Prepar3D V6 - 737 Sim & Computer

[neil-uk 2]

Hi All, 

First post for me, so please be nice :)

I am in the (early) process of building something 737-ish - intended to end up something like THIS - or at least that's the ambition!! 

At this stage, I am working through the software side of things, before getting into the hardware, and I've two (hopefully easy) questions; 

 

The first question is about Control. I obviously need a PC to run Prepar3D (V6).... But then the all the hardware (ie MCP and two screes running EFIS), FMC, Radio Stack, possible Throttle TQ..... The simulation screen would probably be a 49" Curved monitor, on HDMI. Can this all be done with 1 PC? Does anyone do it? 

 

The Second question is PC and spec of PC..... I am usually a Mac guy, so all this PC stuff is a little over my head. Ideally I'd be buying 1 PC to drive everything - I've seen some of the following Specs, and wondered if anyone can advise on whether any of the following computers would have the right spec? How many graphics outputs/graphics cards should I be looking for?

- PC Option 1

- PC Option 2

- PC Option 3

 

I guess its down to HDMI outputs and USB outputs, which are important? 

 

Hoping that all makes sense? 

Thanks!

Neil

 

 

[dpergau 137]

Hi Neil,

If your target sim is P3D I’d recommend v5.4 and not v6. The ifly max/ng and pmdg 737s are excellent addons. I don’t see them going to P3D v6 anytime soon. 
 

Good luck with your build!

[Torsen 495]

If you are a MAC guy why not go Zibo and Xplane? Otherwise like mentioned above if you go p3d then I would stay in 4 or 5. Even if they are core development wise dead, they are at least officially supported.

And have fun with your project.

[Rogen 1,092]

I took a look at your specs, too under powered IMHO, especially the graphics card being a RTX3050

Best to purchase with as high as performance as can be had at the time, I can say I have a RTX3080 Ti graphics card with 12 GB of video ram and I have to use lower settings to avoid maxing out the card.

These are my specs,

Ryzen 5800X clocked to 4.7 Ghz (SMT off), 32 GB ram, Samsung 1 x 1 TB NVMe 970, 2 x 1 TB SSD 850 Pro raided, Asus Tuf 3080Ti

I bought it originally in 2017 with an AMD Ryzen 1700X and have replaced the CPU as new and more powerful became available, same for GFX, Ram and storage. It's at it's max capabilities what with newer AMD Ryzen's needing a newer motherboard than my current, meaning it's coming up for a rebuild wilh all new next gen parts.

Yes you'll pay good money for performance, but it will last and be far more satisfying than hardware that cannot cut the mustard so to speak, especially if the intent is to advance to a ~10,000 Euro flight simming cockpit (and if you can afford the simpit, money must not be an issue).

You'll need to look at something more along the lines of Ray Proudfoot's machine which is pretty new (Ray's a moderator on this forum).

Ray (Cheshire, England).
System: P3D v5.3HF2, Intel i9-13900K, MSI 4090 GAMING X TRIO 24G, Crucial T700 4Tb M.2 SSD, Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Hero, 32Gb Corsair Vengeance DDR5 6000Mhz RAM, Win 11 Pro 64-bit, BenQ PD3200U 32” UHD monitor, Fulcrum One yoke.

I believe Ray bought his machine from a company named Chillblast in the UK, who apparently can specialise in flight sim builds.

Cheers

 

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

Thanks for the recommendation @Rogen. My PC is now giving excellent service using a variety of aircraft including the PMDG737 and FS Labs Concorde in P3D v5.3HF2.

Consider the top end AMD or Intel CPUs plus a top graphics card such as the 4090. It can handle everything thrown at it. 32Gb fast RAM is sufficient plus a 1000w quality power supply. Good cooling is also essential.

A powered USB hub able to accept up to 10 USB devices will handle the hardware.

I’m going to tag @Pete Dowsonas he has a setup similar to the one you linked to. Pete has two screens I believe for the forward view in 4K. Smaller computers run the 737NG displays although these days it may be possible to run everything from one.

The advantage of a home cockpit is you don’t need to show the flight instruments - just a forward view. That takes a lot of work away from the CPU enabling settings to be set higher than would otherwise be the case.

If you’re serious about the CPFlight kit I suggest you speak to them. They’ll know what’s best. I would also recommend Chillblast as their system building and support is second to none.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[neil-uk 2]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. 

 

So by the sounds of it - its all possible with 1 x PC, it's just a case of configuring it to a high spec? 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

1 hour ago, neil-uk said:

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

So by the sounds of it - its all possible with 1 x PC, it's just a case of configuring it to a high spec? 

Yes, get the highest spec computer you can. I doubt the cockpit displays will use many resources. No different really to the PMDG displays.

And make sure any displays can run at 30Hz. I wouldn’t recommend a 49” curved display. Very high refresh rates aren’t advisable for flight sim. You need something that can run 30fps natively. A 50” 4K TV might be better.

[C2615 319]

I haven't built home cockpit but I do have quite a lot screens and USB controllers, 1PC is enough, I have 4 monitor on my 4080 and one more on a USB3.0 adapter which is plugged in by a 10 port USB powered adopter with other USB input devices, so I guess the number of ports on your MB/GPU isn't really matter that much (still I use one with quite a lot USB port and almost used up them all by now). 

[Zatoichi 45]

On 2/26/2024 at 1:35 AM, dpergau said:

Hi Neil,

If your target sim is P3D I’d recommend v5.4 and not v6. The ifly max/ng and pmdg 737s are excellent addons. I don’t see them going to P3D v6 anytime soon. 
 

Good luck with your build!

The iFly 737 & EP work in v6. Just watch where it installs. PMDG won't.

[neil-uk 2]

Hi Guys, 

Thanks for your help/opinions on this

I've ordered in the end a PC with; 

• Intel i9 13900KF 
• RTX 4090
• 32GB of RAM 
• 1TB Solid State
• Windows 11
• Intel H610
• 1000W PSU

Hoping this will be enough to drive it! 

Thanks!

N

[Rogen 1,092]

5 hours ago, neil-uk said:

Hi Guys, 

Thanks for your help/opinions on this

I've ordered in the end a PC with; 

<SNIP>

That's make a fine PC, the only thing I is maybe the 1TB of drive space is not that much.

I've built up a functional collection of about 4TB in the main PC spread across Nvme, SSD, Raid array and also utilise a ram disk.

And have a NAS drive for automating backup and a series of removable drives that backup both the nas and the P3D install itself.

The backups consume the most drive space @ ~20TB, but are worth it, in fact I used a backup just 2 days ago when I accidently deleted a file and needed to pull it out of a backup.

Cheers

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

7 hours ago, neil-uk said:

Hi Guys, 

Thanks for your help/opinions on this

I've ordered in the end a PC with; 

• Intel H610

Hoping this will be enough to drive it! 

Thanks!

N

Neil, that mobo chipset is not the best. The Z790 would be better. The H610 can’t be overclocked. See here for a comparison…

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/intel-z690-vs-h670-vs-b660-vs-h610-chipset-comparison-2290/

Who did you buy from? Chillblast? Have a chat to them about the motherboard.

The motherboard is the heart of any system. The better it is the better your system and performance.

[neil-uk 2]

Thanks @Ray Proudfoot - Motherboard upgraded 🙂 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

2 hours ago, neil-uk said:

Thanks @Ray Proudfoot - Motherboard upgraded 🙂 

What did you go for?

[neil-uk 2]

Sorry I missed this, I went for the Z790 🙂