Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Can my computer handle Prepar3d?

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | Can my computer handle Prepar3d?

DVA10723
Captain, B737-800
OLP

Joined on May 10 2012
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Myrtle Beach, SC

1,547 legs, 4,986.4 hours
19 legs, 27.1 hours online
1,525 legs, 4,930.9 hours ACARS
2 legs, 4.6 hours event

Posted onPost created on August 23 2016 18:39 ET by Josh Martin

Here are the specs for the main parts of my desktop

GPU: MSI Radeon HD 7850 DirectX 11 R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W BX80637I53570K Desktop Processor Intel
MB: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

I'm getting more and more irritated with FSX and it's quirky BS, but I'm not sure I could afford to have to purchase new computer parts to run Prepar3d right now. Please give me an honest opinion on if you think this setup could handle it. I'd need Prepar3d to run like a champ (25-30fps or more). I'd want to add some weather engines along the way as well as PMDG aircraft. Thanks for any help!

Josh Martin

Captain, B737-800

Posted onPost created on August 23 2016 18:40 ET by Josh Martin

Also, if there's any part of my setup that you don't think would suffice, if you could provide me with make/model of what I'd need so I could look it up I'd greatly appreciate it!

Josh Martin

Captain, B737-800

DVA12719
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
OLP

Joined on July 26 2015
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"Let the FO land"
Boca Raton, FL

153 legs, 258.9 hours
32 legs, 43.1 hours online
145 legs, 252.0 hours ACARS
16 legs, 23.9 hours event
12 legs dispatched, 16.4 hours

Posted onPost created on August 23 2016 23:00 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

As far as I know, that should run it pretty well. As long as you don't throw AS16 (or ASN) and the PMDG NGX at it, while using maxed settings, I think you are good to go. The CPU might be a bit of a bottleneck at higher settings, but it shouldn't be a problem otherwise. If you see it's not going to well, just upgrade to an i7 4790K or such. Prepar3d isn't super CPU intensive, but if you are getting issues, it's more likely that it's that than your pretty killer (if not slightly outdated) GPU. Speaking of the GPU, you can get even better performance out of it by overclocking it a bit. See this video for how. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPaQWdkd-Eg

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

DVA2887
Senior Captain, A320
OLP, 737-ATP, VFRADV
E-MAIL

Joined on January 30 2006
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1,283 legs, 1,792.7 hours
837 legs, 1,044.3 hours online
1,265 legs, 1,770.7 hours ACARS
31 legs, 49.6 hours event
3 legs dispatched, 2.5 hours

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 07:53 ET by Andrew Vane

i do not recommend overclocking anything unless you know what you're doing. Keep in mind you put your system components at risk of overheating and frying themselves (speaking from past experience a long time ago).

Yisrael someone who reads this may think he can do it and ruin his expensive system. Be careful what you recommend unless you're willing to reimburse him for it. cool

Even that video you linked starts with a massive disclaimer at the beginning.

Andrew Vane (DVA2887)

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 08:08 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

Andrew Vane wrote:

Yisrael someone who reads this may think he can do it and ruin his expensive system. Be careful what you recommend unless you're willing to reimburse him for it. Even that video you linked starts with a massive disclaimer at the beginning.

Yes, you are right. I should probably note that overlocking is not easy to do and may overheat your computer. However, if you really want to do it a tiny bit, it's definitely possible even though there's some risk involved.

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 08:54 ET by Josh Martin

Thanks for the responses. I guess I should have noted that my CPU is overclocked to about 4.1ghz. I'd prefer not touch the GPU because as far as overclocking those, I don't know much about it.

Couple questions:

Do you guys recommend wiping my hard drive clean and starting over if I were to switch to Prepar3d? That way everything FSX related would be wiped away. How much hard drive space have you noticed Prepar3d taking? I ask because my SSD drive is about 4 years old, and all I could afford since they were newer then was 120gb.

Looking at my current GPU specs from above, do you think it would benefit me ANY to go ahead and replace it? I do know I'd like to have three monitors for my cockpit at some point, and I'm pretty sure my current GPU does not allow that. For now I'd be fine with what I have, as long as P3D would run smoothly, again...25-30fps is my personal standard. I don't want to wipe my hard drive clean, install P3D, then come to find out that I still have to spend hundreds of dollars replacing hardware in the desktop.

Thank you again for all of your help!

Josh Martin

Captain, B737-800

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 10:15 ET by Andrew Vane

I've never installed P3D. I think the safe thing to do is yes, start from scratch. I did this with FSX SE recently, backing up my FSX folder, and things are running much smoother than before.

