FlightGear 1.0 hardware recommendations: Difference between revisions

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Remember these hardware recommendations are based on informal user experience, be sure to consult other sources before making serious decisions regarding computer hardware.
These hardware recommendations are based on informal user experience, be sure to consult other sources before making serious decisions regarding computer hardware.


== Recommended hardware specs - for FlightGear 1.0 ==
Flightgear requires a hardware accelerated 3D video card with OpenGL drivers to run at reasonable frame-rates. Using a video card without hardware acceleration might produce frame-rates around several seconds per frame.  On the other hand, a 3-Ghz CPU with a GeForce video card should produce frame-rates near 60 fps in most situations. The frame-rate will vary with the complexity of the scene, which is constantly changing, depending on the number of models and surfaces within view at each moment.  See [[3D Video Introduction]] for more information why FlightGear requires an OpenGL-capable video card.
Recommended hardware specs - for [[FlightGear 1.0]]


For example
Most modern PCs have hardware accelerated 3D cards. If you are having trouble running FlightGear, visit your card manufacturer's web site and download and install the latest drivers for your card.  Appendix C of The FlightGear Manual has some further information on configuring your machine. 
x86 PC:
 
If you are interested in running FlightGear on a notebook, you may also want to check out [[Notebooks known to run FlightGear]].
There's also a list of notebooks that are known to have issues running FlightGear: [[Notebooks to avoid]].
 
== Recommended hardware specs - for FlightGear 1.9.1b ==


* 1-2 GHZ (multi-core benefits may be employed by threaded FlightGear components such as for example the tile loader)
* 1-2 GHZ (multi-core benefits may be employed by threaded FlightGear components such as for example the tile loader)
* 512-1024 MB RAM (more is better: as of 01/2008 FlightGear will often easily eat up >= 500 MB RAM by default, thus if less free RAM is available the FlightGear process would be significantly slowed down due to OS swapping)
* at least 512-1024 MB '''free''' RAM (more is better: as of 01/2008 FlightGear will often easily eat up >= 500 MB RAM by default, thus if less free RAM is available the FlightGear process would be significantly slowed down due to OS swapping)
* 3D hardware accelerator, 128-256 MB, [[OpenGL]] 1.2 capable (2.0 even better!)
* 3D hardware accelerator, with preferably at least 128-256 MB dedicated RAM, [[OpenGL]] 1.2 capable (2.0 even better!) (You may want to check out [[Supported Video Cards]]) Note that cards with working shader support will enable FlightGear to run with more visual effects.
* 400-500 MB free HD space needed for minimum installation (>=2 GB for compilations recommended,note that the full base package checkout is ~2.5GB as of 1/2008), in addition: approximately ~100-150MB per installed scenery tile (terrain: non-ocean)
* 500 MB free HD space needed for minimum installation (>=2 GB for compilations recommended,note that the full base package checkout is ~2.5GB as of 1/2008), in addition: approximately ~100-150MB per installed scenery tile (terrain: non-ocean)
* Soundblaster compatible soundcard (optional?) - preferably with EAX support
* Soundblaster compatible soundcard (optional?) - preferably with EAX support
* Gameport or USB (HID compatible) joystick/yoke and/or pedals (optional)
* 3 button mouse or 2 button mouse with scroll wheel
* Gameport or USB (HID compatible) joystick/yoke and/or pedals ('''optional''') - please check out [[Supported Peripherals]] for a list of input hardware known to work with FlightGear.


== 3D graphic cards that are known to work  ==
== Hardware Incompatibilities ==
 
A list of video cards that may not properly run FlightGear can be found at [[Problematic Video Cards]].
* NVIDIA GeForce MX420/440 (64Mb), GeForce 4 series, GeForce FX series, GeForce 6 series, GeForce 7300GT, GeForce 7600, GeForce 7900GS, GeForce 9800GT.
For problems with nvidia chips, take a look here :
http://wiki.flightgear.org/flightgear_wiki/index.php?title=Troubleshooting_Problems#Slow_Framerate_with_Graphic_Card_with_Nvidia_chip
 
Comparison of NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units
 
* ATI Radeon 9000/9200/9250 series, Radeon 9600/9800 series
 
Comparison of ATI Graphics Processing Units :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_Graphics_Processing_Units


Basically, you should be fine with any NVIDIA or ATI card that is not older than 12-18 months; however, you need to take into account that some of the newer features in FlightGear may not work as expected or may not even work altogether with older hardware. In general, 3D cards that make use of shared memory should be avoided (PCI express cards that share memory are ok). Also, if you intend to use FlightGear under Linux you may first want to check whether the driver for your card is fully supported under Linux (and your X version) or not, in general linux driver support is generally considered to be better for nvidia-based products than for ATI ones, however both  manufacturers provide primarily closed-source drivers, in binary form.
In addition, for products from both ATI & nvidia it is not unusual to notice that the same machine/hardware setup performs "better" (in the sense of reached average framerates, using identical startup&runtime settings) under Win32 than under Linux, this is often an indicator for the unfortunate fact that Win32 OpenGL driver implementations tend -at least so far- to be more completely and efficiently implemented than the linux ones.


