COMPUTER ADVICE
COMPUTER ADVICE
Well my ancient computer that I have been running fs9 and FSX on for years has finally died. So I need to get a new one. Any help with what I need and what to stay away from would be greatly appreciated since there has been many changes in operating systems, video cards, and memory since my original installs. I want to be sure I can successfully install and run FSX.
Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
Well the first thing is to get some advice from people that have installed FSX on Windows 11. I am ignoring Windows 10 as it reaches end of life within two months and I am not even sure that you can buy a license for it any more. Also Windows 12 will be out next year so you might as well prepare for that.
FS9 for sure used the SecureROM security system and needed it to install. SecureROM was disabled by MS in Windows 7 and Windows 8 and removed completely in Windows 10. Ironically this meant that you had to use a hacked version of FS9 to be able to install it.
You will need to check if FSX is also caught by this. Somebody that has installed FSX on Windows 11 in the near past is the best person to answer this.
Now, as for hardware. The biggest change that you will experience is storage.
HDs we know all about but it is the slowest form of storage media. It is still the cheapest though and biggest capacity though.
SSDs have been around for some time and are a lot faster than HDs. Their size is smaller than HDs and their cost is larger.
NVMe drives are the newest kids on the block. There are by far the the fastest. However, their storage size is generally the smallest, max 8TB, and they are by far the most expensive.
Now, everything will be determined by the motherboard you buy. It will determine what memory you need, what GPU you can use, and what CPU you can install.
As an example the Nvidia 50 series cards are PCIe5. They will work on PCIe4 boards but they will work at half speed.
The newer types of motherboards also are set for more NVMe slots. Again he type of NVMe slots, gen 4 or gen 5, will determine which NVMe drive(s) to get. A gen 5 NVMe drive will work in a gen 4 motherboard but only at half speed. Don't get me wrong, this will still be a lot faster than SSDs but it is something to think about.
So if money is not an issue get a completely PCIe 5 motherboard. A gen 4 NVMe will work at full speed, it will just be half the speed of a gen 5 NVMe drive.
As you can tell I thoroughly recommend moving to NVMe's if you can. The one exception would be if you have so much storage capacity on HDs that it will either be impossible to replace it/them or prohibitively expensive. Those HDs you will still be able to transfer to your new PC, although maybe a NAS box might be a better answer.
As I said earlier the choice of motherboard will determine which direction you go with the rest of the hardware.
FS9 for sure used the SecureROM security system and needed it to install. SecureROM was disabled by MS in Windows 7 and Windows 8 and removed completely in Windows 10. Ironically this meant that you had to use a hacked version of FS9 to be able to install it.
You will need to check if FSX is also caught by this. Somebody that has installed FSX on Windows 11 in the near past is the best person to answer this.
Now, as for hardware. The biggest change that you will experience is storage.
HDs we know all about but it is the slowest form of storage media. It is still the cheapest though and biggest capacity though.
SSDs have been around for some time and are a lot faster than HDs. Their size is smaller than HDs and their cost is larger.
NVMe drives are the newest kids on the block. There are by far the the fastest. However, their storage size is generally the smallest, max 8TB, and they are by far the most expensive.
Now, everything will be determined by the motherboard you buy. It will determine what memory you need, what GPU you can use, and what CPU you can install.
As an example the Nvidia 50 series cards are PCIe5. They will work on PCIe4 boards but they will work at half speed.
The newer types of motherboards also are set for more NVMe slots. Again he type of NVMe slots, gen 4 or gen 5, will determine which NVMe drive(s) to get. A gen 5 NVMe drive will work in a gen 4 motherboard but only at half speed. Don't get me wrong, this will still be a lot faster than SSDs but it is something to think about.
So if money is not an issue get a completely PCIe 5 motherboard. A gen 4 NVMe will work at full speed, it will just be half the speed of a gen 5 NVMe drive.
As you can tell I thoroughly recommend moving to NVMe's if you can. The one exception would be if you have so much storage capacity on HDs that it will either be impossible to replace it/them or prohibitively expensive. Those HDs you will still be able to transfer to your new PC, although maybe a NAS box might be a better answer.
As I said earlier the choice of motherboard will determine which direction you go with the rest of the hardware.
Steve
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Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
The installation of FSX has been covered many times on flightsim.com, including by yours truly.
If at all possible, when you get a new computer, put Windows 10 on it - personal opinion.
