Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB presents a specific performance profile in Microsoft Flight Simulator, a title known for its demanding rendering of terrain and atmospheric effects. The measured data reveals a system where the GPU's memory capacity and the CPU's processing power interplay to define the playable experience across resolutions. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, focusing on scaling, component roles, and optimal settings based solely on the collected figures.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent and significant drop in average frame rates, indicating a system heavily influenced by resolution. At Low settings, moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces the average from 70.2 FPS to 57.9 FPS, a loss of 12.3 frames. The jump to 3840x2160 at Low settings further lowers the average to 40.5 FPS. This scaling pattern suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding frames at lower resolutions, the GPU’s rendering load becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The trend is even more pronounced at higher graphical presets. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 39.7 at 1080p to 35 at 1440p, and finally to 25.7 at 4K. The delta between 1440p and 4K at High settings is 9.3 FPS, which is a 26.6% reduction. This indicates that the graphics card is increasingly saturated with work at 4K, making the frame rate more dependent on its capabilities than on the processor. The data points to a GPU-bound scenario at 4K, where the RTX 3050 4 GB cannot maintain fluid motion regardless of the CPU's potential.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA107 chip and a process node of 8 nm. Its base clock is 1545 MHz, with a boost clock of 1740 MHz, and it features 2048 shading units. The memory configuration is a critical element here: 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s. The data shows that this memory capacity is a decisive constraint in Microsoft Flight Simulator, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

The impact of the 4 GB frame buffer is evident when comparing the 4K Ultra result of 22.3 FPS against the 1080p Ultra result of 40.8 FPS. The 18.5 FPS difference cannot be attributed solely to the increased pixel count; it also reflects the pressure on VRAM. At 4K with High or Ultra presets, the simulation’s need for texture storage and geometry data likely exceeds the available memory, causing performance to degrade more sharply than pure pixel throughput would suggest. The GPU’s 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is sufficient for the task, but the memory subsystem becomes the bottleneck, limiting the achievable frame rates in the most demanding scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB holds a combo rank of 1630 out of 1795 tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the system in the lower percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while it can run the simulation, its performance is significantly below the majority of other pairings. The rank reflects the limitations imposed by the GPU’s 4 GB memory and the mid-range positioning of both components.

The CPU’s individual performance percentile is 79, meaning it outperforms 79% of all tested CPUs. However, this strength does not translate into a high combo rank because the GPU acts as a limiting factor. The data suggests that the CPU is capable of more, but the RTX 3050 4 GB holds back the overall system performance in this specific title. The combination’s rank of 1630 is a result of this imbalance, where a capable processor is paired with a graphics card that cannot fully utilize its potential in a GPU-intensive simulation like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows its best performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 70.2 FPS, which is the highest score recorded across all tests. Medium settings yield 56.3 FPS, while High settings produce 39.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 40.8 FPS, which is actually 1.1 FPS higher than the High preset, suggesting a possible variation in test conditions or that the Ultra preset’s additional effects do not heavily tax this particular GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline across the board. Low settings average 57.9 FPS, a 12.3 FPS drop from 1080p. Medium settings average 44.8 FPS, High settings average 35 FPS, and Ultra settings average 34.2 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is minimal, only 0.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling where additional graphical features have a negligible impact on frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 40.5 FPS, which is a 17.4 FPS drop from 1440p. Medium settings average 30.6 FPS, High settings average 25.7 FPS, and Ultra settings average 22.3 FPS. The progression from High to Ultra at 4K shows a 3.4 FPS loss, demonstrating that the most demanding presets push the GPU to its absolute limit, resulting in a sub-30 FPS experience that is not smooth for a flight simulation.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the data points to a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 70.2, which is ideal for a smooth, responsive simulation. However, the Medium preset at 56.3 FPS offers a better visual experience while still maintaining a frame rate above 55 FPS, which is generally considered acceptable for this genre. The High and Ultra presets at 1080p, with averages of 39.7 and 40.8 FPS respectively, are playable but may feel less fluid.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. The Low preset at 57.9 FPS is the only option that provides a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset at 44.8 FPS is playable, but the High and Ultra presets, with averages of 35 and 34.2 FPS, are borderline for a simulation that benefits from stable frame pacing. For users prioritizing visual quality, the Medium preset at 1440p is the best balance, as it offers a 9.7 FPS improvement over High while maintaining a higher level of detail than Low.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that only the Low preset, with an average of 40.5 FPS, is viable for a playable experience. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets all fall below 31 FPS, which is too low for a smooth flight simulation. The recommendation is to avoid 4K with this GPU unless the user is willing to accept significant compromises in visual quality, as even the Low preset requires a substantial drop in settings to achieve a playable frame rate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, based on the Zen 3 architecture on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The CPU’s benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2584 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 882. Its multi-threaded capabilities are also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18309 and a Passmark multithread score of 21541.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is to handle simulation logic, physics calculations, and draw call submissions. The Ryzen 5 5600’s performance appears sufficient for this task, as evidenced by the frame rate differences between resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates are higher than at 4K, indicating that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. The data shows that when the GPU is less stressed, the CPU can deliver higher frame rates. However, the combo rank of 1630 suggests that the CPU’s potential is not fully realized because the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher settings. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 12 threads provide ample processing power for the simulation’s background tasks, but the overall system performance is dictated by the graphics card’s memory and compute limitations.