Flight Simulator 2024 doesn’t care how much GPU you throw at it once the CPU runs out of runway. Here is what actually moves the needle over dense airports and photoreal weather.
Changelog
- 2026-07-25 — Page created; calibration anchored to Tom’s Hardware’s 23-GPU test and current RTX 4090 benchmark data.
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System requirements
Minimum
CPUAMD Ryzen 5 2600X or equivalent
GPUAMD Radeon RX 5700
RAM16 GB
VRAM8 GB
Storage50 GB
NotesRequires a constant internet connection (the world streams live from Bing Maps data) and an SSD. Expect low settings and stutters over dense airports.
Recommended
CPUIntel Core i7-10700K
GPUNVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
RAM32 GB
VRAM8 GB
Storage50 GB
NotesMicrosoft’s official "Recommended" tier. Their own "Ideal" tier goes further still — AMD Ryzen 9 7900X / Intel Core i7-14700K-class CPU, AMD RX 7900 XT / NVIDIA RTX 4080-class GPU, 64GB RAM, 12GB VRAM, and a 100 Mbps connection — reflected in our Ultra build below.
Source: View source
FPS expectations
DLSSFSRFrame Gen
Graphics cardEst. FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 509081
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 508071
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 409062
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT60
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX59
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti59
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super55
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation55
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 408054
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT53
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 507053
AMD Radeon RX 907052
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super51
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti48
AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE47
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super46
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 308045
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT43
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 407042
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti40
AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT38
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB37
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 506037
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti36
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 307035
NVIDIA RTX A400034
Intel Arc B58033
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti32
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 406030
Intel Arc B57029
Intel Arc A77029
AMD Radeon RX 760028
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 505027
Intel Arc A75026
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 306025
Estimated, not measured — modelled from Aggregated from Tom’s Hardware’s 23-GPU performance test and GPUCheck’s RTX 4090 Ultra-preset benchmark (50.5 fps average at 1440p), plus Tom’s Hardware and DSOGaming 4K figures in the 50–61 fps range depending on scene. MSFS 2024 is heavily CPU/engine-bound, so gains from lowering resolution are smaller than in almost any other game we cover, and results vary ±15fps or more between a dense airport and open-air cruise.. How we estimate FPS.
Recommended builds
1080p Budget
1080p high settings — the 16GB card matters more here than in most games, since VRAM is the first thing dense scenery exhausts.
1440p Sweet Spot
1440p high settings with DLSS 4 in the mix — smooth flying over dense airports and ATC-heavy approaches.
Ultra / 4K
Exceeds Microsoft’s own "Ideal" tier — photoreal weather and dense cities at 4K, still CPU-limited over the busiest airports.
Squeeze more fps out of your build
Why this sim eats CPUs, not just GPUs
MSFS 2024 streams live-simulated weather, AI traffic, and Bing Maps-derived world data continuously — none of that is GPU work. That’s why the CPU is the practical ceiling in dense areas (major airports, cities) even when the GPU has headroom to spare, and why our fps anchors barely move between 1080p and 1440p on a top-tier card.
Microsoft’s own three-tier requirements table (Minimum / Recommended / Ideal) is unusually explicit about this — the jump from Recommended to Ideal roughly doubles the RAM ask (32GB to 64GB), which says more about how much the sim wants to cache than about display resolution.
VRAM: budget for 12GB, not 8
Photogrammetry-heavy cities and dense airport scenery push VRAM usage well past what older 8GB cards were built for. If you’re buying new for this sim specifically, prioritize a 12GB+ card over a marginal jump in raw GPU score.
The frame-gen trade-off
MSFS 2024 supports DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50-series cards and DLSS 3 frame generation on RTX 40-series. FSR support tops out at FSR 2 for upscaling, and there’s no native XeSS. Frame generation smooths out the CPU-bound frame pacing nicely on supported NVIDIA hardware, but it can’t fix a genuine CPU bottleneck over a busy airport — it just makes the number look better while you’re taxiing.
Frequently asked questions
How much RAM does MSFS 2024 need?
32GB is the realistic floor if you want to avoid stutters over dense scenery. Microsoft’s own "Ideal" tier asks for 64GB, and it’s not marketing fluff — the sim genuinely uses it to cache streamed world data.
Should I upgrade my GPU or my CPU first for this game?
CPU, in almost every case. MSFS 2024 is one of the most CPU-bound titles in mainstream gaming — a faster GPU won’t fix stutters over a major airport if your CPU is the bottleneck.
Does Flight Simulator 2024 need an internet connection?
Yes, for full-fidelity streamed world data — Microsoft specifies a minimum 10 Mbps connection, and their "Ideal" tier assumes 100 Mbps.
How much VRAM should I budget for?
12GB is the safer target once you’re flying over dense cities or photogrammetry regions at high settings — 8GB cards will show their age here sooner than in most games.
