2 hours ago, cobalt said:

You are right, it's all relative. But you did say "requires a much greater investment in a new PC". I doubt that many simmers would consider my 5-year old rig a much greater investment -- to them, it's more like a relic! More to the point, the main thing I wanted to stress is that MSFS2024 actually works better on less powerful systems than MS2020 does. This is not a new observation -- others have noticed this also. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, since in the past, new editions of MSFS flight sims generally have required higher-powered rigs to get the full benefit of the upgrade. But this time it's different. 

 

 

I guess it wouldn't hurt to make the investment in the new sim, as its a reasonable cost, and If it doesn't work from fluid flying I can abandon till some point down the road.

2 hours ago, St Mawgan said:

but all I did was add another 32GB of ram

I have 32 now...so can I run MS2024 with this or do I really need to switch out my RAM for bigger stuff?

1 hour ago, abrams_tank said:

MSFS 2024 works on XBox Series S and that system has 8 GB of RAM? Albeit, it doesn't seem to work great on the XBox Series S, but some people manage to play it.  I have read a lot of reports of people with 5 year old systems and MSFS 2024 works good on it. I assume those people with 5 year old systems aren't playing at 4K with everything set to Ultra, and they are using the most frame intensive add-ons.  But if you lower the resolution and lower the graphics settings, it seems that MSFS 2024 can work on older systems, and work well on them.

That said, I just can't see myself with an xbox, I use a full suite of hardware, yoke, multi switch, trim wheel, pro pedal, throttles and they are linked nicely with MS2020 and XP12. I fly both for different reasons.

7 hours ago, Georgleboui said:

And yeah look I see XP12 over there looking great and it's tempting

I was intrigued by the new weather upgrades in XP12.02 beta so installed it for a look.  I almost uninstalled it because default XP default looks like FSX!  However I stuck with it for several days, found out which addons improve the visuals and I ended up with this (the clouds are default XP12).

Just about the biggest thing keeping people away from XP12 is the lack of satellite imagery.  This is no longer an issue because the Map Enhancement tool is available for XP12.

 

There is no doubt XP12 has advanced the weather and atmosphere beyond what MSFS 2024 has achieved.  Some of the common complaints about 2024 (like cloud shadows) are very different in XP12.

One area I feel 2024 still excels is with bush flying because of the increased terrain resolution and things like boulders.  Ground Handling in XP12 is very good, despite it doesn't have the terrain improvements in 2024.  Obviously MSFS has a more extensive addon market.

There are several areas where either sim excels over the other.  What one has to do is choose the sim that better fits what you want to achieve in flight sim.  I have always been very positive about 2024 since release, but the advances in the latest XP12 betas are hard to ignore.

I am firmly in the camp of loving every flightsim, rather than having to be firmly using just one.  If you too feel like this, give XP12 a go, because it really is a superb sim.

 

13 minutes ago, 1st fltsimguy said:

But this time it's different. 

Plenty of myths around flightsims.  I get better performance in 2024 than I did in 2020.  On my system with mostly ultra settings, I lock the FPs to 30 and use FG to get 60fps.  I can go above this with reduced settings of course, but I prefer the visuals.

Now to one of those myths - I have locked XP12 to 40fps and with Lossless Scaling I get a smooth 80fps with mostly ultra settings.

16 minutes ago, 1st fltsimguy said:

I have 32 now...so can I run MS2024 with this or do I really need to switch out my RAM for bigger stuff?

If you have never subscribed to Gamepass before, you can subscibe for the first 2 weeks (or first month, whatever the initial time period is) for $1 USD and try MSFS 2024 on your current system. Just make sure you unsubcribe before you are charged the full price for the second month.

Edited June 10, 2025Jun 10 by abrams_tank

I have P3Dv5, MSFS2020, XP12 and MSFS2024 all installed. Storage is cheap so I have no desperate need to only be exclusive to one simulator. I find it silly to have a mindset that you can only have one.

16 hours ago, SN737 said:

The first minute ifly's 737 max 8 touches down at msfs 2024 runway, is the minute I'm switching sims.

Ifly Max 8 is spectacular. I prefer it over the PMDG 737NG

33 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I was intrigued by the new weather upgrades in XP12.02 beta so installed it for a look.  I almost uninstalled it because default XP default looks like FSX!  However I stuck with it for several days, found out which addons improve the visuals and I ended up with this (the clouds are default XP12).

Just about the biggest thing keeping people away from XP12 is the lack of satellite imagery.  This is no longer an issue because the Map Enhancement tool is available for XP12.

 

There is no doubt XP12 has advanced the weather and atmosphere beyond what MSFS 2024 has achieved.  Some of the common complaints about 2024 (like cloud shadows) are very different in XP12.

One area I feel 2024 still excels is with bush flying because of the increased terrain resolution and things like boulders.  Ground Handling in XP12 is very good, despite it doesn't have the terrain improvements in 2024.  Obviously MSFS has a more extensive addon market.

There are several areas where either sim excels over the other.  What one has to do is choose the sim that better fits what you want to achieve in flight sim.  I have always been very positive about 2024 since release, but the advances in the latest XP12 betas are hard to ignore.

I am firmly in the camp of loving every flightsim, rather than having to be firmly using just one.  If you too feel like this, give XP12 a go, because it really is a superb sim.

 

This is why I stick with both...MS2020 and XP12 with Map Ortho Enhancement...XP12+ now is stunning.

This debate about how much power you need to run MSFS 2024 confuses the hell out of me. Some people say that MSFS 2024 runs better than MSFS 2020 on their systems (including ones with "only" 8GB VRAM), and yet others say the exact opposite! One developer has indicated to me that running MSFS 2024 at decent detail levels requires at least 10GB VRAM, and that is at bog standard 1080p resolution. I get really good performance in MSFS 2020 with my 2015 specification PC, but there are two key things to note. My graphics card only has 6GB VRAM, and I also run the simulator in DX11 mode. Those two would (in my opinion) create big problems for me with MSFS 2024, as I would be forced to use DX12 mode, and this hits VRAM harder than DX11 mode. That being the case, I am not convinced that MSFS 2024 would run better than MSFS 2020 on my PC. Reducing settings to enable it to run is not an option for me. What would be the point?

In short, MSFS 2024 is almost certainly out of bounds until I decide to build a new PC, and at the moment I do not have enough confidence in the new simulator to consider it a worthwhile investment. I really hope that changes with (let's say) SU4 and beyond, but a few key decisions need to be made by Microsoft and Asobo to keep me interested.

58 minutes ago, 1st fltsimguy said:

I have 32 now...so can I run MS2024 with this or do I really need to switch out my RAM for bigger stuff?

I am running on 32 GB.  Brand new machine..

1 hour ago, 1st fltsimguy said:

I have 32 now...so can I run MS2024 with this or do I really need to switch out my RAM for bigger stuff?

32 is fine from all I read here. I have 64 only because 64 GB of good quality AM4 compatible RAM DDR4 was only about $120. (It's not for AM5 motherboards which take DDR5 RAM instead).

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-VENGEANCE-3200MHz-Compatible-Computer/dp/B07Y4ZZ7LQ?

Edited June 10, 2025Jun 10 by Fielder

18 hours ago, cobalt said:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the part boldfaced above. I have a nearly 5-year-old computer with its original video card (Alienware Aurora R11, 32 GB ram, Intel i7-10700F, GeForce RTX 2080 Super, Ultra/high  graphics settings) and I am seeing smooth performance even in high-density scenery areas. I will never see the 100+ FPS that some claim to see with high-powered rigs, but I couldn't care less, because 30 FPS in MSFS2024 is the smoothest flying I have ever experienced. In contrast to what is said above, I think the truth is the opposite: MSFS2024 works better with older systems than MSFS2020 or its predecessors. For most users, I suspect no PC upgrade is required at all.

Interesting. I have tried 2024 a couple times and had nothing but problems, but not graphics card related. My 3080 only has 10gb ram and all I have been reading everywhere is that even 16gb is barely enough for 2024, with memory quickly used up causing stuttering. But your graphics card only has 8gb and everything runs smoothly for you at even at ultra/high settings. I must be reading a lot of lies about 2024 video ram needs.

Edited June 10, 2025Jun 10 by desbean

35 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

This debate about how much power you need to run MSFS 2024 confuses the hell out of me. Some people say that MSFS 2024 runs better than MSFS 2020 on their systems (including ones with "only" 8GB VRAM), and yet others say the exact opposite! One developer has indicated to me that running MSFS 2024 at decent detail levels requires at least 10GB VRAM, and that is at bog standard 1080p resolution. I get really good performance in MSFS 2020 with my 2015 specification PC, but there are two key things to note. My graphics card only has 6GB VRAM, and I also run the simulator in DX11 mode. Those two would (in my opinion) create big problems for me with MSFS 2024, as I would be forced to use DX12 mode, and this hits VRAM harder than DX11 mode. That being the case, I am not convinced that MSFS 2024 would run better than MSFS 2020 on my PC. Reducing settings to enable it to run is not an option for me. What would be the point?

 

Dropping in a  new vid card is cheaper than a whole new computer. A 4070 ti super is under $1000 and has 16GB mem.

https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/#gpu.chipset.geforce-rtx-4070-ti-super

 

That same site also has links to many sellers and it finds the lowest price.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/

11 hours ago, LIML2020 said:

This comparison (8 months ago) is no longer valid, MSFS2020 now with SU16 shares the same Aerial images, the same DEM data and the same Vector Data (Roads, Buildings, Water Bdies) as MSFS2024, so the actual graphic improvement is given only by the light, the trees and the terrain details in very low flight level 

So 2020 now uses 2x higher resolution ground textures like 2025 does ?

Or does it use the same aerial images but at a lower resolution than 2024 ?