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Here are the recommended PC specs for MS Flight Simulator

The all-new Flight Simulator features spectacular Azure AI-powered landscapes and skylines. (Source: Microsoft)
The all-new Flight Simulator features spectacular Azure AI-powered landscapes and skylines. (Source: Microsoft)
Microsoft has revealed the specifications required to power its all-new Flight Simulator on PC. In a pleasant surprise, a PC with mid-range specs from 2013 will be able to play it, but a higher end rig from 2019 will be best placed to demonstrate everything the game has to offer visually.

Microsoft’s all-new Flight Simulator has got the flight sim enthusiast community excited and rightly so as it features some spectacular visuals. If you don’t have an Xbox One S or Xbox One X, you will need a PC with Windows 10 to run it and until now it has not been clear exactly how powerful your rig will need to be. In surprisingly good news, the game will run on an Intel/Nvidia rig dating with just 8 GB of system RAM and only 2 GB of VRAM as its minimum specification.

As AMD wasn’t really hitting performance highs it is enjoying now and didn’t have anywhere near the market penetration the Intel/Nvidia combination did, a more recent rig is required to get you started. Even then, the requirements are relatively modest with a Ryzen 3 1200 and Radeon RX 570 sufficient to do the job. However, if you really want to get things cranked up to maximum settings, you will need a higher end rig from 2019.

To this extent, Microsoft says that the ideal spec for an Intel/Nvidia combination is to pair an Intel Core i7-9800X (8-cores and clocked at 3.80 to 4.4 GHz) with a Nvidia RTX 2080 (8GB VRAM). You will also need 32 GB of system RAM. If your rig is all AMD, you will need a Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X (8-cores and clocked at 3.6 to 4.1 GHz) and a Radeon VII also with system RAM of 32 GB. Hard drive installation requirements are the same at a fairly hefty 150 GB which is not surprising given that it is a game that spans the globe and includes over 40,000 airports.

In a COVID-19 world, it could well be the safest way to fly.

Flight Simulator PC spec requirements. (Source: Microsoft)
Flight Simulator PC spec requirements. (Source: Microsoft)
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 04 > Here are the recommended PC specs for MS Flight Simulator
Sanjiv Sathiah, 2020-04-23 (Update: 2020-04-23)