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Flight Simulator X: Minimum System Requirements

Article ID: 925724 - View products that this article applies to.

INTRODUCTION

This article describes the minimum system requirements for all versions and available expansion packs of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. See the “Applies To” section for a complete list of these titles.

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More information

To determine whether your computer meets the minimum system requirements, use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (Dxdiag.exe). To start the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, follow these steps:

Click Start
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, type dxdiag in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

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If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.
Note the values for Processor and for Memory.
Click the Display tab.
Under Device, note the values for Name and for Approx. Total Memory of the video card.

Minimum system requirements

Flight Simulator X

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Component	Minimum system requirement
Operating system	Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Computer processor	1.0 gigahertz (GHz)
Memory	256 megabytes (MB) of RAM for Windows XP SP2
	512 MB RAM for Windows 7 and Windows Vista
Hard disk space	14 gigabytes (GB) available hard disk space
Video card	32 MB DirectX 9-compatible video card
DVD drive	32x speed
Sound	Sound card, speakers, or headset
Pointing device	Keyboard and mouse or compatible game controller (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows)
Internet connection for online play	Network adapter for LAN multiplayer gameplay
	Broadband Internet access for Windows Live multiplayer gameplay

Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack

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Component	Minimum system requirement
Operating system	Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Computer processor	2.0 gigahertz (GHz) or more
Memory	1 gigabyte (GB) or more of RAM
Hard disk space	4 gigabytes (GB) available hard disk space
Video card	DirectX 9 (or later version)-compatible video card
	128 MB or more video RAM, Shader Model 1.1 or later version
DVD drive	32x speed
Sound	Sound card, speakers, or headset
Pointing device	Keyboard and mouse or compatible game controller (such as Xbox 360 Controller for Windows)
Internet connection for online play	Network adapter for LAN multiplayer gameplay
	Broadband Internet access for Windows Live multiplayer gameplay

Note The Acceleration Expansion pack requires that the original Flight Simulator X program is installed. All system requirements for Flight Simulator X must be met or exceeded for the expansion pack to function correctly.

Supported graphics hardware

To play Flight Simulator X, the computer must meet the minimum system requirements. Additionally, the hardware must pass a system check when you start the game. If you experience slow performance in the game, the in-game settings must be adjusted.

For more information about how to improve game performance, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

927286

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927286/ )

Flight Simulator X: Game performance is slower than expected

If you receive an error message that states that your video card or your video drivers are not working with the game, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

925722

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925722/ )

Troubleshoot graphics issues in Flight Simulator X

Unsupported hardware

The following video cards are known to be incompatible with Flight Simulator X and with the Acceleration Expansion Pack:

Intel 845/910/945/965 series
sis650_651_740, or via
s3g unichrome igp

This list may not be exhaustive. Visit your video card manufacturer’s Web site to search for any known compatibility issues. Some video cards may not work with Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack because they do not support Shader Model, as the game requires. If you have a video card that does not meet this requirement, you may have to purchase a different video card to play the game.

If the computer does not meet the minimum system requirements, you will receive an error message that states that your hardware is not supported or is incompatible. To resolve this problem, upgrade the hardware components on the computer.

To do this, contact the computer manufacturer.

Additionally, you can view and compare features and prices of different video cards. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site, type video cards in the Search box, and then press ENTER:

http://www.windowsmarketplace.com

(http://www.windowsmarketplace.com)

http://products.live.com

(http://products.live.com)

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