Can you enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator without a GPU? What are the minimum requirements?

We investigated whether you can enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator without a GPU (3D graphics accelerator board) Also, when was the computer released that would allow you to enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator? And what is the screen with the lowest drawing quality?
We hope this will be helpful to users of computers that cannot connect a GPU when considering purchasing Microsoft Flight Simulator.

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MSFS performance on computers without GPU

First, we present test results on a computer without a GPU. Flight simulators are different from shooting games, and as long as you can secure around 30FPS, you can enjoy flying to a certain degree. If you use a high-performance computer released around 2023, you can probably enjoy flying even without a GPU by specifying the minimum drawing quality [LOW-END].
More specifically, if you have a computer that can achieve a Time Spy Score of at least 2000~3000 or higher on " 3DMark ", a 3D graphics benchmark test, you should be able to play the game in minimum drawing quality.

3DMark Official site

MSFS2020 Non GPU performance

GLOBAL RENDERING QUALITY	average FPS	Max. FPS	Min. FPS
LOW-END	Approx. 36	39	31
MEDIUM	Approx. 23	30	19
HIGH-END	Approx. 18	23	16
ULTRA	Approx. 12	19	9

• Testing in full screen mode with a resolution of 1920x1080. Increasing the resolution or switching to windowed mode may reduce performance.
• In the test, we are flying over a particularly object-rich scene in central Tokyo (video below). In scenes such as suburban areas, mountainous areas, and the ocean, the speed may be around 20 FPS compared to the table above.
• For testing, we used a relatively gaming-friendly computer, GPD Win Max2 2023 (AMD Ryzen 7 7840U, memory 64GB, CPU built-in graphics: AMD Radeon 780M, VRAM 32GB, 3DMark (Time Spy) Score 2984). Even if you have a high-performance computer, the performance may drop by 10FPS or more depending on the computer you use.
• At the time of testing, no optional content other than [WORLD UPDATE] provided by Microsoft was installed. Performance may decrease if you install higher-definition airports/scenes, aircraft, or more complex activities.
• By the way, when connecting an external GPU GPD G1 (AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT, 3DMark (Time Spy) Score 9340) connected to USB4 to the computer used for this test, with the resolution 2560x1440, the [GLOBAL RENDERING QUALITY ] is [HIGH-END], the [ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY] is [ON], it operates at an average of about 45FPS.

Flight simulator play video under minimum conditions

Below is what the play screen will look like under the minimum conditions. This video shows the scene, flight course, and camera work used to create the table above without a GPU, with [GLOBAL RENDERING QUALITY] set to [LOW-END]. This is what it looks like when running at an average of about 27FPS. Occasionally there are stutters in the movement and the display of distant views is distorted, but you can barely enjoy the flight. If the operating speed decreases any further, input from keys and controllers will often be missed, making it impossible to operate the airplane as desired.

• For airports and city centers, data with [CACHE QUALITY] set to [High] is stored in manual cache in advance.
• Airplane operations are recorded using a flight recorder and played back. On the other hand, camera operations are performed in real time.

When was the PC released that allows you to enjoy flying?

The minimum requirements for MSFS are as follows on the official site :

MSFS2024 minimum requirements

OS	Windows 10 With Latest Update
DirectX	DirectX 12
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X (2018) or Intel Core i7-6800K (2015)
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (2014), Radeon RX 5700 (2019)
VRAM	4 GB
Memory	16 GB
Storage	50 GB

Performance

It seems that gaming PCs (equipped with GPU) released from around 2015 to 2017 can be played at the lowest rendering quality [LOW-END].
If you do not have a GPU installed, as per the test results above, it seems that you can play at the lowest rendering quality [LOW-END] if you have a high-performance computer released around 2023.
More specifically, if you have a computer that can achieve a Time Spy Score of at least 2000~3000 or higher on " 3DMark ", a 3D graphics benchmark test, you should be able to play the game.

Storage

It says that 150GB of storage is required, but if include free optional content, you will need about 300GB. Furthermore, if you install free content developed by users, it will consume about 500GB in no time. If possible, we recommend dedicating at least 1TB of disk space to MSFS.

3DMark Official site

How to display FPS value on screen

Select [OPTIONS] from the main screen. Then you will see a screen like this. Click [GENERAL OPTIONS] on the far left.

Select [DEVELOPERS] from the menu on the left side of the screen, Set the [DEVELOPER MODE] field to [ON]. Finally, click [APPLY AND SAVE] at the bottom left of the screen. A developer menu like this will then appear at the top left of the screen.

Select [Debug]-[Display FPS] in the developer menu. Then, debug information such as FPS value will be displayed at the top right of the screen.

Tuning for better performance

The main factors that greatly affect the performance of Microsoft Flight Simulator are listed below. If you want to run faster, please review the settings for each element below.

GLOBAL RENDERING QUALITY

You can choose from four levels: [LOW-END], [MEDIUM], [HIGH-END], and [ULTRA], and the later options allow you to enjoy higher-definition graphics. However, you will need a high-performance computer. This can be switched on the [OPTIONS]-[GENERAL OPTIONS]-[GRAPHICS] screen.

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ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY

You can turn it on/off on the settings screen. By turning it off, you can reduce the game's data traffic and the graphics processing that uses it. In particular, if you turn [BING DATA WORLD GRAPHICS] and [PHOTOGRAMMETRY] to [OFF], the amount of data communication will be significantly reduced, but the quality of scenery drawing will also decrease. Also, by setting [ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY] to [OFF], all items can be turned [OFF] at once. If you turn everything off, the amount of data communication during play will be almost zero.
Furthermore, when the load caused by the GLOBAL RENDERING QUALITY setting is sufficiently high, there does not seem to be much difference in performance between ON/OFF of the ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY.

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Screen resolution and windowed mode

The smaller the screen resolution, the faster the drawing speed will be. Also, the drawing speed is faster in [FULL SCREEN] than [WINDOWED] in window mode. This can be switched on the [OPTIONS]-[GENERAL OPTIONS]-[GRAPHICS] screen.

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Optional content (especially AIRPORTS and WORLD)

Some optional content available from the marketplace, especially AIRPORTS and WORLD content, has a large number of polygons. Installing such optional content may slow down the drawing speed.

Use a USB-connected GPU unit

GPU units (eGPUs) that can be connected to USB4 port are now on sale. By using this, you can enjoy MSFS at rendering quality [HIGH-END] of 40FPS or higher, even on mini PCs that cannot add a GPU inside the computer.

How to use GPD G1 eGPU / USB-connected external GPU box

How to enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator

• Microsoft Flight Simulator for beginners. From purchase, installation, and configuration to the first flight
• Useful settings for Microsoft Flight Simulator
• How to use the flight recorder to record and save MSFS operations
• Can you enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator without a GPU? What are the minimum requirements?
• Add free add-ons (planes-airports-scenery) to MSFS How to use flightsim.to
• How to purchase paid add-ons (planes, airports, scenery) on the MSFS Marketplace
• Save MSFS scenery data in cache to reduce internet traffic, how to use rolling cache and manual cache
• How to use FSLTL to add real traffic to MSFS
• How to download and install MSFS SDK, Blender, plugin, tools
• How to use glTF-Blender-IO-MSFS to export and import 3D data between Blender and MSFS
• How to create a project for MSFS SDK/Create a project for Google Earth Decoder
• How to use Google Earth Decoder to create MSFS scenery on Google Maps