Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 laptop and desktop benchmarks

Beautiful and demanding. When Flight Simulator went on sale, it had to struggle with various technical problems. About a month after the official launch, we also took to the skies and checked out this hardware-hungry title.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Stephanie Chamberlain), Published 09/25/2020 🇩🇪 🇷🇺

Technical

Eternal waiting times here, bad performance there: The release of the current Flight Simulator was accompanied by several negative headlines. With 2.5 out of 5 stars (as of 09/23/20), the user rating in the Microsoft Store, where the title is distributed, is not particularly great even weeks later.

We can at least partly understand the lukewarm feedback: Starting with the download, which as is typical for the Microsoft store, tends not to run at the maximum possible speed (about 120 GB has to be downloaded in-game), over to the - independent of the hardware - very long game start, and up to the temporary choppiness, which is also often not caused by the settings or the Internet connection. To avoid unnecessary loading times, you should generally install the game on an SSD.

In return, Flight Simulator delivers magnificent visuals that are convincing even in medium settings. In addition to the fancy clouds, the credible lighting, the successful weather, and the realistic aircrafts, the terrain's enormous level of detail is a particularly positive aspect. Especially residential areas with houses and skyscrapers are very impressive. All in all, the title achieves a very high degree of photorealism. Together with Death Stranding, we would describe Flight Simulator as the most beautiful PC game at the moment (even ahead of titles based on the CryEngine and Frostbite engine).

There are also plus points for the extensive graphics menu. A long list of more than 30 options is waiting there, which allow an adjustment in every detail. For practical purposes, there are also several presets (Global Rendering Quality) to control the overall quality in one go. Top: Changes to the settings don't require a restart.

Benchmarks

As you can see in the video below, we use one of the so-called Landing Challenges for our speed measurements, more precisely, in Sydney, Australia. After the intro video is done and the game has finished stuttering, the frame rate is recorded for about 60 seconds. The sequence is technically quite demanding, although there are scenes that are even more complex (like New York, for example).

Since lightning-fast reactions are not that important in Flight Simulator, 30 FPS and upwards is enough for a decent gameplay. Accordingly, the following hardware recommendations apply. While the CPU can be the limiting factor at moderate settings and resolutions, the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions and graphics levels. In general, the graphics card should be equipped with a minimum of 4 GB of VRAM. Below that, it will be hard to get a smooth gaming experience.

Due to the good experiences so far, we will switch from Fraps (DX11) and OCAT (DX12) to the CapFrameX tool for game benchmarks in the future, which seems to work smoothly and contains a lot of practical features (e.g. a visualization function).

Results

FHD (1920x1080)

If you want to play Flight Simulator on a Full HD monitor, you won't be able to avoid using an (upper) mid-range graphics accelerator. The Medium preset demands a GeForce GTX 1650 or a Radeon RX 5500M. For high or maximum details, we directly recommend a genuine gaming model at the level of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti or the RTX 2060.

