With regards to performance, Microsoft's minimum system requirements are just enough to run the game. While a 2.0 GHz single-core processor and 1GB of RAM are realistic expectations for a minimum system, a 128MB Shader Model 1.1-capable graphics card is not. I dug out of my Closet of Ancient Hardware was an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 with 128MB of video memory; in a system with Microsoft's minimum CPU and RAM recommendations, the game ran slower than 15 FPS, with frame rate drops into the single-digits, at a resolution of 800x600, and this with graphics options set to their lowest (using the pre-set configurations).
Microsoft's minimum hardware requirements allow for only the most basic of visuals at a resolution of 800x600.
With YouGamers' minimum hardware requirements, the resolution and detail can be bumped up significantly.
Of course, YouGamers won't recommend that level of gameplay. If you're an aspiring PC pilot on a budget, then an upgrade to something like an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ or a Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (each with 1GB of RAM) is a must. For a graphics card, 256MB of video memory is the minimum; stacked on either an ATI Radeon X800 XT or NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, that memory (in combination with the GPU, of course) will deliver a playable experience at 1280x1024, with a mixture of medium (for scenery and terrain) and high settings (for aircraft). With well-tuned settings, 16x anisotropic filtering can be turned on for better-looking textures.
A wing shot taken with the publisher min system. Scenery is almost nonexistent, textures are blurry and shadows are minimal.
YG min includes additional scenery detail and higher texture resolution.
Another shot with publisher's minimum requirements; this is about as sparse as flight simulations get.
But our recommendations allow for more realistic water and weather effects.
If you really want to soar with the eagles (as opposed to flying with seagulls or nesting with the pigeons), then you'll need a very capable system. For starters, a dual-core CPU is the baseline to achieve higher resolutions and detail settings. Here, either an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or an Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 is the baseline, combined with 2GB of system RAM. For a video card, an NVIDIA-based choice is recommended (in the form of a GeForce 8800), though an ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT will come close to an NVIDIA 8-series card in performance (note that with DirectX 10 preview turned on, current ATI GPUs and drivers aren't capable of delivering acceptable performance and image quality).
A shot with YouGamers' recommended hardware on Windows Vista (DirectX 10). Note the self-shadowing in the virtual cockpit, enabled only with DX10 rendering.
The same shot, with the same settings and hardware, but under Windows XP (DX9). The difference? In DX9, cockpits don't have self-shadowing from the aircraft model.
A system with these YouGamers recommended specs will push the game at a steady frame rate of 30 FPS or greater, even at moderate-to-high resolutions of 1600x1200 and 1680x1050. With some careful setting of graphics options, achieving a playable game at 1920x1200 is possible, even with 4x full-screen antialiasing enabled. Aircraft detail can be turned to the maximum settings, but scenery density and overall texture detail need to be moved to Medium Low or Medium High for to keep the frame rate up.
Another shot with YouGamers' recommended hardware under Vista. There are still rendering issues with DX10, especially with shadows and AA (which doesn't work on Vista).
The Windows XP/DX9 shot is more crisp, thanks to AA, but DX10 allows for greater scenery density.
With DX10 rendering, water has a distinct look with new shaders, though the natural water movement from mock-up screenshots didn't make it in.
Even though it's a bit less flashy, some will prefer the way water is rendered under DX9.
ESRB:
Mild Violence
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
Games: 
