Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator: AMD Ryzen 5 7400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a playable but not exceptional Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, with the combination ranking in the 48th percentile of all tested combos (1564th of 2996). The data reveals a system where the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become the primary constraints at higher resolutions, while the CPU's six Zen 4 cores provide sufficient headroom to avoid becoming the bottleneck in most scenarios. At 1080p, the combo achieves 119 FPS on Low settings, but this drops by roughly 45% at 4K Ultra, indicating a system that scales predictably with resolution but struggles to maintain high frame rates at the game's most demanding presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drops occurring between 1080p and 1440p. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 119 FPS at 1920x1080 to 96 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 23 FPS or approximately 19%. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low settings yields a further decline to 71 FPS, another 25 FPS drop. This linear scaling suggests that even at the lowest quality preset, the RTX 4060's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are approaching their limits as pixel count increases.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced at higher quality settings. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (70 FPS) to 1440p (56 FPS) represents a 20% reduction, while the jump from 1440p to 4K (42 FPS) shows a 25% decline. Ultra settings exhibit the steepest curve: 66 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is particularly telling — it represents a 39% drop from the 1080p Ultra figure, and the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is only 2 FPS (42 vs 40), suggesting the game is becoming heavily constrained by memory bandwidth rather than raw compute.

The scaling pattern indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the system appears CPU-bound in some scenarios, evidenced by the relatively small gap between Low (119 FPS) and Medium (93 FPS) — a 26 FPS difference that reflects the Ryzen 5 7400F's 6-core, 12-thread configuration handling the game's simulation logic. However, by 4K, the GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM capacity become the dominant constraint, as evidenced by the compression of frame rates across settings: 71 FPS Low, 55 FPS Medium, 42 FPS High, 40 FPS Ultra.

The 4K Medium result includes min/max values of 47/64 FPS, showing a 17 FPS variance that suggests occasional stutters as the GPU struggles with memory allocation. This variance is less pronounced at 1440p Medium (64/86 FPS, a 22 FPS spread) and 1080p Medium (79/107 FPS, a 28 FPS spread), indicating that the frame pacing becomes more erratic as resolution increases — a hallmark of VRAM or bandwidth limitation rather than compute saturation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 brings Ada Lovelace architecture with 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz provide the compute foundation, while the 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are substantial, but the memory subsystem is the clear weak point for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator that streams extensive terrain and scenery data.

The benchmark data shows the RTX 4060 performing at the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,639. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17,666, 0.2% ahead), AMD Radeon 780M (17,588, 0.3% behind), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17,551, 0.5% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17,509, 0.7% behind). This clustering indicates that the RTX 4060 sits in a dense performance band where small differences in architecture and memory configuration produce meaningful differences in game-specific outcomes.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator specifically, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant at higher resolutions. The 4K results show only a 31 FPS spread between Low (71 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS), while at 1080p the spread is 53 FPS (119 vs 66). This compression at 4K indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth is the primary limiter — the 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient to feed the shading units at 4K resolutions with high-quality textures, regardless of the compute capacity available.

The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but 4K Ultra likely exceeds this limit, causing texture streaming and potential memory swapping. The 4K Medium min FPS of 47 suggests this is where the VRAM ceiling starts to bite. The GPU's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface further constrains data transfer from system memory, which can exacerbate VRAM limitations in a game known for large, continuous world streaming.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) on TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core. The CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,765 and single-core score of 3,072, placing it at the 83rd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 32,750. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T (32,707, 0.1% behind), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32,697, 0.2% behind), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32,812, 0.2% ahead), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32,662, 0.3% behind).

Microsoft Flight Simulator is known for heavy single-threaded simulation workloads, and the Ryzen 5 7400F's single-core performance is competitive. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,072 is strong, and this translates to solid frame rates at lower resolutions where the CPU can become the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 119 FPS, which is respectable but not class-leading — the data suggests the CPU is keeping pace but not providing massive headroom for higher frame rates.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for the game's multi-threaded rendering and simulation tasks, but the 65 W TDP and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR5 dual-channel) may limit performance in scenarios with heavy asset streaming. The PassMark multi-thread score of 25,645 and physics score of 1,660 indicate solid computational capability, while the PassMark single-thread score of 3,689 confirms the CPU's strength in lightly-threaded workloads.