Flight Simulator 2020
1920x1080 Medium AA:TAA AF:4x 1920x1080 High-End AA:TAA AF:8x 1920x1080 Ultra AA:TAA AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU MSI Raider GE76 12UHS @175 W TGP, i9-12900HK	114.4 (37.3^min, 55^P0.1, 72.6^P1) fps ∼72% 78.7 (33.9^min, 47^P0.1, 57.2^P1) fps ∼76% 63.1 (30.6^min, 35.6^P0.1, 45^P1) fps ∼71%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG, i9-9900K	79 (8.52^min, 55.19^P1) fps ∼50% 62.6 (5.7^min, 43.595^P1) fps ∼60% 46.3 (7.82^min, 35.3^P1) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2080, i9-9900K	71.6 (6.43^min, 52.364^P1) fps ∼45% 58.4 (5.84^min, 46.6^P1) fps ∼56% 47.3 (7.05^min, 38.736^P1) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, i9-9900K	70.8 (5.47^min, 53.536^P1) fps ∼45% 58.6 (5.59^min, 46.184^P1) fps ∼56% 47.3 (7.17^min, 38.971^P1) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2070, i9-9900K	70.5 (5.28^min, 50.072^P1) fps ∼45% 56.1 (6.12^min, 45.108^P1) fps ∼54% 41.2 (7.15^min, 34.462^P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop DDR4-2666, i7-8086K	69.1 (5^min, 50.7^P1) fps ∼44% 54 (6^min, 43.6^P1) fps ∼52% 43.1 (8^min, 36.7^P1) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2060, i9-9900K	68.6 (4.83^min, 51.935^P1) fps ∼43% 51.6 (6.21^min, 41.962^P1) fps ∼50% 35.9 (7.81^min, 28.35^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF, i7-9750H	60.1 (5.3^min, 44.126^P1) fps ∼38% 48.9 (6.4^min, 35.9^P1) fps ∼47% 35.3 (7.24^min, 27.587^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile MSI GE65 Raider 9SE, i7-9750H	59.6 (5.32^min, 37.092^P1) fps ∼38% 44.7 (7.37^min, 30.4^P1) fps ∼43% 30.8 (8.04^min, 21.758^P1) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD, i7-9750H	56.9 (6.31^min, 41.2^P1) fps ∼36% 41.3 (7.43^min, 32.4^P1) fps ∼40% 28.2 (10.7^min, 22.251^P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile Alienware 17 R4, i7-7820HK	56.4 (5.57^min, 41.7^P1) fps ∼36% 44.7 (6.46^min, 31.8^P1) fps ∼43% 33 (7.1^min, 23.926^P1) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile Asus G752VS, 6820HK	53.4 (6.22^min, 39.242^P1) fps ∼34% 40.6 (6.26^min, 31.2^P1) fps ∼39% 28 (9.57^min, 21.3^P1) fps ∼32%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M MSI Alpha 15, R7 3750H	39.9 (5.35^min, 30.6^P1) fps ∼25% 27.8 (7.42^min, 16.359^P1) fps ∼27% 14.4 (5.49^min, 7.273^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC, i7-9750H	39.1 (7.48^min, 30.503^P1) fps ∼25% 27.6 (10.2^min, 22.43^P1) fps ∼27% 17.7 (8.51^min, 12.446^P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile MSI GT62VR, 6820HK	39 (6.83^min, 28.502^P1) fps ∼25% 28.7 (8.74^min, 21.9^P1) fps ∼28% 19.5 (8.94^min, 15.313^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile MSI GE72 7RE, i7-7700HQ	26.2 (8.94^min, 18.3^P1) fps ∼17% 17.3 (8.28^min, 12.122^P1) fps ∼17% 8.42 (5.57^min, 5.831^P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop MSI GTX 1050 Ti, i7-8086K	25.6 (8^min, 21.2^P1) fps ∼16% 18.1 (10^min, 12.3^P1) fps ∼17% 12.1 (7^min, 8.3^P1) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile MSI GL62M 7RD, i7-7700HQ	21 (1.947^min, 4.8995^P1) fps ∼13% 14.7 (6.28^min, 9.11^P1) fps ∼14% 6.88 (0.2478^min, 0.488509^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop DDR4-2666, i7-8086K	19.2 (12^min, 14^P1) fps ∼12% 12.1 (7.2^min, 9^P1) fps ∼12% 5.5 (3.8^min, 3.9^P1) fps ∼6%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop XFX Radeon RX 460, i7-8086K	17.8 (9^min, 13.5^P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce MX350 MSI Prestige 14, i7-10710U	15.7 (9.25^min, 9.9964^P1) fps ∼10% 11 (5.72^min, 6.7819^P1) fps ∼11% 3.56 (2.18^min, 2.5508^P1) fps ∼4%
NVIDIA GeForce MX330 MSI Prestige 14, i7-10510U	12.1 (6.01^min, 8.2054^P1) fps ∼8% 6.92 (4.48^min, 4.8428^P1) fps ∼7% 3.34 (0.848^min, 2.1328^P1) fps ∼4%

QHD (2560x1440)

Owners of a QHD display (2560x1440) who value full details will only be satisfied in the laptop segment starting with a GeForce RTX 2080.