Now, you don't say what kind you are going to get - laptop or desktop - and if a desktop, it only is the system unit, or you also will need a seperate monitor.
To start from the back, if you will need a seperate monitor, then get the best you can, meaning highst screen resolution, quickest reaction time and OLED if it fits in your budget.
The rest here applies equally to a laptop or a system unit: get one with 2 - yes, two - reasonably large SSDs in it - one for the OS, and the other for the simulator. For CPU and graphics cards, I am biased towards Intel and nVidia, but the combination here would very much depend on your budget.
The CPU, if Intel, should have a "K" suffix on it, meaning it is unlocked and can be overclocked if you so desire at one point.
For the CPU, the highest possible clock rate is also more important than the number of cores, since FSX is very much a single-threaded application (using only one core), whereas P3D is partly multi-threaded (capable of using more that one core simultaneously).
For the motherboard, I am also biased, this time towards ASUS, which I find are very easy to work with, but so are undoubtedly many other brands. But - very very important - the CPU you choose has to have the same socket as the CPU socket on the motherboard, and the video card has to fit on there too - most will - and also the RAM has to have the right number of pins for the RAM sockets. The RAM itself should be capable of the highest clock rating compatible with the motherboard, and you should have at least 16 GB of it, but more if possible in your budget.
Wow, this almost became a novel! And again, this is full of my own biases, based on my particular experiences.
I hope that this can give you some impulses and directions on where to go. If you have any questions, please post them, and I'll do my best to answer.
Have fun -
Jorgen
If at all possible, when you get a new computer, put Windows 10 on it - personal opinion.
Now, you don't say what kind you are going to get - laptop or desktop - and if a desktop, it only is the system unit, or you also will need a seperate monitor.
To start from the back, if you will need a seperate monitor, then get the best you can, meaning highst screen resolution, quickest reaction time and OLED if it fits in your budget.
The rest here applies equally to a laptop or a system unit: get one with 2 - yes, two - reasonably large SSDs in it - one for the OS, and the other for the simulator. For CPU and graphics cards, I am biased towards Intel and nVidia, but the combination here would very much depend on your budget.
The CPU, if Intel, should have a "K" suffix on it, meaning it is unlocked and can be overclocked if you so desire at one point.
For the CPU, the highest possible clock rate is also more important than the number of cores, since FSX is very much a single-threaded application (using only one core), whereas P3D is partly multi-threaded (capable of using more that one core simultaneously).
For the motherboard, I am also biased, this time towards ASUS, which I find are very easy to work with, but so are undoubtedly many other brands. But - very very important - the CPU you choose has to have the same socket as the CPU socket on the motherboard, and the video card has to fit on there too - most will - and also the RAM has to have the right number of pins for the RAM sockets. The RAM itself should be capable of the highest clock rating compatible with the motherboard, and you should have at least 16 GB of it, but more if possible in your budget.
Wow, this almost became a novel! And again, this is full of my own biases, based on my particular experiences.
I hope that this can give you some impulses and directions on where to go. If you have any questions, please post them, and I'll do my best to answer.
Have fun -
Jorgen
Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
I see that Firebird and I posted concurrently.
As far as I know, FSX will install in Windows 11 the same way as in Windows 10, but this is something I have not tried personally. Questions on that you can post on flightsim.com, I know this has been discussed there, but can't remember the outcome.
And if you have Windows 10 install media, you can purchase absolutely legit keys for it, all versions. I use those.
Jorgen
As far as I know, FSX will install in Windows 11 the same way as in Windows 10, but this is something I have not tried personally. Questions on that you can post on flightsim.com, I know this has been discussed there, but can't remember the outcome.
And if you have Windows 10 install media, you can purchase absolutely legit keys for it, all versions. I use those.
Jorgen
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jetpilot1980
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Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
So I will jump in... First off for motherboards unlike Jorgen I HATE ASUS... My computer is a BYO but here are my specs...
Motherboard as a MSI Tomahawk B550F with wifi... This is where my current hatred of ASUS comes in... I previously had two ASUS B550Es and both failed on me... The first motherboard came with two bad RAM slots... The second one which they "warranty" replaced for me kept shutting my computer off and random times and in a few cases on boot which eventually corrupted my Windows install.. While I was able to recover the vast majority of my data I did lose a lot too... and I had to completely re-install Windows from scratch... Also the ASUS RMA replacement program is a complete scam.. When they warranty replaced my first motherboard they tried to charge me $350 to do it (claiming some 10cent plastic clips were missing); which is more than I can just buy one for from New Egg or whomever for and it was a used/ refurbished board they sent me... I did get my money back but had to complain to the Better Business Bureau first... The Tomahawk motherboard has been working great for me ever since... I am not sure if ASUS quality has improved in the 6 / AM5 series but would avoid the ASUS 5 /AM4+ series at all costs...
