Microsoft Flight Simulator X on my new laptop?... Advice please!

I just ordered a new laptop and haven't played any graphic-intensive games lately so, before I bought it, I was wondering how well Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Deluxe edition) would run on it. The specs of the new system are below:

- HP Pavilion dv6700t Entertainment CTO NB
- Windows Vista Home Premium w/SP1 (64-bit)
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50GHz)
- 15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
- 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
- HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
- Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
- 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
- LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
- High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

I'd also like to know about COD 4 but I'm not sure if it'll run or how well it will run.

Any info will be VERY helpful! Thanks!

 

with my 5793 (see spec in my sig), I got 6-10fps when I tried to take off from JFK. all settings are high with 1920x1200.
3dmark06 scores of our system are roughly 1400 vs. 9200. FSX is made for future high end rig IMO.

 

I am sure if you can oc your graphics card and play with low settigs you can squeeze 20-40fps no problem, hopefully.

 

Disable the anti aliasing, disable the bloom if you have, Trilinear filtering, and autogen and scenery complexity at sparse. Weathe medium low, every thing else can be maxed. Also put the frame limit at unlimited, and don't forget to install the sp1 and sp2.
I get between 20 and 50fps at 1280x800 on my 8600gt with those settings.

 

Ayle his 8400 gs is about 1/3 power of your 8600m gt.

 

Yeah I know but I just stated the options that gave me a 30 fps boost. He can play with other sliders.

 

Thanks for all the info!! But tell me... What's a "smooth" gameplay fps rate?
I'm not familiar with how things look at 20 fps vs 50 fps.

Thanks!!

 

25fps should be your target Even tho it looks kinda ok at 15 for some reason... 50fps doesn't really makes a difference with 30 or 25 but it means that in a thunderstorm I won't notice if the fps drops by 20.

 

aside from the new features, i don't see any noticeable graphic improvement in FSX, in fact, it looked a lot like the FS9. while my 8800m still struggling with FSX, my old x1600 can run FS9 easily with all high settings at 40+fps.

 

Well the base world texture are recognizable to the point where you could completely turn off the autogen. And planes casting shadows on themselves is nice. But it is also true that you could achieve some of those things with add-ons... Dunno, I like it, they basically took fs9, added the features of the best add-ons, upgraded the graphics but I'm not happy that they took the 777 off and the new directory tree is weird.

 

Flight Simulator 2004 (9) will run fine. I'd recommend that for a 8400gs. Even FS9 can be pretty demanding at times, like when flying through a lot of 3D generated clouds in a thunderstorm. I wouldn't consider FS10 for my ATi HD 2600, let alone a 8400gs.

 

If you have FSX, make sure you've installed the FSX SP1 and SP2 updates. They're supposed to have improved frame rate dramatically, especially with Vista.

 

How do you guys think fsx will run on my P-7805? I got a 9800gts 1gb but processor i dont think is so good ..P8400 2.26 GHz

 

Contrary to popular beliefs FSX is very CPU dependent. Your GPU is more than adequate the CPU should be OK but obviously the more the better. I highly suggest installing SP2 for FSX. It'll give you multi core advantage and will help in the framerate dept.

Hint: modelling water as well as AI traffic sucks FPS. I made a config file that help boost my FPS in FSX. If you need it let me know via PM.

 

what did ya tweak in the config file? Curious, thanks!