Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a distinctly balanced experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing that the CPU and GPU each take turns as the limiting factor depending on resolution and quality presets. This combination ranks 677th out of 1,795 tested configurations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. The benchmark results indicate that while the RX 9070 provides substantial graphical headroom, the six-core Zen+ processor from 2018 can constrain performance at lower resolutions and high frame rates, whereas at 4K Ultra the workload shifts decisively to the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best measured performance for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 118.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 49.1 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 19,616. It sits within a tight cluster: it is 0.4% behind the Intel Core i5-1345U, 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, 0.6% behind the Intel Core i5-11600KF, and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-10700F.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the CPU provide, and how does that factor into the system?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a theoretical bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s. This is a standard figure for its platform and does not present a bottleneck in the measured FPS data.

Q: Does the RX 9070’s VRAM capacity influence the game’s performance at high resolutions?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This capacity is sufficient for the Ultra settings tested, as the 4K Ultra score of 49.1 FPS is the lowest in the set, indicating the GPU’s compute limits rather than memory exhaustion.

Q: How does the RX 9070 rank against other GPUs in the database?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 34,780 and sits in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA A2, scores 34,866, which is 0.2% higher, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 0.8%.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-threaded performance profile according to Cinebench?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 scores 159 points in Cinebench R15 single-core, 663 in R20 single-core, and 1,579 in R23 single-core. These figures are modest by modern standards, which explains why the combo shows weaker scaling at 1080p Low where CPU overhead is more prominent.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 2600 and Radeon RX 9070 achieves a rank of 677 out of 1,795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all configurations. This is a solid mid-table result, but the data reveals a notable split in performance characteristics. The combo’s ranking is likely held back by the CPU’s age, as the RX 9070 alone sits in the 79th percentile of GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 2600 only reaches the 77th percentile of CPUs. The delta between these two components suggests the processor is the weaker link in the pairing.

Examining the measured FPS data, the combo’s standing becomes clearer when comparing resolution scaling. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 118.2 FPS, but dropping to 3840x2160 Ultra reduces that to 49.1 FPS, a 58% decrease. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions, yet the 1080p Low result of 118.2 FPS is not proportionally higher than the 1440p Low result of 109.1 FPS, indicating that the CPU begins to cap performance as frame rates climb past approximately 110 FPS. The rank of 677 overall reflects this dual limitation: strong enough for smooth 1440p play in most settings, but not competitive with high-end combos that can push past 150 FPS at 1080p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen+ architecture on a 12 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is to handle the simulation logic, AI traffic, and world-loading tasks, which are known to be heavily single-thread dependent. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,579 and the PassMark single-thread score of 2,239 indicate that this processor’s per-core performance is modest compared to modern chips.

The benchmark results show that the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the GPU is underutilized and the frame rate reaches 118.2 FPS. This is only 8% higher than the 1440p Low result of 109.1 FPS, a smaller gain than the resolution change would typically suggest. This 9 FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings points to the CPU being the limiting factor at lower resolutions, as the RX 9070 has ample headroom to render more frames if the processor could feed it faster. At 4K Low, the system still manages 92.3 FPS, which is 22% lower than 1080p Low, indicating that the GPU starts to become more involved, but the CPU remains a contributing factor.

The multi-threaded performance of the Ryzen 5 2600 is more respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,186 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 13,160. This allows the processor to handle background tasks without severe degradation, but in a game that prioritizes single-core speed, the 3.90 GHz boost clock is the ceiling for frame pacing. The data suggests that for this combo, the CPU is adequate for 60 FPS gaming in most scenarios, but it prevents the system from fully exploiting the RX 9070’s capabilities at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality settings, providing a comprehensive view of the combo’s behavior. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are as follows: Low delivers 92.3 FPS, Medium drops to 70.9 FPS, High settles at 50.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 49.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 21.4 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra is only 1.6 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces minimal additional load beyond High at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scores increase substantially: Low averages 109.1 FPS, Medium reaches 94.3 FPS, High matches the 4K Medium result at 70.9 FPS, and Ultra hits 68.1 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 41 FPS, which is a wider spread than at 4K, where the same difference is 43.2 FPS. This indicates that the GPU’s rendering load scales consistently with resolution, but the CPU’s influence becomes more apparent at 1440p Low, where the 109.1 FPS result is only 9 FPS higher than the 1080p Low score of 118.2 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates: Low produces 118.2 FPS, Medium drops to 109.1 FPS, High reduces to 90.2 FPS, and Ultra yields 85.4 FPS. The difference between 1080p Medium and 1440p Medium is 14.8 FPS, while the difference between 1080p High and 1440p High is 19.3 FPS. These gaps widen as settings increase, confirming that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher quality levels. Notably, the 1080p Ultra result of 85.4 FPS is higher than the 4K Medium result of 70.9 FPS, which shows that the RX 9070 handles resolution scaling efficiently until the 4K ultra preset overwhelms it.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using a 4 nm process at TSMC, featuring 3,584 shading units and 128 ROPs. It has a base clock of 1,330 MHz, a game clock of 2,070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2,520 MHz. The GPU is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU’s primary role is rendering the expansive terrain and detailed aircraft models, which is reflected in the significant frame rate drops at 4K Ultra.

The passmark G3D score of 25,381 places the RX 9070 in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,290 confirms strong modern API performance. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K, where the difference between Low and Ultra is 43.2 FPS, a 47% reduction. At 1080p, the same settings difference is only 32.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU is mitigating the GPU’s workload at lower resolutions.

The RX 9070’s 16 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor in this dataset, as even the 4K Ultra preset with 49.1 FPS does not show signs of memory-related stuttering or crashes. The GPU’s compute capabilities, rated at 36.13 TFLOPS FP32, are adequate for the game’s demands, but the results indicate that the card’s performance is constrained by the CPU in lighter scenes. The 4K High result of 50.7 FPS versus the 4K Ultra result of 49.1 FPS shows that the GPU has marginal headroom beyond High settings, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are nearly fully taxing the card. Overall, the RX 9070 provides a solid foundation for this game, but its full potential is only unlocked at 4K, where the Ryzen 5 2600’s limitations are less prominent.