P3Dv4...but if you decide to continue and keep it, you can't then switch to a monthly subscription without uninstalling and reinstalling anew.

Try it for yourself and see if what you're missing in v4 makes it worth it...to you.  It's not going to turn into a pumpkin when Simzilla and/or P3Dv5 release, either.

 

Not according to

https://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

it is only 14 days

[Bob Scott 7,721]

36 minutes ago, jfri said:

Not according to

https://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

it is only 14 days

Yeah, OK, it started at 60 days, then 45 I think...I clearly haven't kept current.  But still, 2 weeks with it should answer the question.

 

[Chock 17,769]

First up, I suspect your PC will run the new MS sim okay. Sure, you might have to scale the optional whistles and bells back a bit, but this is hardly news to most flight simmers; we've all been doing that sort of thing for years when we had to. With regard to whether it's worth taking a punt on the latest P3D version though. Here's what I think about your points...

1) MSFS2020 is coming and that is going to render P3D V4 uninteresting since it seem to be so much better than anything we have seen before.

Yes it is, but if anyone thinks it will ship with something which rivals the Majestic Dash 8 Q400, then they are in for a big disappointment. It will be a while before the new sim has aircraft of that standard in it.

2) The new P3D V5 will soon be coming and be a better simulator.

Yes it will, and who knows what it will feature. It will almost certainly be an improvement, but you should always keep in mind that it is not marketed as a game. Lockheed Martin's primary focus with P3D is as an air, land and littoral waters mission environment simulator. Sure they want it to look reasonably okay, but not as much as MS want their new sim to, because MS will be selling their new sim to gamers who want eye candy and to be able to fly over a depiction of their house and be wowed by the realism, whereas Lockheed Martin will be selling theirs to the makers of training software for fighter simulators and people like that; they want to know it if can simulate missile envelopes, sonar thermal barriers, radar terrain masking etc, so they can simulate precision bombing a less pretty, but entirely fit for purpose depiction of your house.

1) I have heard opinions that I will need a complete new system for MSFS2020 and that is not an option anytime soon. Also if I would get the new MS simulator I will not throw out the old sims since I have purchased advanced add on
planes from A2A and the Majestic Dash Q400 and also (PMDG NGX 737 and the Concorde for FSX).
It feels wrong to not use what I have already paid for. Some of these mentioned planes I have not had time to use.

You almost certainly won't need a new system to run the new MS sim, in fact, it will probably run better on your present PC than either P3D or FSX does. Lockheed Martin's primary customers for P3D are Government Departments of Defence. These sort of organisations do not worry about how much the need for the kind of super-duper PC which would cost you ten thousand quid to knock up is going to dent their budget of millions. That kind of price tag is buttons to a military organisation; they probably spend more that that on Post It Notes.

Microsoft on the other hand, are going to market their new sim (game) to all kinds of people who like aeroplanes, and if they made it so that only people with a ten grand PC could run it, then not many people would buy it, so they won't make it only capable of running on super-duper PCs, because that would be a very stupid mistake on their part and so you can rest assured that the directors, marketing and product development people at Microsoft (who are the ones who really call the shots) will have made this capability very clear to the software development people.

And with regard to the add-ons you have: The advent of a new flashy sim's visuals does not make them any less good than they are at the moment. what made you buy them in the first place still applies.

2) Is it even sure that there will be a P3D V5 ? Would it not be hard to sell since customer would instead be interested in the new MS simulator ? And even if V5 comes I fear that the new system requirements will be 32 Gb of RAM which is not a feasible upgrade in my current system .

See above answer. Yes we use P3D, but we are basically the beta testers for Lockheed Martin's military simulator platform. It has a very different target in mind than MS's new flight sim.

 

[SledDriver 39]

FS2020 definitely visually looks great.

But until it arrives we won't know if it is really that good - could be a bug fest.

For me if a sim crashes once every few hours, that would put me off entirely.

Hoping for great things. But that's all it is for now. Hope.

I continue to enjoy P3D 4.5 and find it a great sim, but I also enjoy all the FS2020 eye candy we are allowed to see at this point.

[CFIJose 5,485]

10 hours ago, jfri said:

For now I have P3D V2.5 and my first thoughts about the question has been NO of course not. Reason for that has been

1) MSFS2020 is coming and that is going to render P3D V4 uninteresting since it seem to be so much better than anything we have seen before.

2) The new P3D V5 will soon be coming and be a better simulator.

But I have been thinking about some possible counterargument to this

1) I have heard opinions that I will need a complete new system for MSFS2020 and that is not an option anytime soon. Also if I would get the new MS simulator
I will not throw out the old sims since I have purchased advanced add on
planes from A2A and the Majestic Dash Q400 and also (PMDG NGX 737 and the Concorde for FSX).
It feels wrong to not use what I have already paid for. Some of these mentioned planes I have not had time to use.

2) Is it even sure that there will be a P3D V5 ? Would it not be hard to sell since customer would instead be interested in the new MS simulator ? And even if V5 comes I fear that the new system requirements will be 32 Gb of RAM which is not a feasible upgrade in my current system .

My current system is
Haswell I7 4770K @4.5 GHz 16 Gb RAM GTX 970. I plan on upgrading my video card
Do you think my counterarguments are valid ?

Stick with FSX and wait until MSFS2020 is released. It's just around the corner and it will make all other sims obsolete. Plus you might just get away with a video card upgrade. Save you money for a new video card.

[Bob Scott 7,721]

59 minutes ago, DJJose said:

Stick with FSX and wait until MSFS2020 is released. It's just around the corner and it will make all other sims obsolete.

Well, Simzilla is not even in beta yet, so "just around the corner" sure seems unlikely.

