Microsoft Flight Simulator

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2870th out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the configuration in the lower-middle portion of the database, meaning roughly 77% of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title. The ranking reflects a pairing where the CPU is comparatively stronger than the GPU in the broader benchmark landscape, yet the combination still lands in a percentile that indicates it is not optimized for high-refresh-rate flight simulation at demanding settings.

The combo's position becomes clearer when examining the individual component percentiles. The CPU sits at the 78th percentile among all processors, while the GPU rests at the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards. This gap suggests the graphics card is the constraining element in this pairing, a pattern that the measured FPS data across resolutions and settings will confirm. The 2870th rank out of 3714 combos is a direct consequence of this imbalance — the system has ample processing headroom for the simulation's complex flight models, but the rendering pipeline becomes the bottleneck as resolution and visual fidelity increase.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (effective 14 Gbps) yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz and a base of 1626 MHz. These specifications, combined with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, produce a pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s. The card's FP32 performance is 8.928 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, these specifications translate to a GPU that handles 1080p and 1440p competently at lower presets but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's texture streaming at 1080p and 1440p, but the 224.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a limiting factor when the renderer demands larger texture pools at higher resolutions. The 28 ray tracing cores are present, but the game's implementation does not appear to leverage them heavily in the measured results, as the Ultra preset at 4K yields only 31 FPS average, indicating the traditional rasterization pipeline is the primary workload.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 15096 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1492 place it at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (average score 19030, delta 0%), the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (average score 19049, delta -0.1%), and the Tesla K20m (average score 19089, delta -0.3%). These rivals are all within 0.4% of the RX 6600's average score of 19036, indicating that the card's compute capabilities are well-established and consistent with its class.

FAQ

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

A: The data indicates 1920x1080 is the most viable resolution. At 1080p, the combo achieves 92 FPS on Low, 72 FPS on Medium, and 54 FPS on High settings. At 2560x1440, average frame rates drop to 74 FPS on Low and 58 FPS on Medium, while 4K yields only 55 FPS on Low and 43 FPS on Medium.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Ultra settings are only marginally playable at 1080p, where the combo averages 51 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 41 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 31 FPS. The 1080p Ultra result is achievable but not ideal for a smooth experience, while higher resolutions at Ultra are not recommended based on the measured data.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark performance?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600 has an average benchmark score of 26324, placing it at the 78th percentile. It sits just 0.2% above the Ryzen 9 6900HX (score 26274), 0.4% above the Core i9-11900KF (score 26212), and 0.5% above the Ryzen 5 8540U (score 26187). It trails the Ryzen 7 7435HS (score 26402) by 0.3%.

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

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. This is evident from the resolution scaling: dropping from 4K to 1080p at Medium settings improves average FPS from 43 to 72, a 67% increase. The CPU's percentile ranking (78th) is higher than the GPU's (63rd), and the frame rate gains from reducing resolution indicate the renderer is the bottleneck.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only rows with minimum FPS data are the Medium settings across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 61 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 49 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 36 FPS. No minimum FPS data is available for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 6600's average benchmark score is 19036. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, scores 19030 (delta 0%). The GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile scores 19049 (delta -0.1%), the Tesla K20m scores 19089 (delta -0.3%), and the RTX 2000 Ada Generation scores 18954 (delta 0.4%). All rivals are within a fraction of a percent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average of 92 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system. Medium at 1080p averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS. High drops to 54 FPS, and Ultra yields 51 FPS. This progression shows that the gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is narrow (only 3 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional visual features are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 74 FPS, a 19.6% drop from 1080p Low. Medium at 1440p averages 58 FPS (minimum 49 FPS, maximum 66 FPS), representing a 19.4% decrease from 1080p Medium. High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The High-to-Ultra gap at 1440p is only 2 FPS, again indicating diminishing returns from the Ultra preset's extra effects.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 55 FPS, a 40.2% drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 43 FPS (minimum 36 FPS, maximum 49 FPS), a 40.3% decrease from 1080p Medium. High averages 32 FPS, and Ultra averages 31 FPS. The 4K results show that only the Low preset approaches a playable 60 FPS, while Medium is borderline and High/Ultra are below 35 FPS.

