Microsoft Flight Simulator (the 2020 version) is one of the most demanding PC games ever made. It puts intense stress on both the internal components of your gaming PC and your internet connection, using 10s of megabits per second to stream real-time weather data and cloud processed effects, right into your experience.
Getting it going isn’t too difficult, but if you want to have a more realistic flight sim experience and enjoy the game with higher resolution textures and high frame rates, you need something pretty capable.
Chillblast can’t do much about improving your internet enough to make the most of the game’s cloud connectivity, but we do offer a wide range purpose built flight simulation PCs, and excellent gaming PCs that cater to demands low and high and budgets big and small.
Whether you’re looking to just test the skies of Microsoft Flight Simulator, want to make the most realistic flying experience possible in your own home, or just want something somewhere in between that’s not too expensive, here are the best gaming PCs for Microsoft Flight Simulator you can buy today at Chillblast.
Microsoft Flight Simulator PC requirements and the best system for each
Minimum Specifications
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or Intel Core i5-4460
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 570, or Nvidia GTX 770
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage Space: 150GB of hard drive, or SSD space
- Bandwidth: 5Mbps
The minimum specifications of Microsoft Flight Simulator are easy to meet.
This will get the game running and guarantee a relatively stable 30 FPS at 1080p with most of the settings at their lowest. It won’t look great, but it’ll play, and any gaming PC from the past few years will be able to match it with ease.
Better still, absolutely any Chillblast gaming PC with a dedicated graphics card will easily bypass these, so if you don’t want to dig into the nitty-gritty, buy whatever Chillblast gaming PC (with a graphics card – that’s crucial) you can afford, and you’ll be able to enjoy a better-than-minimum spec Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, guaranteed.
Ignition Flight Sim PC– The entry-level Microsoft Flight Simulator
The best entry-level gaming PC for the most affordable Microsoft Flight Simulator experience is the Ignition Intel Core i5 RTX 3060 Flight Sim PC.
It comes with an Intel Core i5-13500 CPU, with 14cores, 20threads, and a 4.8GHz boost clock. That is many orders of magnitude faster than the AMD Ryzen or Intel CPUs recommended by Microsoft’s minimum specs, guaranteeing that not only will the game run, but it’ll run well, giving you higher frame rates in those busier city and airport locations.
Paired with the 13500 GPU is the Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card.
It’s a great entry-level GPU if you're looking for something more affordable than the latest 40 Series, with far more power thanthe recommended RX 570 or GTX 770 offers. That means that you’ll have the option of playing the game at higher frame rates, or with some of the more beautifying details enabled or turned higher.
The RTX 3060 primarily targets1080p and 1440p gaming, for such a demanding same,you can’t expect ultra-high frame rates with a hardware setup like this, but it’s still enough to make the game look great.
There’s also heaps of SSD storage – more than enough to fully install the game so it loads quickly and benefits from faster loading assets. And there’s double the amount of necessary memory, ensuring that background tasks won’t slow down your game.
The Ignition Flight Sim PCis more than you need to just get the game going: it’s what you need to have a great flight sim experience at an affordable price.
Recommended Specifications
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel Core i5-8400
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 590 or Nvidia GTX 970
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage Space: 150GB of hard drive, or SSD space
- Bandwidth: 20Mbps
Microsoft Flight Simulator is part of a crop of modern games that require at least 16GB of RAM for modest settings, and since Chillblast PCs start with 8GB at the low end, you won’t be able to get away with just any Chillblast gaming PC to meet these sorts of demands.
Fortunately, CPU and GPU demands aren’t too strenuous, though, so most of Chillbast’s gaming PCs will handle this without difficulty, especially those making use of the newer generation Nvidia RTX and AMD Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards.
Evolution Flight Sim PC
The best Chillblast PC to meet and exceed the recommended specifications for Microsoft Flight Simulator is the Evolution Flight Sim PC.
This PC features a CPU fromlatest generation of Intel, the Intel Core i7 14700K, which is ready to massively improve GPU power, with a huge 20 cores, 28 threads and boost clock speeds up to 5.6GHz.
Leaping beyond the several-generations old suggestions of the official specifications, this PC packs the ultra-powered Nvidia RTX 4070graphics card, with a full 12GB of VRAM. That’s more than enough to play the game with almost all settings at their fullest, in 1440p, with stable, playable frame rates that ensure a smooth and enjoyable Flight Simulator experience. If you want to go for maximum resolution, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is also capable of running games at 4K, but it does excelat1440p, where it can push refresh rates over 120fps!
