Looking for older FSX payware prop aircraft that run well on lower performance PCs

A few older/“lighter” FSX payware props worth a look (and how to sanity-check FPS)

If the Carenado 206 runs well for you, you’re definitely on the right track—there’s a whole class of “older FSX-era” props that were built before everything went 2048/4096 and loaded up with heavy VC gauge coding. The 337 being tougher doesn’t surprise me either; twins with more going on in the VC (and more geometry) tend to expose a borderline setup pretty quickly.

Aircraft suggestions (generally easy on frames for their looks)

• RealAir (their FSX-era props) – historically very smooth in FSX because they were optimized well. If you can find their older prop offerings, they’re usually a safe bet on lower-end hardware.
• Earlier Carenado singles – since the 206 works for you, you’ll often get similar performance from other “same-generation” Carenado singles. (Where it usually starts to hurt is bigger cabins, more complex twins, or later releases with heavier VC textures.)
• A2A’s simpler/older FSX releases – some of their older packages can run better than people expect, but it depends a lot on VC gauge load and what you’ve got running in the background (traffic, weather, scenery).
• Smaller/simple taildraggers – in general, the simpler the cockpit and systems, the happier FSX is. Those tend to feel “alive” without the same performance hit you see on a more complex twin.

Quick way to confirm it’s the aircraft (not the scenario)
Before spending more money, it helps to separate “airplane cost” from “everything else I’m running”:

• Load the 337 in a default area/airport, fair weather, daytime.
• Compare FPS in VC vs spot view.
• Temporarily set AI traffic to 0 and retry the same test.

If it’s mainly bad in the VC but not outside, that usually points to VC textures/gauges being the culprit (which is very common). If it’s bad everywhere, then it’s more likely the model complexity plus whatever scenery/traffic you’re stacking on top.

A couple targeted questions so I don’t steer you wrong

• Which FSX are you on: boxed SP2/Acceleration, or Steam Edition?
• What are your rough specs (CPU, GPU, RAM)?
• With the 337, is the FPS hit mostly in the VC, or also in spot view?
• Are you typically running much AI traffic and/or add-on scenery/weather at the same time?

Answer those and I can narrow it down to a couple “safe bet” props that should behave much closer to your 206 performance-wise.