What is the best computer setup for x-plane 10

[skyhawk386]

Hi Guys been running x-plane 10 on my old MacBook Pro and of course the experience isn't that great.

 

I am looking to buy a new system (windows os) to run x-plane 10 primarily, I would love your advise on which of the following setup you would recommend one is ADM the other is Intel. Is there a preference for intel vs adm processors?

 

The intel one has a onboard graphics Intel HD 4600 which is my concern, as I was told that the better the graphics card is the better and that separate graphics cards are better.

 

What are your thoughts I can use some advise here.

 

What would the optimum specs be for a new system for running x-plane 10?

 

This is the ADM one:

AMD FX-8320 3.5 GHz Processor Main Features 64 bit 8-Core Processor Cache Per Processor 8MB L3 Cache Memory 16 GB DDR3 1600 Storage 1 TB SATA III + 120 GB SSD Optical Drive 24X DL DVD+/-RW Drive Graphics AMD Radeon R9 380 4 GB Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet Power Supply 600W Case iBUYPOWER CHIMERA 5 FLAME EDITION Operating System Windows 10 Home 64-Bit CPU CPU Type AMD FX-Series CPU Speed FX-8320 (3.50GHz) L3 Cache Per CPU 8MB CPU Main Features 64 bit 8-Core Processor Graphics GPU/VGA Type AMD Radeon R9 380 4GB Memory Memory Capacity 16GB DDR3 Memory Speed DDR3 1600 Memory Spec 8GB x 2 Memory Slot (Total) 2 Memory Slot (Available) 0 Maximum Memory Supported 16GB Hard Drive SSD 120GB HDD 1TB HDD Interface SATA III Optical Drive Optical Drive Type DVD±RW Optical Drive Spec 24X DL DVD+/-RW Drive Audio Audio Features Realtek ALC887 7.1 Channels Communications LAN Speed 10/100/1000Mbps WLAN 802.11AC DUAL BAND WIRELESS USB ADAPTER Front Panel Ports Front USB 2 x USB 3.0 Front Audio Ports 2 Back Panel Ports PS/2 1 Video Ports 1 DVI Rear USB 4 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.0 RJ45 1 port Rear Audio Ports 3 ports Expansion External Bays 3 x External 5.25" drive bay Internal Bays 6 x Internal 3.5" drive bay
6 x Internal 2.5" drive bay PCI Slots (Available/Total) 1 PCIe 2.0 x16
1 PCIe 2.0 x1

 

 

or  This Intel One

 

 

Processor :    Intel i7-4790K Quad Core (4.0 GHz 4.4 GHz Turbo) CPU Cooling Fan :

   Intel Stock fan

Motherboard :    MSI B85M-G43 Memory :    16 GB DDR3 Hard Drive :    1TB Western Digital Sata 3 Video :    Intel HD 4600 onboard DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA port    DVD Drive :    24x Sata DVDrw Sound :    Audio Onboard Included Network card :    10/100/1000 Ethernet network adapter (onboard) Card Reader :    All in 1 Card Reader Power Supply :    500w Operating System :    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit w/COA USB 2.0 Ports:    4 rear    2 front USB 3.0 Ports:    2 rear    0 front

Edited August 24, 2015 by skyhawk386

[stealthbob]

I keep hearing that XPlane is not a fan of AMD, I am sure others will chime in.

 

I have an i7 4770k OC'd to 4.4 with a Nvidia 970, enjoy very high settings with smooth frame rates.

[chris k]

I keep hearing that XPlane is not a fan of AMD, I am sure others will chime in.

Not really. AMD simply make terrible chips these days in comparison with Intel

Read this list. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Find the i7 4790k (hint. It's at the top)

Now find the FX-8320. (hint. Keep scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling)

The answer becomes clear.

[stealthbob]

Not really. AMD simply make terrible chips these days in comparison with Intel

Read this list. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Find the i7 4790k (hint. It's at the top)

Now find the FX-8320. (hint. Keep scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling)

The answer becomes clear.

 

Next to that is the Skylake and this claim:

 

http://www.myce.com/news/skylake-cpus-have-inverse-hyper-threading-to-boost-single-thread-performance-77011/

 

Kowing that XPlane is single threaded I assume this new CPU could be a nice bost for us?

[Nano]

Hello Skyhawk and welcome to the forum.

 

I too am in the market for an XPlane only PC.  I'm coming from a late 2009 iMac i7 with a 512 MB Graphics card and have extensive XP experience back to V8.  

 

XPlane performance is primarily limited by the CPU single core performance.  In other words, it doesn't make much use of multiple core CPUs.  That's not saying it doesn't use the additional cores, but the flight modeling is single core and is by far the most taxing of all XP functions.  Given this fact, the Intel 4790K is the best choice on the market today.  Check these links for comparisons of 4790k vs FX8320 and 5820K

 

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-5820K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790K

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-vs-AMD-FX-8320

 

Pay particular attention to single-core performance scores.

 

Now onto the graphics card part of the equation.  If you want high resolution textures, you'll need to go with a higher performing card with at least 4GB of memory.  Be careful to not get lured into just looking at the amount of VRAM.  The card also need processing power to go along with the memory or you're just wasting your money.  Look at the GPU benchmark rankings found here http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.htmlto see where you want to put your money.  I'm gonna throw down on a GTX 980 Ti and call it a day for the next 3-5 years…hopefully.  My reasoning is that it's pretty easy to exceed 2GB of VRAM requirement in XPlane and that means you need a card that can handle twice that amount.  4GB VRAM is right on the edge for me so I'm jumping up to the 6GB VRAM 980 Ti.

 

I'm sure this gives you some food for thought.  Personally, I'm gonna build my own system with parts ordered off www.newegg.com

 

Good luck with your decision.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Nano

[chris k]

I keep hearing that XPlane is not a fan of AMD, I am sure others will chime in.

 

Love this chart -- explains it well re: AMD CPUs

 

[wim1976]

What is the source of this table? Interesting to see the big difference between the i6700 and i6600.

[sqrt(-1)]

... that XPlane is single threaded I assume this new CPU could be a nice bost for us?

 

To be clear, X-Plane is not single threaded.  Only the rendering task is.

[Kieran]

True it is not completely single threaded, but it is defiantly by far more limited by single threaded performance than the number of threads you have. Because as sqrt(-1) said, the rendering task is single threaded, which is the most time consuming process on the cpu per frame.

[chris k]

What is the source of this table? Interesting to see the big difference between the i6700 and i6600.

Igor4U's post in the next thread had the link.

Here it is again. http://www.hardware.fr/articles/940-16/cpu-jeux-3d-x-plane-10-f1-2013.html