Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a uniquely demanding title, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a clear pattern: this is a pairing that scales predictably with settings, but hits a hard wall at higher resolutions. The data shows a system that can deliver smooth frame rates at 1080p, becomes marginal at 1440p, and requires significant compromises at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to show exactly where the limits are.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and uniform, pointing to a system that becomes GPU-bound as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 63.6 at 1920x1080 to 49.8 at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 22% when moving to 1440p. Pushing further to 3840x2160 drops the average to 40 FPS, which is another 20% loss from the 1440p figure. This is a classic sign that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions; the gap between 1080p and 4K is a 37% reduction in average frame rate at High settings.

The scaling pattern holds across all settings. At Low settings, the system achieves 113.5 FPS at 1080p, but this falls to 90.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 62.7 FPS at 4K. This indicates that even when the graphical load is minimized, the GPU cannot maintain higher frame rates at 4K, confirming the graphics card is the bottleneck. Interestingly, the difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is a 20% drop, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is a larger 31% decline, suggesting the GPU struggles more disproportionately as resolution increases.

The shape of the curve suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint at 4K. If the Ryzen 5 2600 were the limiting factor, the frame rates would cluster closer together regardless of resolution. Instead, the steady decline with each resolution step indicates the RTX 2070 SUPER is doing the heavy lifting, and its 8 GB of VRAM and memory bandwidth are being saturated. For a flight simulator that renders vast landscapes and detailed cockpits, this resolution scaling is the most critical takeaway: 1080p is the sweet spot, 1440p is playable with adjustments, and 4K demands Low settings to approach 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip. Its specifications include a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, paired with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. These numbers are directly relevant to the game's results, as Flight Simulator is known for loading large texture sets and streaming terrain data.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a notable factor. At 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 37.7, which is the lowest measured result in the entire set. This is not just a resolution issue; it suggests the GPU is running out of memory or bandwidth to handle the high-resolution textures and complex geometry at the highest preset. The fact that 4K High (40 FPS) and 4K Ultra (37.7 FPS) are so close indicates that the extra detail from Ultra offers little return when the GPU is already near its limit.

The GPU's compute capabilities are also relevant. With 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, the RTX 2070 SUPER delivers 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. It also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, though Flight Simulator's use of these features is not detailed in the data. The pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s give a sense of the raw throughput available. In practice, the benchmark results show that the GPU performs best in the 1080p range, where it can push frame rates from 63.2 (Ultra) to 113.5 (Low), but it struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher presets.

The GPU sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22206. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, scores 22307, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the RTX 2070 SUPER is essentially on par with that professional card. The data indicates this GPU is a mid-range performer in the current landscape, and its role in this combo is to provide solid 1080p performance with headroom for 1440p at medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 2600 and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1087 out of 1795 total combos. This places it in the 60th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 60% of configurations but is beaten by the other 40%. This is a solid mid-pack result, reflecting the balanced nature of the components.

The rank indicates that while this combo is not top-tier, it is far from entry-level. The CPU's average benchmark score of 19616 places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's score of 22206 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. The combo rank of 1087 suggests that the system is well-matched, with neither component severely dragging down the other in this specific title. The CPU's performance relative to rivals shows it is competitive: the Intel Core i5-1345U scores 19691 (delta -0.4%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U scores 19508 (delta 0.6%). This means the Ryzen 5 2600 is within 1% of these newer mobile chips, which is notable for a desktop processor from 2018.

For a flight simulator that is heavily dependent on both single-thread and multi-thread performance, this rank suggests the combo is adequate for 1080p gaming but will require lower settings at higher resolutions. The rank of 1087 out of 1795 is a useful reference point: users looking for a smoother 4K experience would need to look at higher-ranked combos, while those targeting 1080p will find this system more than capable.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 113.5, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 37.7, which is below the 40 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay in this simulator.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, scores 22307, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the RTX 2070 SUPER is slightly slower.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce an average of 49.8 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 50.3 FPS. The difference is only 0.5 FPS, indicating Ultra is not significantly more demanding at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is likely the bottleneck, as frame rates scale significantly with settings (from 63.2 FPS at Ultra to 113.5 FPS at Low), indicating the graphics card is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1087 out of 1795 tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 113.5 FPS on Low, 88.6 FPS on Medium, 63.6 FPS on High, and 63.2 FPS on Ultra. The small gap between High and Ultra (0.4 FPS) suggests that Ultra settings at 1080p are well within the GPU's capabilities.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 90.3 FPS on Low, 66.5 FPS on Medium, 49.8 FPS on High, and 50.3 FPS on Ultra. Interestingly, Ultra slightly outperforms High at this resolution, which could indicate measurement variance or a specific optimization in the game's rendering pipeline. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at High settings (from 63.6 to 49.8 FPS, a 22% decline).

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 62.7 FPS on Low, 51.1 FPS on Medium, 40 FPS on High, and 37.7 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is the only one above 60 FPS at this resolution, and even then, it is only marginally above the threshold. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a clear degradation: 62.7, 51.1, 40, and 37.7 FPS, respectively. This indicates that for a stable 60 FPS experience at 4K, users would need to select Low settings, which is a significant compromise for a visually demanding title like Flight Simulator.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen architecture (specifically Zen+ Pinnacle Ridge). It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 96 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s, and it connects to the motherboard via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and the complex simulation of flight dynamics. The data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this combo. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 113.5 FPS, which is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. The CPU's multi-threaded performance is solid: it scores 1127 in Cinebench R15 multi-core, 4698 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 11186 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. Single-thread scores are 159, 663, and 1579 in the same tests, respectively.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 19616 places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are all within 1% in terms of average score. This indicates that the Ryzen 5 2600 is a competent performer for its generation, though it is not a top-tier chip by modern standards. In this game, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid becoming a limiting factor at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU's limitations overshadow the CPU's capabilities. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield larger gains than upgrading the CPU, given the resolution scaling patterns observed.