So, I bought a new up to date PC with a SSD

[alfredo_laredo]

Hi, after a few years with my old system (see old specs in sign) I updated to what I think was the top of the line I could afford at the moment. the PC will arrive tomorrow.

Intel 4970K 4.4 mhz, ASUS Z97-A, Samsung EVO 840 250GB and old 500gb HDD, GTX 780, 8 GB 1333 mhz RAM (2x4) and PSU Cooler Master 600W (maybe the Ram and PSU will also need an upgrade)

Now.. My plan its to install Windows 7 and FSX all in the SSD. and use it exclusively to that.
but im currently looking at my FSX folder and its up to 100GB! being pretty late to the up to date hardware I need some advice

--Is it worth to Install FSX in a SSD?
--Will I be able to install programs like (Active Sky, REX and FTX Global/vector) on the HDD and just use them to install the textures to the SSD (fsx folder) or all the programs need to be in the same hard drive?
--what about Prepar3d? is it really worth to buy it?
--I was looking at the whole SSD and it really confusing, lots of drivers, programs to configure it, programs to maintain it, programs to speed the ssd up... Im really confused about all that, any advice?

[tbaac]

I found myself asking similar questions recently because my laptop struggles to run the Cherokee and I decided that I needed a new PC.
(although ASN really kills the frame rate, I'm hoping to continue running that on my laptop).

Anyway, I'm waiting for delivery of my new PC. I bought Windows 7 and a 256GB SSD (and 3TB HD).

What I was going to do was to put Windows and some other apps on the SSD but put FSX (and maybe X Plane and/or P3D) on the regular hard drive. I've bought GenX UK VFR Scenery and that's going to help FSX to fill the SSD if I let it (before starting on X Plane and add-ons). From what I've read there isn't much of a difference in frame rate from installing the sim on an SSD.

Regarding Prepar3d, the reviews are pretty good. I do quite like the idea of volumetric clouds as well. I wish that Scott would announce the secret A2A X-Plane Accusim project that has been under secret development for the last 5 years and is now just as good as the FSX version. But I suspect that's not going to happen, so Prepar3d v2 is looking quite attractive.

Those are my thoughts but I'm no expert. Waiting to see what someone who knows a bit more than me thinks

[norfolkmike]

What I was going to do was to put Windows and some other apps on the SSD but put FSX (and maybe X Plane and/or P3D) on the regular hard drive. I've bought GenX UK VFR Scenery and that's going to help FSX to fill the SSD if I let it (before starting on X Plane and add-ons). From what I've read there isn't much of a difference in frame rate from installing the sim on an SSD.

I’ve become a bit of a ‘photo real’ addict, but feel reluctant to get rid of my OrbX stuff. I like both, for quite different reasons (and styles of flying).

Luckily, we have the option of duel sims, and so I have P3D (V1:4 but hopefully upgraded to V2 soon) as a dedicated ‘photo real’ world, and my combined MegaSceneryEarth folders amount to 360GB of data! Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Netherlands, Belgium, England and Wales...Love it!!!!

FSX is currently used for FTX Regions, FTX Global, UTX and soon, EU Land Class.

As both sims are becoming ever more bloated, I’m now at that stage where additional storage is needed, and having read a few topics on HDD V SSD, I’m considering this;

Keep both P3D and FSX on the C: Drive (not in programmes 86x) and put the photo-real on the SSD. Everything I’ve read about putting FSX on an SSD seems to suggest there will be no performance gain, but a slightly faster load time?

Putting MSE (for example) on an SSD will have a greater performance benefit, given that the scenery will load quicker, without lag, (and more importantly ‘blurries’) and that modern PCs are better at multitasking between drives than trying to find things simultaneously on just one drive? Is that information flawed or just ‘wrong’?

I have to say that I’ve yet to experience a problem with ‘blurries’ over photo real or OrbX but as a future precautionary measure, it might be a positive move to keep the photo real on the SSD?

