Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with AMD Ryzen 5 5600G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing delivers a playable but demanding experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with measured performance ranging from 37 FPS at 4K Ultra to 111 FPS at 1080p Low. The combo ranks 2138th out of 3714 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, yet the data shows this system can handle the simulator at 1080p Medium with an average of 86 FPS, making it a viable entry point for flight enthusiasts who prioritize smoothness over maximum visual fidelity.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Benchmark results indicate 1920x1080 is the sweet spot. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, while 1440p Medium drops to 70 FPS average and 4K Medium falls to 51 FPS average. For consistent frame rates above 60 FPS, 1080p remains the most reliable choice.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20,282, placing it 1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, 1.2% behind the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, 1.3% behind the Intel Arc B570, and 1.5% behind the Intel Arc A750. These are all statistically close, so real-world gaming differences are minimal.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600G a bottleneck for this configuration?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 21,088 places it 74th percentile among all processors, with rivals like the Intel Core i3-1220P (0.1% faster) and AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (0.2% slower) showing near-identical performance. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions, not the CPU.

Q: What settings should I use for a balance of visuals and performance?

A: The data shows Medium settings at 1080p provides the best compromise, delivering 86 FPS average with a 73 FPS minimum. High settings at 1080p drops to 65 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 62 FPS. At 1440p, Medium yields 70 FPS, but High and Ultra dip to 52 and 50 FPS respectively.

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

A: Barely, and only at reduced settings. At 4K Low, the system averages 66 FPS, but Medium drops to 51 FPS, High to 39 FPS, and Ultra to 37 FPS. For 4K play, Low or Medium settings are the only viable options, and even then, frame rates fluctuate noticeably.

Q: How does the CPU's integrated graphics affect this configuration?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600G includes Radeon Vega 7 integrated graphics, but the system uses the discrete RTX 2070 SUPER for all rendering tasks. The integrated GPU has no bearing on measured FPS results, which are solely attributed to the NVIDIA card.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip, provides 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and its 2,560 shading units process geometry and textures at a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is crucial for the heavy rendering loads Microsoft Flight Simulator imposes when displaying detailed terrain, aircraft models, and weather effects.

In this game, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a significant factor. At 4K resolution with High or Ultra settings, the simulator's texture streaming and draw distances can consume substantial memory, and the data shows average FPS plummeting from 66 at Low to 37 at Ultra. The GPU's 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are available for DirectX 12 Ultimate features, though Microsoft Flight Simulator's primary workload is traditional rasterization. The 12 nm process node and 215 W TDP indicate this is a power-hungry card, but the measured results show it can maintain playable frame rates at 1080p Medium and Low settings across all tested resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 65 means it outperforms roughly two-thirds of all GPUs in the database, yet in this simulator, the performance cliff from Medium to High settings suggests VRAM or compute limits are being hit. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Ultra pushes the card to its limits, yielding only 37 FPS average. This aligns with the GPU's nearest rivals, which all score within 1.5% of each other, indicating the RTX 2070 SUPER remains competitive with newer mid-range cards despite being end-of-life.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, 1080p Medium stands out as the optimal choice. The system delivers 86 FPS average with a minimum of 73 FPS and maximum of 99 FPS, providing smooth gameplay while retaining moderate visual quality. At 1080p High, the average drops to 65 FPS, and Ultra falls to 62 FPS — both playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes like busy airports or dense urban flyovers. The 1080p Low setting hits 111 FPS average, but the visual compromise is significant for a game that relies heavily on scenery fidelity.

At 1440p, Medium settings produce 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum, making it a viable alternative for users with 1440p monitors who can tolerate occasional dips below 60 FPS. The 1440p High and Ultra settings both hover around 50-52 FPS, which is borderline for a flight simulator where smooth panning is essential. For 4K, only Low settings provide a comfortable experience at 66 FPS average; Medium drops to 51 FPS, and High/Ultra fall into the 37-39 FPS range, which is too choppy for sustained play.

The data suggests that users should prioritize Medium settings as the default, regardless of resolution, because the frame rate delta between Medium and High is consistently large. At 1080p, the drop from Medium to High costs 21 FPS (86 to 65), while the drop from Low to Medium costs 25 FPS (111 to 86). This nonlinear scaling indicates the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are stretched beyond Medium, making High and Ultra settings disproportionately expensive in performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2138th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 42nd percentile of all configurations. This is a below-average ranking, but the context matters: flight simulators are notoriously demanding, and this combo's performance is limited more by the GPU than the CPU. The Ryzen 5 5600G's percentile of 74 among CPUs shows it is a solid mid-range processor, while the RTX 2070 SUPER's percentile of 65 among GPUs indicates it sits in the upper-midrange of graphics cards.

The rank of 2138 suggests there are 1,600+ combos that perform better, but many of those likely pair higher-end CPUs with more powerful GPUs. Within the dataset, the combo's measured FPS at 1080p Medium (86 average) is respectable for a system where the CPU was originally designed as an APU with integrated graphics. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i3-1220P and AMD Ryzen 5 7530U — have nearly identical average scores, confirming that the 5600G is not the limiting factor here. Instead, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 256-bit bus hold back performance at higher settings, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops from Medium to Ultra across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 111 at 1080p to 89 at 1440p (a 20% decrease) and then to 66 at 4K (a 26% decrease from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 86 → 70 → 51, representing a 19% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 27% drop from 1440p to 4K. High settings show 65 → 52 → 39, which is a 20% and 25% drop respectively, while Ultra goes 62 → 50 → 37, a 19% and 26% decline.

These consistent percentage drops indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as resolution scales, because the CPU's workload does not increase proportionally with pixel count. The RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are sufficient for 1080p but become strained at 1440p and overwhelmed at 4K. The fact that the FPS drops are roughly linear (around 20-27% per resolution step) suggests the GPU's compute throughput, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor, as a VRAM capacity issue would cause a more dramatic cliff at 4K Ultra (which does occur, with only 37 FPS).

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: At Low settings, the system averages 111 FPS, providing the highest frame rates in the entire dataset. Medium settings deliver 86 FPS average with a minimum of 73 and maximum of 99 FPS, offering a smooth experience with moderate visual fidelity. High settings drop to 65 FPS average, while Ultra settings yield 62 FPS average. The 24 FPS gap between Low and Medium indicates that the GTX 2070 SUPER has ample headroom at 1080p, but the jump to High and Ultra taxes the GPU significantly.

2560x1440: Low settings produce 89 FPS average, which is still highly playable. Medium settings deliver 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum and 80 FPS maximum, making it the recommended choice for 1440p users. High settings drop to 52 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 50 FPS average. The 19 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is starting to become the limiting factor.

3840x2160: Low settings yield 66 FPS average, which is the only 4K setting that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings drop to 51 FPS average with a 44 FPS minimum and 59 FPS maximum, providing borderline playability. High settings fall to 39 FPS average, and Ultra settings bottom out at 37 FPS average. The 4K results highlight the GPU's limitations, with a 29 FPS spread between Low and Ultra settings, indicating that users must make significant visual sacrifices to maintain playable frame rates at this resolution.