Newbie Setup

[Guest av8rooy]

Good day everyone. I just bought a Saitek Pro Yoke with Throttle Quadrants. Whats the best computer setup with the least cost for a simulator. Also, which is better? Xplanes or FSX? or I can have both? Thanks.

[jefferysitz]

There are many here that can give you a better answer than I can, but here is what I know.

 

You want a high clock speed on the processor, FS doesn't really take advantage of multiple processors. FSX also is a memory hog, get as much as you can.

 

More than anything you need a good video card. ATI and NVidia both make fine cards and I am sure someone can steer you in the direction of one in your price range. You have to have directx 10 for FSX and directx 11 for Prepar3d.

 

FSX and X-plane are a matter of personal choice, I would check the boards for each game and inquire there. Prepar3d is available if you are a student or educator, but it is much more expensive(60 some dollars) and has less freeware available for it.

[jefferysitz]

I should add that a good video card and a big processor are very power hungry. I would suggest at least a 650 or 700 watt power supply.

[abrussell]

Get the fastest processor you can afford and then overclock. The cpu takes priority over the graphics card. Nvidia cards are preferable to ATI/AMD. 8G of memory is all that is required. FSX will only access 4G and the other 4 are for O/S etc. FSX runs on Directx9with a DX10 preview. DX10 and DX11 are backwards compatible with DX9 . Above all else a balanced system which will provide a smooth, no stutters, experience is what you should aim for. I would suggest that you spend some time in the PC Hardware, Video And Audio Help Forum. There is a vast amount of knowledge there regarding hardware requirements for FSX.

Bruce