Microsoft Flight Simulator

Similar Performance Alternatives

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 sits in a tightly contested performance band according to the database. Its average benchmark score of 17035 places it within 0.2% of several processors. The Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17007, a delta of just 0.2% below the Ryzen, meaning these two would be nearly indistinguishable in everyday workloads. The Intel Core i5-11400 posts 17067, a 0.2% advantage over the Ryzen, again a negligible margin. Two AMD EPYC server chips also cluster here: the EPYC 7573X at 17070 and the EPYC 7742 at 16998, both within 0.2% of the Ryzen 5 3600. For gaming specifically, the 1260P and 11400 are the more relevant comparisons, since they share the desktop and mobile mainstream segments. The Ryzen 5 3600 occupies the 71st percentile among all CPUs in the database, so it outperforms roughly 7 out of 10 processors on aggregate benchmarks while sitting at the center of this rival cluster.

On the graphics side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a different pattern. Its average benchmark score of 37648 places it near a peculiar set of rivals. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37628, just 0.1% lower, though that is a data-center inference card rather than a gaming product. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 reaches 37507, a 0.4% gap, meaning the RTX 4070 leads by a hair. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is actually ahead at 38135, a 1.3% margin in favor of the laptop part, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 1.3% at 37157. The RTX 4070 ranks in the 81st percentile among all GPUs, so it is positioned well above the median, yet its nearest rivals show that the performance envelope here is surprisingly crowded. For a flight simulator that stresses both CPU and GPU depending on settings, the Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 4070 combination brings together a mid-pack processor with an above-average graphics card, and the measured frame rates reflect that balance.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with the highest settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 54.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High settings also fall short at 54 FPS average.

Q: What is the best 4K preset that stays playable?

A: Medium settings at 3840x2160 deliver an average of 74.7 FPS, making it the most demanding preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold at that resolution.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 scores 17035 on average. The Intel Core i7-1260P is 0.2% lower at 17007, the Intel Core i5-11400 is 0.2% higher at 17067, and the AMD EPYC 7573X and EPYC 7742 are within 0.2% as well, at 17070 and 16998 respectively.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 significantly faster than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56?

A: The margin is small. The RTX 4070 averages 37648, while the RX Vega 56 averages 37507, a 0.4% difference in favor of the RTX 4070.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings run at 123 FPS average while Ultra runs at 74.1 FPS, a difference of 48.9 FPS. At 1920x1080, the gap is 42.8 FPS (135.3 down to 92.5), and at 3840x2160 it is 42.8 FPS as well (97.4 down to 54.6).

Q: Does the RTX 4070 outperform the RTX 4080 Mobile in this database?

A: No, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, which is 1.3% higher than the RTX 4070's 37648. The desktop card is slightly behind the mobile 4080 in aggregate GPU benchmarks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data provides average frame rates only, with minimums and maximum values not captured in the database. At 1920x1080, Low settings, the system averages 135.3 FPS, the highest figure across all tested configurations. Medium settings at the same resolution average 124.2 FPS, while High drops to 93.5 FPS and Ultra falls to 92.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 11.1 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 30.7 FPS, a much larger penalty. High to Ultra is a modest 1 FPS reduction, suggesting the Ultra preset at 1080p adds visual features that are relatively cheap to render.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low settings average 123 FPS, Medium averages 102.3 FPS, High averages 79.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 74.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 20.7 FPS, between Medium and High it is 23.2 FPS, and between High and Ultra it is 5 FPS. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 12 FPS at Low settings, 21.9 FPS at Medium, 14.4 FPS at High, and 18.4 FPS at Ultra. The proportional cost is uneven, which points to a mix of CPU and GPU limits depending on the preset.

At 3840x2160, the system averages 97.4 FPS on Low, 74.7 FPS on Medium, 54 FPS on High, and 54.6 FPS on Ultra. The transition from Low to Medium costs 22.7 FPS, while Medium to High costs 20.7 FPS. Interestingly, High and Ultra are nearly identical, with Ultra actually 0.6 FPS higher than High. That inversion suggests that at 4K, the High and Ultra presets are constrained by the same bottleneck, likely the CPU or the simulator's main thread, rather than the GPU. The 4K Low result of 97.4 FPS shows the GPU can push high frame rates when the visual load is light, but the heavier presets drop below the 60 FPS threshold entirely.

The data shows a clear resolution scaling trend: 1080p Low runs 135.3 FPS, 1440p Low runs 123 FPS, and 4K Low runs 97.4 FPS. For Ultra, the progression is 92.5, 74.1, and 54.6 FPS respectively. The 4K Ultra figure is the only Ultra result that fails the 60 FPS playable threshold, while 4K High also fails at 54 FPS. All 1440p and 1080p presets clear 60 FPS, with the lowest among them being 1440p Ultra at 74.1 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database's tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1061 out of 3714 tested combos. That places it in the upper third of all systems tested, roughly the 71st percentile of combinations. The ranking is strong, but not elite, which aligns with the component percentiles: the CPU sits at the 71st percentile and the GPU at the 81st percentile. The combo ranking of 1061 out of 3714 suggests that many systems with higher-end CPUs or GPUs outperform this pairing in this specific title.

