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Is this PC capable?


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Hey there folks. Just wanted some feedback. I have been away from flight simulators for a LONG time. I come from the days of FS98, CFS1, and CFS2. I recently built a PC to play some older classic games (which this PC is overkill for) and am wondering if it has the power to handle FSX. I don't expect perfection, but I'm just looking for an overall enjoyable experience with the sim. Specs are as follows:

 

CPU – AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6-Core 3.6 GHz

Motherboard – MSI B450 Tomahawk ATX AM4

Memory – Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200

Storage – Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SSD 2.5”

Video Card – Sapphire Radeon RX 580 Pulse 8 GB

Power Supply – Corsair CXM 550 W Bronze

Operating System – Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Monitor – MSI Optix MAG24C 23.6” 144 Hz

 

If anything is lacking, where is my money best spent in upgrading? I appreciate any feedback!

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Should work fine with a basic FSX-SE installation. I recommend the Steam edition as it has been trouble free for me. Problems may appear with numerous demanding add-on programs, but not a given. Hardware add-ons may require a higher capacity power supply.

 

 

 

Intel Core i7-7700K @ 4.5GHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB GDDR5X; ASRock Z270 K6 Gaming MB, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM; 500GB SSD + 2TB HDD; Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; 34" 21:9 curved 4K Monitor

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Thanks for the reply John. I won't have much time to dig into the game until later in the week, but I was able to download and install the Steam Edition with no problems. That being said, I started up a free flight just to take a look at it. Frankly, the graphics look quite poor. I even noticed the settings were set to ultra-high as well. Is this normal? I didn't have much time to mess with it considering I have a joystick on the way in the mail and am bogged down with work. Frame rate seemed perfectly fine, but it just looked.... blurry? I understand this is a game from 2006, but was expecting better image quality here. Is that achieved with add-ons or am I missing something here? There was an option to choose DX10 preview but it was automatically set at DX9. I didn't play around with the settings before asking here. Does that make a difference?

 

Should work fine with a basic FSX-SE installation. I recommend the Steam edition as it has been trouble free for me. Problems may appear with numerous demanding add-on programs, but not a given. Hardware add-ons may require a higher capacity power supply.

 

 

 

Intel Core i7-7700K @ 4.5GHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB GDDR5X; ASRock Z270 K6 Gaming MB, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM; 500GB SSD + 2TB HDD; Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; 34" 21:9 curved 4K Monitor

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To be honest it is years since I have seen FSX with standard scenery, so I really don't remember how it looked. I have been using Orbx scenery for a long time, i.e. their Global Base, Global Vector, Open LC North America, and Open LC Europe. I am using the same sceneries for P3Dv4, and I am happy with them. Orbx sells many regional sceneries and airports with greater detail and sharpness, but now things are beginning to get expensive! But first give yourself some time playing with the settings, you may be able to optimize the looks of the standard scenery some.

 

As I recall, to use the DX 10 option you need a payware program called "DX 10 Fixer", you can probably find it with Google if it still exists. Have fun!

 

 

 

Intel Core i7-7700K @ 4.5GHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB GDDR5X; ASRock Z270 K6 Gaming MB, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM; 500GB SSD + 2TB HDD; Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; 34" 21:9 curved 4K Monitor

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Two possible reasons for the 'poor' graphics are

 

1. The selected resolution - Check that the FSX resolution is configured to be the same as the native resolution for your monitor. If may be that FSX is displaying at a lower default resolution of 1024×768. If the native resolution of the monitor is 1920×1080 then set the FSX settings to the same.

 

2. Selected Graphics card - FSX should automatically pick up and select the Radeon but, if your motherboard has an inbuilt GPU (such as an Intel or similar) then FSX may be using that GPU instead.

Regards

 

Brian

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Two possible reasons for the 'poor' graphics are

 

1. The selected resolution - Check that the FSX resolution is configured to be the same as the native resolution for your monitor. If may be that FSX is displaying at a lower default resolution of 1024×768. If the native resolution of the monitor is 1920×1080 then set the FSX settings to the same.

 

2. Selected Graphics card - FSX should automatically pick up and select the Radeon but, if your motherboard has an inbuilt GPU (such as an Intel or similar) then FSX may be using that GPU instead.

 

You were correct! The default resolution was set in at way under 1920×1080. Switched it, restarted the game and instantly solved that problem. Night and day difference. Flew around getting a feel for things for an hour or so today. It has been so long since I have played a flight simulator. Now I'm over here confused as to why people say that AMD is a no-go for FSX. Maybe this just rings true about old AMD? My setup seems to run this game flawlessly. I didn't notice any hiccups in FPS, lag, etc. Granted, I haven't begin to introduce add-ons but I plan to keep that fairly limited. Thanks again guys.

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Glad to have been of help.....

 

WRT whether or not a particular piece of hardware is good for FSX or not is, IMO, simply a matter of personal opinion and preference.

