Simworkshop SW Instrument Display Review: A Dedicated Airbus PFD, ND and ECAM Display for a Modular Cockpit

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One of the biggest problems with a modular flight simulator is displays.

Physical FCUs, throttle quadrants and sidesticks are relatively easy to add and remove. The PFD, navigation display and ECAM are different. You can leave them inside the virtual cockpit, pop them out to another monitor, or build a dedicated instrument panel.

The Simworkshop SW Instrument Display Set is designed for that third option without forcing you to build a permanent cockpit.

It uses a 14.1-inch ultrawide display with a 1920 x 550 resolution and an aircraft-specific front panel that divides the screen into three cockpit-style display areas.

I tested it in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with the Fenix A320 V2, using both the normal pop-out approach and GlassOut.

The result is one of those upgrades that sounds minor until you start flying with it.

Quick verdict

The SW Instrument Display solved a very specific problem in my simulator: it gave me dedicated Airbus displays directly below the FCU without requiring a full cockpit build.

The screen is compact enough for a modular setup, the display areas are positioned where I expect them to be, and the unit remained useful even when I switched to external camera views because the instruments stayed visible physically in front of me.

I also did not experience a noticeable performance drop in my own setup.

For me, that combination made it much more useful than simply adding another generic monitor.

What is the Simworkshop SW Instrument Display?

The SW Instrument Display is a long, narrow 14.1-inch screen designed specifically for flight-sim instrument layouts.

The panel uses a 1920 x 550 ultrawide resolution and places three display cutouts across the front.

For an Airbus setup, that layout can be used for the captain-side PFD, navigation display and ECAM arrangement.

The product includes aircraft-specific front panels, so the screen itself can remain the same while the visual frame is changed for different cockpit styles.

Why I wanted a dedicated instrument display

My simulator is not a permanent Airbus cockpit.

I switch between Airbus, Boeing, general aviation and other aircraft, which means every dedicated piece of hardware has to justify the desk space it consumes.

Before using the SW Instrument Display, the obvious solution was another monitor.

That works, but a normal monitor creates two problems for my setup.

First, it takes up more space than the instruments actually need.

Second, it still looks like a monitor with cockpit windows placed on top of it.

The Simworkshop display is much narrower and more purpose-built.

It sits underneath my FCU/EFIS hardware and fills the exact part of the cockpit I was missing.

The 14.1-inch ultrawide format is the main advantage

The unusual resolution is the point of the product.

At 1920 x 550, the display is wide enough to fit several Airbus instruments side by side without adding unnecessary vertical screen area.

For a modular cockpit, that is much easier to work around than a conventional 16:9 monitor.

It also keeps the instrument stack visually close to the physical controls above it.

That relationship matters.

Once the FCU is above the displays and the PFD, ND and ECAM are directly below, the setup begins to feel like one cockpit section rather than separate pieces of hardware sitting on a desk.

Setup and what comes in the box

My unit included the display itself along with the cabling needed to connect it, including USB-C and HDMI-related hardware.

The physical connection is straightforward because the computer sees the panel as an additional display.

The more important part is software positioning.

Your cockpit instruments still need to be placed correctly inside the three screen areas. Once that alignment is done, the display becomes much more natural to use.

This is where the dedicated format helps. You are positioning the instruments into fixed physical windows rather than arranging them somewhere on a large generic monitor.

Testing with the Fenix A320 V2 in MSFS 2024

My main test aircraft was the Fenix A320 V2 in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

That was the right test for me because the Airbus is where this type of display makes the most obvious difference.

The PFD and navigation display are constantly referenced, while the ECAM becomes especially useful during engine start, system monitoring and abnormal situations.

Having all three physically visible meant I spent less time changing cockpit views simply to read an instrument.

That sounds obvious, but it changes the way I use the simulator.

The unexpected benefit: external views

One of my favorite parts of the setup has nothing to do with cockpit realism.

The displays remain in front of me when I switch to an external camera view.

That means I can watch the aircraft from outside during cruise or other phases of flight and still keep an eye on important instrument information without returning to the cockpit.

For livestreaming, this is particularly useful.

I can show an external aircraft view to the audience while still having the flight instruments physically visible at my desk.

A normal in-sim cockpit display disappears the moment the camera moves outside. The dedicated hardware does not.

Pop-outs versus GlassOut

I tested both the normal display-pop-out workflow and GlassOut.

Both worked for me.

GlassOut was especially interesting because it offers another way to drive the physical displays without relying on the same workflow as standard simulator pop-outs.

In my testing, GlassOut also proved to have less performance impact than the normal pop-out approach.

That does not mean every PC will behave identically. Performance depends on the simulator, aircraft, rendering configuration and hardware.

What I can say is that on my system, the display itself did not create the performance problem I was initially worried about.

Performance in my setup

I did not experience a noticeable performance drop while using the SW Instrument Display.