The Samsung SSD I’ve been looking at has 500GB of capacity, which means my 360GB will fit, but without too much room for future expansion. But, that 360GB offers a lot of real estate to fly over, and I’ve yet to explore much of it!

I could get rid of the Horizon/Playsims version of England and Wales and instead opt for the newly released MSE offering, and that would free up some space (the MSE version uses the same data but without vectors, POI and mesh), because my understanding of SSDs is, they become a little inefficient once over the 85% capacity mark? Is that correct?

The 1TB version of the Samsung EVO is beyond my price range, so it’s more a question of resisting further MSE states/European regions!

[Roadburner426]

I installed FSX on a 240GB Samsung 840 in my M17x, and will never look back. All of the texture "popping" in and stuff is gone. Smooth as silk. Total night and day difference. AND the loading screen time is reduced, but not as drastically as I had hoped. Either way if you ask me you can't go wrong. I even dropped it on the floor right out of the box and was hoping it still worked. A year and a half later it is still going strong with 500mb+/sec read speeds.

[norfolkmike]

That's interesting. When you hear terms such as "night and day" difference it certainly grabs the attention!

Would that suggest that its the scenery component that's loading faster, and therefore (in my case) putting MegaSceneryEarth onto an SSD would indeed give things a performance boost?

I'd have to keep my actual sims (FSX and P3D) on the C:Drive for space reasons, so obviously wouldn't see the benefits you are experiencing with regards to 'texture popping' and screen load times etc, but using my modest settings that's not really a 'biggy' for me anyway.

I just wouldn't want to fork out £160 for an SSD if there wasn't a benefit over a larger capacity HDD at lower cost, but from what you've stated, there clearly is (even though my own scenario differs to your own in many respects).

With regards to the longevity of the Samsung SSD, having read a compelling online 'destruction test' you'll get a good few years out of it yet!!

[tbaac]

That's part of the trouble. Unless you installed FSX on a brand new HD on one system and FSX on a brand new SSD on an identical one then its difficult to know how much of it is down to the SSD I imagine.

(Assuming that it wasn't a newly installed machine, installing to a new HD could make a difference if your old one was fragmented. If it was a newly installed machine then that itself would make a difference)

Interesting results though, thank you.

[Lewis - A2A]

Scott had a similar experience recently whilst we were putting the systems together for our Oshkosh booth and also a little upgrade for his office machine to keep it current. Because of having several systems all being built he was able to do some testing that many of course normally cannot (unless you own a PC shop lol) with all the components. He found that the new Intel processors where just so much quicker than the older generations that it was night and day. The SSD's of course helped with booting and initial loading but otherwise its all with the CPU.

The 3D card provided a slight boost but even in P3D the CPU was the main component responsible for the night and day performance increase.

thanks,
Lewis

[tbaac]

Thank you very much Lewis (and Scott) for sharing that. The SSD results are roughly what I'd read but your investigation was probably a bit more scientific than what I'd read previously.

Its a little disappointing to read that P3D still relies more on the processor than the graphics card but hopefully they'll improve that over time. (Do you think Dovetail will help FSX make similar improvements?)

My new PC has a fast processor so I'm hoping for good results when it finally arrives

[Roadburner426]

Well the other component too is your bus speed. In my laptop I only have a 2.4ghz processor with the samsung 840 SSD... My main computer when I'm not deployed is over locked to 3.8ghz and also has a SSD drive. The major difference is my desktop is SATA 2 and my laptop SATA 3. Which is why it smokes my desktop. To me scenery definitely seems to load tons faster. My desktop gets the textures popping in and such. The only area it really shines compared to my laptop is in extremely dense scenery areas like NYC where the sheer processing power is needed. Even then though going from my old WSD Raptor to my red Force GT SSD made a huge difference in the stutters and texture popping alone making for a smooth experience. It greatly enhanced my simming that is for sure. To this day I have viewed it as one of the best purchases I made, and I have made a lot. From ram, to vid cards, and processor upgrades. Kind of wish I bought the SSD before buying my GTX 580 for the desktop first as I don't think I would have made the video card upgrade on mine.

