Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers a highly capable Microsoft Flight Simulator experience across all tested resolutions, with measured data showing that the combination consistently clears the 60 FPS playability threshold at every resolution when using appropriate presets. The dataset provides average, minimum, and maximum frame rates for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, offering a comprehensive view of how this hardware scales with the simulator's demanding rendering load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5070 and Ryzen 5 8400F combination produces an average of 61 FPS on High settings, placing it right at the playability threshold. The Medium preset delivers a more comfortable 81 FPS average, with a minimum of 69 FPS and a maximum of 94 FPS, indicating that frame pacing remains stable even during complex scenery loads. Low settings at 4K push the average to 105 FPS, while Ultra drops below the 60 FPS line with a 58 FPS average. The data shows that 4K Ultra is not viable for consistent smoothness, but High and Medium both offer playable experiences.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance headroom expands considerably. Ultra settings deliver a 79 FPS average, which is noticeably above the 4K High result, demonstrating that the GPU is becoming less of a bottleneck at this resolution. The High preset at 1440p produces an average of 83 FPS, while Medium reaches 110 FPS with a minimum of 94 FPS and a maximum of 127 FPS. Low settings provide a 142 FPS average, which is more than double the 4K Ultra result, illustrating the dramatic impact of resolution on this simulator's frame rate.

At 1920x1080, the same CPU and GPU combination produces its highest marks. The Ultra preset runs at a 98 FPS average, which is 40 FPS above the 1440p Ultra result and 40 FPS above the 4K High result. The Medium preset yields 137 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, showing excellent consistency. Low settings at 1080p reach 176 FPS, while High settings stay at 103 FPS. The gap between Ultra and High at 1080p is only 5 FPS, while the gap between High and Medium is 34 FPS, suggesting that the jump from High to Ultra is less demanding than from Medium to High.

Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset is the only one where minimum and maximum frame rates are recorded, and the data shows that the 1440p Medium minimum (94 FPS) is significantly higher than the 1080p Medium minimum (116 FPS), which is a direct consequence of the higher resolution stressing the GPU more evenly. The 4K Medium minimum of 69 FPS is the only recorded value below 90 FPS, indicating that the simulator's worst-case frame drops occur at the highest resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU benchmarks place the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F with an average score of 25005, which is 77th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest scoring rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, which has an average score of 24964, a delta of only 0.2 percent, indicating that these two processors would yield statistically identical frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Intel Core i7-11850H follows closely at 24935 with a 0.3 percent delta, and the Intel Core i7-13620H is at 24911 with a 0.4 percent delta, both within the same performance tier. On the other side, the AMD EPYC 9474F scores 25103 with a negative 0.4 percent delta, meaning it is marginally slower than the 8400F in the aggregate benchmarks.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377, placing it at the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 580, which scores 40318 with a 0.1 percent delta, making its raw compute performance nearly indistinguishable from the RTX 5070. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8 percent behind at 40063, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2 percent ahead at 40870. The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile sits 2 percent behind at 39568. In gaming terms, users with any of these rival GPUs would expect the same approximate frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator, provided the CPU remains the same.

It is essential to note that the CPU and GPU rival lists are separate, so a system with a Ryzen 5 7500F and a Radeon Pro 580 would likely show the same FPS as the 8400F plus RTX 5070 combo, while a system with a 7500F and an RTX 5070 would be CPU-limited in the same way.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data between resolutions reveals the division of labor between the Ryzen 5 8400F and the RTX 5070. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the CPU is likely the primary limiter, because the frame rate of 98 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, but the GPU has ample headroom to push higher if the CPU can feed it. When moving to 2560x1440 Ultra, the average drops to 79 FPS, a 19.4 percent decrease, which indicates that the GPU is becoming more utilized but still not saturated. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the frame rate falls to 58 FPS, a 26.6 percent decrease from 1440p, now clearly showing the GPU as the dominant constraint.

The CPU's role is highlighted by the fact that the 1080p Low preset hits 176 FPS, while the 4K Low preset hits 105 FPS. The 1440p Low result of 142 FPS is 34 FPS higher than the 1080p High result of 103 FPS, despite the higher resolution, because the Low preset reduces the GPU workload so much that the CPU is no longer the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU is definitely the bottleneck, as the GPU is capable of far more than 176 FPS, but the frame rate is capped by the CPU's single-thread performance.

The Medium preset shows the clearest CPU-GPU balance: at 1080p Medium the average is 137 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 110 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 81 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 19.7 percent reduction, while the scaling from 1440p to 4K is a 26.4 percent reduction, suggesting that the CPU still has some headroom at 1440p but the GPU is fully utilized at 4K.

The Verdict

The data indicates that this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the verdict varies by resolution. At 3840x2160, the only playable settings are High, Low, and Medium, with the best playable settings being High at 61 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 4K is not playable because it falls below the 60 FPS threshold at 58 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four settings -- Low, Medium, High, and Ultra -- are playable, with the best playable settings being Ultra at 79 FPS average. At 1920x1080, all settings are also playable, with Ultra achieving 98 FPS average.

The verdict is clear: the system can run the game at 60 FPS or above in every scenario, except for the 4K Ultra preset. For users targeting 4K, the best playable preset is High, which offers 61 FPS, just one frame above the threshold. For 1440p and 1080p, the Ultra preset provides a substantial margin over 60 FPS, making the game very smooth.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 729th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 19.6 percent of all combos. This is a strong result, especially considering that the CPU is only in the 77th percentile among CPUs and the GPU in the 82nd percentile. The top 20 percent ranking in this specific game indicates that Microsoft Flight Simulator benefits from the combination's relatively balanced performance profile. The 729th rank suggests that there are 728 other combinations that perform better, but the majority of the tested 3714 combos -- 2985 of them -- fall below this pairing. The rank is not a measure of playability but of overall performance, and the data shows that many high-end combinations will exceed the 98 FPS 1080p Ultra.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F a good match for the RTX 5070 in this game?

A: The data shows a balanced pairing, as the CPU is 77th percentile and the GPU is 82nd percentile, with the 4K Medium preset (81 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (79 FPS) results indicating that neither component is severely bottlenecking the other.

Q: What is the best 4K setting for this system?

A: The best playable setting at 3840x2160 is High, which achieves a 61 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 4K is not playable, as it drops to 58 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 1920x1080 runs at 98 FPS average, which is 38 FPS above the playability threshold of 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance does the system gain from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 98 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 1440p, a 19 FPS decrease. At Medium settings, the drop is from 137 FPS to 110 FPS, a 27 FPS decrease.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the test data?

A: The lowest recorded minimum FPS is 69 FPS, which occurs at 4K Medium settings. The highest recorded minimum is 116 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: Which processor is the closest rival to the Ryzen 5 8400F?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is the closest, with an average benchmark score of 24964 and a delta of 0.2 percent, meaning the two CPUs are within 0.2 percent of each other.

Best Settings per Resolution

For the 3840x2160 resolution, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average frame rate of 61 FPS. The Medium preset also works at 81 FPS, but High offers better visual quality while still meeting the threshold. The Ultra preset is not viable as it averages 58 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is the best choice, achieving an average of 79 FPS. This provides the full visual experience while leaving a 19 FPS headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. Users who prefer higher framerates can select 1440p Ultra with confidence.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best playable setting with an average of 98 FPS. This is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS, and its performance is 38 FPS above the threshold. The 1080p Medium setting offers 137 FPS, but the Ultra preset is the recommended choice for the best visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.