The rank implies that the RTX 4070 is doing most of the heavy lifting in the aggregate, since the GPU's percentile is ten points higher than the CPU's. The database's measured FPS results reinforce this, as the system can hit 135.3 FPS at 1080p Low but only 54 FPS at 4K High. A system ranked near the top of the database would likely hold 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, but this combo cannot. Still, being in the top 29% of all tested combos for this game is a respectable position, especially considering the CPU is a 2019 mainstream part paired with a 2023 mid-range GPU.

The Verdict

This PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the playable settings depend heavily on resolution. At 1920x1080, every preset clears the 60 FPS threshold. The database's verdict lists High, Low, Medium, and Ultra all as playable, with Ultra averaging 92.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets also clear 60 FPS, with Ultra at 74.1 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium at 74.7 FPS. High and Ultra at 4K fall below 60 FPS, at 54 and 54.6 FPS respectively.

The playable threshold in the database is 60 FPS, and the verdict by resolution confirms that 1080p and 1440p users can max out the game's settings without concern. For 4K users, the recommendation is to stick with Medium for a smooth experience, or drop to Low if higher frame rates are desired. The 4K Medium result of 74.7 FPS leaves headroom above the threshold, so there is some margin for demanding scenes like dense cities or heavy weather, though the database does not record minimum frame rates to quantify that headroom.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS average is Medium, with 74.7 FPS. Low runs faster at 97.4 FPS, but Medium is the highest quality option that stays playable. High and Ultra fall short at 54 and 54.6 FPS, so they are not recommended for 4K.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is the best choice, averaging 74.1 FPS. This is the highest preset available, so there is no trade-off needed at this resolution. High runs at 79.1 FPS, Medium at 102.3 FPS, and Low at 123 FPS, but Ultra is the clear winner for visual quality while remaining comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is also the best setting, delivering 92.5 FPS average. The gap between High (93.5 FPS) and Ultra (92.5 FPS) is only 1 FPS, so there is no reason to drop from Ultra at 1080p. The system has enough headroom at this resolution to handle the full visual feature set without approaching the playable threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals an interesting division of labor between the Ryzen 5 3600 and the RTX 4070 across resolutions and presets. At 1080p, the frame rates are high across all settings, ranging from 92.5 FPS at Ultra to 135.3 FPS at Low. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra (1 FPS) suggests the GPU is not the limiting factor at these settings. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads and a 71st percentile ranking, appears sufficient to feed the RTX 4070 at 1080p, since even the heaviest preset stays near the 90 FPS mark.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to take on more responsibility. The drop from 1080p to 1440p costs between 12 and 21.9 FPS depending on the preset. The Ultra preset drops from 92.5 to 74.1 FPS, a 19.9% reduction that is larger than the 12 FPS drop seen at Low settings. This indicates that as the resolution increases, the RTX 4070's rendering load grows and the CPU's role diminishes. The 1440p Ultra result of 74.1 FPS still clears 60 FPS, so the GPU has enough headroom to handle the extra pixels.

At 4K, the GPU's role becomes dominant, but the results are counterintuitive. High and Ultra both land near 54 FPS, with Ultra slightly higher than High. This clustering suggests a bottleneck that is not purely GPU-bound, since a GPU-limited scenario would show a larger gap between High and Ultra. The likely explanation is that the Ryzen 5 3600's single-thread performance, which scores 696 in 3dmark single-thread and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core, becomes a limiting factor in the simulator's main thread at high settings. The CPU ranks at the 71st percentile, which is decent but not top-tier, and Microsoft Flight Simulator is known to be sensitive to single-core performance. The near-identical FPS between 4K High and Ultra, and the fact that 4K Low jumps to 97.4 FPS, points to a scenario where the CPU limits the frame rate once the GPU workload is heavy enough to expose the CPU's ceiling.

The scaling between Low and Medium at each resolution is also informative. At 1080p, Low to Medium costs 11.1 FPS. At 1440p, it costs 20.7 FPS. At 4K, it costs 22.7 FPS. The increasing cost with resolution indicates that the GPU is handling more of the Medium preset's added effects at higher resolutions. Conversely, the High to Ultra step is nearly free at 1080p (1 FPS) and actually positive at 4K (0.6 FPS higher), which suggests that the Ultra preset's additional features are largely CPU-bound in this simulator, and the Ryzen 5 3600 cannot render them any faster regardless of resolution. The measured data supports a conclusion that the RTX 4070 is the stronger component in this pairing, with the Ryzen 5 3600 acting as a capable but not exceptional partner, especially at 4K where the CPU's limits become visible.