Do you need high end PC for plane and scenery add-ons?

Hello,

I have FSX and looking into getting additional scenery and planes. I was wondering about the ad-on planes, how does it compare to the ones that the flight simulator come with? The handling and the graphics. Do you need a higher end computer?

And about scenery I'm looking into Orbx. Will it work well with my PC?

Here's my specs:

HP Pavilion 500t - Win 7 (500-205t)

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64

• 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4150 processor dual-core [3.5GHz, 3MB Shared Cache]

• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 705 [DVI, HDMI, DVI to VGA Dongle]

• 8GB DDR3-1600MHz [1 DIMM ]

• 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

Short answer...The more you add the more memory space and power you need.

Take a look at Orbx HD space for each addon.

If you're planning on adding more content, I'd invest in an SSD. You can buy yourself a small enough one (250GB) just for your FSX. It'll increase loading times in the sim for ORBX scenery, meaning that you'll see less scenery loading when you change views/pan camera.

Everything but your RAM could do with an upgrade. FSX only uses 4GB RAM you see, so the RAM you have is OK. I'd look for a CPU upgrade first. The i7 4790K is ideal for FSX. I have mine overclocked to 4.7GHZ. Failing that, look at buying the fastest i5 you can afford. Then I'd think about upgrading your GPU...

I don't know much about those computers, but looking at the parts, it looks to be above average.

3.5Ghz is a fine processor speed. But the processor doesn't have "Turbo Boost Technology", so the frequency does not go higher then 3.5Ghigaherz.

Still, it should be fine for fsx.

1600Mhz RAM is not the slowest either, and 8 Gb is fine.

Your videocard is not the greatest, but better then average. (It's better then the old card I'm using now).

So your PC is slightly above average.

Running the freeware Addons that you can find on this site, and similar ones on other sites, should be no problem at all.

Running payware, Addon software for fsx you can buy, could be difficult.

Some will just about work. (At this point I must say I don't use these payare addons myself.)

****I'm thinking what could possibly work are weather addons like REX, or Active Sky at lower settings.

***Possibly scenery like ORBX-Global (better looking world).

**The ORBX-Regional packages contain more scenery objects, and may be just a bit to much to ask from your PC.

*Some payware addon airports and aircraft may work as well.

****The most intense Addons, like the PMDG 373 and 777 aircraft, and the AIrports from certain developer I can't remember the name of now, would be to much to ask. I'm almost certain of that.

(when I say they work, I mean you can use them, but you will have to set the image quality lower in fsx. If you don't the sim will stutter and at times freeze the image -- not smoothe viewing anymore.)

hope that helps a bit. (and I hope my analysis of your PC was not to optimistic.)

If you're just starting out with fsx I would suggest starting out with the freeware you find here on the site. You will find many nice aircraft Addons and Airports to liven up FSX. Lots of fun.

Enjoy!

il88pp

In my book, the CPU upgrade is first in priority here. The graphics card is OK, the CPU is the bottleneck.

If you cannot afford a SSD, then you might consider a second hard drive, and put FSX and all your add-ons on it.

Jorgen

Any time the seek head on a HD doesn't have to share time between a game(application) and the operating system, your game will speed up. Separate HDs for OS and FS means the drives can operate independently instead of taking turns.

-Pv-

Your PC is better than mine, and I'm running FSX Acceleration with Orbx Global (Base + Vector) just fine.

I tried the Orbx Iceland demo, to see what their dedicated regions would do. It looks great, but does cut my framerate in half (from 30 to about 15).

I mostly use freeware planes. But my Eaglesoft Cirrus SR22 works just fine. I borrowed a Carenado plane from a friend -- while it worked, it also cut my framerate in half.

So, there's my two cents!

In my book, the CPU upgrade is first in priority here. The graphics card is OK, the CPU is the bottleneck.

 

If you cannot afford a SSD, then you might consider a second hard drive, and put FSX and all your add-ons on it.

 

Jorgen

My thoughts too. However after the CPU upgrade I'd seriously consider the sim dedicated SSD. Prices have hugely fallen & with a little diligence on sites like Newegg, you can find some great sales!

I think your computer is fine as it is, I would be cautious to make any changes until it was clear the it was starting to struggle with what you have installed.

The reason being you could spend a lot of money on PC upgrades prior to you installing ORBX for example that don't achieve anything that your system would of coped with in its present form.

If you are keen to make changes to your system then I would agree with what has been mentioned here and look at getting a dedicated hard drive for FSX and associated files.

Darryl

I think your computer is fine as it is, I would be cautious to make any changes until it was clear the it was starting to struggle with what you have installed.

The reason being you could spend a lot of money on PC upgrades prior to you installing ORBX for example that don't achieve anything that your system would of coped with in its present form.

If you are keen to make changes to your system then I would agree with what has been mentioned here and look at getting a dedicated hard drive for FSX and associated files.

Darryl

Dunno.. I have FSX installs on several drives, including my C drive.

I really can't tell a lick of difference what drive I run FSX from. The one on my

C drive seems just as smooth as running it from one of my other non boot/OS drives.

I kind of think that mattered more back in the old days when puters were much

slower than now.. These days, I really don't think it matters much. The puters are

fast enough to deal with it, as long as no actual drive issues, etc..

So I wouldn't be that worried about that unless one can actually use the room.

ORBX Global is not going to be all that demanding vs default. It's mainly textures,

new buildings and textures, night lights, etc.. All which have a low frame hit in general.

It may show a lot more houses and such over cities, and naturally if you run it that

high, it may be slower than max default. But it can be dialed back.

Now Vector is a bit different story. It's going to add a lot of new stuff like detailed

roads and highways, waterways, more detailed coastlines, etc..

It will ding your machine a bit if you run everything real high. A lot more than Global

alone. It might run both OK, but it would just be something you would have to try,

and maybe adjust settings to avoid a CPU/graphics vapor lock. :(

Some planes like the NGX 737 will ding the frame rate down vs default planes.

That's where brute CPU power helps..

As far as the OP, how well he can run FSX with high settings would help show

what it can do. IE: if it can run default FSX with max settings real well, it would

be able to handle add on stuff if the settings were adjusted down a bit if needed.

Or would give an idea how well it would handle a high end airplane.

BTW, might d/l some of the freeware ORBX stuff like Bowerman WA, etc, and see

how it runs. That stuff is fairly dense if you run the settings high, and should be

a good test. If it will run that OK, it should do most else OK.

Of course, if you add real wx and clouds, and then a hungry airplane.. :mad:

My thoughts too. However after the CPU upgrade I'd seriously consider the sim dedicated SSD. Prices have hugely fallen & with a little diligence on sites like Newegg, you can find some great sales!

Actually I just saw a 240M SSHD for $69 on special. That's similar to what some software costs.