Another important feature for future-proofing your experience, is the RTX 30 series and 40 seriessupport for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, with its RT cores. Ray Tracing lets you achieve new heights in visual fidelity for your Microsoft Flight Sim experience and take reality further with stunning visuals for unparalleled immersion.
This PC also packs 1TB of high-speed NVMe SSD storage, so the game will load quickly and you can ensure assets will be made available immediately to help reduce pop-in. There’s also 32GB of high-speed memory, easily exceedingthe Microsoft recommendations and helping to craft an overall excellentgaming experience.
“Ideal” Specifications for Microsoft Flight Simulator
- CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K orAMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
- Graphics: Nvidia RTX 4080 orAMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
- RAM: 32GB
- Storage Space: 1TB of SSD space
- Bandwidth: 50 Mbps
These “Ideal” specifications are actually lower than we would recommend if you want the absolute maximum performance in Microsoft Flight simulator. The game can certainly make use of far more powerful processors such as the Intel Corei7 14700K or the Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card. The specs above willgive you amazing performance at 1440p, butto have everything at ultra settings in 4K you might still need to consider the highest possible specs.
Apex Flight Sim PC
The best gaming PC for high-end gameplay in Microsoft Flight Simulator is the Apex Flight Sim PC.
Its Intel Core i9-14900K has a massive 24cores and 32thread support, with vastly higher clock speeds up to 6GHzand gaming performance than either the AMD Ryzen 2700X or the Intel Core i7-9800X Microsoft recommends, helping to handle all of the intense calculations Microsoft Flight Simulator demands.
Paired with that is the stupendously powerful Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti, which is not just faster than the two graphics cards Microsoft recommends, it’s one of the fastes in the newest generation of graphics cards.
That gives it an absolutely stellar gaming ability that would have been unheard of a few years ago when the game was released. It will let you turn up everything to the absolute maximum to make the world look (almost) as good as it possibly can at 1440p, with up to 120FPS.
If you don’t mind hovering around,for a more cinematic gaming experience, it even has enoughpower to render the game at 4K, but you might encounter a little stuttering at times.
Ultimate 4K Specifications
Microsoft doesn’t have any higher official specifications for Microsoft Flight simulator, but since some of the best PCs in the world continue to struggle to play it with absolutely everything turned up to the max, you can guarantee that you’ll need something truly special to deliver the ultimate 4K gaming experience in this incredibly taxing game.
Fortunately, Chillblast has several such PCs, each of them equipped with high-powered processors and graphics cards, with heaps of high-speed memory, terabytes of ultra-fast SSD storage, and all built inside high-quality cases with excellent cooling.
Apex Intel Core i9 RTX 4090 Flight Sim PC
Here it is, The best flight sim PC we've ever made. With its top-tier CPU and flagship graphics card, the NVIDIA RTX 4090, there isn't a scene or a sim this PC isn't ready to take head-on with high frame rates and stunning 4K resolution.
Complete with the latest 14th generation Intel CPU, the Intel Core i9-14900K, there's nothing this flight sim PC can't do, with 24 cores, and 32 threads, boasting 6GHz boost clock speeds for maximum power.
The RTX 4090 lets you take your graphics sky high, even with ray tracing on powered by third-gen ray tracing cores. Featuring 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM memory, the RTX 4090brings an enormous leap in performance, efficiency, and AI-powered graphics. Thiscard can guaranteehigh frame rates and buttery smooth gameplay, offering impressive new levels of immersion and realism for your flight sim experience.
This Apex Flight Sim PC also houses 32GB of DDR5 memory, which is more than enough to run even the most demanding of simulations such as Microsoft Flight Simulator. For maximum load speeds,you'll find 2TB of high-speed NVMe SSD storage, ensuring all assets load quickly, and you'll have plenty of space for add-ons.
If you're looking for the best possible experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, this is the PC for you.
All of the PCs above are ready to take you to new heights in your aviation career, offering powerful immersive experiences in the flight sim world. When you're ready to advance to the next-generation of flight simulation when Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is released later this year, most of these PCs are future-proofed with their high spec CPUs and latest generation 40 Series Graphics, so they'll be ready to take off with you in 2024.
