Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a highly resolution-dependent experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. Across the three tested resolutions, the combo demonstrates that 1080p is the only tier where every preset remains comfortably playable, while 1440p requires a step down to Medium, and 4K demands Low settings to stay above the 60 FPS threshold. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, ranks the combo against other tested hardware, and identifies what these numbers imply for the CPU and GPU split in this flight simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination shows its strongest performance, with every preset exceeding the 60 FPS playability threshold. The Low preset produces an average of 118.5 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo at any resolution. Moving to Medium drops the average to 95.7 FPS, a 19.2% decrease from Low, indicating that the extra graphical load is still well within the hardware’s capabilities. The High preset yields 72 FPS, which is a 24.8% reduction from Medium, and it remains comfortably above the 60 FPS target. The most demanding Ultra preset still manages an average of 64.2 FPS, which is only 7.0% below the High preset. This narrow gap between High and Ultra at 1080p suggests that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution, and the CPU is providing sufficient headroom for the simulation’s single-threaded demands.

At 2560x1440, the performance begins to strain under higher graphical loads. The Low preset averages 95.9 FPS, which is a 19.1% drop from the 1080p Low result, showing that pixel count has a significant impact. The Medium preset averages 77 FPS, a 19.7% reduction from Low at the same resolution. However, the High preset falls to 53.3 FPS, which is 30.8% below the Medium result and now misses the 60 FPS mark. The Ultra preset averages 55.2 FPS, which is slightly higher than High, a 3.6% improvement. This anomaly where Ultra outperforms High suggests that the measured data for High may reflect a particular scene with heavier scenery load, or that the Ultra preset engages different rendering paths that are less CPU-bound. Regardless, both High and Ultra at 1440p are below the playability threshold.

At 3840x2160, the combo is severely limited. The Low preset averages 70 FPS, which is the only setting at this resolution to clear 60 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 56.1 FPS, a 19.9% reduction from Low. The High preset averages 43.4 FPS, a 22.6% decrease from Medium, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 39.5 FPS, which is 9.0% lower than High. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steep: the Low preset at 4K is 27.0% slower than Low at 1440p, and the Ultra preset at 4K is 28.4% slower. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4060’s 8 GB of VRAM and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for the higher pixel counts and texture loads at 4K, even with the CPU providing strong single-thread performance.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p with max settings?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset, the combo achieves an average of 64.2 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p if I want to stay above 60 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 77 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that remains playable. The High preset falls to 53.3 FPS, which is below the threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset is playable, averaging 70 FPS. All other presets (Medium 56.1, High 43.4, Ultra 39.5) fail to reach 60 FPS.

Q: How much does the resolution affect performance?

A: Comparing Low presets, 1440p is 19.1% slower than 1080p, and 4K is 27.0% slower than 1440p. For Ultra presets, 1440p is 14.0% slower than 1080p, and 4K is 28.4% slower than 1440p.

Q: Why does the High preset at 1440p (53.3 FPS) perform worse than Ultra (55.2 FPS)?

A: The measured data shows this anomaly, which may result from scene-to-scene variation in the flight simulator. The average scores suggest that Ultra is not consistently more demanding than High at this resolution, but both remain below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500F ranks in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 4060 ranks in the 61st percentile among all GPUs. In this specific game, the combo ranks 1966 out of 3714 tested combinations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 places at rank 1966 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This position, which is just past the midpoint of the database, reflects the fact that the RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU (61st percentile) while the CPU is a strong performer (77th percentile). The data suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing for this specific game, as the CPU’s single-thread score of 974 in 3DMark and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218 are robust, but the GPU’s passmark G3D score of 19545 is only average for modern cards.

The 1966 rank indicates that there are 1748 combos that perform better, which includes systems with higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT, even if they are paired with weaker CPUs. Conversely, the 1966 rank also means that 1748 combos perform worse, which includes older CPUs with similar GPUs or newer CPUs with slower GPUs. The ranking is not purely linear with GPU power, as the flight simulator’s demanding CPU simulation can push a faster GPU into a bottleneck if the processor lacks single-thread headroom. However, the fact that this combo cannot maintain 60 FPS at 1440p High suggests that the GPU’s limited memory bandwidth (272.0 GB/s) and 8 GB VRAM are the primary constraints.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearestRivals for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (average benchmark score 24964) is closely matched by the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935, 0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (25005, 0.2% faster), the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911, 0.2% slower), and the Intel Core 5 210H (24872, 0.4% slower). These CPUs deliver nearly identical multi-threaded performance, which means that swapping the 7500F for any of these would result in similar FPS in Microsoft Flight Simulator, provided the GPU remains the RTX 4060. The Ryzen 5 8400F is the closest match, so a system with that chip would behave almost exactly the same in this game.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (average benchmark score 17639) is bracketed by the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666, 0.2% faster), the AMD Radeon 780M (17588, 0.3% slower), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, 0.5% slower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509, 0.7% slower). These deltas are tiny, so any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates at the same settings and resolution. However, the Radeon 780M is an integrated graphics solution, which would likely have different driver behavior, but the benchmark scores indicate it is equivalent in raw compute. For practical purposes, the RTX 4060 with the Ryzen 5 7500F would be matched by a system with the Ryzen 5 8400F and Radeon HD 7790, or the Core i7-13620H and Radeon 780M, assuming similar memory configurations.

