Microsoft Flight Simulator

# FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this CPU/GPU combo achieve in Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT produces an average of 56 FPS. This is the lowest average among the four settings tested at this resolution, with Low delivering 101 FPS, Medium 78 FPS, and High 59 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 33 FPS on Ultra to 60 FPS on Low. Medium settings yield 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54, while High produces 35 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS is the lowest across all tested resolutions and settings combinations.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested CPU/GPU pairs in this game?

A: The combo ranks 2058th out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that while it can run the game, many other configurations deliver higher performance.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of visual quality and smoothness?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo achieves 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 73. This is the highest average at 1440p aside from Low (81 FPS), making Medium the recommended preset for a good visual-to-performance trade-off at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600F has an average benchmark score of 36945, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938, 0% delta). It sits slightly below the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2%) and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4%), while the Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, -0.5%) is marginally ahead.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking relative to all GPUs?

A: The RX 6600 XT ranks in the 70th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277, 0.7% higher), the Intel Arc A350M (24647, -0.8%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (24236, 0.8%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, 1.1% higher).

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear pattern: lower settings yield proportionally larger frame rate gains at every resolution. At 1080p, moving from Ultra to Low raises the average from 56 to 101 FPS, a substantial 80% improvement. However, the most balanced experience comes from Medium settings, which deliver 78 FPS at 1080p with a minimum of 66 and maximum of 90 — comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, Medium settings produce 63 FPS average with a 54 FPS minimum, which remains playable for a flight simulator where precise control matters. High settings at 1440p drop to 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 45 FPS, both of which may introduce noticeable stutter during dense scenery or weather effects. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 81 FPS, but the visual degradation in a game heavily reliant on atmospheric detail makes Medium the better recommendation.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. Medium settings yield 47 FPS with a 40 FPS minimum, which is borderline for smooth flight simulation. Low settings achieve 60 FPS, but this sacrifices much of the visual fidelity that defines Microsoft Flight Simulator. Ultra and High at 4K produce 33 and 35 FPS respectively, which are below the playable threshold for most users.

The data strongly suggests that for this combo, 1080p Medium is the optimal settings preset: it delivers 78 FPS average, maintains a 66 FPS minimum, and preserves enough graphical detail for an immersive experience. At 1440p, Medium remains the best choice if the user prioritizes visual quality over maximum smoothness, while 4K should be reserved for Low settings if frame rate consistency is the primary concern.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer) using TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has 32 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core, and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's single-thread performance is critical due to the game's heavy simulation logic and physics calculations. The 5600F scores 2872 in PassMark single-thread tests, which is a strong result for its class. Its multithread score of 19236 and physics score of 1043 further indicate balanced performance across both single- and multi-threaded workloads.

The CPU's percentile ranking at 85% of all CPUs means it outperforms the majority of processors in general benchmarks. Its average score of 36945 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938), showing that these two CPUs are effectively equivalent in raw processing power. The 5600F trails the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D by only 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 by 0.4%, making these differences negligible in real-world gaming.

For this game specifically, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to handle the simulation's main thread and background tasks without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 101 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately when graphical load is reduced. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with 4K Ultra dropping to 33 FPS regardless of CPU capability.

The CPU's L3 cache of 32 MB shared across all cores helps with the large streaming data sets typical of flight simulation, where terrain and airport data are constantly loaded. The memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is adequate for DDR4, though not exceptional, and the PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2058th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 31st percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a mid-to-low tier position, meaning that roughly two-thirds of tested combos outperform this pair in this specific game.

This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component scores. The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU ranks in the 70th percentile among all GPUs. However, the game's demanding nature and the GPU's positioning relative to its nearest rivals explain the combined result. The RX 6600 XT's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, 1.1% higher score), which is a much older but higher-tier card, and the GTX 1630 (24277, 0.7% higher), which suggests the 6600 XT is at the edge of its performance class.

The combo's rank of 2058 out of 2996 indicates that while it can play the game, it does so with significant compromises at higher settings. The measured FPS data corroborates this: even at 1080p Ultra, the average of 56 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, and at 4K Ultra, the 33 FPS average is well below playable thresholds.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is more suited to 1080p gaming, where it delivers playable frame rates across all settings. At 1440p, Medium is the highest playable preset, and at 4K, only Low is viable. The ranking reflects this limitation, positioning the combo as a capable 1080p solution rather than a high-resolution performer.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is based on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process with 11,060 million transistors. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray tracing cores, with a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz.

The GPU's memory configuration is a critical factor in Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large textures and terrain data. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but at 4K Ultra, the game's memory demands can exceed this capacity, contributing to the low 33 FPS average. The 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for the card's class, though not exceptional.

The RX 6600 XT's FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s are moderate for its generation. Its pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s helps with fill-rate-bound scenes, which are common in flight simulation due to dense terrain and cloud rendering. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, ensuring compatibility with the game's rendering API.

In terms of benchmark performance, the GPU scores 16461 in PassMark G3D, placing it in the 70th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, scores 24170 (1.1% higher in average benchmark), which is notable because the RTX 2080 SUPER is an older, higher-tier card — this suggests the 6600 XT competes with cards from a higher performance bracket despite its mid-range positioning.

The GPU's measured FPS results show a clear scaling pattern: at 1080p, the average frame rate drops from 101 FPS on Low to 56 FPS on Ultra, a 45 FPS reduction. At 1440p, the range is 81 to 45 FPS, and at 4K, it narrows to 60 to 33 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU can maintain higher frame rates when the GPU load is reduced.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 101 FPS, Medium yields 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 and maximum of 90, High achieves 59 FPS, and Ultra drops to 56 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 23 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 19 FPS, and between High and Ultra is only 3 FPS — indicating diminishing returns at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 81 FPS on Low, 63 FPS on Medium (minimum 54, maximum 73), 47 FPS on High, and 45 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 54 FPS is just below the 60 FPS threshold, but the average of 63 FPS makes it the most playable option above Low. The step from High to Ultra is only 2 FPS, suggesting that Ultra offers little benefit over High at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are 60 FPS on Low, 47 FPS on Medium (minimum 40, maximum 54), 35 FPS on High, and 33 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 40 FPS indicates significant frame time variance, which could cause stuttering during complex scenes. Low is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, but the visual trade-off is substantial.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, but Medium offers the best balance of performance and visual quality for this game. The data also shows that the combo's performance drops more steeply from Medium to High than from High to Ultra, suggesting that High is a poorly optimized preset for this hardware. For users seeking the smoothest experience, 1080p Medium (78 FPS average, 66 FPS minimum) is the clear recommendation, while 1440p Medium (63 FPS average) is viable for those prioritizing resolution over maximum frame rate.