Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a highly capable experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing a strong balance between CPU and GPU capabilities. The measured results across resolutions and settings indicate that this combination is particularly well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p gameplay and remains playable at 4K. The following analysis breaks down the benchmark data to explain exactly how this combo performs.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance percentile of this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F sits in the 82nd percentile against all CPUs, while the Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks in the 87th percentile against all GPUs, indicating both components are above-average performers in their respective categories.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25064. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, scores 25057 with a deltaPct of 0, meaning the two are statistically tied. The Ryzen 5 7500F scores 24993, putting the 8400F 0.3% ahead.

Q: What is the GPU's position relative to its closest competitors?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 49982. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (score 50826) by 1.7%, but leads the Intel Arc A550M (score 49737) by 0.5% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (score 48704) by 2.6%.

Q: At which resolution does the combo exceed 100 FPS on average?

A: The only setting where average FPS exceeds 100 is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, producing 149.6 FPS. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average is 120.4 FPS, which also crosses the 100 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 91.5 on Low settings to 46.5 on Ultra settings, representing a substantial 45 FPS reduction when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

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

A: The combo ranks 624th out of 1795 total tested combinations, placing it in the upper third of all systems benchmarked for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the primary driver of visual fidelity in this pairing, equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is crucial for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast amounts of terrain and scenery data. The GPU's base clock runs at 1825 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz, providing ample headroom for demanding flight scenes.

The GPU's 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly to the measured results: at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 149.6 FPS average on Low settings. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows exponentially. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 46.5, indicating that the RX 6800 XT is being pushed to its limits by the game's heavy rendering demands.

The GPU's RDNA 2.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is relevant for the game's advanced rendering features. The 72 ray accelerators provide hardware support for ray-traced effects, though the measured data does not isolate this workload. The 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power ensures that even at 2560x1440 with High settings, the system maintains a smooth 72.2 FPS average, showing strong scaling from 4K where the same settings yield 50.9 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, this CPU-GPU combination achieves a rank of 624 out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the 65th percentile of all systems benchmarked for this title. This ranking reflects the balance between the Ryzen 5 8400F's strong single-thread performance and the RX 6800 XT's substantial rasterization power.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 25064 places it in close competition with its nearest rivals, all within a 0.3% deltaPct of each other. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Meanwhile, the GPU's score of 49982 is notably higher than its nearest rival, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, by 2.6%. This GPU advantage likely contributes to the combo's solid mid-pack ranking, as the game is known to be GPU-intensive at higher resolutions.

The rank of 624 out of 1795 means that approximately 65% of tested combinations outperform this setup in this specific game. This is a respectable position given that many higher-ranked combos likely feature more expensive CPUs or GPUs. The data indicates that this pairing offers a consistent experience across the board, with no single component dragging down the overall performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 149.6 FPS on Low, 117.2 FPS on Medium, 89.2 FPS on High, and 86.3 FPS on Ultra. The gap between High and Ultra is relatively small at just 2.9 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops by roughly 20-25% across all settings. The Low preset yields 120.4 FPS, Medium produces 97.7 FPS, High achieves 72.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 66.4 FPS. Notably, the drop from Medium to High is more pronounced here (25.5 FPS) compared to 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the load at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens considerably. Low settings still manage 91.5 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 70.4 FPS, High to 50.9 FPS, and Ultra to 46.5 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 21.1 FPS, while the delta between High and Ultra is only 4.4 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the Ultra preset is not meaningfully more demanding than High, but both are heavily GPU-bound.

The data shows that the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p with High settings, delivering 72.2 FPS, which is smooth for a flight simulator. At 4K, users would need to choose between fidelity and framerate, as Ultra dips below 50 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F provides the computational foundation for this combo, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz are well-suited for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on single-thread performance for physics and AI calculations. The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency during complex flight scenarios.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark and 2943 in Cinebench R23 indicate strong per-core performance. The multi-thread scores are also solid, with Cinebench R23 multicore reaching 20851. These numbers place the CPU in the 82nd percentile of all processors, and its nearest rival, the Ryzen 7 2700X, scores nearly identically (25057 vs 25064 avg), confirming that the 8400F holds its own against older higher-core-count chips.

The CPU's 65W TDP and 4nm process node contribute to efficient operation, though the measured FPS data does not directly reflect power consumption. The DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a bottleneck. In this game, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low settings, where the 149.6 FPS average suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the narrower FPS gaps between CPU-bound scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 86.3 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making it the best choice for users with high-refresh-rate monitors seeking maximum visual quality. However, the High preset at 89.2 FPS offers nearly identical performance with a slight reduction in visual effects, providing a more stable framerate for demanding flight scenarios.

For 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended balance, producing 72.2 FPS. This is sufficiently smooth for a flight simulator, and the visual quality improvement over Medium (97.7 FPS) justifies the 25.5 FPS sacrifice. The Ultra preset at 66.4 FPS is also viable, but the marginal visual gains over High may not be worth the additional performance hit.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 70.4 FPS is the best choice for maintaining playability while retaining decent visual fidelity. The High preset drops to 50.9 FPS, which is still playable but may feel less responsive during fast maneuvers. The Ultra preset at 46.5 FPS is only recommended for users who prioritize visual quality over framerate, as it approaches the lower boundary of acceptable performance. The Low preset at 91.5 FPS is available for users who want to maximize smoothness, but the visual trade-off is significant. Overall, the data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this combo, offering a strong balance of performance and quality.