Microsoft Flight Simulator

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator reveals a clear performance hierarchy tied to both resolution and graphical preset. At 3840x2160, the system operates well below the 60 FPS playability threshold across all four tested settings. The Low preset delivers an average of 52.7 FPS, which is the strongest result at this resolution, while Medium drops to 43.7 FPS, High falls further to 31.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 28.6 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 24.1 FPS, indicating that even at 4K, the preset selection has a substantial impact on frame rate, though none of these results clear the playable mark.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture improves meaningfully. Low settings produce an average of 71.6 FPS, the only preset at this resolution that reaches above 60 FPS. Medium follows at 57.3 FPS, which is just shy of the threshold, while High manages 43.7 FPS and Ultra settles at 42 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 14.3 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 1.7 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns in the upper range of the preset ladder. It is notable that the 1440p High figure exactly matches the 4K Medium figure at 43.7 FPS, an interesting coincidence that points to similar rendering loads between these two configurations.

At 1920x1080, the combination finally shows its stronger side. Low settings reach an average of 91 FPS, the highest recorded number in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 69 FPS, comfortably above the playability threshold, while High drops to 56.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 48.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 22 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High is 12.4 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra costs another 7.8 FPS. Across all resolutions, the data shows that the RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth create a bottleneck that manifests most severely at 4K, where even the lightest preset cannot sustain a playable experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database identifies the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS for each resolution. At 3840x2160, no preset qualifies. The closest result is Low at 52.7 FPS, which is 7.3 FPS short of the target. This means that for 4K play, the user would need to look beyond the tested settings, potentially at lower internal resolutions or external scaling solutions, though those were not part of the recorded measurements.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Low, with an average of 71.6 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by 11.6 FPS, providing some headroom, but there is no room for Medium, which falls to 57.3 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p users are locked into the lowest preset if they want smooth performance, and even then, the margin is not enormous.

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Medium, averaging 69 FPS. This is 9 FPS above the threshold, and it represents the most visually demanding configuration that the system can handle while maintaining fluidity. Low is also playable at 91 FPS, but Medium offers a better balance of visual quality and performance. High at 56.6 FPS and Ultra at 48.8 FPS are both below the line, so they do not qualify. The pattern across resolutions is consistent: the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor, and the Ryzen 9 9900X's substantial compute resources cannot compensate for the GPU's memory and bandwidth constraints at higher settings.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD EPYC 9015 with a score of 57555 and a delta of -0.1%, the AMD EPYC 7313 at 57399 with a delta of 0.2%, the Intel Core i9-14900 at 58115 with a delta of -1.1%, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M at 58323 with a delta of -1.4%. These deltas are all within 1.5% of the Ryzen 9 9900X's average score of 57498, meaning that in CPU-bound scenarios, swapping to any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame rates. For Microsoft Flight Simulator, which does leverage single-thread performance heavily, the Ryzen 9 9900X's single-thread score of 1286 in 3dmark and 2253 in Cinebench R23 suggests it is well positioned, but the game's performance here is clearly not CPU-limited at most settings.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, and its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 at 15283 with a delta of 0%, the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 with a delta of 0.1%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 with a delta of 0.6%, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171 with a delta of 0.8%. All of these GPUs sit within 0.8% of the RTX 2060 in average score, so a user swapping between them would see nearly indistinguishable performance in this game. The RTX 2060's percentile of 58 among all GPUs, compared to the CPU's 92 percentile, reinforces that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing. The GTX 580 is a particularly interesting comparison, as its identical score suggests that despite being an older architecture, its raw rasterization performance aligns closely with the RTX 2060 in aggregate benchmarks, though the RTX 2060's additional features like ray tracing and DLSS support would not be reflected in these specific scores.

The Verdict

The question of whether this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator depends heavily on the target resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the answer is a qualified yes. The database shows that Medium settings achieve 69 FPS on average, clearing the 60 FPS threshold, and Low reaches 91 FPS. However, High dips to 56.6 FPS and Ultra to 48.8 FPS, so users seeking maximum visual fidelity at 1080p will be disappointed. At 2560x1440, the system can run the game only on Low, with an average of 71.6 FPS. Medium falls just short at 57.3 FPS, and both High and Ultra are well below the line. At 3840x2160, the system cannot achieve 60 FPS on any preset, with Low being the best at 52.7 FPS and Ultra at 28.6 FPS.

