Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator, released 2020-08-17, is a flight simulation title whose measured frame rates depend heavily on resolution and preset. This database entry pairs the AMD Ryzen 5 5500, a 6-core/12-thread Zen 3 CPU on Socket AM4, with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, an RDNA 1.0 GPU featuring 8 GB GDDR6 memory. Measured data covers 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160 across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets, and the results show a configuration that is far stronger at 1080p than at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how each preset changes the experience.

| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | 96.4 | 76.3 | 58.9 | 55.0 |

| 2560x1440 | 77.2 | 65.2 | 45.3 | 42.1 |

| 3840x2160 | 56.0 | 46.2 | 35.9 | 33.3 |

At 1080p, Low produces 96.4 FPS, Medium 76.3, High 58.9, and Ultra 55.0. Medium is the highest preset that remains well above the High and Ultra results while not sacrificing the Low preset’s visual downgrade. At 1440p, Medium sustains 65.2 FPS, which is the strongest non-Low result at that resolution; High and Ultra fall to 45.3 and 42.1 respectively. At 4K, no preset reaches the same frame-rate class as 1080p, and Low is the fastest option at 56.0 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 46.2, High to 35.9, and Ultra to 33.3.

For the measured data, Medium is the most effective preset at 1080p and 1440p because it maintains a substantial margin over High and Ultra while staying far ahead of the 4K results. At 4K, Low is the sensible choice for smoother motion, whereas High and Ultra should be reserved for users who prioritize image quality over frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture at 7 nm and has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, its game clock is 1755 MHz, and its boost clock is 1905 MHz. The memory runs at 1750 MHz, described in the FACT PACK as 14 Gbps effective, across an 8 GB GDDR6 interface with a 256-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is listed at 448.0 GB/s, and the GPU’s FP32 throughput is 9.754 TFLOPS.

These specifications are reflected in the measured frame rates. The GPU is capable of pushing the configuration to 96.4 FPS at 1080p Low, but the same GPU produces 56.0 FPS at 4K Low and only 33.3 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 8 GB VRAM pool is not directly observable in the FPS rows, but the GPU’s bandwidth and clock figures are consistent with a card that handles 1080p and 1440p comfortably and becomes increasingly strained at 3840x2160. The role of the GPU is most visible in the 4K Ultra result, which is the lowest measured average in the entire set.

Resolution Scaling

The rate of frame-rate decline from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all four presets. At Low, the average goes from 96.4 at 1080p to 77.2 at 1440p and 56.0 at 4K. At Medium, it goes from 76.3 to 65.2 and then 46.2. At High, it goes from 58.9 to 45.3 and 35.9. At Ultra, it goes from 55.0 to 42.1 and 33.3.

Every preset shows a stepwise drop as resolution increases, which points to the rendering pipeline becoming the limiting factor. The CPU configuration—6 cores, 12 threads, 16 MB L3 cache, and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz—does not change when resolution changes. What changes is the amount of work sent to the GPU. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 96.4 FPS indicates that the CPU can feed a high frame rate when the GPU is not heavily stressed by resolution. At 4K, even Low drops to 56.0 FPS, while Medium and above fall below 50 FPS. This scaling behavior is characteristic of a system where the GPU determines performance at higher resolutions and the CPU has enough headroom to keep up at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: Which measured preset gives the highest average FPS at each resolution?

A: Low is the fastest preset at every resolution: 96.4 FPS at 1080p, 77.2 FPS at 1440p, and 56.0 FPS at 4K. Among non-Low presets, Medium is the strongest measured result at all three resolutions: 76.3, 65.2, and 46.2 FPS respectively.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K?

A: The measured 4K results are 56.0 on Low, 46.2 on Medium, 35.9 on High, and 33.3 on Ultra. No 4K preset reaches the frame rates recorded at 1080p, and Low is the only 4K setting with an average above the 4K Medium result.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare with its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 20875 and sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. It trails the Intel Core i5-12500, which scores 20897, by 0.1%, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE, which scores 20900, by 0.1%. It also trails the Intel Core i5-12600T, which scores 20917, by 0.2%, while leading the AMD EPYC 7J13, which scores 20845, by 0.1%.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare with its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 24731 and sits in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, which scores 24763, by 0.1%. It leads the Intel Arc A350M, which scores 24647, by 0.3%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile, which scores 24592, by 0.6%, and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, which scores 24519, by 0.9%.

Q: What are the main memory specifications of this configuration?

A: The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The GPU uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the main limiting component?

A: The measured FPS rows show a strong decline from 1080p to 4K on every preset, while the CPU’s core and thread configuration remains constant across resolutions. This pattern is consistent with the GPU being the primary limiter at higher resolutions, especially because 1080p Low reaches 96.4 FPS, showing that the CPU can support high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is ranked 1374 out of 1795 tested combos. That places it in the lower portion of the measured population, even though the individual component percentiles look stronger on their own. The CPU is in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

The gap between those component-level positions and the in-game rank suggests that Microsoft Flight Simulator’s specific workload does not translate directly from synthetic average benchmark scores. The CPU’s nearest rivals are all within a narrow score band around 20875, and the GPU’s nearest rivals are all within a narrow band around 24731. At the game level, however, the pairing lands at rank 1374 of 1795, meaning most tested configurations in the database deliver a better measured result in this title. The data is marked as measured rather than estimated, so the rank reflects actual FPS rows across the tested resolutions and presets.