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Some advice from ProSim737 users Please!

Started by Joe Lavery, September 27, 2021, 01:51:32 AM

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Joe Lavery

Hi all,

I'm about to install Prosim in my cockpit and wondered how many PC's to use, (I have plenty of spare ones  :D )

My system uses CP flight MCP-EFIS units, FDS CDUs, Home made radios based on Go Flight modules. FDS SYS cards and 3 x 40 inch TV's for the external view. I understand that the Prosim system will take care of most of these separate modules itself.
My Main FS PC will (for now) be running P3D, the main Prosim system and has outputs for all the TV's. I will drive the FDS CDU's from another computer and the Captain and F/O displays from a third.
 
I just wondered what some of you are running, or if there is a better setup you could suggest.

The Main PC is:
Intel i7 9700K 3.60 GHz Processor with Corsair Liquid Cooler.
32 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM
Gigabyte GTX 1080Ti, 11 GB GDDR5 Video card
1 x 1 TB Crucial NVMe M.2 SSD
1 x 6 Terrabyte Samsung Hard Drive.

The others are mainly Core2 Duo systems but have worked fine for my previous PM setup. I do have another spare i7 system with a GTX 1070ti etc. and two more spare low end PCs.

Thanks
Joe.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

Jason L

My setup is very similar, 2 main pcs.  Main PC is an 8700k running at 5ghz. I have 2 1080ti's. One running main projector and the other one running the two side projectors.
My second PC is a. Older i7 that runs all of the displays. I have a ati card in that one that has 6 outputs for 3 MIP monitors, and 2 cdus and lower ecias.

I have a 3rd PC that runs my weather app and atc app for vatsim.

I haven't delved into audio features yet but as you have several older PCs that can fill that bill.

blueskydriver

Hey Joe,

If you're going to run the latest ProSim v3.x you'll need W10 on all the machines. My entire setup is 5 PC's with two that are I7's and the other 3 are I5's.

The first I7 is my main PC with P3D, the second is I7 with all ProSim software and ProSim screens (Capt, FO, Upper and Lower EICAS) on four outputs. All FDS Cards are connected too it along with MCP and dual EFIS on G2 card. First I5 handles two CDU's, second I5 has SquawkBox (in client mode) and third I5 is ProSim Audio and ProSim Instructor Station.

If you don't already, use TightVNC or TeamViewer (TightVNC easier to setup and use) to view networked computers. No need for keyboard or mouse for each one, just the main PC. Setup all ProSim to run on startup.

Lastly, which version of P3D are you using? I'm running v4.5 and found that a lot of my FSX addons work nicely. Did you know that a good majority of developers gave free updates for P3D if they're FSX software didn't already work with it? Like FS DreamTeam Airport Scenery for example, all the FSX airports work with P3D v1-v5, but you could also buy a specific P3D v4-v5 version airport(s), if you don't already own the FSX version. Then, once you install the FSX version it'll get updated automatically to the P3D version.

Any hoot, don't forget to install ProSim aircraft model 2.0 on your P3D main PC, if you haven't already....

John
| FSX | FDS-MIP OVRHD SYS CARDS FC1| PM | PMDG 737-700 | UTX | GEX | UT7 | ASE | REX2 | AES | TSR | IS | TOPCAT | AvilaSoft EFB | OC CARDS & OVRHD GAUGES| SIMKITS | SW 3D Lights | FS2CREW2010 | FSXPassengers | Flight1 AE | MATROX TH2GO-D | NTHUSIM | 3-Mits EW230Ust Proj |

Joe Lavery

Thanks both for the quick replies and advice.

John,
I'm using P3D V5 for now, but I'm going over to FS2020 as soon as they get multi window sorted out. I don't worry too much about add-ons, I work for PC Pilot magazine so I get lots to review.  8)
At the moment only the FS machine is Win10, the rest are Win7 but if that becomes an issue I'll move them to 10.
TightVNC is a good idea, I've had keyboards and mice an all PCs which entails lots of extra length cables and running around.
Thanks for that.  :D
 
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

Fabian

I'm running 2 PC's.

Main PC I7 10700k with 2080ti for 3 x 1080p projectors
Second PC i7 7700k with 2060 for 6 monitors. 3 from GUP and
3 screens using USB to VGA or HDMI converterss and they work great for avionics.
The second PC really can handle a lot since the avionics/CUDs are not very demanding.

I feel like less PCs less problems.
Working great like with with P3D and MSFS

Joe Lavery

Thanks Fabian,

I didn't realise you could get USB to VGA converters, is there any lag in the performance?
I had a look on your website, very nice setup, now I think I need to start again...  ;)

I'm afraid my video cards are all second generation compared to yours. The main PC is 1080ti and second PC is 1070ti but to be fair I get good performance in both P3D and FS2020 with them locked to 30fps. I know some users think that not fast enough but without the VC it's fine.

Joe.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

Jason L

I've had mixed results with the USB to VGA converters in windows 10, thats why I ended up changing out the video card in my second pc to one that had 6 mini DP's on it instead and ran DP to VGA adapters.
The 1080ti is a great card...I love mine and until I decide to move up from 1080p on my displays it is what I'll keep using...with P3D that is.  I'm not sure how it will handle MSFS2020 when/if they do multiple display support.

My plan is similar to yours, stick with P3D until they make MSFS2020 more cockpit builder friendly.

Joe Lavery

Thanks Jason,

Which video card did you find that has 6 mini DP's on?

Joe.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

Jason L

VisionTek Radeon 7750 2GB GDDR5  It goes for about $206 USD on amazon.
I have all 3 MIP displays, Both CDU's and the lower EICAS on it and have had no issues whatsoever.  The PC is an older Dell XPS8500 which has a 3rd gen i7 in it I think with 24GB of RAM.  Memory usage and GPU usage are all pretty low when everything is running so I'm happy with it so far.  Then I just got some DP to VGA and DP to DVI adapters.  Just make sure the adapters go in the right direction (video card to monitor) as if you get a VGA to DP adapter they won't work.

Joe Lavery

Thanks again Jason,

I just found a HD 7970 card in my spares cupboard, it has 2x mini DP, 2 DVI and an HDMI port. So I might give that a go. I'll order some adapters from eBay and check the direction as you suggested.

Cheers
Joe.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

Fabian

Quote from: Joe Lavery on September 28, 2021, 03:09:44 AMThanks Fabian,

I didn't realise you could get USB to VGA converters, is there any lag in the performance?
I had a look on your website, very nice setup, now I think I need to start again...  ;)

I'm afraid my video cards are all second generation compared to yours. The main PC is 1080ti and second PC is 1070ti but to be fair I get good performance in both P3D and FS2020 with them locked to 30fps. I know some users think that not fast enough but without the VC it's fine.

Joe.

Thank you! glad you like it! :)

Yeah I don't see any lag. For things like the CDU's it really can work just fine. Some of the really cheap adapters didn't work for me but for example this one worked great:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G306I2/
around $40usd

of course a second video card would work even better.

A 1080ti is great, but yeah the better the card the higher you can go with settings but you can upgrade that later on.

Joe Lavery

Thanks again Fabian,

As I said I'm not short of options to try, it's just time consuming setting up all these individual elements.  8)

Joe.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain

Journalist - writer for  PC Pilot Magazine

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