Currently, you can basically forget about using any Matrox cards as FlightGear is very heavy on textures, but only the high-end matrox cards will have sufficient capabilities to deal with FlightGear's requirements.
=== See Also ===
 
TODO: explain PCI vs. AGP (2x,4x,8x) vs. PCI-E
 
See also [[Howto: Improve Framerates]]
 
=== Related Mailing List Discussions ===
* http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-users@lists.sourceforge.net/msg05830.html
 
== Input Hardware (Joysticks, Pedals & Yokes) known to work ==
(Please check  $FG_ROOT/data/Input/Joysticks)
 
* CH PRODUCTS PRO PEDALS (USB/GAMEPORT)
* CH PRODUCTS PRO YOKE  (USB/GAMEPORT)
* Logitech Attack 3 joystick (USB)
* Logitech Extreme 3d Pro (USB) (Windows, Linux and OS-X)
* Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro
* Saitek ST290 Pro joystick (USB)(Linux)
* Saitek X45 and Throttle (USB)(Linux, Windows)
* Rockfire Gameport to USB adaptor with 4-axis gameport joystick
 
''See also [[Joystick]]''
 
== Hardware Incompatibilities ==


* Cyborg-3d-force-usb from Saitek leads to a crash under Linux (such problems are however not related to FlightGear in any way, but most likely due to local problems related to driver/kernel issues)
[http://www.flightgear.org/hardwarereq.html FlighGear Hardware Requirements]


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[[Category:FlightGear 1.0]]

Revision as of 14:15, 11 December 2015


These hardware recommendations are based on informal user experience, be sure to consult other sources before making serious decisions regarding computer hardware.

Flightgear requires a hardware accelerated 3D video card with OpenGL drivers to run at reasonable frame-rates. Using a video card without hardware acceleration might produce frame-rates around several seconds per frame. On the other hand, a 3-Ghz CPU with a GeForce video card should produce frame-rates near 60 fps in most situations. The frame-rate will vary with the complexity of the scene, which is constantly changing, depending on the number of models and surfaces within view at each moment. See 3D Video Introduction for more information why FlightGear requires an OpenGL-capable video card.

Most modern PCs have hardware accelerated 3D cards. If you are having trouble running FlightGear, visit your card manufacturer's web site and download and install the latest drivers for your card. Appendix C of The FlightGear Manual has some further information on configuring your machine.

If you are interested in running FlightGear on a notebook, you may also want to check out Notebooks known to run FlightGear. There's also a list of notebooks that are known to have issues running FlightGear: Notebooks to avoid.

Recommended hardware specs - for FlightGear 1.9.1b

  • 1-2 GHZ (multi-core benefits may be employed by threaded FlightGear components such as for example the tile loader)
  • at least 512-1024 MB free RAM (more is better: as of 01/2008 FlightGear will often easily eat up >= 500 MB RAM by default, thus if less free RAM is available the FlightGear process would be significantly slowed down due to OS swapping)
  • 3D hardware accelerator, with preferably at least 128-256 MB dedicated RAM, OpenGL 1.2 capable (2.0 even better!) (You may want to check out Supported Video Cards) Note that cards with working shader support will enable FlightGear to run with more visual effects.
  • 500 MB free HD space needed for minimum installation (>=2 GB for compilations recommended,note that the full base package checkout is ~2.5GB as of 1/2008), in addition: approximately ~100-150MB per installed scenery tile (terrain: non-ocean)
  • Soundblaster compatible soundcard (optional?) - preferably with EAX support
  • 3 button mouse or 2 button mouse with scroll wheel
  • Gameport or USB (HID compatible) joystick/yoke and/or pedals (optional) - please check out Supported Peripherals for a list of input hardware known to work with FlightGear.

Hardware Incompatibilities

A list of video cards that may not properly run FlightGear can be found at Problematic Video Cards.


See Also

FlighGear Hardware Requirements