Should the controls be on the main computer with instrument panel on a 2 computer setup X-Plane 11?

Question

Hi folks,

Trying to setup a 2 computer X-Plane 11 setup. One computer for instruments with a touchscreen monitor and one computer for the visual with 3 monitors setup as one wide monitor.

Wich one should be the fastest computer (CPU or GPU?) and should the controls be connected to the "instrument" computer and would that than be the main (server) computer?

Thanks, Caesar

Comments

Hi, have you checked that section of the manual?

http://x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/index.html#configuringamulti-monitorsimulator

Beware, you will need two licence keys, because you will have 2 sessions of X-plane running at the same time.

"Wich one should be the fastest computer (CPU or GPU?)"

I don't really understand your question. The GPU is the key element for X-plane. Always prefer Nvidia to AMD if you want a good experience. That being said, a good computer is a balanced computer, so choose your GPU (many videos on youtube can help) and build your computer around it.

Answer 1

Hi Caesar,

In addition to the answer provided by amelingu I offer the following comments.

1.  From what information you have supplied the primary computer should run the GTX980ti card as it has 6Gb of GPU.  The more GPU the better with X-Plane.  In addition make sure the 32Gb Ram is installed in the primary computer. This is more than enough.  X-Plane is GPU and CPU hungry. This combination will give you better results than a mix and match with the lesser RAM and lower spec (GPU) graphics card.

Connect the 3 screens to this graphics card.  If your 3 screens are the same brand and exactly the same model you will get the best effect.  If they are G-Sync compatible you will get better results again.

Any instruments you have should be connected to the primary computer.

2.  Now for the secondary PC.  You don't need to run a second copy of X-Plane  Use the GTX 780 card and the 16GB of RAM in conjunction with the touch screen using a product called Air Manager.  This second computer is an overkill for the product.

3.  Have a look at several videos produced by Michael Brown which demonstrates the use of the product with the touch screen and multiple monitors. The link can be be found at  https://www.youtube.com/user/col2mab/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0       Laminar Research recommends Michael as the X-Plane PC supplier in the USA.  Both businesses are in the same town.  I give you the full link for his videos because he has made several with Air Manager and uses the Touch screen for his instruments.  You will need to network the two computers.  Michael makes comment about this in one of his videos.

4.  Air Manager can be found at the following link https://siminnovations.com/     An alternative is Panel Builder.  I have this product and will most like change to Air Manager.  Air Manager seems to be the recommended product to use.  Some time back Michael Brown was a Panel Builder user and has now made the switch. 

5.  If having trouble in networking your 2 PCs have a look at the following 2 videos.  The producer is a long time FSX user but has a lot of good and interesting information.  The two links can be found at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMx3pl3Z3Mg  and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FyjMDCJ0U

Finally, I do not have any connection with any of the products and or companies mentioned above.  Rather difficult down under.

Hope this all helps Enjoy the setup and good flying.

Glenn

Comments

Hi Glenn,

Thank you very much for this solid explanation.This makes sense and I'll look into it!

Keep you posted ;)

Cheers, Caesar

Answer 2

Yes, I did check that!

My question is which computer should be the fastest, the master or the client and are we talking GPU or CPU if we're talking about the fastest computer. Just a little confused since I read a lot of comments saying x-plane 11 is more CPU based (and needs a lot of RAM) than GPU based.

Both computers have I7 processors and 32Gb and 16Gb of ram and one has the GTX980TI and the other one GTX 780.

Thanks, Caesar and by the way I'm aware of the 2 licence keys