So I am pretty sure my PC is basic. Here is what I am trying to do, the ONLY game I play right now is FSX. I am really interested and want to play LCPDFR but here is the deal, the ONLY games I will play is FSX & LCPDFR so I don't want to spend tons of cash on a PC in order just to play 2 games. So are there things I can upgrade on my current one OR is my current PC too basic to even upgrade certain parts? If I can just upgrade stuff, what do I need to upgrade and any recommendations?

-Windows 7 ultimate

-2.67 gig Intel core 2 duo

-64 kB secondary memory cache

-64 bit ready

-multicore (2 Total)

-not hyper threaded

-500gig HD

-BUS Clock 333meg

-4gig Memory

-Radeon X800 Series

For FSX you really really want more. Take a look at an Intel i7 Haswell chip (4770k if you can). RAM you can stick with 4gb, since FSX cannot handle more than that anyway. As for your Graphics card, I am not sure about GTA but FSX runs far far better on NVidia. Hyperthreading doesn't matter at all for FSX and I am not sure that it would for GTA. Hard drive space is fine, but if you can afford it and your pc can take it, an SSD will do wonders. If not, try to get a 7200rpm hard drive.

 

I run these specs on my laptop with the following mods in FSX and GTA:

 

Laptop:

3.8Ghz Intel i7-4810MQ Quad Core

16Gb Hyper-X Genesis RAM

750gb 7200rpm Western Digital HDD

8Gb NVidia 880M Graphics Card

Windows 7 Ultimate x64

 

GTA:

LCPDFR 1.0d

ELS 8

DoubleDopplers Met Police Cars + London Mods

ENB (but playing with these)

vDH Police Helper

 

 

FSX:

Acceleration Pack - MUST HAVE

PMDG 737

ORBX Global

REX

FSUIPC

AccuFeel

Heathrow Ultimate

 

 

 

The performace in FSX ranges between flyable and fantastic. However, I have spent many hours adjusting my fsx.cfg file to get that going. Very important you do that.

With GTA, being such a poorly optimised game, the moment I put mods on it really starts to suffer. However, if you are careful with what you put on, you can get a decent 40-60fps, with lowest dropping to 20.

 

 

Hope that helps you out a little!

So the 4gig of memory is fine for GTA as well?

I do have the FSX Acceleration pack which is awesome. I would love to add more planes to it as well.

What is your opinion on X-Plane 10?

I just looked up some of that stuff.

That is $1000+ just to play 2 games. That kind of money is what I am looking to avoid lol.

So the 4gig of memory is fine for GTA as well?

I do have the FSX Acceleration pack which is awesome. I would love to add more planes to it as well.

What is your opinion on X-Plane 10?

 

4 gig should be ample yes; I have never seen GTA IV even ask for more than 3.8Gb. That being said, having 8Gb will allow you to run other programs smoothly in the back.

X-Plane 10... well there are upsides and downsides. Upsides is the stock graphics surpass FSX. And it is much easier to mod and much easier to use in engineering applications. However, once FSX/P3D is modded up, X-Plane is really blown out of the water, so I cannot recommend it. One thing is really does have in its favour though is that it has wake effect built in (something that was omitted from FSX but was in FS9). But, use any of active skies products on FSX and suddenly you have much better wake turbulance... so yup!

 

 

And yeah... $1000 is quite a bit, and the problem there is that for GTA a couple of hundred dollars will do; but for FSX it is much tougher.

you're going to want a desktop

 

there's no need to buy an i7, games make no use of hyperthreading yet. not to mention they are still pricey, pick up an i5 XXXXk, something that you can overclock if need be

 

wouldn't hurt to look into a >GTX 660, that way you'll be able to run the "next-gen" of games coming out

perhaps something like a GTX 970? great bang for your buck, easily the best performance/cost value on the market 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1820346

 

this contains just about everything you would ever need 

- your graphics card and a copy of windows 

 

install your OS on the SSD and put the rest of your junk on the HDD

you're going to want a desktop

 

there's no need to buy an i7, games make no use of hyperthreading yet. not to mention they are still pricey, pick up an i5 XXXXk, something that you can overclock if need be

 

wouldn't hurt to look into a >GTX 660, that way you'll be able to run the "next-gen" of games coming out

perhaps something like a GTX 970? great bang for your buck, easily the best performance/cost value on the market 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1820346

 

this contains just about everything you would ever need 

- your graphics card and a copy of windows 

 

install your OS on the SSD and put the rest of your junk on the HDD

Nope nevermind just realized you meant "minus", thought you meant including.

Edited January 5, 201511 yr by theninja35

You're gonna need a good CPU. I would go with an i5. Didn't know how CPU intensive GTA 4 was! I bought a GTX 750ti. Then I thought hmm I might be able to run GTA 4 now! (I have a ancient Xeon 7030....) and now.. no difference.. well. I can run on any settings that without changing detail and draw distance. but the FPS will always be 18-22 fps due to a bottleneck.. oh how I wish I had the money for something like an i3 2100. Or a I5 :(

http://www.cybertronpc.com/customkititems.asp?kc=GM4213A&Group=PLAY&Cat=GAMERS

 

this is what i have with a geforce gtx 750 ti oc video card, runs gta flawlessly with a lot of mods and cars and a pretty wicked enb setup. should be able to grab one for about $600usd. well worth it. Also i can usually run GTA at about 40-50 FPS with my current setup.