Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best Settings per Resolution

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the playability threshold is 60 FPS. The most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS at each resolution determines the recommended settings.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the recorded data shows no preset achieves 60 FPS. The best result is at Low settings with an average of 50.6 FPS, which still falls short of the threshold. High settings yield 28.7 FPS, Medium produces 39.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 27.7 FPS. Therefore, 4K is not viable for a smooth experience with this hardware combination.

At 2560x1440, only Low settings clear the 60 FPS bar, delivering an average of 73.8 FPS. Medium settings come close at 59.9 FPS but remain just below the threshold. High settings average 43.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 38.4 FPS. The recommended preset for 1440p is Low, as it is the only option that provides headroom above 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, both Low and Medium presets exceed the 60 FPS target. Low settings produce 91.6 FPS, while Medium achieves 70.4 FPS. High settings average 52.6 FPS, and Ultra manages 51.5 FPS. The best playable preset at 1080p is Medium, since it offers a more visually demanding experience while still maintaining an average above the 60 FPS threshold.

The data indicates that this system scales predictably: each step up in resolution reduces the maximum playable preset tier. At 1080p, Medium is the ceiling; at 1440p, Low is the ceiling; at 4K, no preset reaches playable status.

CPU and GPU Roles

The interaction between the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 shifts depending on resolution and preset. The benchmark results reveal distinct patterns in where the bottleneck lies.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The difference between Low and Ultra settings is substantial: Low averages 50.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 27.7 FPS, a reduction of 22.9 FPS or roughly 45 percent. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 4 architecture, has ample headroom at this resolution. The RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus width are taxed heavily by the pixel workload at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts slightly. Low settings reach 73.8 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster than the GPU can render at higher presets. Medium drops to 59.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's shading units and texture units become the limiting factor as settings increase. The gap between Low and Medium (13.9 FPS) is smaller than the gap between Medium and High (16.5 FPS), showing that the GPU's workload grows non-linearly with preset complexity.

At 1920x1080, the CPU's role becomes more prominent. Low settings yield 91.6 FPS, which is the highest recorded average across all configurations. This indicates that the Ryzen 7 7700's single-thread performance, reflected in its 3DMark single-thread score of 1049 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1930, is sufficient to drive high frame rates. However, as settings increase to High (52.6 FPS) and Ultra (51.5 FPS), the GPU's limitations surface. The minimal difference between High and Ultra (1.1 FPS) suggests that the RTX 2060 has reached its rendering ceiling at these settings, regardless of CPU headroom.

The scaling between resolutions reinforces this analysis. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS from 91.6 to 73.8 (a 19.4 percent drop), and from 1440p to 4K reduces it from 73.8 to 50.6 (a 31.4 percent drop). This progressive degradation indicates that the GPU is increasingly stressed as pixel count rises. At Medium settings, the drops are from 70.4 to 59.9 (14.9 percent) and then to 39.8 (33.6 percent), showing a similar pattern.

In summary, the CPU is never the primary bottleneck at any resolution for this game. The RTX 2060's performance ceiling is reached well before the Ryzen 7 7700's capabilities are exhausted. Users seeking higher frame rates at 1440p or 4K would need a more powerful GPU, while the CPU has demonstrated sufficient headroom for the tested configurations.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS recorded is 50.6 at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playability threshold. High, Medium, and Ultra presets all fall further behind, with averages of 28.7, 39.8, and 27.7 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: Low settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 73.8 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 59.9 FPS, just barely missing the mark.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 perform at 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 51.5. This is below the 60 FPS threshold, meaning Ultra is not playable. High settings perform similarly at 52.6 FPS, while Medium settings achieve 70.4 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 7700 or the RTX 2060 the limiting factor?

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and presets. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 91.6 FPS, showing strong CPU capability. However, as settings increase, FPS drops significantly, with Ultra at 1080p reaching only 51.5 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's ceiling.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p Medium?

A: The recorded average is 59.9 FPS, which is 0.1 FPS below the 60 FPS playability threshold. In practice, this would be borderline, but the data classifies it as not playable.

Q: Does the system have any headroom for future settings changes?