The Medium preset rows are the only ones that include minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the range is 61-82 FPS (a spread of 21 FPS); at 1440p, it is 49-66 FPS (a spread of 17 FPS); and at 4K, it is 36-49 FPS (a spread of 13 FPS). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes more saturated.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 (Raphael) architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth and features 32 MB of shared L3 cache, plus 1 MB of L2 cache per core and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. It uses the AMD Socket AM5 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes (CPU only).

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is primarily handling the simulation's physics, flight model calculations, and world-generation logic. The game is known for being heavily dependent on single-thread performance for these tasks, and the Ryzen 5 7600's single-thread benchmark scores reflect its capability. It scores 999 in 3DMark single-thread, 298 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 1852 in Cinebench R23 single-core, 2521 in Geekbench single-core, and 3910 in Passmark single-thread. These results place the CPU at the 78th percentile among all CPUs.

Multi-threaded performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12735, a Geekbench multicore score of 13413, and a Passmark multithread score of 27058. The CPU's average benchmark score of 26324 places it just 0.2% above the Ryzen 9 6900HX (score 26274) and 0.4% above the Core i9-11900KF (score 26212). The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as its performance relative to the GPU's is significantly higher, yet frame rates still drop substantially with increased resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target frame rate and resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, averaging 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS. This provides a smooth experience that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 54 FPS is playable but may exhibit noticeable stutter in dense scenery, while Low at 92 FPS is excellent for competitive or maximum smoothness but sacrifices visual fidelity.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the most reliable choice, averaging 74 FPS. The Medium preset at 58 FPS is borderline playable, with a minimum of 49 FPS that could cause noticeable hitches during intensive scenes. The High preset at 43 FPS and Ultra at 41 FPS are not recommended for a consistent experience at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset provides a playable average of 55 FPS. The Medium preset at 43 FPS (minimum 36 FPS) is marginal, and both High (32 FPS) and Ultra (31 FPS) fall below acceptable thresholds for a flight simulator where smooth camera panning is essential. The data suggests that users prioritizing 4K should accept Low settings or consider a more powerful GPU.

Across all resolutions, the High and Ultra presets show remarkably similar performance (e.g., 54 vs 51 FPS at 1080p; 43 vs 41 FPS at 1440p; 32 vs 31 FPS at 4K). This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional features — likely including enhanced cloud rendering and terrain detail — have minimal impact on the RX 6600's workload. Users can therefore enable Ultra at 1080p for the best visuals without sacrificing meaningful frame rate, as the 3 FPS difference is negligible.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that underscores the GPU-bound nature of this combo. At Medium settings, the average FPS progresses from 72 at 1080p to 58 at 1440p to 43 at 4K. This represents a 19.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 25.9% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total decrease from 1080p to 4K is 40.3%.

For the Low preset, the scaling is similar: 92 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p (19.6% drop), and 55 FPS at 4K (25.7% drop from 1440p, 40.2% total). The High preset shows 54 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p (20.4% drop), and 32 FPS at 4K (25.6% drop from 1440p, 40.7% total). The Ultra preset demonstrates the same pattern: 51 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p (19.6% drop), and 31 FPS at 4K (24.4% drop from 1440p, 39.2% total).

The consistency of these percentage drops — roughly 19-20% from 1080p to 1440p and 24-26% from 1440p to 4K — indicates a predictable scaling curve that is characteristic of a GPU-limited system. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU workload would stay constant. Instead, the uniform degradation across all presets confirms that the RX 6600's rendering capabilities are the determining factor.

The 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are likely contributors to the significant 4K penalty. At 4K, the renderer must process four times the pixels of 1080p, and the GPU's texture units and ROPs are saturated. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (55 FPS) barely exceeds the High preset at 1080p (54 FPS) illustrates the cost of resolution scaling on this hardware. Users seeking higher frame rates at 4K would need to reduce resolution or accept the visual compromises of the Low preset, as the data shows no path to 60 FPS at 4K with this GPU.