Flight Simulator 2020
2560x1440 Ultra AA:TAA AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HK MSI Raider GE76 12UHS @175 W TGP	52.6 (31.3^min, 35.1^P0.1, 39.5^P1) fps ∼58%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	46.5 (7.12^min, 38.722^P1) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	40.3 (7.95^min, 32.372^P1) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	36.4 (9.16^min, 27.349^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-8086K Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop DDR4-2666	34.7 (7.5^min, 29.3^P1) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	32.4 (8.68^min, 26.842^P1) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	26.8 (10.2^min, 21.544^P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	26.5 (9.68^min, 20^P1) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	26.4 (10.7^min, 18.1^P1) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	22.9 (12.3^min, 16.149^P1) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	20.9 (9.36^min, 16.1^P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	20.6 (13.8^min, 16.678^P1) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	14.2 (7.26^min, 11.312^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	13.2 (2.1^min, 8.598^P1) fps ∼15%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15	9.73 (4.25^min, 6.276^P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop), i7-8086K Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop MSI GTX 1050 Ti	8.6 (6^min, 6.4^P1) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GL62M 7RD	5.01 (0.2422^min, 0.429212^P1) fps ∼6%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	4.99 fps ∼6%

UHD (3840x2160)

A mix of 3840x2160 pixels and the Ultra preset currently overwhelms any laptop GPU. When it comes to desktops, at least a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is required.

Flight Simulator 2020
3840x2160 Ultra AA:TAA AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	32.7 (9.03^min, 27.997^P1) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HK MSI Raider GE76 12UHS @175 W TGP	32 (20.4^min, 23.8^P0.1, 26.2^P1) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	25.5 (10.2^min, 21.814^P1) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	22.6 (10.6^min, 17.664^P1) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-8086K Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming Desktop DDR4-2666	21.2 (12^min, 17.5^P1) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	20.2 (11.1^min, 14.3^P1) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	16.3 (9.45^min, 13.937^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	15.5 (7.23^min, 9.94^P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	14.9 (8.11^min, 12.424^P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	13.6 (8.09^min, 9.44^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	12 (5.78^min, 9.633^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	11.6 (7.82^min, 9.45^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	7.73 (3.62^min, 5.3228^P1) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	5.03 (1.959^min, 2.2382^P1) fps ∼6%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15	3.51 (2.45^min, 2.6852^P1) fps ∼4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	1.78 (1.538^min, 1.56076^P1) fps ∼2%

Note

Since gaming tests are very time intensive and often hindered by installation or activation limits, we can only provide a portion of the benchmarks at the time of publishing. Further graphics cards will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test system

Device	Graphics card	Processor	RAM	Operating system
Desktop PC I	MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (11 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-9900K	4 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC II	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB GDDR5X) Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti (6 GB GDDR5) XFX Radeon R9 Fury (4 GB HBM) Sapphire Radeon R9 290X (4 GB GDDR5) Sapphire Radeon R9 280X (3 GB GDDR5) MSI Radeon R7 370 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-8086K, Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC III	Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) KFA2 GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia Titan X (Pascal) (12 GB GDDR5X) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) Gainward GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5) Zotac GeForce GT 1030 (2 GB GDDR5) AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (8 GB GDDR6)) AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (8 GB HBM2) XFX AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB GDDR5)	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GT76	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-9900K	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GE65	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP75	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Alienware 17 R4	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X)	Intel Core i7-7820HK	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Asus G752VS	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6820HK	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GT62VR	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6820HK	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GE72	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GL62	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Prestige 14	Nvidia GeForce MX350 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-10710U	1 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Prestige 14	Nvidia GeForce MX330 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-10510U	1 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Alpha 15	AMD Radeon RX5500M (4 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 7 3750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit

4K monitors	Nvidia drivers	AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H	ForceWare 456.38	Adrenalin 20.9.1

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Editor of the original article: Sebastian Jentsch - Managing Editor Consumer Laptops - 1753 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2010

Computers always had an important place in my life, starting with an Intel 80286 microprocessor in the early 1990s. I became interested in the productive side of technology, especially in campus radio, while studying at TU Chemnitz and during a trainee program in Belfast. Hardware interests led me to manage Notebookjournal.de, which is now a division of Notebooksbilliger, for a few years. I became self-employed in 2010 and took the next logical step in my career by starting to write for Notebookcheck.

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Translator: Stephanie Chamberlain - Translator - 571 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2020

I've been fascinated with technology ever since I got my very first Android smartphone, which was quite a while ago. The power packed into such a small footprint still amazes me. Learning to program made my understanding of technology deeper, and at the same time, it expanded my interest to the area of desktop computers and laptops. All this led me to enjoy reading and watching reviews of new devices, and that's how I stumbled upon Notebookcheck. I immediately found their reviews to be very comprehensive, and luckily, I've even had the chance of translating them since 2019. When it comes to the huge field of technology, I'm currently also interested in specializing in Java programming.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2020-09-25 (Update: 2023-01-10)

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.