Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator — AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a strong Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, with the data showing that the sweet spot is Medium settings at 1440p, where the combo produces 104.8 FPS average — a figure that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining visual fidelity. At 4K Ultra, the same combo drops to 50.5 FPS, indicating that this pairing is best suited for high-refresh 1080p or balanced 1440p play, rather than maxed-out 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows make the optimal settings choice clear: Medium at 2560x1440 delivers the best balance of smoothness and quality, with an average of 104.8 FPS. This is 30.2 FPS higher than High at the same resolution (74.6 FPS) and only 28.5 FPS lower than Low (133.3 FPS), meaning Medium captures most of the performance headroom while avoiding the visual compromises of Low.

At 1080p, Medium also shines — 128.9 FPS average — but the jump to High yields 95.4 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS and usable. However, the data indicates diminishing returns: going from Medium to High at 1080p costs 33.5 FPS, while going from High to Ultra costs only 5.9 FPS more (89.5 FPS at Ultra). This suggests that for users who prioritize smoothness, Medium is the clear winner; for those who want maximum fidelity, Ultra at 1080p remains playable.

At 4K, the settings curve is steeper. Low produces 95.3 FPS, Medium 75.9 FPS, High 58.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 50.5 FPS. The data shows that 4K High is marginal (barely above 60 FPS), while 4K Ultra falls below the playable threshold for many users. Therefore, the recommendation is Medium at 1440p as the primary preset, with Ultra at 1080p as an alternative for visual purists who accept the 89.5 FPS average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The card’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz are the key drivers of its performance in this title. The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in determining FPS across all resolutions, as evidenced by the wide spread between Low and Ultra settings at every resolution.

At 1080p, the RTX 4070 is clearly not the bottleneck — even at Ultra, it produces 89.5 FPS, which is only 72.6 FPS less than Low (162.1 FPS). The GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to keep up with the CPU at this resolution. However, at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor: the difference between Low (95.3 FPS) and Ultra (50.5 FPS) is 44.8 FPS, indicating that the 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily by the higher resolution.

The GPU’s percentile rank of 81 vs all GPUs places it above most competitors, and its nearest rival in average benchmark score is the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which scores 0.6% lower (37507 vs 37283). This suggests that the RTX 4070’s performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator is consistent with its overall benchmark standing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals that this combo is CPU-bound at lower resolutions and GPU-bound at higher ones. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 162.1 at 1080p to 133.3 at 1440p (a 28.8 FPS drop) and then to 95.3 at 4K (a further 38.0 FPS drop). This steep decline at 4K Low — a 41.2% reduction from 1080p — indicates the GPU is struggling to fill pixels even at minimal settings.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 89.5 FPS at 1080p, 71.9 FPS at 1440p, and 50.5 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 39.0 FPS (43.6% reduction), which is proportionally similar to the Low setting drop. This suggests that the RTX 4070’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient even at 4K Ultra, but the raw compute power is the limiting factor.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU has more headroom — the difference between Low and Ultra is 72.6 FPS, while at 4K, the same settings spread is only 44.8 FPS. This narrowing gap confirms that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU’s role diminishes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: Low produces 162.1 FPS, Medium 128.9 FPS, High 95.4 FPS, and Ultra 89.5 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 33.2 FPS, while Medium to High costs 33.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs only 5.9 FPS.

2560x1440: Low delivers 133.3 FPS, Medium 104.8 FPS, High 74.6 FPS, and Ultra 71.9 FPS. The largest performance hit is from Medium to High (30.2 FPS), while High to Ultra is a minimal 2.7 FPS drop.

3840x2160: Low achieves 95.3 FPS, Medium 75.9 FPS, High 58.3 FPS, and Ultra 50.5 FPS. The settings curve is more linear here, with each step costing roughly 16-19 FPS, except High to Ultra which drops 7.8 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that Medium settings offer the most consistent experience relative to the next tier up — at 1080p, Medium is 33.5 FPS faster than High; at 1440p, it is 30.2 FPS faster; and at 4K, it is 17.6 FPS faster. This makes Medium the most efficient preset in terms of FPS-per-quality ratio.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combo ranks 472nd out of 1795 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 26.3% of all combos. This is a strong showing, especially considering that the CPU alone ranks in the 78th percentile vs all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 81st percentile.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Intel Core i7-10700 (20746, 0% delta), the Intel Core i5-12490F (20794, -0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (20680, 0.3% delta). The Ryzen 5 5600GT’s avgBenchmarkScore of 20740 is essentially tied with these processors, meaning any performance differences in-game are likely attributable to the GPU rather than the CPU.

The GPU’s nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, -0.6% delta), NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38008, -1.9% delta), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135, -2.2% delta). The RTX 4070’s avgBenchmarkScore of 37283 is within 2.2% of these competitors, yet the combo’s rank of 472 suggests that Microsoft Flight Simulator is particularly sensitive to the specific combination of CPU and GPU characteristics.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename), with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but the data shows that this CPU is sufficient to keep the RTX 4070 fed at 1080p and 1440p.

At 1080p Low, the combo produces 162.1 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s practical limit in this simulation-heavy title. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 17272 and single-core score of 2438 indicate solid threading performance, but Microsoft Flight Simulator is known for its heavy single-thread load. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 913 and 3dmark_2_threads score of 1794 suggest that the CPU can handle the game’s primary thread adequately.

The CPU’s percentile rank of 78 vs all CPUs, combined with its nearest rival delta of 0% vs the Intel Core i7-10700, shows that it is a mid-pack performer. However, the measured FPS data reveals that at 1080p, the CPU is not the bottleneck — the GPU still has headroom, as evidenced by the 72.6 FPS gap between Low and Ultra. This indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600GT’s 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for this title, and any performance limitations at higher resolutions are firmly on the GPU side.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1440p?

A: The data shows Medium settings produce 104.8 FPS average at 2560x1440, which is the highest quality preset that remains comfortably above 60 FPS. High settings drop to 74.6 FPS, while Ultra is 71.9 FPS.

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

A: No. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 50.5 FPS, which falls below the typical 60 FPS playability threshold. For 4K, Low (95.3 FPS) or Medium (75.9 FPS) are the only settings that keep the experience smooth.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 95.4 at 1920x1080 to 74.6 at 2560x1440 (a 20.8 FPS loss), and further to 58.3 at 3840x2160 (a 16.3 FPS loss from 1440p). Total loss from 1080p to 4K is 37.1 FPS.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where the FPS gap between Low and Ultra is 44.8 FPS. At 1080p, the CPU is less limiting, as the same settings gap is 72.6 FPS, showing the GPU has more headroom at lower resolutions.

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

A: It ranks 472nd out of 1795 combos, placing it in the top 26.3% of tested hardware pairings for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Medium produces 128.9 FPS while Ultra produces 89.5 FPS, a difference of 39.4 FPS. This makes Medium the better choice for high-refresh monitors, as Ultra’s gain in visual quality comes at a significant performance cost.