The verdict by resolution is clear: 4K is not viable, 1440p is viable only at Low, and 1080p is viable at Low and Medium. The playable settings list from the database confirms this: 3840x2160 has no playable settings, 2560x1440 lists only Low, and 1920x1080 lists Low and Medium. The best settings per resolution are null at 4K, Low at 1440p with 71.6 FPS, and Medium at 1080p with 69 FPS. This is a system that can deliver a smooth experience, but only with significant compromises in visual quality at lower resolutions, and not at all at 4K.

CPU and GPU Roles

The division of labor between the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 in Microsoft Flight Simulator is heavily skewed toward the GPU. The evidence lies in the scaling patterns across resolutions and presets. When moving from 1920x1080 Low at 91 FPS to 3840x2160 Low at 52.7 FPS, the frame rate drops by 38.3 FPS, a 42% reduction. This is a massive hit that occurs despite the CPU having identical work to do at both resolutions. The Ryzen 9 9900X, with its 12 cores, 24 threads, and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, is more than capable of feeding frames at 1080p; the fact that performance collapses at 4K points squarely at the GPU's 6 GB memory capacity and 192-bit bus.

The preset scaling within a single resolution further isolates the GPU as the bottleneck. At 2560x1440, the difference between Low and Ultra is 29.6 FPS, while at 1920x1080, the same comparison yields a 42.2 FPS gap. If the CPU were the limiting factor, these preset changes would have a smaller effect, since the CPU workload in a flight simulator is tied to simulation logic and draw calls, not directly to texture quality or shadow resolution. The RTX 2060's FP32 throughput of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, and the data shows that the GPU saturates well before the CPU's potential is reached.

However, the CPU is not irrelevant. The Ryzen 9 9900X's percentile of 92 versus the GPU's 58 indicates that the processor is far above average, and its single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 1286 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4672, helps maintain playable frame rates even when the GPU is struggling. At 1080p Low, the 91 FPS result suggests that the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to its limits, but at higher presets and resolutions, the GPU's limitations dominate. In short, the GPU is the primary constraint at every tested configuration, while the CPU provides ample headroom that goes unused in this title.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 60 FPS on 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS across all presets is 52.7 FPS on Low settings. Medium achieves 43.7 FPS, High 31.1 FPS, and Ultra 28.6 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1080p?

A: The best playable setting at 1920x1080 is Medium, which delivers an average of 69 FPS. Low is also playable at 91 FPS, but High at 56.6 FPS and Ultra at 48.8 FPS are below the threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to the RX 7600 in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, while the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171, a delta of 0.8%. The RTX 2060 is slightly ahead, but the difference is negligible in practice.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: No. The CPU's percentile of 92 among all CPUs is much higher than the GPU's percentile of 58. The performance drop between 1080p Low at 91 FPS and 4K Low at 52.7 FPS indicates the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What settings are playable at 1440p?

A: Only Low settings are playable at 2560x1440, with an average of 71.6 FPS. Medium falls just short at 57.3 FPS, while High and Ultra are at 43.7 FPS and 42 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 2966 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower portion of the database's results for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 2966 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 20th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 80% of recorded combinations perform better in this specific title. The ranking reflects the significant mismatch between the CPU and GPU: the Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end processor with a 92nd percentile standing among all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 sits at just the 58th percentile among GPUs. The game's performance is dominated by the GPU, as evidenced by the inability to reach 60 FPS at 4K and the limited preset options at 1440p, so the strong CPU cannot boost the overall ranking.

The rank of 2966 out of 3714 is a sobering data point for anyone considering this pairing. It indicates that while the CPU is future-proof and capable of driving much faster graphics cards, the RTX 2060 holds the system back to a significant degree in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient for the high-resolution textures and complex scenery that this sim demands. Users with this combo should target 1080p Medium or 1440p Low for playable frame rates, and they should consider a GPU upgrade as the logical next step to unlock the Ryzen 9 9900X's full potential. The data is unambiguous: the CPU is not the problem, and the GPU is the anchor on this system's performance in this title.