Moving on... My processor is an AMD Ryzen 3950x 16 core 32 thread processor
RAM is Patriot DDR 5 RAM at 64gb
GPU I am using an ASUS NVIDIA GeForce RTX3060 12GB
For the Drives I have a DVD RW drive... 2x 12TB Seagate ST12000NM001G-2M HDDs one acts as my main C: drive the other I use as my E: drive which is where I store my copies of P3d V4 and V5 respectively as well as I have a DCS installation on this drive... One additional back up drive mostly unused which is a Lenovo 4TB ST4000NM0035 HDD. I also use a 1 TB Timetec SSD as my cache drive.
Additionally I use a couple of tools to coordinate my drives:
1. Primo Cache (payware) to use my SSD as a drive cache and speed up my performance https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/pri ... index.html
2. Process Lasso (payware) to put my simulator to the top of the task list when running https://bitsum.com/
3. Empty Standby List (free) to keep my RAM caches clear https://www.file.net/process/emptystandbylist.exe.html
4. Ultimate Defrag (payware) to keep my HDDs at their peak performance https://www.disktrix.com/
For cooling I am using a Thermaltake Frio Extreme Cpu Cooler and lots of other fans throughout my case... and for my case I am using a Rosewill Thor...For my PSU I am using a GPNE 1600W fully modular mining supply. For me P3dv5 runs pretty well for the most part... Hope that helps
Motherboard as a MSI Tomahawk B550F with wifi... This is where my current hatred of ASUS comes in... I previously had two ASUS B550Es and both failed on me... The first motherboard came with two bad RAM slots... The second one which they "warranty" replaced for me kept shutting my computer off and random times and in a few cases on boot which eventually corrupted my Windows install.. While I was able to recover the vast majority of my data I did lose a lot too... and I had to completely re-install Windows from scratch... Also the ASUS RMA replacement program is a complete scam.. When they warranty replaced my first motherboard they tried to charge me $350 to do it (claiming some 10cent plastic clips were missing); which is more than I can just buy one for from New Egg or whomever for and it was a used/ refurbished board they sent me... I did get my money back but had to complain to the Better Business Bureau first... The Tomahawk motherboard has been working great for me ever since... I am not sure if ASUS quality has improved in the 6 / AM5 series but would avoid the ASUS 5 /AM4+ series at all costs...
Moving on... My processor is an AMD Ryzen 3950x 16 core 32 thread processor
RAM is Patriot DDR 5 RAM at 64gb
GPU I am using an ASUS NVIDIA GeForce RTX3060 12GB
For the Drives I have a DVD RW drive... 2x 12TB Seagate ST12000NM001G-2M HDDs one acts as my main C: drive the other I use as my E: drive which is where I store my copies of P3d V4 and V5 respectively as well as I have a DCS installation on this drive... One additional back up drive mostly unused which is a Lenovo 4TB ST4000NM0035 HDD. I also use a 1 TB Timetec SSD as my cache drive.
Additionally I use a couple of tools to coordinate my drives:
1. Primo Cache (payware) to use my SSD as a drive cache and speed up my performance https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/pri ... index.html
2. Process Lasso (payware) to put my simulator to the top of the task list when running https://bitsum.com/
3. Empty Standby List (free) to keep my RAM caches clear https://www.file.net/process/emptystandbylist.exe.html
4. Ultimate Defrag (payware) to keep my HDDs at their peak performance https://www.disktrix.com/
For cooling I am using a Thermaltake Frio Extreme Cpu Cooler and lots of other fans throughout my case... and for my case I am using a Rosewill Thor...For my PSU I am using a GPNE 1600W fully modular mining supply. For me P3dv5 runs pretty well for the most part... Hope that helps
Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
There is one thing I should mention.
If you are having to buy a new case for your PC what you will find is that they no longer include slots for CD/DVD drives.
So you will either have to buy an external drive or buy a case that you can fit your internal in.
maybe not very important for most, but as you would be installing FSX - kinda crucial.
If you are having to buy a new case for your PC what you will find is that they no longer include slots for CD/DVD drives.
