Microsoft Flight Simulator

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers its widest playable envelope. The Low preset averages 120.4 FPS, which is the highest measured result across any resolution and settings combination in this dataset. Medium drops to 91 FPS, while High and Ultra sit at 69.4 FPS and 69 FPS respectively. The gap between High and Ultra is remarkably narrow—only 0.4 FPS—which suggests that the Ultra preset’s additional visual demands are almost entirely absorbed without meaningful performance loss at this resolution. The 1080p Ultra result of 69 FPS clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by a comfortable 15% margin.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve steepens. Low preset runs at 97.3 FPS, still well above the threshold. Medium averages 73.8 FPS, maintaining a solid cushion above 60 FPS. High drops to 54.7 FPS, which falls below the playability line, and Ultra bottoms out at 51.2 FPS. The transition from Medium to High at 1440p represents a 19.1 FPS loss, the largest single-preset step in this resolution tier. This indicates that the High preset introduces a significant rendering load increase that this combo cannot fully sustain at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset remains viable. Low averages 71.2 FPS, clearing the threshold by 11.2 FPS. Medium falls to 56.9 FPS, just 3.1 FPS shy of playable. High averages 38.5 FPS, and Ultra is the worst result in the entire dataset at 37.7 FPS. The 4K High-to-Ultra delta is only 0.8 FPS, mirroring the 1080p behavior where these two presets perform nearly identically—but at 4K both are firmly in unplayable territory. The 4K Medium result of 56.9 FPS is the closest any non-Low preset comes to the 60 FPS threshold across all resolutions.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear resolution-dependent split in workload balance. At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 is the limiting factor at higher presets, but the CPU’s headroom allows Ultra to match High almost exactly—69 FPS versus 69.4 FPS. This near-identical result implies that the GPU is saturated at both settings, and the extra visual features in Ultra are essentially free from a GPU-load perspective at 1080p. The CPU, with its 8-core Zen 4 architecture and 3DMark max-thread score of 8479, provides sufficient instruction throughput to avoid bottlenecking even at the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shifts. The 73.8 FPS Medium result versus 54.7 FPS High shows a 26% performance penalty for the preset step-up, which is larger than the 1080p equivalent (91 FPS to 69.4 FPS, a 24% drop). This suggests that as pixel count increases, the GPU’s fill-rate and shading capacity become more dominant, and the CPU’s role diminishes relative to the total frame time. The Ryzen 7 7700’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18760 and single-core score of 1930 indicate strong per-thread performance, but at 1440p and beyond, the RTX 4060’s 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become the primary constraints.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unambiguously the bottleneck. The 4K Low result of 71.2 FPS versus 1080p Low of 120.4 FPS represents a 41% performance reduction purely from resolution scaling. The 4K Medium-to-High drop (56.9 to 38.5 FPS) is a 32% penalty, and High-to-Ultra is negligible at 2%. These patterns indicate that the 8 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and 128-bit bus are stretched at 4K, especially with higher presets that increase texture and geometry complexity. The CPU’s 32 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s provide adequate feeding for the GPU at lower resolutions, but at 4K the GPU’s memory subsystem becomes the ceiling.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 sits within 0.6% of four comparable processors. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 is 0.1% ahead, the Intel Core 5 221E is 0.2% behind, the AMD Ryzen 9 270 is 0.4% behind, and the Intel Core i9-13905H is 0.6% behind. In practical terms for Microsoft Flight Simulator, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates when paired with the same RTX 4060, because the game’s performance at 1440p and 4K is GPU-limited. The Ryzen 7 7700’s 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its 8-core/16-thread configuration, means that swapping to any of these rivals would shift results by less than 1% in synthetic workloads, and likely imperceptibly in actual gameplay.