As for "it will make all other sims obsolete," well, maybe it will, and maybe it will not.  There's still much to be proven there.

[jaytee73 132]

MY 2 cents Forecast

Ms are on record as saying that there will be 3 versions  of MS2020  - an SD - a UHD  - for PCs --- and an Xbox 2(?) super version - for single and multiplayers  MS will do a deal with Lockheed and "P3D V5" -  will be a licensed  MS2020 SD version for mid range computers - because we will not be able to use our aircraft or scenery - already paid fortunes for -  and which will not go down well -  for MS reputation - that they seem to want to revive.

Note that MS have probably done a deal with Valve  - are using Steam to beta something - so look for a tie up - for the SD version - FSX2020 -SE There are 1000s of users of FSX Steam - and older versions - a Market that cannot be ignored

The biggest of all will be the X Box versions. MS have already shown us what they intend with the specs - and 2020 will only be one of their key products (games)but will be important to them - since it is a product that will not face competition from the new PS5 - Unless Sony do a deal with XP11 to port the other top sim to PS5

Now there's a thing 😉

Personally - to answer the OP - I will continue to use both P3D V4.5 and X Plane on my mid range PC - (something like yours) - because I certainly cannot afford the multi $$$ for such things as 2080TI  11 GB Vram -  and I don't need for the  computer games I play - via Steam on my PC

I will save up for - and await - the new X Box ?? for around $500 - the new Thrustmaster Yoke - $ ?? - and if necessary - in view of the Aircraft Quality shown so far in the Discover series - I wont need to buy any - and will probably use the $10 monthly fee - that I already subscribe for my choice of any X Box game

And ------ I will still have P3D and all my aircraft - and especially my Orbyx scenery - and my old hardware - to use when I feel I want to fly my Lancaster Bomber - My Vickers Viscount - or My DC 6 -  and all my freebie XP11 scenery and vFlyte Aircraft -----  The Spitfires - Falcons - and ME 109s will come from IL2 or DCS - all of which will still work on my mid range PC.

PS at 85 YO - I don't really care if I am right or wrong 👴🤞

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by jaytee73

[CFIJose 5,485]

7 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Simzilla

LOL. All that came to my head was:

"Zim Zimma
Who got de keys to my bimma
Who am I de girls dem sugar
How can I mek luv to ah fella in ah rush pass meh de keys to my truck."

 

[G-RFRY 1,712]

Something that needs thinking about I think in old money this year FS11 will be released 2-3 years FS12 and so on you will not pay the bills on one sim release, just like the sims we know.

[jfri 42]

15 hours ago, Chock said:

First up, I suspect your PC will run the new MS sim okay. Sure, you might have to scale the optional whistles and bells back a bit, but this is hardly news to most flight simmers; we've all been doing that sort of thing for years when we had to. With regard to whether it's worth taking a punt on the latest P3D version though. Here's what I think about your points...

You almost certainly won't need a new system to run the new MS sim, in fact, it will probably run better on your present PC than either P3D or FSX does.

What you say seem logical. I might point out here my source for the need of a whole new system for MSFS2020. It is Nick in the Flight 1 hardware forum in my thread about the need for a new video card for P3D V4. He seem very knowledged and unlikely to be wrong to a greater extent.

 

[Gazzareth 808]

1 hour ago, jfri said:

What you say seem logical. I might point out here my source for the need of a whole new system for MSFS2020. It is Nick in the Flight 1 hardware forum in my thread about the need for a new video card for P3D V4. He seem very knowledged and unlikely to be wrong to a greater extent.

 

New video card for p3d4 ?? If that's his opinion then he's nowhere near as knowledgeable as you give him credit for - runs on my achingly old machine with a GTX970 absolutely fine - and the rest of your system is much better than mine......

 

G

Edited February 23, 2020 by Gazzareth

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

20 hours ago, jfri said:

And if 32 Gb is what going to be needed in the new sims then it is a NO for me at least for a couple of years which would make P3D 4 an alternative for now

The airports I have is mainly ORBX airports

Why is 32GB of RAM an issue for you?  I have basically the same system as you do and my motherboard supports up to 32GB of DRAM3.  Not to mention the cost of adding RAM is a fraction of building a whole new system, and even if you had a motherboard for the i7-4770K that only supported up to 16GB (which I don't think exist) changing out a motherboard and adding more RAM is still a fraction of building a new system.

Sorry, I don't mean to question you like a prosecutor... my apologies my friend!  I'm just wondering what I'm missing.

If it's the cost difference between adding 32GB of DRAM3 and purchasing P3Dv4 then I'd like to say that the base cost of the sim is only the starting point.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see you purchase all sorts of addons for P3Dv4... after all our company is in the business of developing and selling addons!  But I don't see that as being cost efficient for you in this case.  If you're a General Aviation flight simmers who primarily uses default airports then to be quite honest I don't see any advantage to you moving from P3Dv1-3 to P3Dv4. 

I used FSX, FSX:SE, P3Dv1, v2, and v3 for a very long time before moving to P3Dv4 and for many years I had all those sims installed, updated and running on my system (for business reasons), so I can tell you that you're not going to see any advantageous increase in performance over what you currently use if you're flying GA with default scenery, and if you're not using default scenery and you make a change to P3Dv4 then you're likely going to start buying addons again.

Instead, I would save the money and upgrade  your RAM when you are able... and by the way I"m not saying that you'll HAVE to upgrade your RAM to 32 bit for the upcoming MS sim... that's only a best guess.

Anyway, so much to consider with how things are right now, and I just wanted to give you some things to consider before you spend money.  After all, I'm a flight simmer first!