Microsoft Flight Simulator

This combo pairs the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, a flight simulation title released on 2020-08-17. The data below is drawn from measured FPS results across three resolutions and four presets, with a playable threshold of 60 FPS. The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 81st percentile among all GPUs, giving this pairing a solid foundation for a demanding sim.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, but not at the highest preset. At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low (98 FPS) and Medium (76 FPS). High (57 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS) both fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p for this combo?

A: Ultra is fully playable at 2560x1440, delivering 74 FPS average. All four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—clear the 60 FPS line at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53288. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P (53206), 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon 634 (52974), and 0.3% behind the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469). The Intel Core i7-14700F (53620) is 0.6% faster.

Q: What GPU performance tier does the RTX 4070 occupy?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 37648 on average, which is 0.1% above the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628), 0.4% above the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507), and 1.3% above the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135) is 1.3% higher.

Q: Is there a frame rate difference between Medium and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080, Medium averages 128 FPS (min 109, max 147), while Ultra averages 92 FPS. The gap is 36 FPS, but both remain well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: Does the combo rank high among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 833rd out of 3714 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top ~22% of all pairings in the database.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, with an average of 76 FPS and a minimum of 65 FPS. Low runs at 98 FPS, but Medium offers a better visual balance while still clearing the threshold comfortably. High (57 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS) are not playable by this metric.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is the best playable setting, averaging 74 FPS. This is the highest preset available, so the system has headroom at this resolution. High (78 FPS), Medium (103 FPS, min 88, max 119), and Low (133 FPS) all exceed 60 FPS as well, but Ultra provides the maximum visual fidelity without dropping below the threshold.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is again the best playable setting, delivering 92 FPS average. High (96 FPS), Medium (128 FPS, min 109, max 147), and Low (165 FPS) are all faster, but Ultra remains fully playable and is the recommended choice for visual quality. The data shows no preset at 1080p falls below the 60 FPS line.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals how the workload shifts. At 1920x1080, the CPU has more influence because lower resolution reduces GPU load. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with 12 cores and 24 threads, shows its strength here: Low runs at 165 FPS, and Ultra still hits 92 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the RTX 4070 effectively even at high draw-call counts typical of flight simulators.

Moving to 2560x1440, the GPU becomes more prominent. Ultra drops from 92 FPS at 1080p to 74 FPS at 1440p, a 19.6% reduction. Medium also falls from 128 FPS to 103 FPS. This pattern suggests the RTX 4070’s 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly taxed as pixel count rises, while the CPU still has ample headroom.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. Ultra falls to 55 FPS, and High to 57 FPS, both below the playable threshold. Medium (76 FPS) and Low (98 FPS) remain playable, but the drop from 1440p Ultra (74 FPS) to 4K Ultra (55 FPS) is a 25.7% loss. The RTX 4070’s 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for the highest preset at 4K, while the CPU’s single-thread score of 1093 in 3dmark and 2016.5 in Cinebench R23 suggests it is not the limiting factor.

The delta between Medium and Ultra at each resolution reinforces this: at 1080p, the gap is 36 FPS; at 1440p, it is 29 FPS; at 4K, it narrows to 21 FPS. As resolution climbs, the GPU’s inability to maintain Ultra-level frame rates compresses the difference between presets, confirming that the RTX 4070 is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

The Verdict

This PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the experience depends heavily on resolution and preset. At 3840x2160, the system clears 60 FPS only on Low (98 FPS) and Medium (76 FPS). High (57 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS) are below the threshold and should be avoided for smooth gameplay. The best 4K setting is Medium, which provides a playable 76 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, every preset is playable, and Ultra delivers 74 FPS average. This is the sweet spot for this combo: you get maximum visual quality without sacrificing frame rate. The minimum FPS data for Medium (88 FPS) suggests that even in dense scenery, the system holds above 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the system excels. Ultra runs at 92 FPS, and lower presets range from 96 FPS (High) to 165 FPS (Low). Medium shows a minimum of 109 FPS, so there is no risk of dropping below the playable threshold. This resolution offers the most headroom and is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Overall, the verdict is positive: the combo is fully playable at 1080p and 1440p on Ultra, and at 4K on Medium. Only 4K High and Ultra fall short of 60 FPS, so users with 4K displays should stick to Medium or lower.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the Ryzen 9 7900X’s nearest rivals are all within a narrow band of average benchmark scores. The AMD EPYC 7313P (53206) is 0.2% slower, making it a near-identical match for multi-threaded workloads. The Intel Xeon 634 (52974) is 0.6% slower, while the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469) is 0.3% faster. The Intel Core i7-14700F (53620) is the closest competitor from the consumer side, just 0.6% ahead. In practice, any of these would deliver nearly the same frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator, since the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1440p or 4K.

For the GPU, the RTX 4070’s nearest rivals show similar performance. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628) is 0.1% slower, and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) is 0.4% slower. The AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157) trails by 1.3%, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135) is 1.3% faster. These differences are small enough that swapping to any of these cards would produce nearly identical FPS results. The RTX 4080 Mobile might squeeze out a few extra frames at 4K Ultra, but the delta is minimal.

When choosing an alternative, consider that the RTX 4070 is end-of-life, so availability may favor newer options. The RX Vega 56 is older but still competitive at this performance level. For CPU swaps, the i7-14700F offers similar multi-core performance with a different platform, while the EPYC 7313P is a server part that would require a different motherboard.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Ryzen 9 7900X and RTX 4070 ranks 833rd out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 22.4% of all pairings in the database. This is a strong showing for a mid-to-high-end desktop setup, reflecting the CPU’s 91st percentile standing and the GPU’s 81st percentile standing.

The rank is driven more by the GPU than the CPU at higher resolutions, as the 4K results show the RTX 4070 struggling with Ultra presets. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo outperforms many systems with weaker CPUs but similar GPUs, because the 7900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads handle the simulation’s heavy single-thread and multi-thread demands simultaneously. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and single-core score of 2016.5 indicate balanced strengths.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive middle tier. It is not a top-tier card, but it is capable of 60+ FPS at 1440p Ultra and 1080p Ultra in this game. The combo rank reflects this: it is well above the median, but not in the top echelon occupied by higher-end GPUs. For users targeting 4K Ultra, a stronger GPU would be necessary, but for 1440p and below, this pairing is more than sufficient.