Minimum system requirements and supported/unsupported hardware for Flight Simulator and for Acceleration Expansion Pack

This article describes the minimum system requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator X and for Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack.

Minimum system requirements for Flight Simulator X

Minimum system requirements for Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack

• Computer that has a 2 GHz equivalent or faster processor
• Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
• 1 GB of system RAM
• 4 GB or more of available hard disk space
• Flight Simulator X original installed
• DirectX 9 (or latter) compatible video card
• 128 MB or more video RAM, Shader Model 1.1 or later
• Sound card, speakers, or headphones (required for audio)
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

You can use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to look up the system and video card information. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. Click the System tab. Note the Processor and the Memory.
3. Click the Display tab. In the Device section, note the name of the video card and its Approx. Total Memory.
4. Click Exit.

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 the computer meets the game requirements that are listed in the "Minimum system requirements for Flight Simulator X" section. However, if you are experiencing 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: 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:

Unsupported hardware

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

The video card that is here may not work with Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack because these video cards do not support Shader Model as the game requires. If you have this kind of video card, 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. For more information about how to upgrade your graphics hardware, visit the following Microsoft Web site: 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: