Are you looking for the best graphics card for X Plane 12? Well, let’s take a look into X Plane 12 first!
X Plane 12 is a realistic flight simulator developed with the coordination of real-world pilots and engineers in Laminar Research Labs.
It includes:
- 3D Realistic Sceneries
- 3D Water
- Accurate Aircraft Systems
- AI-Controlled ATC Systems
- Pragmatic Clouds
- Volumetric Fog
- Live Weather
- High-Definition 3D Forests And Related Objects
At a Glance:
- Best and one of the most powerful graphics cards available in the market.
- LED Strip on the heatsink.
- Most advanced Ray Tracing and DLSS features.
- High-Quality Build.
- Excellent performance.
- Good value for money.
- Large memory size.
- Quiet operation.
- Compact Size.
- Low Power Consumption.
- Good Performance.
X-Plane 12 has 19 finely designed aircraft with realistic physics and HD cockpits. Apart from this, it also includes 17,000 finely designed airports worldwide.
The best thing about this flight simulator is that you can input your aircraft design, and then the simulator will decide how that aircraft will fly.
Following are the minimum and recommended system requirements for X Plane12:
Minimum System Requirements
- OS: 64 Bit Windows 10/11.
- Processor: Intel Core i3, i5, i7, or i9 CPU with 4 or more cores, or AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7 or 9.
- RAM: 8 GB RAM.
- Graphics: A Vulkan 1.3-capable video card from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 2 GB VRAM.
- DirectX: Version 12.
- Storage: 23 GB available space.
- VR Support: SteamVR or Oculus PC.
- Additional Notes: NVIDIA: GeForce 900 or newer, driver version 510 or newer AMD: AMD Radeon RX 500 or newer, driver version Adrenaline 22.2.1 or newer.
Recommended System Requirements
- OS: 64 Bit Windows 10/11.
- Processor: Intel Core i5 8600k or Ryzen 5 3500 or better.
- Memory: 16 GB RAM.
- Graphics: A DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 4 GB VRAM.
- DirectX: Version 12.
- Storage: 23 GB available space.
How To Choose The Right GPU For X Plane 11 and 12
Following are the critical factors you should keep in mind to choose the right graphics card for your X-Plane 11 and 12:
Performance
The performance of your graphics card matters a lot. With a less powerful graphics card, your experience on both flight simulators will be stuttery with less appealing visuals. So for this, do not forget to read the blog thoroughly as we have made a list of the best graphics card in different price ranges for your X-Plane 11 and 12.
Graphics Memory
VRAM is another critical factor you should consider before choosing your graphics card. X-plane requires a minimum VRAM of 2GBs and a recommended VRAM of 4Gigs or more. So make sure the graphics card you are going to purchase has at least 4 GB of VRAM.
Cooling
Because X-Plane is a demanding game that puts a lot of load on the GPU, it is critical to select a GPU with a robust cooling system to avoid overheating. To keep the GPU cool during games, look for GPUs with many fans and huge heatsinks.
DirectX 12 Compatibility
X-Plane requires DirectX version 12. So, it is important to select a graphics card that has DirectX 12 technology.
Power Consumption
Both the X-Plane 11 and 12 are GPU-Intensive games. So, your graphics cards would tend to consume more power. Make sure your PSU has efficient output to ensure stable system operations.
Price
It is the last and the most important factor to consider. It is critical to select a GPU that matches the X-Plane specifications, it is equally critical to keep within your budget. To get the most value for your money, look for GPUs that offer a decent combination of performance and affordability.
- How To Choose The Right GPU For X Plane 11 and 12
- Performance
- Graphics Memory
- Cooling
- DirectX 12 Compatibility
- Power Consumption
- Price
- Our Recommendations For The Best Graphics Cards For X Plane 12
- SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT 8GB GDDR6
- EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra
- Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan
- MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X
- Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme
- MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDRR6X
- Summary For The Best GPU For X Plane 12 and 11
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Our Recommendations For The Best Graphics Cards For X Plane 12
| Design | Buying Guides | Retailer |
|---|---|---|
Staff Pick | Check Price | |
 | Check Price | |
 | Check Price | |
Budget Pick | Check Price | |
 | Check Price | |
Best Pick | Check Price |
SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT 8GB GDDR6
Staff PickAre you Looking for a graphics card that can take your X-Plane 11 & 12 experience to the next level? The SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT will undoubtedly assist you in doing it.
Released in September 2019, the AMD SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT is a potent AMD variant with a retail price of 399 USD. It contains Sapphire’s high-end quality components, shroud enhancements to strengthen the PCB & the Award-winning Tri-X cooling technology.
Diving into its specs, this graphics card is a 256 bits 2nd Gen 7nm GPU, and it is based upon AMD’s RDNA 1.0 architecture. It features 8 GB GDDR6 memory, a base clock of 1770Mhz, and a boost clock of up to 2010MHz. Further, it contains 2560 stream processors and 14 Gb/s effective memory clock speed.
This GPU comes equipped with 2x HDMI ports that give a max 4k@60Hz, and 2x DisplayPort1.4 giving a max 5k@60Hz, which supports four displays at once. Additionally, it is VR-ready and applies PCIe 4.0 interface.
Apart from this, this graphics card has a dimension of 306x 135 x 49 (mm). It has a stunning design with ARGB LED Logo, Lightstrip, backplate Logo, optional Fan Glow ARGB support & NITRO Glow.
Moreover, it consumes roundabout 265 watts and requires 2x 8-pin power connectors. Despite its higher power consumption, this graphics card tends to be cooler due to its advanced Tri-X cooling technology with 3 Fans.
OUR VERDICT
The SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT is a beast Graphics card with fantastic looks. If paired with a powerful CPU, the SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT performs very best and gives you almost 30-40 FPS on high settings in X Plane 12.
Due to its higher power consumption, we recommend you to go with 600+ watts power-supplying unit & it must have 2x 8-pin power connectors to fulfill your GPU’s power requirements.
Pros
- Excellent performance.
- Good value for money.
- Large memory size.
- Quiet operation.
Cons
- High power consumption.
- No support for DLSS.
- Limited availability.
- Limited overclocking potential.
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra
The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra is a powerful 320-Bits graphics card that has taken the globe by storm. This powerhouse was released on Sep 1st, 2020 with an MSRP of 919 USD and was available in the market for consumers on Sep 17th, 2020.
This graphics card is based upon Nvidia’s Ampere architecture and its outstanding features provide an immersive gaming experience unlike any other graphics card in this budget.
The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra comes with 10 GB GDDR6X VRAM, which provides enough of room for textures and other graphic elements. With 8.702 CUDA cores and 272 Tensor cores, this graphics card can easily create highly detailed and realistic graphics.
It also comes equipped with 272 Texture mapping units, 68 advanced Ray-Tracing cores & 96 render output units hence, enough to cater for all GPU-intensive modern games and applications.
Additionally, it features Nvidia DLSS, Nvidia G-Sync, adjustable ARGB LED, VR technology, Nvidia GPU boost & EVGA’s iCX3 technology, which improves cooling performance and minimizes noise levels. It also has a pre-installed metallic backplate.
This GPU is able to provide a maximum 8k resolution at 60Hz. It contains 1x HDMI 2.1 & 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for giving display. It supports Quad displays at a time.
Furthermore, this graphics card has a sleek design with dimensions of up to 300 x 137 mm with triple slot width. It has a TDP of 320 Watts and requires 3x 8-pin power adapters.
OUR VERDICT
The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra is an outstanding graphics card that has 10Gigs of GDDR6X memory and thousands of CUDA cores which are able to give you a very smooth and realistic experience on 1080p ultra high presets on your X-Plane 11 & 12 flight simulators.
The GPU Maniac team recommends this graphics card for your X-Plane 11 and 12 for the best experience.
Pros
- Exceptional performance in X-Plane 12.
- High memory capacity.
- High Overclocking potential.
Cons
- High Power consumption.
- Larger size.
Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan
The Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan is a 192-Bits high-performance graphics card that is powered by Nvidia’s Turing architecture. This graphics card was released on Oct 29th, 2019.
This card features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 336 GB/s. It also has 1408 CUDA cores and a base and boosts frequency of up to 1530 and 1785 MHz, allowing it to easily tackle X-Plane 12 on med-high settings and creative applications.
Further, the Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan features Icestorm 2.0 cooling technology 3x 6mm copper heat pipes, two 90-mm fans, and a wide array of aluminum heatsinks. This graphics card has a super compact design and can fit into most computer cases, including smaller ones. Despite its small size, this graphics card’s Dual Fan cooling mechanism is very efficient, giving ideal cooling performance and noise levels.
Furthermore, this graphics card has a TDP of 125 Watts and requires a 1x 8-pin power connector. It has 1x HDMI port and 3x DisplayPorts.
It can provide a maximum of 8k digital resolution. Another plus point of the Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan is its low price. When compared to other graphics cards in this price range, the 1660 Super Dual Fan offers exceptional value for money.
OUR VERDICT
The Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan is a fantastic graphics card that offers amazing performance, pricing, and portability. This graphics card is an excellent alternative for consumers looking for a powerful graphics card capable of handling the X-Plane 11 and 12 at Med-High presets easily without exceeding the budget.
Pros
- Great performance.
- Affordable price.
- Super compact size.
Cons
- Limited VRAM.
- No Ray-Tracing.
MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X
Budget PickThe MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X is a budget-friendly graphics card that was released by MSI on Apr 23rd, 2019. The MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X is based upon Nvidia’s Turing architecture and has a bus width of 128 bits & utilizes PCI Express x16 3.0 interface.
This card has 4Gigs of GDDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 128 GB/s. It has 896 CUDA core units with base and boost clocks of 1485 MHz and 1860 MHz respectively. Additionally, its memory has an effective clock of 8GB/s.
Furthermore, the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X features Twin Frozr 7 Thermal Design. It has 2x 90mm fans with traditional and dispersion styles. Its heatsink is optimized for efficient heat dissipation, keeping your temperatures low and performance high. It has 1x HDMI port and 2x DisplayPort which means that it can support 3 displays simultaneously.
The MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X features a sleek and attractive appearance that suits any gaming chassis The card has a beautiful color scheme with a backplate that not only looks fantastic but also adds structural stability to the card. The card is 245 x 127 x 39 mm in size and will fit into most mid-tower cases.
Moreover, the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X consumes 75 watts of power and requires a 1x 6-pin power adapter.
OUR VERDICT
Overall, the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X is a fantastic budget-friendly graphics card. It provides good performance, efficient cooling, and an attractive appearance at a low price.
This graphics card would provide you smooth experience on 1080p med-high settings in X-Plane 11 & 12 flight simulator. If you’re looking for a new graphics card, the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X is a great option.
Pros
- Compact Size.
- Low Power Consumption.
- Good Performance.
Cons
- Limited VRAM.
- No Ray Tracing Support.
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme
The Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme is a high-end graphics card that was launched by GigaByte on October 7th, 2018. It is developed to provide players with the greatest possible performance, graphics, and experience. This graphics card is based upon Nvidia’s Turing architecture and comes with a bus width of 256 bits.
This powerful graphics card is equipped with 8 Gigabytes of GDDR6 memory with a memory bandwidth and frequency of 452 GB/s and 14000MHz correspondingly. Further, it also contains 2304 CUDA core units with a base clock speed of 1,815 MHz, which can be boosted up to 1,830 MHz.
Moreover, the Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme features WINDFORCE Stack 3X 100mm Fan Cooling System, RGB light reinvented, 7 Video Outputs, Metal Back Plate with RGB AORUS LOGO Illumination and 4 Years Warranty. It is built for extreme overclocking as it has 10+2 power phases.
Furthermore, this graphics card has 34 advanced Ray-Tracing cores and it also features DLSS, which uses artificial intelligence to enhance the quality of images and increase performance. It is also equipped with three 100mm fans that spin in alternate directions, providing better cooling performance and reduced noise levels.
It has a sleek and stylish design with dimensions of 290 x 134 x 90 mm. This graphics card has 3x HDMI ports, 3x DisplayPorts, and 1x Type-C port. The Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme supports 8k@60FPS max resolution. This graphics card consumes 175 watts of power and requires 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power adapter, so make sure your power-supplying unit is capable of handling heavy loads.
OUR VERDICT
The Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme is a powerful and impressive high-end graphics card that comes with a premium price tag and is designed to provide gamers with the best possible performance, visuals, and experience. With its Ray-Tracing and DLSS feature, it can give you impressive visuals, and smooth and stable performance in both X-Plane 11 and 12 flight simulators.
Pros
- Powerful Performance.
- RGB Lighting.
- Ray Tracing and DLSS feature.
- High-Quality Build.
Cons
- Expensive.
- Large Size.
- High power consumption.
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDRR6X
Best PickThe MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDRR6X is the ultimate powerhouse graphics card available in the market. It was launched on 3rd January 2023 and was available to the public on 5th January 2023. It is built upon Nvidia’s latest Ada Lovelace architecture.
This unique piece of technology consists of 12 Gigs of GDDR6X VRAM with a bus width 192-Bits and a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. It has 7680 CUDA cores, 60 latest generation Ray-Tracing cores, and 240 tensor cores along with multiple texture mapping and render output units. Its cores have a base and boost clock of 2310 MHz and 2745 MHz respectively.
Moreover, the MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is equipped with a strong cooling system that keeps the card cool even under high loads. It features TRI FROZR 3 Thermal design which contains TORX fans 5.0 which spin in an alternate fashion, ensuring better airflow, and a Nickle plated copper baseplate. It has 1x HDMI port and 3x DisplayPorts, supporting quad displays at a time.
Design-wise, the MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti features a sleek and stylish design with a black and silver color scheme. The card measures 337mm in length, 140mm in width, and 62mm in height, making it a bit larger than other graphics cards. It also has an LED strip on its heatsink.
Moreover, this graphics card consumes 285 watts of electrical power and requires a 1x 16-pin power adapter so before opting for this graphics card, make sure your power supply meets the demands of it.
OUR VERDICT
The MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a strong and stunning graphics card built to provide gamers with the greatest performance, aesthetics, and experience possible.
This card can easily handle even the most demanding games and provide the most realistic visual, thanks to its new streaming multiprocessors, Fourth-Gen Tensor cores, and Third-Gen RT cores.
This graphics card is going to be an absolute beast for both of your flight simulators.
Pros
- Best and one of the most powerful graphics cards available in the market.
- LED Strip on the heatsink.
- Most advanced Ray Tracing and DLSS features.
- High-Quality Build.
Cons
- Expensive.
- Large Size.
- High power consumption.
Summary For The Best GPU For X Plane 12 and 11
| Design | Buying Guides | Retailer |
|---|---|---|
Staff Pick | Check Price | |
| Check Price | |
| Check Price | |
Budget Pick | Check Price | |
| Check Price | |
Best Pick | Check Price |
Conclusion
X Plane 12 is an immersive and realistic flight simulator that offers a wide range of features and stunning visuals. With X Plane 12, you can experience the thrill of flying in a highly detailed virtual environment. Whether you’re a seasoned pilot or an aviation enthusiast, this simulator will take your flight experience to new heights.
We have recommended several graphics cards for X Plane 12. These include the SAPPHIRE Radeon NITRO+ RX 5700 XT, EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra, Zotac GeForce 1660 Super Dual Fan, MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X, Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2070 Xtreme, and MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDRR6X.
These graphics cards provide a range of options with varying levels of performance and price points, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your needs.
Ultimately, the best graphics card for X Plane 12 will depend on your specific requirements, budget, and personal preferences.
Frequently Asked Questions
What graphics card is required for X-Plane 12?
Any Graphics card from Nvidia or AMD supporting DirectX 12 and having 4-8 GB VRAM is required for X-Plane 12.
How do I increase my FPS in X-Plane 12?
You can do so by Lowering Water Reflections, changing texture presets & resolution, disabling HDR Rendering, Simplifying Shadows, altering cloud rendering & visibility, tuning for orthopedic scenery, etc.
Is X-Plane 12 free?
The Demo version of X-Plane 12 is free but the full game costs around $20 & it contains almost all the continents.
