Newbie -Help?

CTU_Agent

Hi,

Im really interested in getting started on a flight sim. What do I need.

So far from the stickies i've gathered this

Micrsoft Flight Sim (any one in particular?)
VATSIM application for online ATC with squawkbox
Microphone
Joystick? Recommend one maybe?
Charts etc for route flying

What spec PC would suit?

Am I missing anything else?

highlydebased

Knowledge of aviation!

What sort of PC do you have?

CTU_Agent

Well aviation knowledge is limited...im no expert but Im not a complete noob.

As for the PC spec its a Dell gx620 with 1GB RAM and just onboard graphics, so I dont think it will be suitable...

damo86

You may think that, but I'm actually running FSX Deluxe on my macbook with 2.5gig ram and intel GMA950 graphics quite well, really all you have to do is turn off autogen trees and houses.
You might need more ram I guess or you could find a copy of FS2004.

pclancy

If its a core duo as google says then it will run FS2004 with basic enough but quite usable graphics. If you were to stick in any kind of decent ATI or Nvidia graphics card it would boost performance significantly for a few hundred euro. Maybe pop into your local computer shop and have a yarn about them.

I'd say it will run FS2004 and possibly FSX as it is. My laptop runs FSX quite happily and its only a 1.7ghz cpu with shared nvidia graphics.

Joystick is the other essential thing, forget about using the keyboard or mouse they suck Just get either flight sim and any joystick first too learn then worry about VATSIM and the other stuff later. Logitech and Microsoft both make nice cheap yoysticks, again a decent computer shop should have a few on display to play with.

CTU_Agent

great thanks. I believe it is core duo, but your right graphics wouldn't be great. Il get my hands on a graphics card somewhere...