Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and Intel Arc B570 is a pairing that lands in the lower-middle tier of tested configurations. The measured data places this combo at rank 2406 out of 2996 tested combos, meaning it outperforms roughly 20% of systems but lags behind a significant majority. This is not a high-end setup for this simulator; it is a functional, mid-range option that demands careful settings management to achieve a consistently playable experience, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results provide a clear hierarchy for this combo, and the most balanced experience is found at Medium settings. Across all three tested resolutions, the Medium preset delivers a frame rate that sits comfortably between the extremes of Low and High, while maintaining a playable minimum. At 1080p, Medium yields an average of 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS, which is smooth enough for the vast majority of flight scenarios. The jump from Low to Medium costs 19 FPS, but the visual improvement in a game like this, where cockpit detail and terrain clarity matter, is substantial. Conversely, moving from Medium to High costs another 17 FPS, resulting in an average of 50 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for complex scenery or busy airports.

At 1440p, Medium remains the best choice. The 54 FPS average and 46 FPS minimum are acceptable, though the minimum starts to approach the edge of what is comfortable. High at this resolution drops to 41 FPS, which will feel noticeably less fluid during fast maneuvers or when flying over dense urban areas. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically; Medium produces a 40 FPS average with a 34 FPS minimum, which is borderline. For a flight simulator, where precision and smooth camera panning are important, the 4K Medium experience is workable but not ideal. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it produces an average of just 28 FPS at 4K, which is below the threshold for a pleasant experience. The data strongly suggests that Ultra is not viable for this combo at any resolution, as even at 1080p it only manages 48 FPS, a marginal gain over High that does not justify the visual strain on the system.

For users who prioritize frame rate above all else, Low settings provide a significant boost, achieving 86 FPS at 1080p and 69 FPS at 1440p. However, this preset strips away much of the visual fidelity that makes the simulator immersive. The optimal configuration is to run the game at Medium settings, accepting the visual compromises for a stable and responsive experience. If you are playing at 1080p, High is a viable alternative if you can tolerate the occasional dip to 50 FPS, but Medium offers the best safety margin for unpredictable scenes.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the definitive performance limiter in this pairing, especially as resolution increases. With 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus and a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s, the card has enough memory capacity for most scenarios, but its raw compute power dictates the frame rates. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both locked at 2500 MHz, and the data shows that this clock speed is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with this CPU. The Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer. However, in a game as demanding as Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the ceiling.

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K highlights the GPU's workload. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 67 FPS, but at 4K Medium, it drops to 40 FPS. This 40% reduction in performance is directly attributable to the GPU being overwhelmed by the pixel count. The 10 GB VRAM is not the issue here; rather, it is the shader and texture throughput. The GPU's 2304 shading units and 144 texture mapping units are simply taxed too heavily at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the Arc B570 is most comfortable at 1080p and 1440p, where it can maintain playable frame rates. At 4K, it is only usable at Low settings, achieving 51 FPS, which suggests that users should either lower the resolution or accept a significant visual downgrade. The GPU's performance in this game is a clear case of a capable mid-range card hitting its limits in a simulation that is notoriously heavy on pixel fill rate and geometry processing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 67 at 1080p to 54 at 1440p and finally to 40 at 4K. This represents a 40% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical pattern for a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU has less impact on this scaling; the Ryzen 5 5600G has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but as the pixel count rises, the GPU's workload increases disproportionately. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep, with a 26% reduction from 54 FPS to 40 FPS, showing that the Arc B570's memory bandwidth and compute units are stretched thin at 4K.

This scaling pattern suggests that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller difference between 1080p and 4K, as the GPU would have more time to render each frame. Instead, the steep decline indicates that the GPU is saturated. For example, at Low settings, the performance scales from 86 FPS at 1080p to 69 FPS at 1440p and 51 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is still 41% lower than 1080p Low, reinforcing the GPU's dominance. Users should expect that 4K gaming with this combo will require Low or Medium settings at best, and that the sweet spot for a high-refresh experience is 1080p. If you are targeting 1440p, you will need to stay on Medium to keep frame rates above 50 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo shows a wide range of performance across presets. Low settings produce an average of 86 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience. Medium settings drop to 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 and a maximum of 77, offering a good balance. High settings yield 50 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 48 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal, only 2 FPS, which indicates that Ultra is a poorly optimized preset for this hardware. The 1080p results are the most playable, with even High settings being acceptable for most users.

Moving to 1440p, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings still provide a strong 69 FPS. Medium settings produce 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 62, which is playable but requires some tolerance for occasional dips. High settings fall to 41 FPS, which is starting to feel less fluid, and Ultra settings drop to 39 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is the best compromise, as the 46 FPS minimum is still above the 30 FPS threshold for a playable experience, but it is not ideal for fast-paced flight.

At 4K, the system struggles. Low settings manage 51 FPS, which is the only preset that provides a consistently smooth experience. Medium settings average 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46, which is borderline playable but will show noticeable stutters in complex scenes. High settings drop to 30 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 28 FPS, both of which are below the playable threshold for a simulator. The 4K data clearly shows that this combo is not suited for high-fidelity gaming at this resolution. The minimum FPS values for Medium at 4K (34 FPS) and 1440p (46 FPS) are crucial; they indicate that the system can maintain a relatively stable frame time, but the average scores are low enough to warrant caution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position at 2406 out of 2996 tested combos places it in the 20th percentile of all tested systems for this game. This is a below-average ranking, indicating that most other CPU/GPU pairings perform better in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The ranking suggests that while the system is functional, it does not offer a competitive experience compared to other options. The data shows that this combo is closer to the bottom than the top, and users should temper their expectations regarding high-end performance. The CPU's average benchmark score of 21088 places it in the 74th percentile of all CPUs, which is decent, but the GPU's 65th percentile ranking drags the overall combo down.

The combination of a mid-range CPU and a mid-range GPU results in a system that is less than the sum of its parts in this specific game. The Ryzen 5 5600G is a capable processor, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10551 and a single-core score of 1409, but it is not the limiting factor. The GPU's average benchmark score of 20556 is comparable to the CPU's, but in this game, the GPU's workload is disproportionately heavy. The combo rank of 2406 out of 2996 is a stark reminder that this is not a high-performance setup; it is a budget-conscious pairing that requires settings adjustments to be enjoyable. The fact that it is in the bottom 20% of tested combos means that most other systems will deliver higher frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G plays a supporting role in this pairing, providing sufficient processing power to avoid bottlenecking the Arc B570 at most settings. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it offers a solid foundation for a simulation that can utilize multiple cores. The CPU's base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are adequate for the game's single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. The 16 MB of L3 cache helps with data access, and the 65W TDP indicates it runs efficiently. The data shows that the CPU's performance is not the primary issue; its benchmark scores are respectable, with a Passmark multithread score of 19717 and a single-thread score of 3177.

However, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 86 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can push frames quickly when the GPU is not heavily taxed. If the CPU were weaker, we would see lower frame rates at 1080p Low. The fact that the performance drops so significantly at 4K indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU. The 5600G's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 1801, is sufficient for the game's main simulation thread. In this context, the CPU is a capable partner that does not hinder the GPU's performance until the GPU is fully saturated. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-1220P and AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, have similar average scores, confirming that it is a solid mid-range processor that will not cause issues in this game. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU, and users should focus on GPU settings to improve performance rather than upgrading the CPU.