VonNot Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 Hello everyone, I'm trying to get back into flying, having last flown over a decade ago with a computer that was a bit old even then. Well, same computer now, so I figured I'd need to upgrade. First question is on requirements to fly great battles - is it really intensive or, like IL-2 used to be, somewhat forgiving even on dated systems? Would something like the system below be adequate? Any recommendations on where to focus (graphics card, memory, etc.)? I'm trying to keep the system reasonably fast without breaking the bank. Two teenagers that eat us out of house and home... Intel Core 13th Generation i7-13700 Processor (16 Core, Up to 5.20GHz, 30MB Cache, 65W) Windows 11 Pro 1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Gen 4 Class 40 Solid State Drive 2TB 3.5inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 16GB (2X8GB) Up to 4800MHz DDR5 UDIMM Non-ECC NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6 Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyboy Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 I would think that would be enough, and I know some who are flying with much less. Have you considered VR? I was out of flight games for quite awhile also but drawn back in after a friend told me about VR and I have to say it is incredible and so much more realistic. IL2 I think is becoming less popular though I still enjoy Flying Circus/WW1 occasionally. A lot of us have moved over to DCS where it is much more realistic (from WW2 to more modern jets). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonNot Posted February 9 Author Report Share Posted February 9 9 hours ago, Flyboy said: Have you considered VR? VR as in virtual reality? This is embarrassing, but I don't even know what to ask - does the game run through the glasses? Flyboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaiber Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 4 hours ago, VonNot said: VR as in virtual reality? This is embarrassing, but I don't even know what to ask - does the game run through the glasses? You don't need VR for IL-2: Great Battles or DCS World. Your TrackIR 4 or 5 will work great. VR is just an option for immersion and spatial orientation. [end actual answer] . . . If you're still curious about VR: There are a number of good headsets out there. I currently use Meta Quest 2. Other are on Meta Quest 3. A few are using the HP Reverb. https://www.pcgamer.com/best-vr-headset/ However, VR requires a system capable of properly running the headset, as well as USB 3.0 connection points. This video is for MSFS, but it's a good overview of what to expect:  Flyboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyboy Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 6 hours ago, VonNot said: VR as in virtual reality? This is embarrassing, but I don't even know what to ask - does the game run through the glasses? That is correct. As Klaiber said it’s not required but it was a huge game changer for me personally.  I was into flight sims way back in the Red Baron days but got frustrated with the view system. I moved to the country with poor internet and drifted away from flight sims for years (never tried track IR). It wasn’t until I got better internet and a friend introduced me to VR that I came back and now a huge enthusiast.  Of course it’s not for everyone and some people can experience motion sickness. Track IR sounds like a great alternative and I wished I had tried it years ago. I just wanted to let you know of the tech that’s out there now. The best option, if possible, would be to try before buying to see if it’s something worth investing in. A VR headset I believe can cost anywhere from 230 (Quest2) to 1500 (the new Pimax). Klaiber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonNot Posted February 9 Author Report Share Posted February 9 "I would think that would be enough, and I know some who are flying with much less. " Here's what I have now - like I said, it's old, but it ran IL-2 and CloD okay. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) 16 Gb RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645 (1 Gb) I'm not really into other gaming, so if it will the current sims, particularly IL-2: Great Battles or DCS World, then I'd prefer to keep what I have. Not just for the savings, but for the headache of moving files from one drive to another.  Flyboy and Klaiber 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaiber Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 6 minutes ago, VonNot said: "I would think that would be enough, and I know some who are flying with much less. " Here's what I have now - like I said, it's old, but it ran IL-2 and CloD okay. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) 16 Gb RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645 (1 Gb) I'm not really into other gaming, so if it will the current sims, particularly IL-2: Great Battles or DCS World, then I'd prefer to keep what I have. Not just for the savings, but for the headache of moving files from one drive to another.  Here are the minimum system requirements for IL-2: Great Battles: https://il2sturmovik.com/ [scroll all the way to the bottom] Quote SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows 64-bit Windows® 10/11 operating system MINIMUM: Intel® Core™ i5/i7 3+ GHz processor 16 Gb of system memory (RAM) 4+ Gb of dedicated graphics memory (VRAM) 90 Gb of storage (preferably SSD for faster loading) 256 Kb/s internet connection (1 Mb/s and better for multiplayer) DirectX®-compatible flight stick recommended I think your processor is okay. It just makes the requirement. You just make the RAM requirement too. Your video card will struggle. If it has 1 Gb of vRAM, that won't be enough. And if you're curious to compare, here are DCS World's minimums: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/world/stable/  Flyboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyboy Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 20 hours ago, VonNot said: Intel Core 13th Generation i7-13700 Processor (16 Core, Up to 5.20GHz, 30MB Cache, 65W) Windows 11 Pro 1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Gen 