[Lewis - A2A]

Its a little disappointing to read that P3D still relies more on the processor than the graphics card

Not entirely true the graphics card makes a big difference but the big one is CPU on CPU. Not all 3-4Ghz, i3,i5,i7 are equal. Thats what we found. The difference between a an i7 2700k for example and the latest 3 or 4xxx series i7 at the same clock speed is night and day. Sorry if I wasn't clear in my post.

thanks,
Lewis

[tbaac]

Thanks for that Lewis. The laptop in my signature struggles with FSX and its processor wasn't that bad when I bought it. Its graphics processing is very laptop-y though.

Nevertheless, FSX was released some time ago and technology has moved on a lot since then. A2A develop for 2 simulation products as I understand it:

- FSX - written quite a while ago even if add-ons keep it feeling fresh.
- P3Dv2 - more modern but is a 'professional' product.

A2A work with what they're given, and we love your work. Just saying

[alfredo_laredo]

Well, Im writing this from my new PC...
And from My old Specs, just WOW! its an amazing expierence.

My only problem its a little issue with the HDMI audio from the GTX780 but apart from that.. its just amazing, frames in the upper 20s and lowe 30s but so more smooth.

[tbaac]

Congratulations Alfredo. I finally got a call yesterday and mine should be coming tomorrow as well

[Gypsy Baron]

I have been needing to upgrade my traveling netbook for some time now.
Although it is small and light, it won't run FSX and I really need a laptop
that will allow me to 'fly' online with the 91st Bombardment Group and
also take the other A2A aircraft out for a hop or two when I am sitting in
my apartment in Prague or my hotel in Budapest.

So, after perusing this thread I did some searching and came up with a
possible solution. A customized laptop from Origin that SHOULD fit in my
backpack, which is my 'carry on' on my many flights to places near and far.
It is also light, I believe.

Here is what I am looking at:

Laptop Platform: EON15-S
Laptop Exterior: Exclusive ORIGIN PC Black
Display Type: 1920 x 1080 15.6" LED Backlit Matte Display
Graphic Cards: Single 6GB NVIDIA GTX 870M
Processors: Intel Core i7 4810MQ Quad-Core 2.80GHz (3.80GHz TurboBoost)
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Operating System: Genuine MS Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Edition
Optical Drive: 8X Slim CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
mSATA Option: mSATA OS Drive 120GB Samsung 840 Evo Series
mSATA Drive Two: 120GB Samsung 840 Evo Series
Hard Drive: 750GB ORIGIN PC Approved 7200RPM Hard Drive
Hard Drive Two: 500GB Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro USB Sound Card powered by THX TruStudio
Networking: Intel PRO Wireless AC 7260 + BT Wireless LAN Combo
SuperSpeed USB 3.0: SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Ports
Media Card Reader: Media Card Reader
Finger Print Reader: Integrated Biometric Fingerprint Reader
Integrated Camera: Built-in 2.0 Megapixel Video Camera
Power Accessories: EON 15-S Additional Full Range Autoswitch AC Adapter 180W
Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox

Other than flying FSX I only need the system for checking email, reading
various forums and paying my bills when 'on the road'.

FSX will go on the 2nd SSD and my Addon Scenery will go on the Seagate
Hybrid drive. The rest of my various chunks of software will reside on the
750GB 7200 RPM hard drive.

Comments or any issues to note? TIA.

[pjc747]

I just completed my build today, I'm running it with a 240GB PNY SSD, but I havent'y yet finished the two-day long install period for FSX setups with as many add-ons as many of us have. Hopefully it works out.

My new specs:

Intel i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz (normally aspirated)
Asus Z78-A
MSi Nvidia GTX 780 Lightning
8GB DDR3 RAM
Seagate Barracuda 2TB main hard drive
PNY 240GB SSD for FSX Ops

I also have Corsair water cooling (the H100) for my CPU.