Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator across all tested resolutions, with the data showing that this combination never drops below the 60 FPS playable threshold even at the most demanding settings. Benchmark results indicate that the system is consistently GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance ensures smooth operation even in the simulator's most complex scenes.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160 (4K), the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 77 FPS. This is a significant margin above the 60 FPS threshold, providing headroom for complex scenery or dense urban areas. The High preset delivers 81 FPS, while Medium reaches 108 FPS and Low hits 138 FPS, all comfortably above the playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440 (1440p), the Ultra preset remains the best choice with an average of 105 FPS. This represents a 36% improvement over the 4K Ultra result, showing that the resolution scaling is nearly linear for this combination. The High preset achieves 110 FPS, Medium reaches 146 FPS, and Low delivers 188 FPS.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the Ultra preset produces an average of 130 FPS, which is the highest Ultra result across all resolutions. The High preset reaches 136 FPS, Medium delivers 181 FPS, and Low achieves 207 FPS. Notably, the difference between Ultra and High at 1080p is only 6 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional visual features have minimal performance impact at this resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with a score of 26274, which is 0.2% lower than the Ryzen 5 7600's 26324 average. The AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS scores 26402, putting it 0.3% ahead. The Intel Core i9-11900KF achieves 26212, trailing by 0.4%, while the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U scores 26187, which is 0.5% behind. These deltas are all within 1%, meaning any of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are remarkably close in average benchmark scores. The Intel Arc Pro A60 matches the RTX 4090's 60347 average score with a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M achieves 61896, putting it 2.5% ahead, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, trailing by 2.9%. Despite these benchmark similarities, the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth provide a substantial advantage in texture-heavy flight simulation scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured data shows a clear progression across settings. The Low preset averages 138 FPS, which is the highest result at this resolution. Medium drops to 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 124, representing a 22% decrease from Low. High averages 81 FPS, a 25% reduction from Medium. Ultra averages 77 FPS, which is only 5% lower than High, indicating diminishing returns from the Ultra settings at 4K.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern but with higher absolute values. Low averages 188 FPS, Medium achieves 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 and maximum of 168, High reaches 110 FPS, and Ultra delivers 105 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 36 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 5 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are the highest across all measurements. Low averages 207 FPS, Medium achieves 181 FPS with a minimum of 154 and maximum of 208, High reaches 136 FPS, and Ultra delivers 130 FPS. The 27 FPS difference between High and Medium at 1080p is notably larger than the 5 FPS difference between Ultra and High, suggesting that High settings provide most of the visual quality without the full performance cost of Ultra.

The Verdict

The data unequivocally shows that this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator at or above 60 FPS at every resolution and preset combination tested. At 3840x2160, the verdict lists all four settings (High, Low, Medium, Ultra) as playable, with Ultra achieving 77 FPS. The 2560x1440 verdict similarly marks all settings as playable, with Ultra reaching 105 FPS. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable with Ultra averaging 130 FPS.

The best settings recommendation is Ultra at every resolution, since even the most demanding preset stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. The minimum recorded frame rates support this conclusion: at 4K Medium the minimum is 92 FPS, at 1440p Medium the minimum is 124 FPS, and at 1080p Medium the minimum is 154 FPS. While minimum values are not provided for Ultra presets, the average values of 77, 105, and 130 FPS respectively indicate that even significant frame rate dips would likely remain above 60 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals the division of labor between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p, the system achieves 207 FPS on Low settings, but the CPU's performance ceiling becomes apparent when comparing Low to Ultra: the 77 FPS drop from 207 to 130 FPS is largely attributable to GPU load, as the CPU must handle increasing draw calls and simulation logic at higher presets. The Ryzen 5 7600's single-thread score of 1852 in Cinebench R23 and 999 in 3DMark single-thread tests indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for flight simulation's main thread.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to take a more prominent role. The difference between Low (188 FPS) and Ultra (105 FPS) is 83 FPS, which is larger than the 77 FPS difference at 1080p. This suggests that the RTX 4090's rendering load increases proportionally with resolution. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate provide ample headroom for the increased pixel count.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck. The Low preset's 138 FPS is substantially lower than the 207 FPS at 1080p, representing a 33% reduction. The Ultra preset's 77 FPS is 41% lower than the 130 FPS at 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4090 is fully utilized at 4K, while the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 112th out of 3714 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the top 3% of all tested systems, which is notable given that the CPU is a mid-range 6-core processor while the GPU is a flagship model. The rank reflects the game's sensitivity to both CPU single-thread performance and GPU rasterization power.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 78, while the GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 88. The combination of a high-percentile GPU with a moderate-percentile CPU still achieves a top-112 ranking, indicating that Microsoft Flight Simulator benefits more from GPU performance than CPU performance in the tested configurations. The 24 GB of VRAM on the RTX 4090 likely contributes to this ranking, as the game can cache extensive texture data without memory pressure.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 207, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The maximum frame rate recorded is 208 FPS, observed at 1920x1080 with Medium settings.

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

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 77 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are listed as playable at this resolution.

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

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average is 130 FPS, while at 3840x2160 Ultra it drops to 77 FPS, representing a 41% reduction in frame rate.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 92, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is still well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Which is more important for this game, the CPU or GPU?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes more dominant at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance matters more, but at 4K the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as shown by the 33% FPS drop from 1080p Low (207 FPS) to 4K Low (138 FPS).

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 112th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3% of all tested systems in Microsoft Flight Simulator.