Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a highly variable experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with playability heavily dependent on resolution and settings. At 4K, the combo struggles to maintain 60 FPS at any preset, while 1440p and 1080p offer viable options at Medium settings. The data reveals a system that is clearly capable of smooth flight simulation at mainstream resolutions but falls short of high-refresh or ultra-fidelity expectations at higher pixel counts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo produces its strongest results. Low settings yield an average of 97 FPS, a robust figure that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium settings drop to an average of 76 FPS, with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS, indicating a stable frame time distribution even during demanding scenes. High settings reduce the average to 57 FPS, falling just below the playable threshold, while Ultra settings average 54 FPS, further underscoring the performance cost of maximum fidelity at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling is predictable but steeper. Low settings average 78 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS mark. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS; this is the borderline case where average performance is playable but occasional dips below 60 FPS can occur. High settings average 46 FPS, a significant drop from Medium, while Ultra settings average 44 FPS, showing minimal difference between High and Ultra at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo clearly struggles. Low settings average 58 FPS, just 2 FPS shy of the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, revealing substantial frame variance. High settings average 34 FPS, and Ultra settings average 32 FPS, both far from playable. The 4K results indicate that the Intel Arc B580’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient for this simulator’s demanding rendering workload at high pixel counts.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data shows a nuanced division of labor between the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and the Intel Arc B580. At 1920x1080, the gap between Low and Medium settings is 21 FPS (97 to 76), while the gap between Medium and High is 19 FPS (76 to 57). This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU’s 8-core, 16-thread configuration is sufficient to feed the GPU, and the frame rate is primarily limited by the GPU’s rendering capabilities. The Ryzen 7 5700’s single-thread performance, as indicated by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 901, is adequate for the simulator’s main thread, which is known to be sensitive to single-core speed.

At 2560x1440, the scaling shifts. The difference between Low and Medium is 17 FPS (78 to 61), while Medium to High is 15 FPS (61 to 46). This narrowing delta suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the more dominant bottleneck, reducing the impact of CPU-bound settings. The Ryzen 7 5700’s multi-threaded capabilities, reflected in its cinebench_r23_multicore score of 20655, help maintain consistent frame pacing, but the Arc B580’s 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute is the limiting factor at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting component. The drop from Low (58 FPS) to Medium (45 FPS) is 13 FPS, and Medium to High is 11 FPS (45 to 34). The even steeper decline from High to Ultra (34 to 32 FPS) indicates that the GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are saturated. The CPU’s role diminishes almost entirely at 4K, as the pixel throughput demands exceed what the Arc B580 can deliver, regardless of the Ryzen 7 5700’s headroom.

Best Settings per Resolution

For users targeting the 60 FPS playable threshold, the data identifies the most demanding preset that maintains playability at each resolution. At 1920x1080, Medium settings are the best choice, delivering an average of 76 FPS. This preset provides a substantial visual improvement over Low while remaining 16 FPS above the threshold, offering a comfortable margin for avoidable dips below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings again emerge as the optimal choice, averaging 61 FPS. This is a marginal pass, with the minimum recorded at 52 FPS, meaning users may experience occasional stutter in dense areas or during rapid camera movements. Low settings average 78 FPS and offer a safer alternative, but Medium is the highest preset that clears the threshold on average.

At 3840x2160, no settings preset achieves the 60 FPS target. The best option is Low, which averages 58 FPS, but this falls short of the playable threshold. Users must accept a sub-60 FPS experience at 4K or reduce the resolution to 1440p for a playable frame rate. The verdict data confirms that 4K has no playable settings, with bestSettings listed as null.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s overall ranking in Microsoft Flight Simulator is 2788 out of 3714 tested configurations, placing it in the lower 25th percentile of all tested combos. This rank reflects the demanding nature of the simulator and the mid-range positioning of both components. The Ryzen 7 5700 holds a percentileVsAllCpus of 78, indicating it outperforms 78% of all CPUs in the database, while the Intel Arc B580 holds a percentileVsAllGpus of 68. The disparity between the CPU’s strong relative standing and the GPU’s more modest position suggests that the Arc B580 is the primary constraint in this pairing.

The combo’s rank of 2788 means that a significant majority of tested systems—over 900 combos—deliver better performance in this game. This is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the system barely scraping past 60 FPS at 1440p Medium. For context, the Ryzen 7 5700’s avgBenchmarkScore is 25517, and the Arc B580’s avgBenchmarkScore is 23021, but these aggregate scores do not translate directly to flight simulator performance, which favors strong single-thread CPU performance and high GPU memory bandwidth.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Examining the nearest rivals for both components provides insight into what other hardware would behave similarly in this game. For the CPU, the closest alternatives are the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (avgScore 25530, deltaPct -0.1), the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (avgScore 25485, deltaPct 0.1), the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (avgScore 25550, deltaPct -0.1), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (avgScore 25446, deltaPct 0.3). All of these processors have average scores within 0.3% of the Ryzen 7 5700, meaning they would deliver nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Xeon and Ryzen 5 6600H are slightly slower, while the Ryzen 5 7640U is essentially identical.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (avgScore 23061, deltaPct -0.2), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (avgScore 22895, deltaPct 0.6), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (avgScore 23172, deltaPct -0.7), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (avgScore 23249, deltaPct -1). The RTX 2080 is 0.6% faster than the Arc B580, while the RX 580 2048SP is 0.2% slower. Notably, the RTX 3080 is listed as 0.7% slower, though this is within the margin of error for synthetic benchmarks. Users with these GPUs would expect similar FPS numbers in this game, assuming the CPU remains the same.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p with High settings?

A: No. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 High is 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium settings are the highest playable preset at this resolution, averaging 76 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable settings preset at 1440p?

A: Medium settings is the best option, averaging 61 FPS. Low settings average 78 FPS, but Medium provides higher visual quality while still clearing the 60 FPS threshold on average.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this hardware?

A: No settings preset at 3840x2160 achieves the 60 FPS target. Low settings average 58 FPS, which is the closest result, but it still falls short of playable.

Q: Which component is more likely to bottleneck at 4K?

A: The Intel Arc B580 GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is sufficient, but the GPU’s 13.67 TFLOPS and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K, as indicated by the steep FPS drop from 1440p to 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 2788 out of 3714 combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This is due to the GPU’s mid-range positioning rather than the CPU, which ranks in the 78th percentile.

Q: Would a different GPU with similar benchmark scores change the outcome?

A: No. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, with a deltaPct of 0.6, is the closest rival and would deliver nearly identical FPS. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, at -0.2% delta, would be marginally slower.

The Verdict

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + Intel Arc B580 combo can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but only under specific conditions. At 1920x1080, Medium settings average 76 FPS, providing a smooth experience with headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Medium settings average 61 FPS, which is playable but with less margin, as the minimum recorded FPS is 52. At 3840x2160, the system fails to reach 60 FPS at any preset, with Low averaging 58 FPS—the best result but still below playable. The verdict data confirms playable settings at 1440p (Low and Medium) and 1080p (Low and Medium), with the best settings being Medium at both resolutions. For users seeking a stable flight simulator experience, this combo is best suited for 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium, where the balance of visual quality and frame rate is acceptable. Pushing to High or Ultra at any resolution results in sub-60 FPS averages, making those presets unsuitable for smooth gameplay.