Many consider the Microsoft Flight Simulator game to be the most beautiful video game of all time. It is a flight simulation game such as X-Plane, FlightGear etc. This game uses nearly 2 petabytes of satellite image data from Bing Maps. The first version was released in 2006 while the most recent version was released in August 2020, 14 years later.
In this article, we will see the minimum configurations to be able to play this title on PC as well as different benchmarking to know which graphics card to choose to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Minimum requirements to play Microsoft Flight Simulator
This title has evolved over the years. Microsoft is now highlighting HDR, 4K and all-new APIs to provide a hyper-realistic flight simulation game. Here are the minimum configurations to have in order to play this title.
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 or equivalent
- Graphics card: GeForce GTX 1660 Super
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
To play Flight Simulator 2020 smoothly, we recommend the following PC configurations:
- – Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel Core i5-8400
- – Graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 590 or GeForce GTX 970
- – Memory: 16 GB of RAM
And to play this title with 4K resolution, you can opt for the following configurations:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7
- Graphics card: GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon VII
- Memory: 32 GB RAM
This game therefore requires a good capacity of available RAM, i.e. 32 GB if you want to play this game in Ultra/4K. A good processor such as a Ryzen 7 or core i7 is also necessary for smooth and smooth gaming.
If you have decided to become a real pilot, here are the PC flight simulator joysticks which are part of the TOP 3!
Microsoft Flight Simulator game benchmarking
For this benchmarking, we will test this game on different resolutions. Let's start with the Full HD 1080p resolution. Using medium quality, we have the following frame rates: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 163.6 FPS, Radeon RX 6900 XT at 162.7 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 GeForce RTX 3080 at 158.3 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 at 137.5 FPS, NVIDIA TITAN RTX at 134 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 at 132.6 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 129.3 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 118.7 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 115 FPS, the NVIDIA TITAN V at 112.9 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 107.9 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 100.8 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER at 100.8 FPS.
At QHD 1440p resolution, the following cards achieve a frame rate above 90 FPS: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 147.6 FPS, Radeon RX 6900 XT at 146.9 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 XT at 143 .1 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 142.7 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 at 123.9 FPS, NVIDIA TITAN RTX at 120.7 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 at 119.5 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 116.4 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 106.1 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 103.5 FPS, NVIDIA TITAN V at 101.6 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 97, 1 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 90.6 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER at 90.6 FPS.
Played on Ultra HD resolution (2160p), the following graphics cards offer good performance in average quality because they are above the fateful bar of 60 FPS: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 122.5 FPS, the Radeon RX 6900 XT at 117 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 Ti at 116.4 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 at 98.8 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 88.4 FPS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 85.5 FPS, NVIDIA TITAN V at 101.6 FPS , the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 96.3 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 85.5 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER at 85.5 FPS.
By setting the game resolution to “High Quality”, at a graphics resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Full HD), we have the following frame rates for our 10 best cards: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 117 FPS, the Radeon RX 6900 XT at 116.3 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 , the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 at 93.3 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 90.7 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 82.8 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 80 FPS.
With the game resolution set to “High Quality” and choosing a graphics resolution of 2560 x 1440 (QHD), the frame rates obtained are as follows: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 104.7 FPS, the Radeon RX 6900 XT at 104 .1 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 3070 at 83.4 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 81.1 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 73.4 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 71.6 FPS.
And finally, always set to “High Quality” with a graphics resolution of 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD), we have the following frame rates on our 10 best graphics cards: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 85.6 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 82.6 FPS, Radeon RX 6900 XT at 81.6 FPS, Radeon RX 6800 FPS, the Radeon RX 6800 at 67.7 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 66.2 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 60.5 FPS, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 58.4 FPS.
About Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was developed by Asobo Studio and distributed by Microsoft and Xbox Game Sudios. The PC version was released on August 18, 2020. It is a hyper-realistic game with its 37,000 airports, 10 planes, 2 million cities and nearly 1.5 billion buildings. With the new version you can apply weather conditions and flight environment in real time. Satellite images are used by the photogrammetry technique to provide structural images (buildings, etc.). Other details (herbs, etc.) are generated by Microsoft Azure AI. This game is well received by the public and obtains a score of 92/100 by Metacritic.
In short, Flight Simulator is a very beautiful video game. It is appreciated by flight enthusiasts and amateur pilots. It's one of the best ways to learn to fly while having fun. This game uses satellite data to be hyper realistic. It requires a fairly large memory, a good graphics card and a powerful processor for good gaming fluidity.
