Thinking about P3D in my laptop? Will it do fine?

[Luis Hernandez 570]

I've purchased my laptop almost a year ago, with only FSX in mind. Specs are in signature. However, I'm seeing lots of posts about both P3D4 and P3D5, and now I got the itch to upgrade to this (since I know my laptop can't run MSFS2020 well). Right now I'm running FSX-SE with the following addons:

Environment:
Orbx Global+Vector+OpenLC+Trees+Buildings HD (reduced)
Zinertek Airport textures
REX4 Texture Direct (Steam Edition)
Active Sky (Steam Edition)

Aircraft:
PMDG 777
QW (all products)
Aerosoft Airbus (Steam Edition)
iFly (all products)

ATC: PF3
WX: ActiveSky (always in live mode)
AI: custom made, based on AIG, at only 15% + PSXSeecon Traffic. Limited via FSUIPC to 80 planes.

Not a single addon airport at all, just AFCADs.

I'm getting acceptable results with FSX-SE (30 FPS at 1920x1080, smooth), carefully setting up my sliders and limiting my CPU to 3.8 GHz, unlimited FPS and RTSS at Scanline X/2.

I understand and accept I'll have to repurchase all my aircraft and some of my other addons if I go to either P3D4 or P3D5. Will I do fine if I do so, keeping a similar level of eye candy as with FSX-SE?

Edited October 1, 2020 by Luis Hernandez

[Nemo 1,305]

https://www.prepar3d.com/system-requirements/

[Luis Hernandez 570]

Thanks, Harry. I've checked them, and based on my VRAM, v5 is out of question. However, I'm still thinking about v4, since my GPU is above minimums, and everything else will be as recommended (if I upgrade my RAM). VAS has been never an issue for me. So, my question is still open: if I set P3D4 visually as how I have FSX-SE, will I get at least same performance in P3D4?

[bofhlusr 453]

15 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Thanks, Harry. I've checked them, and based on my VRAM, v5 is out of question. However, I'm still thinking about v4, since my GPU is above minimums, and everything else will be as recommended (if I upgrade my RAM). VAS has been never an issue for me. So, my question is still open: if I set P3D4 visually as how I have FSX-SE, will I get at least same performance in P3D4?

@Luis HernandezI tried running P3D v4.x on a laptop but gave up because loading times took forever. I don't remember if I had Orbx stuff installed but without Orbx stuff I figured I'm better off with FSX Steam (FSE) which is what I have on it now. FSE works great with freeware textures such as WOAI, HDE sky textures, Aime Leclercq's roads textures, Gamalier Padilla's taxiway texture, etc. Good enough for passing the time when traveling.

For additional portability I bring this along:
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-WingMan-Cordless-Rumblepad-2-4/dp/B00005USQA/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=wireless+wingman&qid=1601606967&s=electronics&sr=1-2

My laptop: Asus N550JX-DS71T which is about 3 years old. I bought it because it has a dedicated gpu, i7 cpu, DVD drive, and believe it or not --- a subwoofer. I'm tempted to replace the disk with an SSD but I ask myself if it's not broken why do it.

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by oneleg

[Luis Hernandez 570]

Well, this laptop is my only rig for the time being, so I have no option. I see yours is in between my old one (that barely ran FSX, but ran FS9 wonderfully) and my current one (90% FSX, 10% FS9+XP11). However, I envy your gamepad... the only one with a proper throttle axis!

8 hours ago, oneleg said:

I'm tempted to replace the disk with an SSD but I ask myself if it's not broken why do it.

Do it... but with a little change: don't sacrifice the HDD but the DVD drive. You won't want to go back.

Back to topic: apart from loading times, how did you like P3D?

[bofhlusr 453]

13 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Well, this laptop is my only rig for the time being, so I have no option. I see yours is in between my old one (that barely ran FSX, but ran FS9 wonderfully) and my current one (90% FSX, 10% FS9+XP11). However, I envy your gamepad... the only one with a proper throttle axis!

Do it... but with a little change: don't sacrifice the HDD but the DVD drive. You won't want to go back.

Back to topic: apart from loading times, how did you like P3D?

I like it. I'm still using it on my desktop and is what I use the most. I'm going to stick with version 4.5+ until MSFS becomes a compelling option. I'm waiting for a few planes to get converted to MSFS and also a few Orbx sceneries.

[Luis Hernandez 570]

Well, I purchased both P3D and the QW 787 last weekend, knowing that, if everything went well, I could return the FSX one (that I purchased two weeks ago... love U, Flight1!) and if not... well, LM and QW have a refund period. I set it up visually at the same level I had FSX. The good news: performance is similar (just what I hoped for), but ground looks crisper and water... too beautiful! Maybe I need to raise AA, because FSX in DX9 looks less jaggy with the same settings. Now I need to try at night and with bad weather. 

The bad news:
- I have to return the QW 787 for FSX.
- No more Steam prices for me. Well, I already had all I was interested into.
- I'll keep FSX-SE installed for the PMDG 777 (too expensive in P3D4 and no discount for FSX users) and the Aerosoft A32x (ditto).
- I'll have to leave behind both REX and ActiveSky, because I purchased them through Steam (same as the AS Airbus).

In summary, so far my laptop is doing fine. Temperatures are not that high (72°C for CPU and just 53° for GPU). If nothing strange happens this week, I'm staying with P3D4. Thanks everyone for your recommendations. If someone can share some tips for P3D (I'm new), I'd appreciate them.

 

[bofhlusr 453]

T

17 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

... If someone can share some tips for P3D (I'm new), I'd appreciate them.

 

@Luis HernandezSince you already bought REX and ActiveSky for FSE and don't want to buy it again for P3Dv4, then check out OpusFSI v6 for P3Dv4. It has a weather engine and dynamic head movements (shaking in the virtual cockpit like EZCA or ChasePlane). Opus v6 is for 64 bit P3Dv4.x.

You might want to check this out too: https://orbxdirect.com/product/aitraffic-naga-p3dv4
 

Edited October 6, 2020 by oneleg