The 1080p scaling pattern reveals the CPU's influence: from Low (119 FPS) to Medium (93 FPS), the drop is 26 FPS, but from Medium to High (70 FPS) it's 23 FPS, and High to Ultra (66 FPS) is only 4 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is handling the simulation load adequately, but the GPU's compute and memory limits begin to dominate as settings increase. The Ryzen 5 7400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz provides responsive single-thread performance, but the game's engine may not fully utilize all 12 threads, leaving some multi-core headroom unused.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 119 FPS, dropping to 93 FPS at Medium with a min/max of 79/107 FPS. High settings average 70 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 66 FPS. The 53 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p indicates that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to respond to quality changes, but the CPU prevents frame rates from scaling higher.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 96 FPS (Low), 75 FPS (Medium, min/max 64/86), 56 FPS (High), and 54 FPS (Ultra). The 42 FPS spread between Low and Ultra shows the GPU becoming more influential. The Medium setting's 22 FPS variance (64-86) suggests occasional frame drops during complex scenery loading, a pattern consistent with the 8 GB VRAM being taxed at 1440p with medium-quality textures.

At 3840x2160, the results are 71 FPS (Low), 55 FPS (Medium, min/max 47/64), 42 FPS (High), and 40 FPS (Ultra). The 31 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU's memory bandwidth is the dominant constraint at 4K. The 4K Medium min FPS of 47 is notably low relative to its 55 average, indicating significant frame drops that would be noticeable in gameplay.

The data shows a consistent pattern: 1080p is playable across all settings (66-119 FPS), 1440p is borderline at High and Ultra (54-56 FPS), and 4K is only smooth at Low settings (71 FPS). The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is below the generally accepted threshold for smooth flight simulation, and even 4K High at 42 FPS is marginal.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 1564th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 48th percentile — just below the median. This ranking reflects the system's middling performance in a game that stresses both CPU simulation and GPU rendering. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking and GPU's 61st percentile ranking suggest that the combination should theoretically perform better than it does, indicating that the game's specific demands create a bottleneck that neither component fully overcomes.

The combo's rank of 1564 means that approximately 1,432 tested combinations perform worse, while 1,564 perform better. This places the system in a crowded middle tier where small differences in component selection can shift rankings significantly. The CPU's nearest rivals (Intel Core i5-14600T, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360) all fall within a 0.3% performance band, meaning that swapping the CPU for any of these would likely produce nearly identical game performance.

The GPU's position among its nearest rivals (AMD Radeon HD 7790, AMD Radeon 780M, AMD Radeon Pro 560, AMD Radeon Pro 460) is similarly tight, with all within 0.7% of the RTX 4060's average benchmark score. This dense clustering explains why the combo rank is not higher — the RTX 4060, while capable, does not offer a significant performance advantage over its direct competitors in this game, and the 8 GB VRAM limitation at higher resolutions is a structural disadvantage that cannot be overcome by driver optimizations.

The 48th percentile rank indicates that this is a mid-pack configuration for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It will handle 1080p and 1440p gaming adequately, but users seeking 4K Ultra performance would need to look at higher-tier GPUs with more memory bandwidth and capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: According to the measured data, 1080p Medium provides 93 FPS (79-107 range), which offers a good balance of visual quality and smoothness. For higher fidelity, 1440p Medium at 75 FPS (64-86 range) is viable, while 4K is only recommended at Low settings (71 FPS) to maintain playable frame rates.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the system averages 40 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target most players prefer, and the 42 FPS High setting result is only marginally better. The data indicates that 4K gaming is not this combination's strength.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F holding back the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 119 FPS indicates reasonable CPU headroom, but the compression of frame rates at 4K (71-40 FPS across settings) points to GPU memory bandwidth as the limiting factor.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this test?

A: The RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17,639 is within 0.7% of its nearest rivals (AMD Radeon HD 7790, Radeon 780M, Radeon Pro 560, Radeon Pro 460). This indicates that the GPU sits in a tight performance band where architectural differences produce minimal game-specific variation.

Q: What does the 4K Medium min FPS of 47 indicate?

A: The 47 FPS minimum at 4K Medium, compared to a 55 FPS average, shows a 8 FPS variance that suggests occasional frame drops during intensive scenery loading. This is likely due to the 8 GB VRAM capacity being stressed at 4K resolution with medium-quality textures.

Q: Is this system future-proof for Microsoft Flight Simulator updates?

A: The combo ranks 1564th of 2996 tested, placing it in the lower half of tested configurations. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking provides some headroom, but the GPU's 61st percentile and 8 GB memory limit suggest that higher settings or future content updates could push the system beyond its comfortable operating range.