MSFS Graphics Card Benchmarks (Ultra Quality Settings)

This table shows the approximate performance in frames per second of all the modern graphics cards, as well as the graphics cards listed by Microsoft as Minimum, Recommended, and Ideal requirements.  This uses the “Ultra Quality” preset without add-ons, assuming no bottleneck elsewhere in the PC.

As a rule of thumb, over 30 frames per second is acceptable; ideally, 60 frames per second should be your aim.

Remember, if you are installing aircraft or scenery add-ons, the extra load on the PC will mean these values are lower.  So make sure you include headroom for this. 

The Ultra Quality preset is not necessary to have a fantastic-looking flight sim, so you can adjust your simulator settings to match your graphics card and resolution.

Another thing to note is the huge improvement you can get from  DLSS 3.0. It is only available with the NVIDIA 4 series graphics cards.  This feature can nearly double the frames per second shown in the table which makes a lower-end 4 series graphics better than a mid-to-high-end 3 series graphics card.

It’s also worth noting the slight differences in the “ranking” of cards as we go from 1080 to 1440 and all the way up to 4K* resolutions.  So make sure you chose based on the screen resolution you will be using.

*4k and triple 1080p put approximately the same load on the PC, so you can use the 4K values from the table as a quide if you intend to run 3 screens.