Microsoft Flight Simulator

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor built on the Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture at TSMC’s 7 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.00 GHz and boosts to 4.00 GHz, with a shared 96 MB L3 cache – a large pool for a 5000-series chip. The TDP is 105 W, and it fits AMD Socket AM4. Its PassMark single-thread score is 2,941, and the multithread score is 20,363, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Within its own performance bracket, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 37,018 puts it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, and within 0.2% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225; it is also within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-12900T and -0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450.

Flight simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator are known to be CPU-sensitive, especially when handling flight models, terrain streaming, and weather systems. The measured data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in many settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the pair produces an average of 155 FPS; at 4K with Low settings, the number only falls to 125 FPS. That modest drop suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU well enough across a 3840x2160 pixel canvas. However, the 5500X3D’s single-thread performance – scored at 2,941 in the PassMark single-thread test – still matters. The 6-core count means 12 threads, but the 96 MB L3 cache likely compensates for bandwidth-hungry flight simulation tasks by holding more of the working set on-die.

The measurements also show how the CPU scales with graphical preset changes. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra drops the average from 155 FPS to 117 FPS – a reduction, but not a collapse. At 4K Low to 4K Ultra, the drop is from 125 to 70 FPS. That larger absolute drop at 4K is consistent with the RTX 4080 taking on more of the rendering load at higher resolutions. The CPU’s role at high FPS is more visible at 1080p: the 1080p Ultra result of 117 FPS is only slightly above the 4K Low result of 125 FPS, meaning the CPU is probably still holding a headroom up to about the 125-155 range depending on geometry. The 5500X3D’s efficient Zen 3 core design with 12 threads ensures that a single flight scenario never starves the GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a top-tier graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. It packs 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, giving it a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 2,205 MHz and boost clock is 2,505 MHz. It holds a G3D benchmark storefront of 34,457 and a GPU compute score of 20,671, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 54,247 and 0.1% difference from the RTX 4080 SUPER place it essentially in the same performance band, with the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scoring 1.1% lower and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB 2.6% lower.

This GPU excels in simulators that demand high-resolution textures and volumetric effects. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the 16 GB frame buffer is sufficient for the lush scenery and ultra-high detailed aircraft at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 70 FPS, which is far above a typical playable threshold, and at 1440p Ultra it jumps to 95 FPS. At 1080p Ultra, the card delivers 117 FPS. The RTX 4080’s raw compute is strong enough to produce over 140 FPS on most presets at 1440p: for example, Medium settings at 2560x1440 reaches 131 FPS, while High goes to 99 FPS. The 22.4 Gbps effective memory speed and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth keep data flowing for large texture loads, preventing stutters, and the boost clock of 2,505 MHz allows the GPU to reach high frame rates when the CPU can supply it.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the “Medium” preset offers the best average FPS across the board, because it consistently provides both high averages and minimums are only reported for Medium. For 4K Medium, the average is 97 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS. Moving to High at 4K lowers the average to 73 FPS, and Ultra further to 70 FPS. Both High and Ultra are still playable, but Medium gives a significant frame-rate headroom – about 27 FPS more than High and 27 FPS more than Ultra (using raw numbers, these differences are 73 vs 97 and 70 vs 97). The 4K Medium minimum of 83 FPS is the most stable of the 4K presets; we do not have min/max for the other presets.

At 1440p, Medium yields an average of 131 FPS, with min 112 and max 151. High gives 99 FPS and Ultra 95. The gap between Medium and High is 45 FPS (1440p: 131 vs 99) and between Medium and Ultra is 36 FPS. For players who want to keep a high refresh rate – a typical 144 Hz panel – Medium is the preferred setting. At 1080p, Medium again leads with a 141 average (min 120, max 162), while High gives 123 and Ultra 117, with Low at 15 FPS. The Medium preset delivers over 120 FPS minimum, which is likely to produce a stable experience.

Overall, Medium delivers the lowest risk of stuttering, and the data suggests it is the best preset from a performance perspective. If someone absolutely needs maximum visuals, Ultra at 4K is playable (70 FPS avg) and at 1440p reaches 95 FPS, but the margin was 100. Therefore, the recommended settings is Medium across all three measured resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of 3,714 tested combinations, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D with RTX 4080 ranks 390th among those combos. That puts the combo in the top 10.5% of all tested systems for this game. The CPU percentile of 85 and GPU percentile of 86 (we are based) likely contribute to this high placement. The X3D’s extra L3 cache, combined with the RTX 4080's fast GDDR6X memory, creates a balanced pairing. The ranking also says that about 10.5% of other hardware combinations perform better in Microsoft Flight Simulator, which would include pairs of high-end CPUs and GPUs that are newer (like the successor RTX 50-series) or higher tier.

The small delta between the CPU and its top rivals – for instance, the 0.2% edge over the Ryzen 5 5600F and the 0.2% advantage over the Core Ultra 5 225 – shows that the CPU is placed in a narrow performance band, and the ranking heavily relies on the GPU’s contribution. The RTX 4080’s scores are within 0.1% of its SUPER version, but it sits lower to the other rivals. Overall, this combination is a solid performer, but not the absolute peak.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS scales from 1920×1080 up to 3840×2160 in a way that highlights where the system bottlenecks. For each preset, the data show a clear trend.

For Low settings, the average FPS is 155 at 1080p, 144 at 1440p, and 125 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 19 FPS, while from 1080p to 1440p is 11 FPS. The percentage drop is roughly similar: 155->144 is about 7%, 144->125 about 14%. But since we are only to write numbers from the pack, we can note that the 4K number is 125, still high.

For Medium settings, the f numbers: 1080p 141, 1440p 131, 4K 97. The 1440p number is close to 1080p (131 vs 141), but 4K drops to 97 – a number that is only a bit bigger than half of the 1080p value (141/2 is 70.5, but 19 vs). The difference is obviously large.

For High settings, 1080p 123, 1440p 99, 4K 73. The 4K number is close to 60, but it is the lowest. For Ultra, 1080p 117, 1440p 95, 4K 70.

Thus the resolution scaling shows a strong GPU dependence at high pixels. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings: for Low it is 155→125 (a 30 FPS loss), for Medium 141→97 (44 FPS loss), High 123→73 (50 FPS drop), Ultra 117→70 (47 FPS). The larger absolute fall at higher settings indicates that the resolution demands more of the GPU than of the CPU, even with a powerful CPU. At 1080p, the CPU often sits near its max output (e.g., 155 FPS on Low, 123 FPS on High), but it remains capable of feeding the GPU when the resolution increases. The system is more GPU-bound in 4K, as shown by the low Frame losses.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists all validated measurements for the combined CPU/GPU.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

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

| 3840x2160 | High | 173 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 125 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 97 | 83 | 112 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 70 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | High | 99 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 144 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 131 | 112 | 151 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 95 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | High | 123 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 155 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 141 | 120 | 162 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 117 | – | – |

The Medium presets are the only ones where minimum and maximum FPS were recorded, and those values demonstrate a stable performance. For instance, at 4K Medium the min is 83 FPS, which is only 13 FPS below the average of 97; at 1440p Medium min 112 vs avg 131, a 19 FPS spread; at 1080p Medium min 120 vs avg 141, a 21 FPS spread. That consistent tightness supports the recommendation for Medium. The other presets lack min/max, so they should be evaluated based on averages only. The highest recorded average across all tests is 155 FPS from 1080p Low, and even the lowest average is 70 from 4K Ultra. This shows the hardware can maintain playability across the board.