So you will either have to buy an external drive or buy a case that you can fit your internal in.
maybe not very important for most, but as you would be installing FSX - kinda crucial.
Steve
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Quid Si Coelum Ruat
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Quid Si Coelum Ruat
_______________________________________________________
Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
Well, I did say I was biased... 
The MB I have now is a Z690 - I always get the Z series, because supposedly the Z BIOS is faster. And, like I said, in my systems the ASUS boards have been working fine, and the BIOS is easy to work with.
But, I will also say that I hear good things about other brands, like here from Mason, and I may change brands when it's time to get a new one. That will primarily depend on how many NVMe slots the new board will have!
Jorgen
The MB I have now is a Z690 - I always get the Z series, because supposedly the Z BIOS is faster. And, like I said, in my systems the ASUS boards have been working fine, and the BIOS is easy to work with.
But, I will also say that I hear good things about other brands, like here from Mason, and I may change brands when it's time to get a new one. That will primarily depend on how many NVMe slots the new board will have!
Jorgen
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gsnde
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Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
This one spooked me, Steve.Firebird wrote: 24 Sep 2025, 17:43 There is one thing I should mention.
If you are having to buy a new case for your PC what you will find is that they no longer include slots for CD/DVD drives.
So you will either have to buy an external drive or buy a case that you can fit your internal in.
maybe not very important for most, but as you would be installing FSX - kinda crucial.
I just checked and indeed they are hardly available anymore, time is really moving on. You need to look for a big tower to still get 5.25“ bays. Thermaltake and be quiet! still offers them.
I stayed with Gigabyte mainboards the last 20 years, and always found them reliable. Combined with Intel processors, and Nvidia cards from a variety of manufacturers.
Cheers,
Martin
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Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
Bosshogg,
From all of the above you can see that this is very much a question of that ugly word
BUDGET
Hopefully, you have gotten some impulses to go on.
And if you have more questions, you can see that we all are happy to try to answer them.
Jorgen (biased as ever)
From all of the above you can see that this is very much a question of that ugly word
BUDGET
Hopefully, you have gotten some impulses to go on.
And if you have more questions, you can see that we all are happy to try to answer them.
Jorgen (biased as ever)
Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
gsnde wrote: Today, 04:55
This one spooked me, Steve.
I just checked and indeed they are hardly available anymore, time is really moving on. You need to look for a big tower to still get 5.25“ bays. Thermaltake and be quiet! still offers them.
I stayed with Gigabyte mainboards the last 20 years, and always found them reliable. Combined with Intel processors, and Nvidia cards from a variety of manufacturers.
I know it surprised me when I looked for a new tower a couple of years ago. A lot of the big name makers don't bother any more. I got myself a nice Corsair 5000D Airflow tower and went with an external Bluray drive.
I would imagine that it has got even worse by now.
I thought that it might be useful advice.
Steve
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Quid Si Coelum Ruat
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_______________________________________________________
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jetpilot1980
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Re: COMPUTER ADVICE
So I will throw in a couple of things here...
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/ ... 11-147-053
Be creative where you source for example ebay can be a great source of cheap components but read the descriptions carefully and look for buyer protection... For example there are some nice fully refurbished data center grade HDDs out there for around $100 to $120 a piece... Also some nice GPUs from gamers who are just getting rid of their current stuff to make room for the latest just release unit that they absolutely have to have and have nothing else to spend thousands of dollars on... Which means you can get their slightly used but in great shape unit for relatively cheap...
Here is the tower / case I have... As you can see I have room for everything inside of it... It is huge my wife calls it a "piece of furniture" and just the case alone weighs about 50lbs or about 22.7Kg for you metric folks out there... However plenty of room for everything and in all honesty I have yet to use all the slots... But my DVD RW fits in just fine along with all my drives ect..Firebird wrote: Today, 15:45gsnde wrote: Today, 04:55
This one spooked me, Steve.
I just checked and indeed they are hardly available anymore, time is really moving on. You need to look for a big tower to still get 5.25“ bays. Thermaltake and be quiet! still offers them.
I stayed with Gigabyte mainboards the last 20 years, and always found them reliable. Combined with Intel processors, and Nvidia cards from a variety of manufacturers.
I know it surprised me when I looked for a new tower a couple of years ago. A lot of the big name makers don't bother any more. I got myself a nice Corsair 5000D Airflow tower and went with an external Bluray drive.
I would imagine that it has got even worse by now.
I thought that it might be useful advice.
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/ ... 11-147-053