Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 PC Specs & Requirements

October 24, 2024

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has officially landed, and it’s already proving to be one of the most visually stunning - and demanding - games ever made. Whether you’re gliding over your hometown or exploring remote corners of the world in ultra-realistic detail, this sim takes full advantage of modern hardware.

While the minimum and recommended specs are within reach for many PC gamers, unlocking the full visual fidelity - think 4K resolution, ultra settings, and complex weather effects - requires a seriously capable machine.

At Chillblast, we build performance PCs that are tailor-made for demanding titles like Flight Sim 2024. Whether you’re a casual flyer aiming for smooth 1080p performance or a hardcore simmer looking to recreate a full flight deck experience with ray-traced visuals and multiple monitors, we’ve got you covered.

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With that in mind, let’s take a look at Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s system requirements, and what kind of Chillblast PC would be best suited to play it.

System requirements

Minimum system requirements

The minimum system requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are modest enough that a majority of gamers should be able to meet them. The CPUs are many years old at this point and were mid-range when they were released. Most PCs released in the past few years, let alone gaming PCs, shouldn’t have too much trouble meeting that requirement. The suggested 16GB of RAM has been commonplace in most gaming machines for the past few years too, and though the graphics cards are a little more modern, they’re still very attainable performance standards. Over 50% of the latest Steam hardware survey responders have graphics cards that are as, or more powerful, than the two suggested options AMD Radeon RX 5700 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

This is one game where a reasonable internet connection is required, and not just because of some frustrating DRM. Microsoft Flight Simulator games utilize streaming data for real-time weather tracking and some cloud processing to augment the gameplay experience. The minimum system requirement of 10Mbps bandwidth is very modest, though, with the UK average now over 70 Mbps, and more than 99.7% of homes have access to 10 Mbps or faster internet, as per the latest uSwitch survey.

It should be noted too, that while Windows 10 is the suggested operating system for Microsoft Flight Simulator across the board, it is scheduled to lose official support, including security updates, in October 2025, so you should plan to upgrade to Windows 11 before then.

Microsoft has suggested in interviews and presentations that the minimum system requirements will be enough to get the game running at 1080p (with a 70% resolution scale) at 30 frames per second, with all settings on low.

Best gaming PC to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

If your PC doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements for playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, or you’re looking to build or buy your first gaming PC to enjoy this upcoming game, this is where Chillblast can help. Our system-building experts have been putting together incredibly efficient, powerful, and affordable gaming PCs for decades, and we have some designs that are a perfect fit for budding Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 players.

Our best gaming PC to get up and running with the latest Microsoft Flight sim, is the excellent Chillblast Sim Flight Core. It’s the modern equivalent of the suggested hardware and offers incredible gaming performance, in an attractive package, at a low price. It’s more powerful than the minimum requirements, but we’d rather you weren’t having to downscale from 1080p just to get the game running.

Recommended system requirements

The recommended system requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator certainly take things up a notch, but it’s still relatively approachable. The processors and graphics cards were high-end in their day, but that day has certainly passed and you can meet these specifications without having a cutting-edge system.

However, both CPU suggestions have eight cores. Microsoft Flight Simulator games are well known for being very demanding on your CPU, so ensure that yours has enough cores, even if your CPU doesn’t exactly match these models. A faster six-core CPU might not be enough. Microsoft recommends AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, Intel Core i7-10700K, or better.

The 32GB of RAM might be harder for some gamers to meet, as the most common configuration out there is still 16 GB. Fortunately, upgrading your memory is one of the cheapest and easiest DIY upgrades you can make to your PC. If that’s all you’re missing, grab yourself a new kit of high-speed memory (make sure to get the right speed and generation, though), replace the old sticks with the new, and you’ll be off and running.

Bandwidth requirements at this tier take a major leap, too, with a 50 Mbps connection recommended for smooth streaming during gameplay. As with the suggested speed in the minimum system requirements, this is a very approachable standard for most UK gamers, with the average British internet speed exceeding this easily. However, if you’re using up to 50 Mbps for this game alone, anyone streaming Netflix in the background might start to impede your connection, so be sure your internet is up to the task of playing this if you live in a busy household.

Microsoft claims that meeting these specifications will let you play the game at 1440p with all settings at high, though frame rates will remain close to 30 FPS.

Ideal system requirements

Alongside the usual Minimum and Recommended system requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Microsoft also released some “Ideal” requirements. These target 4K resolution with Ultra graphics settings, and a frame rate between 40 and 50 FPS, with Microsoft promising further optimizations that might nudge that closer to 60 FPS in the future.

All games are demanding at 4K ultra, but it appears that Flight Sim 24 is going to be the most demanding game yet for such settings. The processors are two of the fastest options available and are only eclipsed by a couple of more expensive alternatives. This is the first game we’re aware of that demands 64GB of RAM for any setting, too, although Microsoft has suggested the game won’t use anything close to that, and this will just guarantee that at least 32GB will be available to it at all times, with the rest of the memory used for background applications.

The graphics cards are both just one step behind the very top options, too. Unless you’ve recently purchased a flagship gaming PC, you’re going to struggle to get even close to its performance with older hardware.

Best Gaming PC for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

Running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 at its maximum settings is the kind of challenge we love to take on, and not only do we have a gaming PC that can meet these specifications, but we also have one that can exceed them. If you want to run this game flat out and achieve frame rates even above the 60 FPS Microsoft’s optimizations are chasing, you want a PC like the Chillblast Sim Flight Ultra.

Even our custom PC builder tool would struggle to come up with a gaming PC more powerful than this one.

It’s powered by the best gaming CPU in the world: The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. As requested, this PC comes with 64GB of blazing-fast DDR5 memory and two terabytes of some of the speediest SSD storage possible.

The real crown jewel of this PC though, is its graphics card. The GeForce RTX 5080 is one of the most powerful GPUs ever made, with 16GB of VRAM and all the CUDA cores you could ask for. Together they make this GPU capable of the very fastest in-game performance, and it will easily drive frame rates over 60 FPS in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

It’ll be able to push the game to even greater heights, all while enjoying the full beauty of 4K resolution at the highest settings.

Want something else? We’ve got you covered.

If the above suggestions aren’t quite what you’re looking for, never fear. Chillblast has a range of amazing gaming PCs, any of which could be a great solution for playing the next great flight sim game. Either use our online configurator, or get in touch with us to discuss your needs, and we’ll put together a PC just for you that will play any game you want, just the way you want.