Find the best RTX 2070 settings for MSFS 2020 at 1080p and 1440p, with clear advice on TAA, DLSS, CPU limits and stutters.
Yes. An RTX 2070 can run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 well at 1080p and competently at 1440p, provided the CPU is reasonably strong. Start with the High-End preset, native resolution and TAA, then reduce terrain LOD, clouds, shadows and traffic before lowering textures. Native 4K Ultra is not a sensible target.
How well does an RTX 2070 run MSFS 2020?
A desktop GeForce RTX 2070 with 8 GB of VRAM is comfortably capable of running MSFS 2020 with high visual quality. Performance depends heavily on the processor, aircraft, airport and traffic, however; a complex airliner at a detailed hub is far more demanding than a light aircraft over rural scenery.
An older or slower CPU can leave the RTX 2070 underused because MSFS frequently becomes limited by its main simulation thread. Laptop RTX 2070 and Max-Q models can also be slower than the desktop card because their power limits and cooling vary.
Which RTX 2070 settings should you use?
The High-End preset is the right starting point, followed by a few targeted changes rather than switching everything to Medium. Our detailed MSFS graphics-setting recommendations explain what each major option changes, but these profiles suit the RTX 2070 particularly well.
| Output resolution | Starting preset | Anti-aliasing | Key adjustments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 × 1080 | High-End | TAA, render scaling 100 | Terrain LOD 100–150, Object LOD 100, High clouds and High textures |
| 2560 × 1440 | High-End customised | TAA first; DLSS Quality if GPU-limited | Terrain and Object LOD around 100, High clouds, Medium reflections and High textures |
| 3840 × 2160 display | Medium–High custom mix | DLSS Quality, then Balanced if necessary | Medium shadows and reflections, High textures, LOD around 100 and a stable frame-rate cap |
For a dependable custom profile, use these settings as the baseline:
- Texture Resolution: High. Try Ultra only after checking demanding airports and add-on scenery for VRAM pressure.
- Anisotropic Filtering: 16x. Its performance cost is small on this GPU.
- Volumetric Clouds: High. Ultra can become expensive in dense weather.
- Terrain Level of Detail: 100 initially. Raise it only when the simulator is not main-thread limited.
- Object Level of Detail: 100. Higher values increase the number and detail of drawn objects.
- Shadow Maps and Contact Shadows: Medium or High rather than Ultra.
- Reflections: Medium. This is an easy reduction when GPU load is high.
- Off-Screen Terrain Pre-Caching: High. Ultra may improve camera panning but consumes additional memory.
- Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate: Medium for complex airliners if the main thread is struggling.
- AI, live and airport traffic: Low to moderate. Traffic can burden the CPU more than the graphics card.
Once the slowest representative flight is stable, cap the frame rate at a level the PC can maintain. A consistent 30 fps generally feels better in MSFS than frequent swings above and below the display target.
Should you use TAA or DLSS on an RTX 2070?
Use TAA at 1080p because it usually preserves cockpit labels and glass displays better. At 1440p, compare TAA against DLSS Quality; DLSS is useful when the GPU is the limiting factor, but it can make fine instruments softer.
At 4K output, DLSS Quality is the sensible first choice, with Balanced reserved for heavier situations. The RTX 2070 supports DLSS upscaling but does not support NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation, so guides relying on that feature do not apply to this card.
How do you tune MSFS when performance is still low?
Tune the settings responsible for the actual bottleneck instead of reducing the entire preset. The optional developer FPS display identifies conditions such as Limited by GPU and Limited by MainThread.
- Test a demanding flight: use the aircraft, airport, weather and traffic combination you normally fly. Testing over empty countryside gives a misleading result.
- Check the limiting component: if the display reports a GPU limit, reduce render scaling, clouds, ambient occlusion, reflections and shadows.
- Address a main-thread limit: reduce Terrain LOD, Object LOD, traffic, airport activity and glass-cockpit refresh rate. Lowering texture quality will rarely solve this bottleneck.
- Change one group at a time: repeat the same scenario after each adjustment, then set a sustainable frame cap.
A mistake we see constantly is dropping every visual option to Low while the simulator remains main-thread limited. That damages image quality without fixing the underlying restriction. Our step-by-step MSFS performance tuning advice covers the CPU, GPU and traffic adjustments in more depth.
Why does MSFS 2020 still stutter on an RTX 2070?
Stuttering does not necessarily mean the RTX 2070 is too slow. Main-thread spikes, VRAM pressure, scenery streaming, storage delays, dense add-ons and excessive traffic can all produce pauses even when the average frame rate looks acceptable.
Start with DX11 as the conservative baseline, then test DX12 using the same flight rather than assuming it will be faster. Frame pacing, stability and memory use can differ by system; our DX11 versus DX12 comparison for MSFS 2020 explains when each mode makes sense.
- Reduce textures from Ultra to High if VRAM fills at detailed airports.
- Lower traffic and Terrain LOD when pauses coincide with busy scenery.
- Test without Community-folder add-ons to rule out a conflicting aircraft, livery or scenery package.
- Keep the simulator and rolling cache on an SSD where possible.
- Avoid running several frame limiters or V-Sync controls at once.
If the frame rate is otherwise adequate but regular micro-pauses remain, follow our focused checklist for diagnosing MSFS stutters and frame-time spikes.