Andrew Vane (DVA2887)

DVA11021
Captain, B757-200
OLP

Joined on September 13 2012
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Milford, NH

375 legs, 620.5 hours
365 legs, 604.5 hours online
374 legs, 618.9 hours ACARS
21 legs, 51.4 hours event

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 10:18 ET by Sean Zarella

Ill start off with your GPU that is limited to 2GB vram 7850 is old now and antiquated. Current GPU has 3 - 4 GB ddr5 youll probably hit the Vram limit with your current card.

I had HIS 7970 running 4 screens with fs9, with AMD 8120 4.2 ghz. OC ran ok, 30 ish fps in flight 20s in ground. with a few stutters. Then catastrophy hit and replaced with my new setup

Intel 4790k overclocked to 4.7 Ghz with H100i and Asus Strix R9 390 8gb ddr5 card that does all 5 of my displays natively. and running my CS757 simpit.

This was a Huge performance Gain running near 60 fps at the ate and averaging 46-50 fps for whole flight shown on my log books. this also runs everything maxed out with no stutters

CPU temps do not get above 57c and runs perfect.

Sean Zarella (DVA11021)

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 13:35 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

Sean, assuming he's not running P3D on more than one monitor, he should be good with that video card.

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 15:08 ET by Sean Zarella

Josh Martin wrote:

I do know I'd like to have three monitors for my cockpit at some point, and I'm pretty sure my current GPU does not allow that. For now I'd be fine with what I have, as long as P3D would run smoothly, again...25-30fps is my personal standard.

YIs read his comment he would like to run 3 monitors if possible. so recommend future proofing

Sean Zarella (DVA11021)

Posted onPost created on August 24 2016 19:10 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

Sean Zarella wrote:

Josh Martin wrote:

I do know I'd like to have three monitors for my cockpit at some point, and I'm pretty sure my current GPU does not allow that. For now I'd be fine with what I have, as long as P3D would run smoothly, again...25-30fps is my personal standard.

YIs read his comment he would like to run 3 monitors if possible. so recommend future proofing

Thanks. I didn't see that before. I would definitely upgrade the GPU then. Maybe a GTX 970?

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

DVA12265
Captain, DC-6
OLP

Joined on July 10 2014
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Herndon, VA

1,497 legs, 5,052.6 hours
1,379 legs, 4,756.6 hours online
1,482 legs, 5,002.5 hours ACARS
54 legs, 183.2 hours event

Posted onPost created on August 25 2016 12:26 ET by Daniel Chappell

Josh Martin wrote:

Here are the specs for the main parts of my desktop

GPU: MSI Radeon HD 7850 DirectX 11 R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W BX80637I53570K Desktop Processor Intel
MB: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

I'm getting more and more irritated with FSX and it's quirky BS, but I'm not sure I could afford to have to purchase new computer parts to run Prepar3d right now. Please give me an honest opinion on if you think this setup could handle it. I'd need Prepar3d to run like a champ (25-30fps or more). I'd want to add some weather engines along the way as well as PMDG aircraft. Thanks for any help!

Hey Josh, I have a pretty much same spec built computer about 4 years ago. I'm waiting someone can pinpoint to answer your question because I wanted to jump to P3D but my spec didn't meet as P3D recommendation. Currently I'm running FSX:SE since they released. I'm happy to fly FSX:SE much more than CRASHING FSX. I recommend FSX:SE if you don't get any clear answer for this issue.(writing I'm assuming you didn't tried FSX:SE yet)

Daniel Chappell (DVA12265)

DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 10 2001
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Marietta, GA

2,306 legs, 9,290.0 hours
240 legs, 553.9 hours online
1,964 legs, 8,083.1 hours ACARS
75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,342 legs, 9,424.9 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours
CURRENTLY LOGGED IN

Posted onPost created on August 25 2016 12:54 ET by Luke Kolin

Yisrael Wealcatch wrote:

Thanks. I didn't see that before. I would definitely upgrade the GPU then. Maybe a GTX 970?

A 1060 is roughly equivalent performance to a 970 with less power draw and 6GB of RAM rather than 3.5GB.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on August 25 2016 19:15 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

Luke Kolin wrote:

Yisrael Wealcatch wrote:

Thanks. I didn't see that before. I would definitely upgrade the GPU then. Maybe a GTX 970?

A 1060 is roughly equivalent performance to a 970 with less power draw and 6GB of RAM rather than 3.5GB.

Cheers!

Oh yeah! I forgot about the 1060! It's pretty cool actually.

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

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