The data implies that if a user has a motherboard that supports only Intel, the Core i7-13620H would be a near-identical substitute for the 7500F in this game. Similarly, if the user needs a different GPU, the Radeon 780M could be considered, but it is an iGPU and would rely on system RAM, which might alter actual FPS despite similar benchmark scores.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear split between CPU and GPU responsibilities at different resolutions. At 1920x1080, the GPU has less pixel work, so the CPU’s single-thread performance becomes more critical. The fact that the Ultra preset (64.2 FPS) is only 10.8% slower than the High preset (72 FPS) suggests that the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough data to keep it busy, but the gap between Medium (95.7 FPS) and High (72 FPS) is 24.7%, indicating that the GPU is still the primary limiter as settings increase. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 974 and passmark single-thread score of 3841 are high enough to prevent a bottleneck at 1080p, as evidenced by the 118.5 FPS on Low.

At 2560x1440, the GPU’s workload increases by 78% in pixel count compared to 1080p, and the performance drop is substantial. The Low preset falls from 118.5 to 95.9 FPS (19.1% drop), which is a larger percentage loss than the CPU’s 3DMark 2-thread score of 1902 would suggest, indicating that the GPU is now more heavily loaded. The gap between Medium (77 FPS) and High (53.3 FPS) is 30.8%, which is a much steeper penalty than at 1080p, showing that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading power are insufficient for the increased resolution. The CPU’s role becomes less dominant here, as the GPU is struggling to maintain frame times.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant bottleneck. The Low preset averages 70 FPS, which is a 27.0% drop from 1440p Low, and the Ultra preset averages 39.5 FPS, which is a 28.4% drop from 1440p Ultra. These consistent percentage drops across all presets indicate that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The CPU’s robust multi-thread score (Cinebench R23 22799) and 6 cores/12 threads are not utilized to their full potential in this scenario, as the game’s rendering is limited by the GPU’s ability to process pixels. The data suggests that if the GPU were upgraded, the CPU would still have headroom to support higher frame rates at 4K, but with the RTX 4060, the user must accept Low settings.

The Verdict

Based on the measured FPS data and the 60 FPS playable threshold, this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the experience varies dramatically by resolution. At 1920x1080, the system is fully playable on all presets: Low (118.5 FPS), Medium (95.7 FPS), High (72 FPS), and Ultra (64.2 FPS) all exceed 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (95.9 FPS) and Medium (77 FPS) are playable, while High (53.3 FPS) and Ultra (55.2 FPS) fall short. At 3840x2160, only Low (70 FPS) is playable, with Medium (56.1 FPS), High (43.4 FPS), and Ultra (39.5 FPS) all failing to reach the threshold.

The verdict is clear: the RTX 4060 is a capable 1080p card for this game, offering a smooth experience even on Ultra. For 1440p, users must be willing to dial back to Medium for a consistent 60+ FPS, but the drop from High to Medium is significant in terms of visual quality. For 4K, the system is only viable on Low settings, which may compromise the visual fidelity that flight sim enthusiasts expect. The data shows that this combo is not a high-end solution, but it is a solid mid-range one that requires setting adjustments to match the display resolution.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings that maintain 60 FPS or higher is the Ultra preset, which averages 64.2 FPS. This is the most demanding preset that remains playable, and it provides the highest visual quality available. The next step down, High, averages 72 FPS, but Ultra offers a better experience without sacrificing frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are the Medium preset, which averages 77 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that stays above 60 FPS, as High falls to 53.3 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p provides a good balance of visual detail and smoothness, but users should expect a noticeable reduction in texture quality and shadow fidelity compared to High.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are the Low preset, which averages 70 FPS. This is the only preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold, and it requires the user to accept minimal graphical details. The jump from Low to Medium at 4K reduces the average FPS by 19.9% to 56.1, which is below the playable threshold, so Low is the only viable option for 4K gaming with this combo.