New PC - Contemplating Switching from FSX to P3D V4.5?

Hi everyone. My new PC was just delivered a few days ago, a long overdue upgrade from my current 8 year old PC. However, I am totally on the fence and cannot make a decision as to the direction I want to go with my sim. I'm hoping these specs should be able to run a sim pretty decently. I don't now much about PC's but the hours of research I did helped me come to this nice balance within my budget. Definitely had the processor as the most important item though.

Specs:

Intel I7 9700K (8-Core/8-Thread, 12MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.6 GHz on all cores)

16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2666MHz RAM

512GB SSD + 1TB HDD

GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB GDDR6

Now my dilemma. I've been playing FSX for a long time and I have tons of add-ons over the years and enjoy flying in these areas very much. My original plan was to do a fresh install and only load the programs I want into FSX, lord knows how many unused or random add-ons I have floating around in my files. The only thing I would transfer 1 to 1 from my old PC would be all of my AI Traffic files. Basically I know my way in and around FSX like the back of my hand. Its familiar.

On the other hand I am seriously considering switching to Prepar3d V4.5. I have heard that a ton of payware add-ons are now compatible with it but I'm not sure if some of my older stuff, especially Tropicalsim and Taxi2Gate, is able to port over. I really like the idea of a 64bit platform though and the graphic tweaks in P3D look a little more enhanced than my FSX Deluxe edition. It's just something new that I'm not familiar with.

How compatible is FSX scenery in P3D v4.5? Can I port it over 1 for 1 with minor problems or will it not work at all? Will I be able port over and run my AI Traffic? Most of my models are FSX native and all of my traffic files are FSX.

With that said what do you guys think I should do? Is it worth some of the headache to change over to P3D or just run FSX until MSFS 2020 is released? I will most likely be switching to that if it is as good as it looks.

Also last question. My old PC only had a hard drive, no SSD. Would it be best to install the sim onto the SSD for faster loading times or onto the HDD because of the large amount of files I have? Does the SSD/HDD affect the way the sim performs while flying or is it purely just loading time?

Thanks a bunch, any feedback I can get will help!

Ryan

I run P3Dv4.5 on a less powerful rig than yours, and am very happy with it.

But - you should not expect that anything from FSX will be able to port over - that way you will not be too disappointed. In fact, only install things under v.4 that are specifically mentioned as compatible, and avoid a messy situation.

Jorgen

I run P3Dv4.5 on a less powerful rig than yours, and am very happy with it.

 

But - you should not expect that anything from FSX will be able to port over - that way you will not be too disappointed. In fact, only install things under v.4 that are specifically mentioned as compatible, and avoid a messy situation.

 

Jorgen

Thanks Jorgen! That's good to know, I was hoping for something that would last long into the future and something that would be able to run MSFS2020 without issues.

And I feared that would be the case. That is the biggest reason why I'm on the fence with this. In some of my scenery the installers come with a P3D option so at least I'd have a few airports and most of my favorites. Just something I have to consider.

With regard to your last question, it's only the loading time that's an issue. Once either FSX pr P3D is running the performance using either drive will be the same, i.e., no noticeable difference.....Doug

Thanks Doug. Good to know. I may just throw it onto the HDD. I'm used to the longer loading times of FSX on my current rig so it shouldn't be much of a problem. It also frees up space on the SSD for other programs that I run.

" In some of my scenery the installers come with a P3D option "

Make sure this is P3D v4 and not v3 (which is 32bit just like FSX)

" In some of my scenery the installers come with a P3D option "

 

Make sure this is P3D v4 and not v3 (which is 32bit just like FSX)

Thanks. Is there a list of payware scenery that has been updated from FSX or V3 to work in V4? I saw something about a list on a website called theskylounge.tv however it just looks like a live streaming site now... Can't seem to track down anything similar through google searches either.

I think I am going to give P3D4 a try. I want something new and fresh to go along with my new PC.

Hi everyone. My new PC was just delivered a few days ago, a long overdue upgrade from my current 8 year old PC. However, I am totally on the fence and cannot make a decision as to the direction I want to go with my sim. I'm hoping these specs should be able to run a sim pretty decently. I don't now much about PC's but the hours of research I did helped me come to this nice balance within my budget. Definitely had the processor as the most important item though.

 

Specs:

Intel I7 9700K (8-Core/8-Thread, 12MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.6 GHz on all cores)

16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2666MHz RAM

512GB SSD + 1TB HDD

GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB GDDR6

Now my dilemma. I've been playing FSX for a long time and I have tons of add-ons over the years and enjoy flying in these areas very much. My original plan was to do a fresh install and only load the programs I want into FSX, lord knows how many unused or random add-ons I have floating around in my files. The only thing I would transfer 1 to 1 from my old PC would be all of my AI Traffic files. Basically I know my way in and around FSX like the back of my hand. Its familiar.

 

On the other hand I am seriously considering switching to Prepar3d V4.5. I have heard that a ton of payware add-ons are now compatible with it but I'm not sure if some of my older stuff, especially Tropicalsim and Taxi2Gate, is able to port over. I really like the idea of a 64bit platform though and the graphic tweaks in P3D look a little more enhanced than my FSX Deluxe edition. It's just something new that I'm not familiar with.

 

How compatible is FSX scenery in P3D v4.5? Can I port it over 1 for 1 with minor problems or will it not work at all? Will I be able port over and run my AI Traffic? Most of my models are FSX native and all of my traffic files are FSX.

 

With that said what do you guys think I should do? Is it worth some of the headache to change over to P3D or just run FSX until MSFS 2020 is released? I will most likely be switching to that if it is as good as it looks.

 

Also last question. My old PC only had a hard drive, no SSD. Would it be best to install the sim onto the SSD for faster loading times or onto the HDD because of the large amount of files I have? Does the SSD/HDD affect the way the sim performs while flying or is it purely just loading time?

 

Thanks a bunch, any feedback I can get will help!

Ryan

Forget FSX compatibility - Some software will have separate installers for FSX and P3dv4.Others will try to get to install FSX stuff (a 32-bit simulator) in P3d v4 (a 64-bit simulator).

Your hardware seems to be better suited to a 64-bit simulator so start from scratch and explore the suitability of software individually. The mistake comes from forcing ANY FSX-software to fit....

Thanks. I'm going to start with the base P3Dv4 and work my way up with addons from there. I've got my eye on a combination of Rex 5 Sky Force and Active Sky 2016 in tandem. After that its just going to be updating whatever P3Dv4 capable payware I have.

I was also checking out Chase Plane however it looks very tricky to use properly and almost daunting. Does anyone have any experience with it and would you recommend it?

If you're using Orbx scenery you should be good to go installing into P3dv4. I bought much of my Orbx scenery for use with FSX and am now using it with P3Dv4.

Your new rig sounds awesome!