 

There are threads here and at other FS community sites that are littered with comments where people 'push' their opinions on what are 'no-go' options to run FSX (and other sims) and, in many cases, you will see replies from others that clearly state that these 'no-go' options work fine with FSX.

Regards

 

Brian

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Intel and Microsoft have long worked closely together and shared knowledge with each other. NVidia also works closely with Intel. Microsoft software is all optimised to work well on the Intel and NVidia chips.

 

Fsx (Microsoft product) will run best on a Nvidia card, which runs best on an Intel CPU.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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Things have been going real smooth. I'm running ultra-settings on literally everything and I'm not noticing any kind of performance issues at all. I had a major issue with flickering taxi/runway lines but I solved that with a Java-type code I found online in another forum. Fixed that instantly as well. I've probably got 8+ hours into the game at the moment. Been doing a lot of the tutorials and touch-and-go's with the Cessna in free flight mode. This game definitely has a learning curve to it. Takes a lot of patience for sure. I'm currently researching add-ons. Any "must haves" you guys can recommend? I'm specifically looking into AI traffic and graphical improvements. Not so much interested in adding other airports or aircraft as I see myself flying this Cessna for the foreseeable future until I am 100% confident with it. Edited by SouthernFried
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Intel and Microsoft have long worked closely together and shared knowledge with each other. NVidia also works closely with Intel. Microsoft software is all optimised to work well on the Intel and NVidia chips.

 

Fsx (Microsoft product) will run best on a Nvidia card, which runs best on an Intel CPU.

 

That makes sense. If I find myself hooked to this game for years to come, I will absolutely consider upgrading/rebuilding my components from AMD to Intel the next time around. Time will tell.

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…

 

Fsx (Microsoft product) will run best on a Nvidia card, which runs best on an Intel CPU.

 

A classic statement and example of what I mean by people 'pushing' their opinions...

 

As I have already stated, IMO it is a matter of personal opinion and preference. However, at risk of being accused of 'pushing' my own opinion, IME, many of the statements made regarding FSX running best on, for example, Intel/Nvidia based PCs do not hold true, even more so with todays technology.

 

Claims that a certain game/piece of software will run better on a certain CPU/GPU were, and still are, often misleading and simply intended to gain 'sells' of particular products. This tried and tested sells technic has been around for decades, even before the advent of computers (for example car/tyre manufacturers tie-ups) and in many cases have no real relevance.

 

Specific WRT CPU/GPU tie-ups - in todays level of technology it is all driven by hard coded instructions within the CPU/GPU and drivers. The only REAL tie-in to consider is what CPU type the motherboard is designed to use.

 

All CPU/GPU processors have a set of coded instructions designed to get the best of the fitted CPU/GPU combo, and other motherboard capabilities, irrespective of the make. They also use coding in the drivers to provide further compatibility. Also, whilst irrelevant for FSX, many manufacturers often supply specific game tweaks via driver updates to remedy reported issues so that a game will run better.

 

The reality is that FSX can run well, and for some users, better on other products. Personally, I have two rigs with FSX installed - one has an i5 based Intel CPU and a ATI Radeon GPU. the other has an i7 based Intel CPU and a NVidia GPU. BOTH run FSX with no issues using the same slider settings. I also have a number of friends who run FSX on fully AMD based rigs (i.e. with both a AMD CPU and GPU) with no issues.

Regards

 

Brian

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Intel and Microsoft have long worked closely together and shared knowledge with each other. NVidia also works closely with Intel. Microsoft software is all optimised to work well on the Intel and NVidia chips.

 

Fsx (Microsoft product) will run best on a Nvidia card, which runs best on an Intel CPU.

 

No, that is not why people recommended Intel and Nvidia at all. Microsoft also works closely with AMD too.

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A classic statement and example of what I mean by people 'pushing' their opinions...

 

While il88pp's statement is misleading, for a long time there was demonstrable evidence that Intel CPUs had better performance in the areas that mattered to FSX (Intel had much better single core performance while AMD started going towards multiple cores), so were the best ones to buy if you were looking for the best performance. This didn't mean AMD CPUs didn't work, just that you would likely be lowering the settings a bit further to get the sim running smoothly. With more recent CPUs, the difference has dropped with CPUs from both sides being more powerful than their predecessors, and both sides are able to run the sim better.

 

Similarly on the GPU front, there were demonstrable cases around the time FSX came out where an AMD card would take a performance hit while the Nvidia ones wouldn't. Flying through clouds was one situation. Nvidia also provided specific driver updates for FSX long after AMD stopped caring about the sim. AMD has long since changed their GPU architecture, removing those issues with their GPUs.

 

It is not uncommon for games and applications to run better on one CPU or GPU over another, and can be more than just opinions trying to push and agenda. FSX will run fine on most Windows computers these days with the right settings.

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