Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 FPS Calculator & System Requirements

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 streams the majority of its global terrain, photogrammetry, weather, and AI traffic data in real-time from Microsoft Azure servers, which keeps local storage at a modest 50 GB while demanding a fast and stable internet connection. To run the game your PC must reach a CPU performance score of at least 35 and a GPU score of at least 30. As a visually intensive title, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 rewards hardware above the recommended threshold — particularly for ray tracing, high-resolution shadow maps, and ambient occlusion. At the recommended tier (CPU 62, GPU 73) expect around 45 FPS at 1080p on high settings. Enter your CPU and GPU in our calculator for a personalized estimate.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 lists these minimum specifications: CPU — Intel Core i7-6800K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X; GPU — NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4 GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5700; RAM — 16 GB RAM; Storage — 50 GB available space; OS — Windows 10 64-bit (version 21H1 or later). At the minimum tier, expect the game to run at low or medium presets with frame rates around 30 FPS at 1080p. Demanding scenes — dense environments, complex lighting, or heavy particle effects — may dip below this. Disabling ray tracing and lowering shadow quality deliver the highest performance recovery on minimum-spec hardware.

For the best Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 experience, the recommended specifications are: CPU — Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 5 2700X; GPU — NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT; RAM — 32 GB RAM; Storage — 50 GB available space. This hardware level targets smooth 45 FPS at 1080p on high settings with stable frame times. Enabling ray tracing, high-resolution shadow maps, and ambient occlusion simultaneously calls for a GPU above the recommended tier. If you are targeting 1440p on ultra presets, check our FPS calculator for the exact scores required.

On hardware meeting Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's recommended specifications, expect around 45 FPS at 1080p on high settings. Enabling ray tracing, ultra shadow resolution, or screen-space ambient occlusion can reduce that figure by 15–30% depending on your GPU. Minimum-spec hardware typically achieves 25–40 FPS at 1080p on low-to-medium presets. Moving to 1440p costs roughly 30% of your 1080p frame rate, and 4K approximately 50–60%. Enter your exact hardware in our FPS calculator for a personalized estimate across every quality preset.

For high graphics settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 at 1080p, your GPU needs a performance score of at least 73. The officially recommended card is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, which targets 45 FPS at 1080p. Enabling ray tracing on top of high settings demands significantly more GPU headroom — plan for a score well above 73 if RT is a priority. For 1440p on high settings, a GPU scoring around 95 or better is advisable. The FPS calculator lists every compatible GPU ranked by expected performance for this title.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 requires a CPU with a minimum performance score of 35 — roughly the level of Intel Core i7-6800K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X or better. For a smooth experience without CPU bottlenecks, target the recommended score of 62 (around Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 5 2700X). As a graphically rich title, it can stress the CPU in densely populated areas, complex physics sequences, or large set-piece moments. A CPU at the recommended score paired with 32 GB RAM ensures the processor does not throttle your GPU's potential output in those scenarios.

At 1440p, expect roughly 25–35% lower frame rates than 1080p in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. On hardware at the recommended tier (GPU score 73), this translates to around 31 FPS on high settings. To maintain 45+ FPS at 1440p, target a GPU scoring around 95 or higher. Use the FPS calculator above to get a precise estimate for your specific CPU and GPU combination at 1440p across every quality preset.

4K demands roughly 55–65% more GPU power than 1080p in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. On the recommended GPU (score 73), expect around 19 FPS at 4K on high settings. Reaching a consistent 45 FPS at 4K requires a GPU scoring around 120 or better. Upscaling technologies like DLSS 3 or FSR 3 can recover 40–60% of the resolution overhead with minimal visual cost on supported hardware.

Yes. MSFS 2024 requires a persistent broadband connection (minimum 10 Mbps, recommended 50 Mbps) at all times because world terrain, weather data, and live traffic are streamed in real-time from Microsoft's Azure cloud. There is no offline mode.

MSFS 2024 introduces a full career mode with missions, jobs, and progression; a greatly expanded aircraft roster that includes helicopters, gliders, and bush planes; improved aerodynamics and systems simulation; enhanced real-time weather integration; and a refined streaming engine that further upgrades the photogrammetry quality introduced in MSFS 2020.