Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a striking performance profile in Microsoft Flight Simulator, where the GPU’s immense raw power is frequently held back by the CPU’s modest single-thread capabilities. The data shows this combination ranks 400th out of 1,795 tested combos, placing it in the top 22% of all systems, yet the frame rate patterns across resolutions reveal a system that shifts from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K, with the sweet spot appearing at 1440p Medium where the balance yields 113.1 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The combination ranks 400th out of 1,795 tested combos, placing it in the 77.7th percentile of all systems tested for this game.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 4600G compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU scores 17,489 on average, which is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (17,482, 0% delta), 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12450H (17,475), 0.8% behind the Intel Core i3-14100T (17,636), and 1% behind the Intel Core i3-13100F (17,665).

Q: What is the performance gap between the RX 7900 XT and its closest competitors?

A: The GPU averages 38,358 points, matching the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile (38,349, 0% delta), sitting 0.3% above the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (38,225), 0.4% below the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 (38,494), and 0.6% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135).

Q: What is the best frame rate achieved at 1080p in this game?

A: The highest average is 140.1 FPS at Low settings, followed by 129.5 FPS at Medium, 105.4 FPS at High, and 100.1 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How much performance drops when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 105.4 FPS at 1080p to 85.8 FPS at 1440p and finally to 59.4 FPS at 4K, representing a 43.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 4600G a bottleneck for the RX 7900 XT in this title?

A: Benchmark results indicate yes at lower resolutions, as the frame rate gap between Low and Ultra settings shrinks from 40 FPS at 1080p to just 4.7 FPS at 4K, suggesting the CPU limits performance when the GPU is less stressed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, manufactured on a 7nm process with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its 8 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but the CPU’s synthetic benchmark scores reveal its positioning: the multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 13,593 is respectable, while the single-thread score of 1,919 highlights a weakness.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the data shows this single-thread limitation is the primary constraint. At 1080p, the system delivers 140.1 FPS on Low settings but only 100.1 FPS on Ultra — a 40 FPS spread that indicates the CPU fails to feed the GPU adequately as settings increase. The 3DMark single-thread score of 726 and PassMark single-thread score of 2,653 both place the CPU at the 75th percentile of all processors, yet the nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-14100T and i3-13100F, which outperform it by 0.8% and 1% respectively in average score.

The CPU’s 65W TDP and 4.20 GHz boost clock suggest it can sustain reasonable performance, but the benchmark results indicate that at 1080p, the processor is the limiting factor. The 129.5 FPS at Medium and 105.4 FPS at High demonstrate that the CPU’s architectural limits cap the system below what the RX 7900 XT could otherwise deliver.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is a powerhouse built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with 5,376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operation units. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus provides 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz drive impressive compute capabilities, including 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmarks are formidable, with a PassMark G3D score of 29,009 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,623, placing it at the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the data reveals that the GPU becomes the dominant factor only at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rates scale predictably with settings: 54.7 FPS at Ultra, 59.4 FPS at High, 81 FPS at Medium, and 103.7 FPS at Low.

The 800 GB/s memory bandwidth proves crucial at 4K, where texture streaming demands are high. The GPU’s 20 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for this title, and the data confirms that at 4K, the system behaves like a GPU-bound configuration: the difference between Low and Ultra is 49 FPS, which is far larger than the 40 FPS gap at 1080p, indicating the GPU is now the primary performance driver.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 4600G and RX 7900 XT achieves a rank of 400 out of 1,795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 22.3% of all systems. This ranking is notable because it reflects a significant mismatch: the GPU alone sits at the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU rests at the 75th percentile of all CPUs, yet the combo outperforms many more balanced configurations.

The data indicates that the RX 7900 XT’s raw power compensates for the CPU’s weaknesses at higher resolutions, which is why the combo ranks as high as it does. At 4K, the system delivers 59.4 FPS at High settings, which is playable, and 54.7 FPS at Ultra, which is borderline. The ranking would likely be much higher if the CPU were stronger, as the GPU is clearly capable of more, but the 400th position out of 1,795 represents a solid mid-tier result for a system with a 2020-era processor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions tells a clear story about system balance. At Low settings, the system delivers 140.1 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and 103.7 FPS at 4K — a drop of 36.4 FPS from 1080p to 4K, or 26% loss. At Medium settings, the figures are 129.5 FPS, 113.1 FPS, and 81 FPS respectively, representing a 48.5 FPS drop (37.5% loss). High settings show 105.4 FPS, 85.8 FPS, and 59.4 FPS, a 46 FPS decline (43.6% loss).

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling: 100.1 FPS at 1080p, 80.8 FPS at 1440p, and 54.7 FPS at 4K, a 45.4 FPS drop (45.4% loss). The pattern is revealing: as resolution increases, the percentage drop grows, which confirms that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed. However, the absolute FPS drops are relatively consistent (36-49 FPS), suggesting that the CPU still imposes a floor on performance even at 4K. The fact that 1080p Low (140.1 FPS) and 4K Low (103.7 FPS) differ by only 36.4 FPS indicates that the CPU limits the system at low resolutions, while the GPU takes over at higher ones.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest averages: 140.1 FPS on Low, 129.5 FPS on Medium, 105.4 FPS on High, and 100.1 FPS on Ultra. The 40 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is the smallest of any resolution, reinforcing that the CPU is the bottleneck here.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 133 FPS on Low, 113.1 FPS on Medium, 85.8 FPS on High, and 80.8 FPS on Ultra. The spread grows to 52.2 FPS, showing the GPU beginning to assert its influence. The jump from High to Ultra is only 5 FPS, which suggests diminishing returns at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 103.7 FPS on Low, 81 FPS on Medium, 59.4 FPS on High, and 54.7 FPS on Ultra. The spread is 49 FPS, and notably, the gap between High and Ultra narrows to 4.7 FPS, indicating that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The 4K Low result of 103.7 FPS is particularly telling: it shows the GPU’s capability, but the 1080p Low result of 140.1 FPS proves the CPU cannot maintain that pace at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal balance of performance and visual quality is achieved at 1440p with Medium settings, which delivers 113.1 FPS. This configuration provides a frame rate well above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining respectable visual fidelity, and it represents the best ratio of FPS to settings in the entire dataset.

For 4K users, High settings at 59.4 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays just above 60 FPS and is only 4.7 FPS slower than Ultra, while Medium at 81 FPS offers a smoother experience for those prioritizing frame rate over detail. At 1080p, Ultra settings at 100.1 FPS is viable, but the data shows that High at 105.4 FPS offers nearly identical performance with potentially better stability, making it the safer pick.

The data strongly suggests avoiding Low settings at any resolution above 1080p, as the GPU has ample headroom and Low sacrifices significant visual quality for marginal FPS gains. The 4K Low result of 103.7 FPS versus Medium’s 81 FPS illustrates this: the 22.7 FPS difference comes at the cost of dramatically reduced detail, which is rarely worth it in a flight simulator where visual fidelity is central to the experience.