Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is a mid-range combination facing one of the most demanding titles in modern simulation gaming. Microsoft Flight Simulator, released in August 2020, is notorious for punishing GPUs at higher resolutions, and the recorded data confirms the RTX 2060 struggles once pixel counts climb. The CPU side is far less of a concern: the Ryzen 7 5800XT sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs in the database, so this pairing is firmly GPU-limited in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results show a playable experience at lower and middle presets. Low settings deliver an average of 90.7 FPS, Medium reaches 69.4 FPS, High drops to 56.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50.6 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs nearly 13 FPS on average, which pushes the setup below the 60 FPS threshold, so High and Ultra are out of reach even at Full HD.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates slide down across the board. Low averages 72.5 FPS, Medium 57.6 FPS, High 46 FPS, and Ultra 38.6 FPS. Only the Low preset clears 60 FPS here, and the margin is comfortable at over 12 frames above the threshold. Medium misses the cut by under 3 FPS, making it a borderline option for players tolerant of occasional dips.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 is clearly out of its depth. Low manages 55.6 FPS, Medium 40.9 FPS, High 30.6 FPS, and Ultra 32.3 FPS. Interestingly, Ultra slightly outpaces High at this resolution, 32.3 versus 30.6 FPS, which suggests some of the Ultra-only effects may shift load off the rasterization path or that preset scaling behaves non-linearly at 4K. Either way, nothing at 4K reaches the playable threshold, and even the fastest result sits more than 4 FPS short.

The RTX 2060's hardware helps explain the pattern. With 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus and 336 GB/s of bandwidth, plus a 58th percentile standing among all GPUs in the database, the card simply lacks the headroom for 4K rendering in this engine. Its PassMark G3D score of 14111 places it alongside the Radeon RX 7600, the RTX 3050 OEM, the Radeon 680M, and even the GTX 580 in aggregate scoring, which is to say it belongs in the middle of the pack, not at the state-of-the-art. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 5800XT posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23794 and a single-core score of 3359, numbers that keep the simulation side of the game fed without issue.

Best Settings per Resolution

The best preset is defined as the most demanding option that holds at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the answer is Medium at 69.4 FPS. High, at 56.6 FPS, misses by under 4 frames, so players who prioritize visual fidelity could argue for it, but by the strict 60 FPS standard, Medium is the ceiling.

At 2560x1440, the answer is Low at 72.5 FPS. Medium at 57.6 FPS is close but does not qualify.

At 3840x2160, there is no qualifying preset. The best recorded average is 55.6 FPS at Low, which falls short of the threshold, so 4K has no recommended settings under this standard.

The practical takeaway: Full HD at Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware, delivering a balance of image quality and a frame rate comfortably above 60. Frame rates in a flight simulator are also less twitch-sensitive than in competitive shooters, which makes the 69.4 FPS Medium result feel smoother than the same number would in a fast-action title.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 7 5800XT's average benchmark score of 29879 is matched almost exactly by its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840H averages 29868, a 0 percent difference, while the Ryzen 7 8845HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS both average 29955, just 0.3 percent ahead. The Ryzen 5 9600X averages 29713, only 0.6 percent behind. Any of these processors would produce an effectively identical CPU-side experience in this game, and since the RTX 2060 is the bottleneck at every resolution tested, swapping between these chips would change nothing measurable in Flight Simulator frame rates.

On the GPU side, the picture is similar in aggregate scoring. The GTX 580 sits at 15283 versus the RTX 2060's 15290, a dead heat at 0 percent delta. The Radeon 680M averages 15270, just 0.1 percent behind, the RTX 3050 OEM averages 15199 at 0.6 percent behind, and the Radeon RX 7600 averages 15171, 0.8 percent behind. Based on these composite scores, systems built around any of these graphics solutions should land in the same general performance band, though aggregate scores smooth over per-game variance and the RTX 2060's dedicated hardware could matter in titles that lean on it.

For someone assembling a PC with equivalent Flight Simulator behavior, the data points to the Ryzen 7 5800XT plus RTX 2060 as the reference point, with the listed rivals as drop-in performance equivalents on each side of the equation.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but only at resolutions up to 1440p and only with settings discipline.

At 1920x1080, both Low (90.7 FPS) and Medium (69.4 FPS) clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Medium being the best playable preset. At 2560x1440, only Low qualifies at 72.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the best result is 55.6 FPS at Low.

The overall ranking reinforces this middling standing: this combination ranks 2944 out of 3714 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom third of the database for Microsoft Flight Simulator. That positioning is consistent with the GPU's 58th percentile overall, dragged down in a title that is exceptionally heavy on the graphics card. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, at the 81st percentile with eight cores, sixteen threads, and a 4.80 GHz boost clock, is doing more than its share; the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor at every tier.

Players who want higher settings or higher resolutions will need a stronger GPU. Players satisfied with 1080p Medium or 1440p Low will find the experience genuinely playable, with frame rates that hold above the threshold rather than merely brushing against it.

FAQ

Q: Can the Ryzen 7 5800XT and RTX 2060 run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K?

A: Not at the 60 FPS threshold. The best 4K result is 55.6 FPS at Low settings, with Medium at 40.9, Ultra at 32.3, and High at 30.6 FPS. No preset qualifies as playable at 3840x2160.

Q: What is the best settings combination for 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Medium at 1920x1080 averages 69.4 FPS, making it the most demanding preset above the threshold. Low pushes 90.7 FPS for extra headroom.

Q: Does the CPU hold this pairing back?

A: No. The Ryzen 7 5800XT sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, scores 23794 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, and matches rivals like the Ryzen 7 8845HS within 0.3 percent. The RTX 2060 is the bottleneck.

Q: Is 1440p playable?

A: Only at Low settings, which average 72.5 FPS. Medium falls just short at 57.6 FPS, and High and Ultra drop to 46 and 38.6 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems in the game?

A: It ranks 2944 out of 3714 combinations in the database for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower portion of tested hardware for this title.

Q: Which GPUs would perform similarly to the RTX 2060 here?

A: By composite database scores, the GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and Radeon RX 7600 all sit within 0.8 percent of the RTX 2060's average score of 15290.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 7 5800XT plus RTX 2060 ranks 2944 out of 3714 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That is a bottom-third finish, and the measured frame rates explain it: no playable preset at 4K, a single playable preset at 1440p, and only two at 1080p.

The imbalance between the two components is the story. The CPU ranks in the 81st percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 58th percentile, and this particular game amplifies that gap because it is one of the most GPU-intensive simulations in the database. In less graphically punishing titles the same processor would pull this pairing further up the charts.

For context on where the silicon stands in absolute terms: the Ryzen 7 5800XT is a Zen 3 Vermeer design on a 7 nm TSMC process with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and a 105 W TDP, while the RTX 2060 is a Turing TU106 part built on a 12 nm process with 1920 shading units and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. The GPU is also end-of-life, having been succeeded by the GeForce 30 series, whereas the CPU remains in active production.

The bottom line for prospective builders consulting the database: this combination delivers a valid Flight Simulator experience at 1080p Medium (69.4 FPS) and 1440p Low (72.5 FPS), but its 2944th-place ranking correctly signals that it is not the hardware to buy for high-settings or 4K flight.