Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a strong Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, but the data reveals that settings selection matters more than resolution for achieving high frame rates. The measured results show that the Ultra preset, while visually demanding, consistently produces the lowest average FPS across all resolutions, whereas the Low preset yields the highest. For a balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset is the most practical choice, offering a substantial frame rate uplift over Ultra without the significant visual compromises of Low. At 1440p, High delivers 112.4 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, while at 4K, High maintains 85 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even on high-resolution displays.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Ultra preset is the most demanding, with average FPS dropping to 79.1 at 4K, 108.5 at 1440p, and 131.6 at 1080p. While these numbers are playable, they leave little headroom for complex scenes or background tasks. The High preset provides a significant performance boost: 85 FPS at 4K, 112.4 FPS at 1440p, and 139.4 FPS at 1080p. This represents a 7.5% increase in average FPS over Ultra at 4K, and a 3.6% increase at 1440p. The Medium preset offers even higher frame rates, with 107.3 FPS at 4K and 149.2 FPS at 1440p, but the visual step down from High might be noticeable in a game where scenery detail is central. The Low preset is the fastest, reaching 142.6 FPS at 4K and 189.1 FPS at 1440p, but it sacrifices the visual richness that makes the simulator immersive. Given the data, High is the recommended preset. It provides the best balance, keeping average FPS above 80 at 4K and above 110 at 1440p, ensuring a smooth experience without needing to drop to lower quality settings.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the bottleneck at 1080p with this CPU?

A: No. The data shows that at 1080p, the average FPS scales significantly with settings, from 203.6 on Low to 131.6 on Ultra. This wide range indicates that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, as the CPU is capable of feeding it enough data to reach over 200 FPS on lower settings.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance cost?

A: The performance cost is substantial. At 4K, Ultra averages 79.1 FPS while High averages 85 FPS, a difference of 5.9 FPS. At 1440p, the gap is 3.9 FPS (108.5 vs 112.4), and at 1080p it is 7.8 FPS (131.6 vs 139.4). The data shows a consistent, though modest, frame rate penalty for the Ultra preset.

Q: Can this combo achieve 4K 120 FPS in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: No, not based on the measured data. The highest average FPS at 4K is 142.6 on the Low preset. The High preset, which is the recommended setting, produces 85 FPS. To reach 120 FPS at 4K, you would need to use the Low preset, which achieves 142.6 FPS, but this comes with significant visual compromises.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile compared to all CPUs?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 26617, placing it slightly above the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which scores 26574 (a 0.2% difference).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 84306, which is slightly lower than the NVIDIA CMP 40HX's score of 85637, representing a -1.6% delta. It is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D.

Q: Does the 6-core CPU limit performance at lower resolutions?

A: The data does not suggest a hard limit. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 203.6 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. Even on High at 1080p, it achieves 139.4 FPS. While a CPU with more cores might push even higher, the Ryzen 5 7600's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep average FPS well above 130 in all tested settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for heavy single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads, this CPU's performance is a key factor. The benchmark results for the CPU show a single-thread score of 999 in 3dmark, and a multi-thread score of 6503 in 3dmark_max_threads. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 3246 for single-core and 22992 for multi-core. These scores indicate a strong processor, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. In the context of this game, the CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and high boost clock help maintain consistent frame pacing, especially in complex scenarios with heavy scenery. The data from the measured FPS shows that at 1080p, the frame rate varies from 203.6 on Low to 131.6 on Ultra, which suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output at lower settings, and the performance drop at higher settings is due to the GPU's workload. The CPU's 65W TDP and 5nm process node make it an efficient choice for this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 15th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a top 1% ranking, placing it in the upper echelon of all tested systems. The high rank is primarily driven by the GPU's exceptional performance, as it is in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU, while not the absolute top performer, is still in the 83rd percentile, ensuring that it does not become a significant bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, has an average score that is only 0.1% lower, indicating that this card is at the very top of the performance stack. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, is only 0.2% behind in average score, showing that the Ryzen 5 7600 is also a strong contender. The combination of a top-tier GPU with a solid mid-range CPU results in a system that is well-balanced for this simulator, as evidenced by its high rank.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear trend of decreasing performance as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop is not uniform across all settings. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by 19.4% on High (from 139.4 to 112.4), 7.1% on Low (from 203.6 to 189.1), 21.9% on Medium (from 191 to 149.2), and 17.6% on Ultra (from 131.6 to 108.5). When moving from 1440p to 4K, the drops are more significant: 24.4% on High (from 112.4 to 85), 24.6% on Low (from 189.1 to 142.6), 28.1% on Medium (from 149.2 to 107.3), and 27.1% on Ultra (from 108.5 to 79.1). The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops are substantial even though the CPU remains constant. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (142.6 FPS) is higher than the Ultra preset at 1440p (108.5 FPS) highlights that the GPU's workload is the primary constraint, not the CPU. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the raw compute power is what limits the frame rate on higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 203.6 FPS
• Medium: 191 FPS
• High: 139.4 FPS
• Ultra: 131.6 FPS

At 1080p, the combo is clearly not CPU-bound. The difference between Low and Ultra is 72 FPS, showing that the GPU is still the main driver. The jump from Low to Medium is only 12.6 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High is 51.6 FPS, indicating a significant increase in GPU load. The High to Ultra step is a smaller 7.8 FPS drop.

2560x1440:

• Low: 189.1 FPS
• Medium: 149.2 FPS
• High: 112.4 FPS
• Ultra: 108.5 FPS

At 1440p, the frame rates are still very high. The Low preset is the only one that exceeds 144 FPS, while High and Ultra both stay above 100 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 39.9 FPS, and the gap between Medium and High is 36.8 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is just 3.9 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset is not a major additional load at this resolution.

3840x2160:

• Low: 142.6 FPS
• Medium: 107.3 FPS
• High: 85 FPS
• Ultra: 79.1 FPS

At 4K, the GPU workload is at its maximum. The Low preset is the only one that achieves a high refresh rate experience, with 142.6 FPS. The High preset provides a solid 85 FPS, which is ideal for a 60Hz or 90Hz monitor. The Ultra preset drops to 79.1 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra is a 63.5 FPS drop, emphasizing the GPU's dominance as the limiting factor at this resolution.