Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K resolution?

A: No. The recorded data shows no playable settings at 3840x2160. The best average FPS at 4K is 33 FPS on Low settings, which is well below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High and Ultra both average 19 FPS, while Medium averages 26 FPS.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo achieves at any resolution?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 56, achieved at 1920x1080 on Low settings. This is the closest the system gets to the 60 FPS playable threshold, but it still falls short.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% slower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% slower), the GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% slower), and the GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% slower). The B390 is ahead of all four, but the margins are small.

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 17035. The Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17007 (0.2% slower), and the AMD EPYC 7742 scores 16998 (0.2% slower). On the other side, the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067 (0.2% faster), and the AMD EPYC 7573X scores 17070 (0.2% faster). The differences are essentially negligible.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs in the database. This indicates that roughly 91% of tested graphics cards outperform it in synthetic benchmarks, which aligns with its low measured FPS in this flight simulator.

Q: Is there any resolution where the system reaches 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), the highest average FPS recorded is 56. The verdict data confirms that no playable settings exist at any resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The question of whether the CPU or GPU matters more for Microsoft Flight Simulator with this pairing is answered by examining how FPS scales across resolutions and presets. The data reveals a system that is severely GPU-limited at every tested configuration, with the Intel Arc B390 acting as the dominant constraint.

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the system produces 56 FPS on Low settings. Moving to Medium drops the average to 43 FPS, a 23% reduction. High settings yield 33 FPS, and Ultra produces 31 FPS. This steep drop from Low to Medium, and the relatively small gap between High and Ultra, suggests the GPU is already overwhelmed by the rendering workload at 1080p. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across settings, but the data shows sensitivity to preset changes.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with lower absolute values. Low settings average 45 FPS, Medium drops to 35 FPS, High falls to 26 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is telling: at Low settings, FPS drops from 56 to 45, a 20% reduction. At High settings, FPS drops from 33 to 26, a 21% reduction. This consistent percentage drop across resolutions indicates that pixel throughput, a GPU-bound task, is the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to stay playable. Low settings average 33 FPS, Medium averages 26 FPS, and both High and Ultra average 19 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is zero, suggesting that the GPU has hit a hard performance ceiling. The CPU's role becomes secondary because the Arc B390 cannot feed frames fast enough to utilize the Ryzen 5 3600's six cores and twelve threads.

The CPU's benchmark data shows a processor that is competent for its generation. The Ryzen 5 3600 scores 15045 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2124 in single-core, with a 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs. However, these strengths never manifest in the game measurements. The FPS deltas between resolutions and presets are consistent with a GPU bottleneck, not a CPU bottleneck. For instance, if the CPU were limiting performance, raising resolution would have little effect on FPS. Instead, every resolution increase produces a measurable FPS decline, confirming that the Arc B390's rendering capabilities dictate the experience.

The GPU's own specifications support this interpretation. The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It delivers 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1). Its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s. These figures place it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it is designed for light workloads, not demanding flight simulation at high resolutions.

In summary, the GPU is the decisive component at every resolution and preset. The CPU's performance headroom is irrelevant because the Arc B390 cannot produce enough frames to stress the Ryzen 5 3600. The data shows that users would need a substantially more powerful graphics card to approach 60 FPS, while the CPU could remain unchanged.

Best Settings per Resolution

Given the 60 FPS playable threshold, no settings combination at any resolution achieves the target. However, the system produces its highest FPS at each resolution with specific settings, and the data shows a clear hierarchy.

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that comes closest to 60 FPS is Low, which averages 56 FPS. This is the best case scenario for the entire system. Medium averages 43 FPS, High averages 33 FPS, and Ultra averages 31 FPS. The Low preset is the only setting where the system approaches playability, but it still falls 4 FPS short of the threshold.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce the highest average at 45 FPS. Medium averages 35 FPS, High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 10 FPS, which is a significant step down. Users at this resolution would need to accept the Low preset to get the best possible frame rate, but even that is far from the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, Low settings again provide the best average at 33 FPS. Medium averages 26 FPS, and both High and Ultra average 19 FPS. The 4K resolution is the most punishing, and the Low preset is the only one that keeps the average above 30 FPS. The data shows no playable settings at any resolution, meaning the system cannot reliably run Microsoft Flight Simulator at the 60 FPS threshold regardless of visual quality.