That is one of the points I wanted to test carefully because additional flight-sim displays are often associated with frame-rate concerns.

There are several ways to feed cockpit instruments to external displays, and they do not all have the same performance cost.

In my setup, the final result worked well enough that performance did not become a reason to stop using the product.

For anyone having issues, I would make sure the latest software is installed and that the display windows are aligned correctly before drawing conclusions.

Image quality and readability

The screen resolution works well for the type of content being displayed.

Flight instruments are mostly high-contrast graphics, text, tapes, lines and symbols. They do not need the same kind of resolution as a large scenery monitor.

What matters more is whether the information is clear from a normal seated position.

In my setup, it was.

The PFD, ND and ECAM remained easy to read, and the physical frame around the display helped separate the instruments visually.

Aircraft-specific front panels are useful in a modular setup

One of the reasons I like this product is that the front panel can be matched to a specific aircraft style.

The 737 and 777 versions, for example, are mainly cosmetic variations around the same underlying display hardware.

That means the screen itself is not permanently locked to one airplane.

For someone like me who switches between Airbus and Boeing hardware, that is much more practical than building several permanent monitor assemblies.

Cable routing is clean

The hidden cable-routing design is another small detail that matters more in a desktop setup than it would in a permanently enclosed cockpit.

A modular sim already has enough USB, power and video cables.

Anything that reduces visible cabling around the instrument panel makes the finished setup look more intentional.

Where the display fits best

The SW Instrument Display makes the most sense for users who already have some physical cockpit hardware.

If you are flying entirely with a mouse and keyboard, another screen may not transform the experience very much.

But once you have a physical FCU, EFIS, throttle or other controls, the missing virtual displays become more noticeable.

That is where this product fits naturally.

It connects the physical controls above the glareshield with the information you would normally keep on the main monitor.

What I liked most

The biggest advantage is not the raw specification.

It is the form factor.

The display is wide enough for the instruments I need but not tall enough to waste desk space.

The second major advantage is that the instruments remain available regardless of what camera view I use in the simulator.

The third is modularity. I can use an aircraft-specific front panel without committing my entire simulator to one cockpit type.

What I would improve

The main limitation is that this is still an external display solution.

You need software to place or extract the instruments correctly, and setup quality matters.

Someone looking for a completely self-contained hardware instrument system may want something different.

It is also a fairly specialized purchase. If you do not already care about having physical displays below your cockpit controls, a normal monitor remains a perfectly valid and cheaper workaround.

Is it better than using another monitor?

For pure function, a normal monitor can display the same information.

The difference is convenience and integration.

A standard monitor usually gives you much more screen area than you need, while the SW Instrument Display uses a shape that fits the cockpit instruments directly underneath the FCU.

For my setup, that dedicated layout was worth more than the raw number of pixels.

It also looks and behaves more like a cockpit component than a second computer screen.

Who should buy the Simworkshop SW Instrument Display?

It makes the most sense for someone who:

• Uses a physical Airbus FCU or other cockpit hardware
• Wants dedicated PFD, ND and ECAM displays
• Has a modular rather than permanent cockpit
• Wants a compact ultrawide format
• Uses MSFS 2024 and aircraft such as the Fenix A320
• Wants instruments visible even when using external camera views
• Does not want to dedicate a full-size monitor to cockpit instruments

It makes less sense if you are happy keeping all instruments inside the main virtual cockpit or already have a multi-monitor layout that solves the same problem.

Is the Simworkshop SW Instrument Display worth it?

For my simulator, yes.

It completed an important part of the Airbus setup without forcing me into a permanent cockpit.

The screen fits naturally under the FCU, the instruments remain readable, the external-view benefit is genuinely useful, and I did not experience the performance penalty I initially worried about.

Most importantly, I continue using it.

That is usually the clearest sign that a piece of specialized simulator hardware has earned its place on my desk.

Frequently asked questions

What is the resolution of the Simworkshop SW Instrument Display?

The 14.1-inch display uses a 1920 x 550 ultrawide resolution.

Does it work with the Fenix A320?

I personally tested it with the Fenix A320 V2 in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

Does it work with GlassOut?

Yes. I tested GlassOut with the display and it worked in my setup.

Does it reduce performance?

I did not experience a noticeable performance drop in my own testing. Performance can vary by system and by the method used to feed instruments to the display.

Can I use it for Boeing aircraft?

The hardware can be used with different aircraft layouts, and Simworkshop offers aircraft-specific front-panel versions. The visual panel differs, while the underlying display concept remains the same.

Why use this instead of a normal monitor?

The main advantage is the compact ultrawide form factor and cockpit-specific physical layout. It fits directly under flight-control hardware without using the extra space of a conventional monitor.

Disclosure

The observations in this article are based on my own testing with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, the Fenix A320 V2 and GlassOut.