A: At 1080p Medium (70.4 FPS) and 1440p Low (73.8 FPS), there is approximately 10 to 14 FPS of headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, there is no headroom, as even the best Low preset averages 50.6 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Examining the nearest rivals for both components provides context for what other hardware might behave similarly in this game.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 has an average benchmark score of 40081 and ranks in the 87th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close in performance. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, a delta of 0.1 percent, meaning it would perform virtually identically in CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Core 5 221E scores 40144, a negative delta of 0.2 percent, indicating slightly higher performance. The AMD Ryzen 9 270 scores 40246, 0.4 percent ahead, and the Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40313, 0.6 percent ahead. All four rivals are within a fraction of a percent of the Ryzen 7 7700, so any of them would produce nearly identical frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator when paired with the same GPU.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290 and ranks in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with a score of 15283, a delta of 0 percent, meaning essentially identical performance. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270, 0.1 percent behind. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199, 0.6 percent behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171, 0.8 percent behind. These GPUs would deliver comparable frame rates in this flight simulator, with the RX 7600 being slightly slower.

For this specific game, the CPU is less critical than the GPU, as established in the previous section. Therefore, swapping the Ryzen 7 7700 for any of its nearest rivals would have negligible impact on the measured FPS. Conversely, swapping the RTX 2060 for a GTX 580 or RTX 3050 OEM would produce nearly identical results, while moving to an RX 7600 might yield a marginal decrease in performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents all recorded average frame rates for this hardware combination across resolutions and settings. Minimum and maximum FPS values were not captured in the data.

At 3840x2160:

• Ultra: 27.7 FPS
• High: 28.7 FPS
• Medium: 39.8 FPS
• Low: 50.6 FPS

At 2560x1440:

• Ultra: 38.4 FPS
• High: 43.4 FPS
• Medium: 59.9 FPS
• Low: 73.8 FPS

At 1920x1080:

• Ultra: 51.5 FPS
• High: 52.6 FPS
• Medium: 70.4 FPS
• Low: 91.6 FPS

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra either slightly below or comparable to High. At 1080p, the difference between High (52.6 FPS) and Ultra (51.5 FPS) is minimal, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers little additional visual benefit for the performance cost. At 4K, the same relationship holds: High (28.7 FPS) and Ultra (27.7 FPS) are nearly identical, while Medium (39.8 FPS) provides a meaningful improvement.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is roughly consistent: Low drops by 17.8 FPS, Medium by 10.5 FPS, High by 9.2 FPS, and Ultra by 13.1 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more severe: Low drops by 23.2 FPS, Medium by 20.1 FPS, High by 14.7 FPS, and Ultra by 10.7 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become increasingly strained as resolution increases, particularly at lower presets where the CPU can otherwise push higher frame rates.

The Verdict

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the experience depends heavily on resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system is playable at Low and Medium presets. Low settings average 91.6 FPS, providing substantial headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 70.4 FPS, which is still comfortably playable. High and Ultra presets fall short at 52.6 and 51.5 FPS respectively, so they should be avoided if smooth gameplay is the priority.

At 2560x1440, only Low settings are playable, averaging 73.8 FPS. Medium settings just miss the threshold at 59.9 FPS, making it a borderline case. High and Ultra are not viable at 43.4 and 38.4 FPS.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves playable frame rates. The best result is Low at 50.6 FPS, which is still below the 60 FPS threshold. High, Medium, and Ultra produce 28.7, 39.8, and 27.7 FPS respectively.

In summary, this combination is suitable for 1080p gaming with Medium settings or 1440p gaming with Low settings. It is not suitable for 4K gaming under any preset. Users prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate could tolerate the 1440p Medium result, but the data classifies it as unplayable by the 60 FPS standard.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2975 out of 3714 tested combinations. This places it in the lower portion of the distribution, specifically in approximately the 20th percentile of all recorded systems.

The ranking reflects the RTX 2060's position as a mid-range GPU from the Turing generation. While the CPU is a strong performer, ranking in the 87th percentile among all CPUs, the GPU holds only the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Since this game is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, the GPU's lower relative standing drags the overall combo ranking down.

The recorded data shows that many other combinations achieve higher frame rates at the tested resolutions and presets. The 2975th rank out of 3714 indicates that a significant majority of tested systems outperform this one in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is consistent with the fact that the RTX 2060 is an end-of-life product from 2019, while the Ryzen 7 7700 is a 2023 release with current architecture.

For users considering this combination, the ranking suggests that while it is functional for 1080p Medium play, it is far from the top of the performance hierarchy. The CPU has headroom for a GPU upgrade, which would substantially improve the ranking. However, with the current GPU, the system remains a viable entry-level option for this flight simulator at moderate settings and resolutions.