Microsoft Flight Simulator

This PC configuration pairs AMD's 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060, and the measured data for Microsoft Flight Simulator shows a system that scales predictably across resolutions and presets. At 1080p, every preset clears the 60 FPS playability threshold, with the Ultra preset averaging 71.1 FPS; at 1440p, Low and Medium settings stay above 60 FPS, while High and Ultra dip below; at 4K, only Low settings remain playable, averaging 72.2 FPS. The combination ranks 1814th out of 3714 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper half of tested systems.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 71.1 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS playability threshold. All four presets at 1080p — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — clear the threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: Medium is the best playable preset at 1440p, yielding an average of 80.2 FPS. Low also clears 60 FPS at 99.3 FPS average, but High (59.4 FPS) and Ultra (55.6 FPS) fall just short of the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: Only at Low settings. At 3840x2160, Low averages 72.2 FPS, Medium drops to 57.5 FPS, High to 41.5 FPS, and Ultra to 42.9 FPS. The verdict data lists Low as the only playable setting at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score is 26331. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 860M, scores 26401 (0.3% higher), while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26421 (0.3% higher). The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26011, which is 1.2% lower than the RTX 5060.

Q: What does the Ryzen 9 7900X's CPU benchmark percentile indicate?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X sits at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7313P, scores 53206 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 53620 (0.6% higher).

Q: Does the game's performance scale more with resolution or preset changes?

A: The data shows resolution has a larger impact. For example, at Medium settings, dropping from 4K (57.5 FPS) to 1440p (80.2 FPS) gains 22.7 FPS, while dropping from 1440p to 1080p (96.8 FPS) gains another 16.6 FPS. Preset changes at a fixed resolution show smaller gaps, such as 1440p Low (99.3 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (55.6 FPS).

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Ryzen 9 7900X's nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores are the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.2% higher average score), the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 634 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700F (0.6% higher). Systems built with any of these processors would deliver nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator, assuming the same GPU and memory configuration.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5060's closest competitors are the AMD Radeon 860M (0.3% higher average score), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (0.3% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.8% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (1.2% lower). A system swapping the RTX 5060 for any of these cards would produce FPS numbers within roughly 1% of what the 5060 delivers, meaning the playability verdict at each resolution would remain unchanged.

For practical purposes, a builder choosing between the Ryzen 9 7900X and the Core i7-14700F would see no meaningful difference in this game — both CPUs land within 0.6% of each other in average benchmark scores. Similarly, the RTX 5060 and RX 6750 XT are separated by only 1.2%, so either GPU would keep the same resolutions and presets above or below the 60 FPS line. The Xeon Phi 7290 and Xeon 634 are server-class parts, but their scores indicate they would behave like the desktop options here for this specific workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers consistent performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 125.8 FPS, Medium drops to 96.8 FPS, High settles at 72.8 FPS, and Ultra maintains 71.1 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is small — just 1.7 FPS — suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional visual features impose a minimal cost at this resolution. The jump from Low to Medium costs 29 FPS, which is the largest single-preset drop at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 99.3 FPS at Low, 80.2 FPS at Medium, 59.4 FPS at High, and 55.6 FPS at Ultra. The transition from Medium to High crosses the 60 FPS threshold, losing 20.8 FPS. Low-to-Medium costs 19.1 FPS, while High-to-Ultra costs only 3.8 FPS. This pattern shows that the game's High preset is a significant step up in rendering load at 1440p, but Ultra adds relatively little beyond that.

At 3840x2160, performance compresses further. Low averages 72.2 FPS, Medium drops to 57.5 FPS, High falls to 41.5 FPS, and Ultra recovers slightly to 42.9 FPS. The Ultra preset actually outperforms High by 1.4 FPS at 4K, which is within measurement variance but notable. The Medium-to-High drop is 16 FPS, while Low-to-Medium costs 14.7 FPS. No min or max FPS values are recorded in the data, so only averages are available for analysis.

The overall trend shows diminishing returns from higher presets as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 54.7 FPS; at 1440p, that spread narrows to 43.7 FPS; at 4K, it shrinks to 29.3 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 5060 becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, compressing the performance range across presets.

The Verdict

This PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 60 FPS or higher in several configurations. At 1920x1080, all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable, with Ultra averaging 71.1 FPS and Low reaching 125.8 FPS. The best playable setting at 1080p is Ultra, since it clears the threshold while providing the highest visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the playable settings are Low (99.3 FPS) and Medium (80.2 FPS). High and Ultra fall short at 59.4 FPS and 55.6 FPS respectively. The best playable setting at 1440p is Medium, offering a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, only Low is playable, averaging 72.2 FPS. Medium (57.5 FPS), High (41.5 FPS), and Ultra (42.9 FPS) all miss the threshold. The best playable setting at 4K is Low, which is the only option that clears 60 FPS.

The verdict data classifies the system as capable of 1080p Ultra, 1440p Medium, and 4K Low. For a smooth experience, 1080p Ultra is the recommended target. At 1440p, Medium provides good visuals with headroom above the threshold. At 4K, users must accept Low settings to maintain playability.

CPU and GPU Roles

The Ryzen 9 7900X's strong single-thread performance — a Geekbench single-core score of 2617 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2016.5 — suggests this CPU is not the primary bottleneck in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The game's performance scaling across resolutions points to the GPU becoming the limiting factor as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 125.8 FPS, which is high enough that CPU overhead could matter, but the 12-core, 24-thread configuration with a 5.60 GHz boost clock provides ample headroom.

The RTX 5060's role becomes more prominent at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the spread between Low and Ultra is only 29.3 FPS, compared to 54.7 FPS at 1080p. This compression indicates the GPU is saturated at 4K, unable to differentiate between presets as effectively. The 8 GB GDDR7 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely the limiting factors at 4K, where texture and geometry demands increase significantly.

At 1440p, the system shows a middle ground. Low and Medium clear 60 FPS with margins of 39.3 FPS and 20.2 FPS respectively, while High and Ultra fall short by 0.6 FPS and 4.4 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is the deciding factor — the CPU can feed frames fast enough, but the 5060's rendering throughput determines whether a preset crosses the threshold.

At 1080p, the CPU's influence is more visible. The small gap between High (72.8 FPS) and Ultra (71.1 FPS) — only 1.7 FPS — indicates that the GPU can handle both presets, and the CPU maintains adequate frame pacing. The larger Low-to-Medium drop of 29 FPS reflects the GPU taking on more shading work, but the overall high averages show the CPU is not holding the system back.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Ryzen 9 7900X and RTX 5060 ranks 1814th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 51st percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU's modest benchmark percentile (72nd among all GPUs) paired with a high-end CPU (91st percentile among all CPUs).

The ranking suggests that the RTX 5060 is the more limiting component in this pairing. Many other tested combos likely pair the 7900X with stronger GPUs, which would push them higher in the rankings. Conversely, combos with the 5060 and slower CPUs would rank lower. The 1814th position indicates that this system outperforms roughly half of all tested configurations, but it is not optimized for maximum frame rates in this game.

For context, the CPU's nearest rivals — the EPYC 7313P, Xeon Phi 7290, Xeon 634, and Core i7-14700F — would all produce similar rankings when paired with the RTX 5060, since their benchmark scores differ by less than 1%. The GPU's nearest rivals, including the Radeon 860M and RX 6750 XT, would also land in the same general ranking band, given their sub-1.2% score differences.

The 3714 total combos tested means this system sits just above the median. Builders seeking higher rankings would need a more powerful GPU — the CPU has substantial headroom, as evidenced by its 91st percentile standing. However, for the resolutions and presets where this combo clears 60 FPS, the ranking is adequate.