Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination delivers a playable, though not flawless, experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with performance scaling predictably as resolution and settings increase. The data shows a system that is clearly capable of handling the simulator’s demands at 1080p, but which begins to show its limits as pixel count and visual fidelity rise, making the choice of settings and resolution critical for a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of degradation as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 111 FPS at 1080p to 89 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of roughly 20%. Moving to 4K, the average falls to 66 FPS, which represents a 40% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling suggests that while the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, the graphics card becomes increasingly burdened as the pixel count grows.

The trend is similar across other settings. At Medium, the average FPS goes from 86 at 1080p to 69 at 1440p and then to 51 at 4K. At High, the figures are 65, 52, and 39 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset shows the steepest absolute decline, starting at 62 FPS at 1080p, falling to 50 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 37 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all presets, hovering around 40-45%, which indicates that the scaling bottleneck is primarily the GPU’s rendering workload rather than a CPU limitation.

This pattern is typical for a simulation title where draw calls and physics calculations are heavy, but the visual load of terrain, weather, and aircraft models scales directly with resolution. The fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop (roughly 20-23%) is smaller than the 1440p to 4K drop (roughly 26-29%) suggests that the RX 9060’s memory bandwidth and processing power are adequate for the former but stretched thin at the latter. The 4K results, particularly at Ultra, dip below the 40 FPS threshold which is often considered the minimum for a playable flight sim, indicating that users targeting 4K will need to compromise on settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo to maintain a consistent 60+ FPS?

A: Based on the data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combination consistently exceeds 60 FPS. At 1080p, the Low preset averages 111 FPS, Medium averages 86 FPS, and High averages 65 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 62 FPS, which is still above the threshold but close to it.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. At 4K, the average FPS ranges from 66 on Low to 37 on Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K yields 51 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. The High and Ultra presets at 4K fall below 40 FPS, which may result in noticeable stuttering during complex scenes.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset consistently delivers lower frame rates than High across all resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 3 FPS (62 vs 65). At 1440p, the gap widens to 2 FPS (50 vs 52). At 4K, the difference is also 2 FPS (37 vs 39). The performance cost of Ultra over High is relatively small, but it still pushes the system closer to its limits.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more of a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the FPS drops significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K. However, the CPU’s performance is still relevant. The Ryzen 5 5600F has a PassMark single-thread score of 2872 and a multithread score of 19236, which places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is capable of keeping up with the GPU’s output at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like for this combo?

A: The data includes min and max FPS for the Medium preset only. At 1080p, the min is 73 and the max is 99, showing a spread of 26 FPS. At 1440p, the min is 59 and the max is 80, a spread of 21 FPS. At 4K, the min is 44 and the max is 59, a spread of 15 FPS. This tighter spread at higher resolutions indicates that the frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: In the database of 2996 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1712th. This places it in the lower half of all tested systems, suggesting that while it is functional, it is not a top-tier performer for this specific title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the central component in determining frame rates in this simulator, and its specifications explain the observed performance scaling. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the data indicates it becomes a constraint at 4K with higher presets, where the average FPS drops to 37-39.

The GPU’s clock speeds are another factor. With a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, the card has a wide dynamic range. The boost clock is rarely sustained under heavy load, but the game clock of 2400 MHz is the likely operating point during gameplay. The performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K (66 FPS vs 37 FPS) shows how much headroom the card has when the shading units (1792) and texture mapping units (112) are not fully saturated.

The GPU’s architecture, RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm process, includes 28 ray tracing cores, but the game’s performance does not appear to be heavily dependent on these. The FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS is a moderate figure, and the pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are adequate for the simulator’s needs. The fact that the RX 9060’s PassMark G3D score of 17631 puts it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014, reinforces that this is a mid-range card that excels at 1080p but struggles at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing a smooth and responsive experience, the data points to specific settings per resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset is the optimal choice, delivering an average of 65 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a significant visual improvement over Medium (86 FPS) while only sacrificing 21 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 62 FPS, is also viable, but the 3 FPS gain from High to Ultra is marginal, making High the more efficient option.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best balance, achieving an average of 69 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution that stays above 60 FPS. The High preset drops to 52 FPS, which is playable but could cause noticeable judder in dense areas. Users with higher refresh rate monitors may prefer Medium to maintain fluidity, while those with 60 Hz displays could tolerate High.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 51 FPS is the next best option, providing a better visual experience but still below the ideal threshold. The High (39 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) presets are not recommended for a smooth experience, as they fall below 40 FPS, which can lead to stutter and input lag. For 4K, users should either accept Low settings for performance or Medium for a compromise.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the comprehensive database of 2996 tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1712. This position in the lower half of the list indicates that while the combo is functional, it is not competitive with higher-end systems that feature more powerful CPUs and GPUs. The rank is a composite measure that considers performance across all tested settings and resolutions.

The CPU’s individual standing is stronger than the combo’s overall rank. The Ryzen 5 5600F scores an average benchmark of 36945, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (deltaPct 0) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), showing that it is on par with current mid-range processors. In contrast, the GPU’s average benchmark score of 16014 puts it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (deltaPct -0.7). This imbalance, where the CPU is a stronger component than the GPU, explains why the combo’s rank is lower than the CPU’s percentile, as the GPU is the performance bottleneck in this simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a comprehensive list of all measured average frame rates for this combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator, organized by resolution and settings preset.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 111 FPS average
• Medium: 86 FPS average, with a min of 73 and max of 99
• High: 65 FPS average
• Ultra: 62 FPS average

At 2560x1440, the results are as follows:

• Low: 89 FPS average
• Medium: 69 FPS average, with a min of 59 and max of 80
• High: 52 FPS average
• Ultra: 50 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows:

• Low: 66 FPS average
• Medium: 51 FPS average, with a min of 44 and max of 59
• High: 39 FPS average
• Ultra: 37 FPS average

The min and max FPS data is only available for the Medium preset across all resolutions. The spread between min and max narrows as resolution increases, from 26 FPS at 1080p to 15 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the GPU’s workload becomes more consistent at higher resolutions, reducing the likelihood of sudden frame drops, but also lowering the peak performance. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance, with 1080p Low being the fastest configuration and 4K Ultra being the slowest.