Starting Again

[Lukemeister 6]

Hi folks,

As ever I drifted from FSX for a year or two, now wish to come back. I want to recreate real low cost carrier ops from a base in England, to holiday destinations around Europe.  The thing is, i've left simming for so long I don't know what's good and what isn't any more. I don't even know if my PC is good enough! (2TB HDD, Intel i7-4790k@4.00GHz, 16GB RAM, GTX 980 Graphics Card).

I'm looking at purchasing P3D academic. Then, perhaps the A320X or the PMDG 737NGX. Then I need to buy everything from generic country scenery, to airport specific scenery to weather generation and Nav data.

 

Please could I have some help? I really want to get back into simming. I will compile a shopping list of the best payware you folks recommend, and will buy it all in one go. I feel a bit lost, and need some guidance.

 

 

Thank you

Edited October 14, 2019 by Lukemeister

[mutley 4,487]

Hey Luke,

Great to see you back. Your PC spec would probably be considered low end now for P3D and complex aircraft, but good enough to get a taste of what is possible.

Let us know what you are planning and we'll try and chip in with some help.

Cheers,

Joe

[Soaranden 84]

Here is my short list of things to consider in any PC:

1. What are the optimal hardware specifications for the software that you will be running? (In the case of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, which many of us may want to add to our systems, currently optimal specifications are unknown).

2. The motherboard. Everything, including the CPU, is a peripheral to the motherboard. Choose the motherboard carefully. It's arguably the most important component!

3. A CPU that can be overclocked. (Just don't overdo the overclocking).

4. Sufficient cooling. Keep the heat down to prolong system life.

5. Install as much quality RAM as possible. Doing so will make the system run better and will prolong system life!

6. Add a SSD. A SSD increases speed and helps to prolong hard drive life.

7. Have an external hard drive for backups! Be sure your choice of backup software can backup and restore individual partitions and files as well as the entire computer.

8. A graphics card that is sufficient for the software that you will be running.

9. A high-quality power supply that supplies plenty of power. (I've tried using lesser-quality power supplies, and all of them have failed).

10. The operating system. Consider a dual-boot Windows/Linux system. Linux is fast, and there's no need to defrag your Linux partition/partitions. Running Linux is a way to prolong the life of an older computer, and X-Plane 11 can run on Linux.