Could it make any sense to buy P3D V4 now ?

[jfri 42]

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 ?

[fakeflyer737 992]

nope

[thefrog 18]

You could get a monthly subscription which is what I do. V4 is so much better than v2 so even for a few months it would be worth it I think.

Edited February 22, 2020 by thefrog

[hs118 707]

full disclosure: I am happy P3Dv4 user who also owns (and dabbles in) 2 other flight simulators. 

The most simplistic answer may be "no" but a more nuanced, and potentially satisfying, answer might be "Definitely upgrade your video card and, possibly, spend a minimal amount on one of the other platforms. DCS being the one that comes to mind."

Going to P3Dv4 from 2.5 will require some significant investment depending on which add-ons you currently use. Plus the setup time, tuning, etc. Also, some of the add-ons you like in 2.5 may not have upgrades to v4, thus creating a possible 2-installs-to-maintain scenario.

Trying DCS is a great experience. They have a couple of geographic areas that are interesting and a couple of civilian aircraft now. There is nothing in DCS that forces you to fly military missions in any of their add-ons.

FWIW, I would sit tight on P3D until V5, be patient on MFS2020, but explore some new territory with a minimal investment.

[dheyer 16]

I would invest in your system first. No matter what sim you end up with the system is the foundation.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

1 hour ago, jfri said:

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 ?

 

I've been running the Haswell processor since it came out (4770K like you) and I have all 4 cores locked to run at 4.5GHz (with a water cooler, of course) and it does a great job with high end P3Dv4 with an aircraft with 4K PBR textures inside and out and that goes for the scenery was well.  Great processor!  The only other difference is that I['m running a vanilla GTX 1080 which I too will have to upgrade at some point.  My previous graphics card was a GTX980 I think.

Specs for the new flight sim are still being generated, but i think it's safe to say that the new standard will be 32GB of RAM.

A lot of the scenery you might be running on P3Dv2 might not work with P3Dv4, so if you have a lot of airport scenery that you use/care about, I'd say to hold off.

Best wishes!

[edpatino 1,964]

1 hour 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 ?

I think you may have plenty of reasons to move on to P3Dv4.5. The new MSFS2020 isn't out yet and the truth about it will be known after its release, not before.

Cheers, Ed

[Bob Scott 7,720]

40 minutes ago, thefrog said:

You could get a monthly subscription which is what I do. V4 is so much better than v2 so even for a few months it would be worth it I think.

+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.

 

[Quasimodo 505]

Personally, at this point in the development cycle if I was in your shoe's I'd just stick with what I have and start planning an new system i.e. putting money aside for it and making a wish list with Prepar3D V5 and MSFS on the horizon. Don't pull the trigger on the system until the dust settles after release by then you'll probably have put aside enough money to build the top shelf system for either and or both. And then you should be good for several years. No point in putting the cart before the horse. Nothing good happens fast.😁

[jfri 42]

2 hours ago, thefrog said:

You could get a monthly subscription which is what I do. V4 is so much better than v2 so even for a few months it would be worth it I think.

I didn't thought about that option. But over at P3D site I see it is for developer and is marked for only that use. Also I still would need to buy a new FSUIPC license.

[jfri 42]

2 hours ago, yurei said:

full disclosure: I am happy P3Dv4 user who also owns (and dabbles in) 2 other flight simulators. 

The most simplistic answer may be "no" but a more nuanced, and potentially satisfying, answer might be "Definitely upgrade your video card and, possibly, spend a minimal amount on one of the other platforms. DCS being the one that comes to mind."

Going to P3Dv4 from 2.5 will require some significant investment depending on which add-ons you currently use. Plus the setup time, tuning, etc. Also, some of the add-ons you like in 2.5 may not have upgrades to v4, thus creating a possible 2-installs-to-maintain scenario.

Trying DCS is a great experience. They have a couple of geographic areas that are interesting and a couple of civilian aircraft now. There is nothing in DCS that forces you to fly military missions in any of their add-ons.

FWIW, I would sit tight on P3D until V5, be patient on MFS2020, but explore some new territory with a minimal investment.

Yes I intend to upgrade my video card and have a 2070 or 2070 super in mind or maybe wait and see if a 3070 could be a good choice. I understand that in FSX SE a new videocard wont make sense but in P3D. Will I see a benefit in DCS and XPlane 11 ?

Yes I also use DCS and have several modules. For me it is a pure military simulator.

The add on I use for FSX/P3D is ORBX scenery and A2A Cherokee for both platforms license. These A2A planes also installed in P3D Spitfire P40 P47 P51 Civ and the J3 Cub. Also have FSCaptain MyTraffic. And Majestic Q400.
 

[jfri 42]

2 hours ago, dheyer said:

I would invest in your system first. No matter what sim you end up with the system is the foundation.

I have already upgraded my haswell system from 8 to 16 Gb and got a new 1 Gb SSD since I needed more space. Video card next.

[jfri 42]

2 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

 

Specs for the new flight sim are still being generated, but i think it's safe to say that the new standard will be 32GB of RAM.

A lot of the scenery you might be running on P3Dv2 might not work with P3Dv4, so if you have a lot of airport scenery that you use/care about, I'd say to hold off.

Best wishes!

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

[Gazzareth 808]

I have only just made the jump to v4, waited for ages and then checked things out and there was only one addon that I cared about that didn't work in v4. 

No point in system upgrades until final requirements come out for the new sims, when they eventually come out.

I don't expect to instantly stop using p3d when FS2020 comes out, will be waiting for the dust to settle and then addon aircraft to start coming out. So could still be using it for a couple of years until everything I'm looking for is in FS. 

Guess it's a value judgement as to whether you'll get use out of it before you think you would make the switch to a new sim, be it p3d4 or FS...

 

G

[Gazzareth 808]

*** deleted as apparently I managed to just post a quote of my previous post - no idea how ***

Edited February 22, 2020 by Gazzareth
Avoid repetition!