4 Class 40 Solid State Drive 2TB 3.5inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 16GB (2X8GB) Up to 4800MHz DDR5 UDIMM Non-ECC NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6 Sorry I saw the i7 and 4060 and thought it was good. I’m not a big tech guy so don’t listen to me Klaiber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonNot Posted February 9 Author Report Share Posted February 9 Thanks for the information guys. I may need to bite the bullet and get a new PC - sorry for so many questions, but does anyone have recommendations for (or warnings against) pre-built manufacturers? Flyboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaiber Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 20 hours ago, VonNot said: Intel Core 13th Generation i7-13700 Processor (16 Core, Up to 5.20GHz, 30MB Cache, 65W) Windows 11 Pro 1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Gen 4 Class 40 Solid State Drive 2TB 3.5inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 16GB (2X8GB) Up to 4800MHz DDR5 UDIMM Non-ECC NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6 9 minutes ago, Flyboy said: Sorry I saw the i7 and 4060 and thought it was good. I’m not a big tech guy so don’t listen to me No, the above is great. It's his current that can't handle the vRAM load. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) 16 Gb RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645 (1 Gb)  Flyboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaiber Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 3 minutes ago, VonNot said: Thanks for the information guys. I may need to bite the bullet and get a new PC - sorry for so many questions, but does anyone have recommendations for (or warnings against) pre-built manufacturers? If you're in the market, I personally recommend Alexander PCs for pre-build. They're amazing, the build was amazing, the tech support and customer support was amazing. I can't recommend them enough: https://alexanderpcs.com/ I believe @Snaggle got his PC from NZXT and had a very good experience with them too: https://nzxt.com/ @Vonrd and @Moxy recently bought a PC. I'm not sure where they purchased from.   Snaggle and Flyboy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyboy Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 I have really been impressed with MSI gaming laptops and got my second one from zTech Computers two years ago. I’ve getting laptops because of my work travels but plan to get a desktop maybe this fall when the new 50 series vid cards come out and will prob go with MSI and zTech again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrd Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 41 minutes ago, Klaiber said: recently bought a PC. I'm not sure where they purchased from. I built mine. It's not that difficult and there are lots of youtubes to follow. Still, it's nail biting the first time you turn it on... Snaggle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonNot Posted February 10 Author Report Share Posted February 10 Thanks guys - I'll do some checking and try to decide on something. I'm so out of the loop on this "new-fangled" technology. I might ask before buying anything to get final recommendations. Thanks again for your time and insight. Snaggle and Flyboy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrd Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 11 minutes ago, VonNot said: ask before buying anything to get final recommendations. Definitely do so! If you have a budget in mind, that would help. Also, whether you would want to fly DCS or any other sims / games. DCS is very CPU demanding compared to IL2. For the record here's my PC specs. CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 7600X MOBO - Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Memory - G.Skill DDR5-6000 (2 ea 32Gb) Graphics card - PNY GeForce RTX 4080 Storage - 2 each 2TB P3 NVMe PCIe 3.0 M.2 Internal SSD VR - Reverb G2 using OpenXR latest build OS - Mindows 11 Pro 64 bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxy Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 ~S~ Doc The spec's you listed above, will run "Il2", like a rocket ship on a monitor.    DCS, the other sim, is power hungry , and a not too we'll optimized, flight sim.  Everything in the spec's above, will run "il2" and "DCS" just fine with monitors. But if you chose to go into vr, the 4060 8Gb graphics card will be on the weak side. Il2 uses about 4 Gb of Graphic card memory, (Vram) hence the 4060 8Gb on a monitor will be fine. DCS will use every bit of Vram you can throw at it. Doc...My specs bought through Newegg (Katana x21) intel 12700k (K in for over clocking)(12th generation, were into 13th or 14th now) 32 Gig Ram  (16 not enough for DCS/fine for IL2) M2 storage "hard drives" (new tec, rocket ship fast and inexpensive)(2 tera bites. games with "skins" take up a lot of storage) Nvida RTX 3070 8Gb (fine for monitors both IL2/DCS..."I run 3 at 5760x1080 reolution") (4060 20% faster) (8GB not enough for VR/DCS) Hope this helps.................Moxy   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaggle Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 4 hours ago, Vonrd said: VR - Reverb G2 using OpenXR latest build If you do go VR, this is a good starter, but know HP will no longer make a VR headset and Microsoft is ending Windows Mixed Reality probably with the next operating System. Breaks my heart that they are doing this as IMO the Reverb G2 is an outstanding headset for the money and I have never had a problem with Windows Mixed Reality. Good news is Reverbs are lower in price and the Mixed Reality is probabably a few years off before it goes away on the new OS... Windows 11 fully supports it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrd Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 5 hours ago, Vonrd said: If you have a budget in mind For VR and DCS, $3K is an average starting point. For IL2 only and 2D $1K would get you a satisfactory machine. My opinion only, your (and others) milage may vary. Etzel and Snaggle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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