The recorded FPS values for Medium settings include more granular data. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 40. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 and a maximum of 30. These ranges show that even the best moments at Medium settings never reach 60 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 provide context for its role in this system. The Intel Core i7-1260P has an average score of 17007, which is 0.2% lower than the Ryzen 5 3600's 17035. The AMD EPYC 7742 scores 16998, also 0.2% lower. These processors would likely produce nearly identical CPU-bound behavior in Microsoft Flight Simulator, though the GPU bottleneck makes CPU differences moot in this specific pairing.

On the faster side, the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067, 0.2% higher, and the AMD EPYC 7573X scores 17070, also 0.2% higher. These deltas are within measurement noise, meaning any of these CPUs would perform the same in this game when paired with the Arc B390. The CPU's performance tier is not the limiting factor.

For the Intel Arc B390, the nearest GPU rivals are all older NVIDIA parts. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% slower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% slower. The GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% slower, and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% slower. The B390 leads all four, but the margins are small enough that users would experience similar frame rates with any of these GPUs.

The implication is that swapping the Ryzen 5 3600 for any of its nearest rivals would not change the game's performance meaningfully. The GPU is the constraint, and the Arc B390's closest competitors are equally weak. A user upgrading from a GT 710 to an Arc B390 would see a modest 2.7% improvement in synthetic GPU benchmarks, which translates to roughly one additional FPS in this flight simulator. This places the entire class of similar hardware below the 60 FPS threshold for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The Verdict

This PC cannot run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 60 FPS at any resolution or preset. The verdict data is unambiguous: no playable settings exist at 3840x2160, 2560x1440, or 1920x1080. The best recorded average FPS is 56 at 1080p Low, which misses the 60 FPS threshold by 4 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the system produces 56 FPS on Low, 43 FPS on Medium, 33 FPS on High, and 31 FPS on Ultra. The Low preset is tantalizingly close to playable, but the database's playable threshold is a hard 60 FPS, and the system does not reach it. At 2560x1440, the best average is 45 FPS on Low, and at 3840x2160, the best average is 33 FPS on Low.

The data suggests that this combo is suitable for older or less demanding games, but Microsoft Flight Simulator's rendering requirements overwhelm the Intel Arc B390. The CPU is not the issue; the Ryzen 5 3600 has enough multi-threaded capability to handle the simulation logic. The GPU simply cannot produce enough frames.

Users with this system would need to make a significant sacrifice in visual quality to approach playability, but even the lowest settings fail to reach 60 FPS. The verdict is clear: this PC is not adequate for Microsoft Flight Simulator at the defined playable threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in the database, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3302 out of 3714 combos. This places it in the bottom 11% of all systems tested for this game. The rank reflects the GPU's weak performance, as the Arc B390's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs drags the overall system down.

The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. A combo that cannot reach 60 FPS at any resolution will naturally rank near the bottom of a database where many other systems succeed. The Ryzen 5 3600's 71st percentile CPU ranking provides no uplift because the GPU bottleneck dominates.

The combo's rank also suggests that a wide range of other hardware combinations would outperform it. The GPU's nearest rivals, all scoring within 2.7% of the Arc B390, would likely rank similarly, meaning this entire performance tier struggles with Microsoft Flight Simulator. The data indicates that users seeking playable performance would need to look at significantly higher-tier GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings, with average FPS values for all combinations and min/max values for Medium settings.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: average 33 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Medium: average 26 FPS, minimum 22 FPS, maximum 30 FPS
• High: average 19 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: average 19 FPS, no min/max recorded

At 2560x1440:

• Low: average 45 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Medium: average 35 FPS, minimum 30 FPS, maximum 40 FPS
• High: average 26 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: average 25 FPS, no min/max recorded

At 1920x1080:

• Low: average 56 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Medium: average 43 FPS, minimum 37 FPS, maximum 50 FPS
• High: average 33 FPS, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: average 31 FPS, no min/max recorded

The Medium settings provide the only min/max data, revealing the frame time variance. At 1080p Medium, the system fluctuates between 37 and 50 FPS, a 13 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range is 30 to 40 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it is 22 to 30 FPS. These ranges indicate that even the best-case moments stay below 60 FPS.

The data also shows that High and Ultra settings produce nearly identical results at most resolutions. At 4K, both average 19 FPS. At 1440p, High averages 26 FPS and Ultra averages 25 FPS. At 1080p, High averages 33 FPS and Ultra averages 31 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset adds visual detail without a proportional FPS cost, but the absolute performance is too low to matter.

The overall picture is consistent: the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting factor, and no combination of resolution and settings achieves the 60 FPS playable threshold. The Ryzen 5 3600's processing power is never fully utilized, as the GPU cannot deliver frames fast enough to create a CPU bottleneck.