System Requirements for Flightgear

[Delta5142]

Hi All,
I was wondering what the system requirements are for Flightgear. I have read the wiki for it but have not gotten a straight answer. I was wondering which cpus and gpus are best for this sim. I was also wondering if the following system can run flightgear on the highest settings with osm2city scenery and buildings:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2200
GPU: Nvidia GTX 970
RAM: 16GB
Motherboard: Asrock B450M Pro4

Thank You in Advanced!
Delta5142

[V12]

i3-10100 is far better. Do not buy AMD, that CPUs has poor singlecore performance and slow memory controller.
You do not need high core count, FG has not good multithread optimalization, it can use only 2 cores. There are some tricks for better utilization for higher core count, but with stability issues.
I'm not satisfied with my R7-3700X 1 year ago I made big mistake. i7-9700K was much better choice, but I bought 50 EUR cheaper AMD

For good multithread optimized apps is AMD great, for games not.

[Delta5142]

Hmm... i'm still convinced AMD is the better choice, but I understand your high opinion for Intel, for it is a good cpu maker. I'm not so sure what you meant though by poor single-core performance. Is AMD completely unplayable for Flightgear?

[V12]

AMD is perfectly usable in FG in almost all cases.

But with significant cheaper Intel You will obtain same, or better performance. Ryzens are highly optimized for multithreading, but FG has ancient core with poor multithreading optimization.
In summer 2019 I upgraded my old GPU GTX750 to GTX1060 6GB. Generaly, performance gain was very small and visible only in case of the overlay shaders, on GTX750 I switched that feature off, new GTX1060 was able keep same fps with or without overlay shaders. Then I upgraded i5-2550K to Ryzen 7 3700X, I used GTX 1060. Performance gain was very small in FG. But for example - old i5 with GTX1060 was not able run P3D v4.5 with reasonable fps and scenery quality, new R7-3700X is much much faster, with resource heavy FSL A320X and clouds from horizon to horizon can do 20-25 fps over scenery rich Europe. With default F22 60 fps without drops.

For example - i3-10100 @90 EUR vs R7-3700X @250 EUR - https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/I ... 4075vs4043
Or i3-10100 vs R5-2600X - https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/I ... 4075vs3956

New R7-5800 is different story, but price is pretty terroristic.

[Johan G]

I was wondering what the system requirements are for Flightgear. I have read the wiki for it but have not gotten a straight answer.

The straight answer is that there is no straight answer.

You can do a lot for the frame rate by adjusting the graphics settings, in particular by setting the level of detail (LoD) settings.

Regarding AMD processors, my new computer have a Ryzen 5, a GTX1650 and 8 GB RAM (see my profile) and it have so far given me more than 25 fps in FlightGear (though I have not yet tried tested flying over Paris or some of the more demanding airports). It is the very first computer I have ever used that give a more than decent frame rate without having to reduce the graphics settings. For a taste of what the graphics I get out of it see for example this screenshot.

[V12]

For airliners flying at or above 30000 feet I strongly recommend 16 GB RAM, 8 GB is not enough for decent visibility limit. 16 GB is good for 160 km limit, 32 GB can do 250 km without swapping and performance degradation.

This one



and this



is doable only with 32 GB RAM, bare LOD 270 km, visibility limit 250 km

[Delta5142]

okay, I understand all this. My budget for a new system is about $600. What do you think is the ideal setup for frames in the 40s to 50s with osm buildings and high quality graphics?

[CaptB]

10400F has a pretty sweet price now in my part of the world, I can post some numbers once I get my order(with an RX580)

[V12]

For low level flights over OSM Manhattan on 25 fps needs i9

[Delta5142]

hmm, I understand that Manhattan is a different story, but how about just regular osm areas, like honolulu, or LOWI. Do you need a better CPU for that too?

[V12]

With R7-3700X and GTX1060 at LOWI rwy 08 I have 40 fps, aircraft A320family.

[wkitty42]

what do you get hovering over the tower at 2000 ASL at LFPG with all shaders maxed?

my AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 16Gig RAM, and NVIDIA RTX2060 gets me 25-30+FPS depending which way i'm looking in FG 2020.4.0... LODs set for 150km range... AW enabled...

[Delta5142]

Well, i'm wondering how to get the best performance without going over my budget. I'm fixed on either the ryzen 5 series or the core i5 series, and I'll pretty much be happy with 20 to 30 frames. I'm also wondering what is the best graphics card for this beautiful simulator.

[WoodSTokk]

View direction:
150 --> 9fps
180 --> 7fps
210 --> 4fps
240 --> 4fps
270 --> 7fps
300 --> 9fps
330, 360, 30, 60 , 90, 120 -->10fps

CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor × 4
GPU: nVidia GTX 1060
RAM: 24 GB
VRAM: 6 GB
OS: Debian 10 Buster GNU/Linux (Linux 4.19.0-12-amd64)

The bottleneck in my system is the CPU.

[V12]

R7-3700X @4.2 GHz all cores, HT off, GTX1060 6GB, 32 GB RAM, LOD 210 km, AW, view limit 250 km not under 30 fps :

EDIT :
From 2000 feet, bare LOD 280 km :

Not below 25 fps