For the GPU, the RTX 4060’s nearest rivals are all older or integrated parts. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 is 0.2% behind in average score, the AMD Radeon 780M is 0.3% behind, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5% behind, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 is 0.7% behind. The RTX 4060’s 61st percentile among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier. In Microsoft Flight Simulator specifically, the Radeon 780M—an integrated graphics solution—would likely fall far short of the RTX 4060’s 4K Low result of 71.2 FPS, despite having a similar synthetic average score, because the game’s real-time rendering demands stress the discrete GPU’s dedicated memory bandwidth. The HD 7790’s age and lack of modern feature support would also impair performance in this 2020 title.

The Verdict

This PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the playable settings vary sharply by resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—clear the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset averages 69 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where the full visual experience is achievable. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium averaging 73.8 FPS. High and Ultra fall to 54.7 FPS and 51.2 FPS respectively, both below the playability line. At 3840x2160, only Low is playable, averaging 71.2 FPS. Medium misses the threshold by 3.1 FPS at 56.9 FPS, while High and Ultra are substantially below at 38.5 FPS and 37.7 FPS.

The verdict data confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with maximum settings, or 1440p gaming with medium settings. The 4K experience is limited to the Low preset, which is playable but sacrifices significant visual fidelity. For users targeting 60 FPS as a hard floor, the safe operating envelope is 1080p Ultra, 1440p Medium, or 4K Low. Any preset above those at each resolution will drop below 60 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 69 FPS. This provides the highest visual quality available while still clearing the playability threshold by 9 FPS. The High preset also achieves 69.4 FPS, but Ultra offers additional visual features at essentially the same frame rate, making it the optimal choice.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Medium, averaging 73.8 FPS. This is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS at this resolution. Choosing High would drop performance to 54.7 FPS, which is 8.8% below the threshold. Medium provides a 23% performance buffer over the playability line, making it a stable choice for 1440p gaming.

At 3840x2160, Low is the only playable preset, averaging 71.2 FPS. This is the sole 4K option that clears 60 FPS. Medium falls short at 56.9 FPS, so users seeking 4K performance must accept the Low preset’s reduced visual detail. The 71.2 FPS result provides an 18.7% margin above the threshold, which is sufficient for most flight simulation scenarios, though busy airport environments could cause dips.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3714 tested combinations in the database for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + RTX 4060 pairing ranks 2034th. This places it in the 55th percentile of all tested combos, meaning roughly 45% of tested systems perform better and 55% perform worse. Given that the RTX 4060 sits at the 61st percentile among GPUs and the Ryzen 7 7700 at the 87th percentile among CPUs, the combo’s overall ranking is dragged down by the GPU’s mid-range positioning. The CPU is a top-tier performer in synthetic benchmarks, but in this game at higher resolutions, the GPU’s 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus limit the system to mid-pack results.

The ranking also reflects that Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding title. A combo ranked 2034th out of 3714 still achieves 1080p Ultra at 69 FPS, which is a playable result. The gap between this system and higher-ranked combos likely stems from GPUs with larger memory buses and higher shading throughput, which would show larger advantages at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, the CPU’s strength helps the system perform closer to its higher-ranked peers.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 38.5, which falls well below the 60 FPS playability threshold. Only the Low preset at 4K achieves playable performance, averaging 71.2 FPS.

Q: What is the best quality preset at 1440p that stays above 60 FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 averages 73.8 FPS, making it the highest quality option that clears the 60 FPS threshold. High and Ultra drop to 54.7 FPS and 51.2 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7790, 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M, 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 560, and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 460.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: No. At 1080p, the High and Ultra presets produce nearly identical frame rates (69.4 FPS and 69 FPS), indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 7700’s single-thread score of 1930 in Cinebench R23 provides ample processing headroom.

Q: What is the largest single-preset FPS drop in the dataset?

A: The drop from Medium to High at 2560x1440 is the largest, falling from 73.8 FPS to 54.7 FPS—a loss of 19.1 FPS. This is larger than the 1080p Medium-to-High drop of 21.6 FPS in percentage terms, and the 4K Medium-to-High drop of 18.4 FPS.

Q: How many tested combinations rank below this system in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: This combo ranks 2034th out of 3714 tested combinations, meaning 1680 combos rank below it. The system sits in the 55th percentile of all tested hardware pairings for this game.