Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best Settings per Resolution

The recorded data shows that this combination is capable of running Microsoft Flight Simulator at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested resolution, even at the highest settings. The database verdict confirms that all four settings presets, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, are playable at each resolution. The most demanding preset that remains at or above 60 FPS is Ultra in every case.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, delivering an average of 94.8 FPS. This leaves a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, so there is headroom for demanding flight scenarios where frame time spikes are common in simulation titles.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 87.8 FPS. The drop from 1080p Ultra is modest, only 7 FPS, which indicates that the graphics card is absorbing the additional pixel load without forcing a settings reduction.

At 3840x2160, the best settings remain Ultra, with an average of 72.9 FPS. This is the only resolution where the average dips below the 80 FPS mark, but it still clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by nearly 13 FPS. The data shows that users with a 4K display can run the game at maximum settings without sacrificing playability.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearest rivals in the database, the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 has close benchmark neighbors that would produce similar CPU-bound behavior in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Intel Core Ultra 5 228V scores 21440, a mere 0.2% above the Ryzen 5 2600's average benchmark score of 21484. The Intel Core i9-11900H sits just 0.5% lower at 21367, while the AMD EPYC 9454 trails by 1.2% at 21223. The Intel Xeon D-1746TER is the only rival ahead by a noticeable margin, with a score of 21635, which is 0.7% higher. In practical terms, all four of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame pacing and minimum frame behavior in CPU-limited sections of the game, such as dense urban areas or complex weather simulation.

For the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 has a broader spread of nearest rivals. The AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757, which is 0.6% below the RTX 5080's average of 56083. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% behind at 55698, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 2.3% at 54828. On the other side, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE leads the RTX 5080 by 2.2% with a score of 57367. The data suggests that a system pairing the Ryzen 5 2600 with any of these GPUs would land within a few percent of the frame rates recorded for the RTX 5080, assuming the same resolution and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database contains average FPS measurements for twelve combinations of resolution and settings. Minimum and maximum FPS values were not recorded, so the analysis relies on average frame rates.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 119.2 FPS, the Medium preset averages 109.8 FPS, and the High preset averages 95.9 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 94.8 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a reduction of 24.4 FPS, or roughly 20%. The step from High to Ultra is the smallest, only 1.1 FPS, which suggests that the Ultra preset adds minimal GPU load beyond High at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 113 FPS, Medium averages 100.8 FPS, High averages 87.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 87.8 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is effectively negligible, just 0.1 FPS. The larger gap appears between Medium and High, a drop of 12.9 FPS. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings costs between 5.2 FPS (Low) and 8.9 FPS (Medium).

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 98.1 FPS, Medium averages 87.5 FPS, High averages 77.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 72.9 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is 4.3 FPS, which is more pronounced than at lower resolutions. The total cost of moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 21.9 FPS, from 94.8 to 72.9. At Low, the same resolution jump costs 21.1 FPS, from 119.2 to 98.1, indicating that the resolution scaling penalty is consistent regardless of settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The recorded average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 72.9, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: Which settings preset should be used at 2560x1440?

A: The Ultra preset is recommended, as it delivers an average of 87.8 FPS, which is well above the playable threshold and nearly identical to the High preset's 87.9 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 94.8 at 1920x1080 to 72.9 at 3840x2160, a loss of 21.9 FPS. At Low settings, the drop is from 119.2 to 98.1, a loss of 21.1 FPS.

Q: Is the difference between High and Ultra settings significant?

A: It depends on the resolution. At 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, the difference is 1.1 FPS and 0.1 FPS respectively, which is negligible. At 3840x2160, the difference grows to 4.3 FPS, which is still minor but more noticeable.

Q: Does this combination ever fall below 60 FPS?

A: No. The lowest recorded average in the entire dataset is 72.9 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. Every other combination is higher.

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 Hz display at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers 72.9 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS refresh rate of a standard 4K display while providing the highest visual quality.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured data reveals a clear pattern in how the CPU and GPU share the workload in Microsoft Flight Simulator. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from 94.8 FPS at Ultra to 119.2 FPS at Low. The spread across settings is 24.4 FPS. At 2560x1440, the spread narrows slightly to 25.2 FPS, from 87.8 to 113. At 3840x2160, the spread is 25.2 FPS as well, from 72.9 to 98.1.

The consistent spread across resolutions suggests that the CPU is a limiting factor at lower resolutions. When the GPU has less pixel work to do, as at 1080p, the frame rate is capped by the CPU's ability to feed the simulation. The Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, delivers a PassMark multithread score of 13160 and a single-thread score of 2239. These scores place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, which is respectable but not top-tier. The fact that 1080p Ultra achieves 94.8 FPS while 4K Ultra achieves 72.9 FPS indicates that the GPU becomes more dominant as resolution increases.

At 4K, the GPU load grows substantially, and the RTX 5080's capabilities, including its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, come into play. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 36565 and its 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs show that it is a high-end part. The data shows that the scaling from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical in absolute terms across all settings, roughly 21 to 22 FPS. This implies that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at any resolution; instead, the GPU's rendering load scales predictably with pixel count.

The verdict tables confirm that all settings are playable at all resolutions, which is unusual for a demanding flight simulator. This suggests that the RTX 5080 is strong enough to overcome the CPU's limitations, even at 1080p where CPU overhead is typically more exposed. The small difference between High and Ultra at lower resolutions, 1.1 FPS at 1080p and 0.1 FPS at 1440p, indicates that those presets are GPU-bound in a similar way. At 4K, the High to Ultra gap of 4.3 FPS shows the GPU working harder, but the CPU still keeps up.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this combination of AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 at position 936 out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the top 25% of all configurations in the database. The percentile ranking for the CPU is 75, and for the GPU it is 87, so the combination sits between the two individual percentile scores, closer to the GPU's level.

The rank of 936 out of 3714 means that roughly 2778 other combinations outperform this one in this specific game. Given that the RTX 5080 is a high-end GPU, the ranking is dragged down by the Ryzen 5 2600's more modest CPU performance. The CPU's average benchmark score of 21484 is comparable to the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V and Intel Core i9-11900H, both of which are mobile or low-power parts. This suggests that the Ryzen 5 2600 is the limiting factor in the pairing.

However, the measured frame rates show that this limitation does not prevent playable performance. The data indicates that the combination achieves 94.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 72.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, which are strong results for a game as demanding as Microsoft Flight Simulator. The gap between this combo's rank and its actual performance highlights that benchmark rankings often reflect synthetic workloads, while real game performance depends on the specific balance between CPU and GPU. In this case, the GPU carries most of the load, and the CPU is sufficient to keep frame rates above the playable threshold at every resolution and settings preset.