The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Best PCs for Flight Simulator 2024
The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Best PCs for Flight Simulator 2024
Are you a passionate flight simulator enthusiast looking for the best PC to enhance your experience? Look no further! In this comprehensive guide, we will help you find the perfect computer to take your flight simulator game to new heights.
Understanding the Minimum, Recommended and Ideal Requirements
Before we dive into the best PCs for flight simulator, it’s crucial to understand the difference between the minimum and recommended requirements for the game. Flight simulator games can be demanding on your computer, so you need to make sure your PC can handle the load. The minimum requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are as follows:
- Operating System: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel i7-6800K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 5700
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Storage: 50 GB available space
The Importance of Processor and Graphics Card
When it comes to playing flight simulator games, the processor and graphics card are two of the most important components of your PC. A powerful processor ensures smooth gameplay, while a top-notch graphics card delivers stunning visuals and effects.
The processor is responsible for managing the flow of information and calculations, while the graphics card handles the rendering of images and graphics. For a seamless flight simulator experience, it’s crucial to have a high-performance processor and graphics card.
MSFS Graphics Card Benchmarks (Ultra Quality Settings)
This table shows the approximate performance in frames per second of graphics cards, as well as the graphics cards as tested by Toms Hardware.
As a rule of thumb, over 30 frames per second is acceptable; ideally, 60 frames per second should be your aim for smooth gameplay.
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. It is only available with the NVIDIA 4000 and 5000 series graphics cards. This feature can nearly double the frames per second shown in the table which makes a lower-end 4000 series graphics better than a mid-to-high-end 3 series graphics card.
It’s also worth noting there will be a slight difference 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 guide if you intend to run 3 screens.
Top Picks for the Best PCs for Flight Simulator
Now that you understand the importance of the processor and graphics card, let’s take a look at some of the best PCs for flight simulator.
Here are what we recommend for the most demanding Flight Sim enthusiasts, where you want to enjoy VR experiences, 4K rendering and sliders pushed all the way to the right:
Sim-X Valkyrie R7X3D 5090
- CPU: AMD R7 9800X3D
- SSD: 2Tb M.2
- GPU: RTX 5090
- RAM: 64Gb DDR5 6000Mhz
- CASE: NZXT H7
£4,001.99 (inc VAT)
Sim-X Valkyrie i9 5080
- CPU: Intel Core i9-14900k
- SSD: 1TB M.2
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080
- RAM: 64GB DDR5 6000MHz
- CASE: NZXT H7
£2,775.00 (inc VAT)
Sim-X Valkyrie R7X3D 5070Ti
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- SSD: 2TB M.2
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
- RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
- CASE: NZXT H7
From: £2,207.99 (inc VAT)
If you have a modest budget and still want to experience the beautiful scenery Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has to offer, but are content with 1080P or 1440P resolutions, or are less interested in high end 3rd-party scenery and complex aircraft, then these PCs should be under consideration.
Sim-X Strike Eagle i7 5070Ti
- CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K
- SSD: 1TB M.2
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
- RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
- CASE: NZXT H7
£1,918.00 (inc VAT)
Sim-X Strike Eagle R7 5070
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
- SSD: 1TB M.2
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070
- RAM: 32GB DDR5 5600MHz
- CASE: NZXT H5
£1,574.00 (inc VAT)
Sim-X Eagle R7X3D 5060
- CPU: AMD 5800x
- SSD: 1TB M.2 SSD
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 3600MHz
- CASE: NZXT H5
£1,109.22 (inc VAT)
Other Considerations
To get the most out of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, it’s worth looking beyond just your core PC specs. A large, high-resolution widescreen or ultra-wide monitor can dramatically enhance immersion, especially when paired with the simulator’s stunning new visuals. Just remember that higher resolutions demand more from your GPU, so it’s important to upgrade your graphics card accordingly to maintain smooth performance. And finally, don’t overlook your internet connection—MSFS 2024 relies heavily on streaming photorealistic terrain and real-time data, so a fast, stable, and preferably unlimited broadband connection is essential for a seamless flying experience.
