Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a high-refresh-rate experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the data reveals a clear progression of performance scaling that shifts the bottleneck depending on resolution. At 1080p, this combo delivers exceptional frame rates that stress the CPU's single-thread capabilities, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The measured average FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets provides a detailed map of this system's behavior, indicating that it is best suited for high-refresh 1440p or smooth 4K gameplay at elevated settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable and steep decline as resolution increases, moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, this combo achieves 195 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 170 FPS at 1440p (a 12.8% reduction) and further to 125 FPS at 4K (a 35.9% reduction from 1080p). This pattern illustrates that at lower settings, the frame rate is highly sensitive to pixel count, which suggests the GPU is already becoming a significant factor even at 1080p, as the CPU is not fully taxed by the reduced graphical load.

For the Medium preset, the scaling is similar but with a slightly different magnitude: 164 FPS at 1080p, falling to 132 FPS at 1440p (a 19.5% drop) and 97 FPS at 4K (a 40.9% drop). The High preset shows 123 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p (a 19.5% drop), and 73 FPS at 4K (a 40.7% drop). The Ultra preset follows the same trend, with 117 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p (an 18.8% drop), and 70 FPS at 4K (a 40.2% drop).

The consistency of the percentage drops between 1440p and 4K — hovering around 40% for most presets — indicates that the rendering pipeline is heavily pixel-bound at these resolutions. However, the absolute FPS values are more telling. At 4K Ultra, the system still manages 70 FPS, which is playable, but the gap between 1080p and 4K narrows as settings increase. For instance, at Low, the 4K FPS is 64% of the 1080p FPS, whereas at Ultra, it is 60%. This suggests that while the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, the CPU's headroom at 1080p allows the GPU to stretch its legs, but at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput becomes the bottleneck, capping performance regardless of the CPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured rows, the optimal settings balance depends heavily on the target display resolution. For 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 117 FPS, which is only 6 FPS lower than the High preset (123 FPS) but offers a significant visual upgrade. Since the system maintains over 100 FPS even at Ultra, this is the recommended choice for owners of 1080p high-refresh monitors, as the data shows no need to compromise on quality for speed.

At 1440p, the High preset at 99 FPS is the sweet spot for smooth gameplay, while Ultra drops to 95 FPS — a negligible 4 FPS difference that still exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset provides a comfortable margin at 132 FPS, but the visual fidelity loss is unnecessary given the small performance gap between High and Ultra. The data suggests that 1440p Ultra is perfectly viable, as the 95 FPS average is well above the standard 60 FPS threshold, and the frame pacing remains stable based on the medium preset's min/max values.

For 4K, the choice is more nuanced. The Ultra preset yields 70 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays. The High preset offers 73 FPS, a marginal improvement of 3 FPS, while Medium jumps to 97 FPS. Given that the difference between Ultra and High is only 3 FPS, there is little reason to drop from Ultra to High. However, if a smoother experience is desired, Medium at 97 FPS provides a significant 27 FPS uplift over Ultra, making it the best choice for 4K gamers who prioritize frame rate over maximum settings. The Low preset at 125 FPS is available for competitive play, but it sacrifices too much visual detail for a flight simulator where immersion is a core component.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the driving force behind this system's high FPS figures, and its specifications align with the observed performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is crucial for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which loads extensive texture data for terrain and aircraft. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system does not appear to hit a memory wall, as the 70 FPS average is respectable, but the 16 GB capacity ensures headroom for high-resolution texture packs.

The GPU's boost clock of 2505 MHz and its Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, contribute to its raw compute power, which is reflected in its 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 performance. However, the benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4080's performance is not fully utilized at 1080p. At Low settings, the 195 FPS at 1080p is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU could theoretically push higher frame rates if the processor could keep up. Conversely, at 4K, the GPU's shading units and texture units become the limiting factor, as the pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s is taxed by the 8.3 million pixels required for each frame.

The RTX 4080's nearest rivals — the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% higher average score) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% lower) — show that this GPU is a top-tier performer. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the combo ranks in the top 7.4% of all tested combinations (273rd out of 3714). This ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where its 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores provide ample compute for the game's graphics pipeline, even if Microsoft Flight Simulator does not heavily utilize ray tracing in these measurements.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 holds a rank of 273 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the 92.6th percentile of all systems. This is an excellent result, driven by the GPU's high average benchmark score of 54,247, which is 86th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU, with an average score of 25,005, sits in the 77th percentile, but its performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most scenarios.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 8400F is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (0.2% higher score) and the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.3% higher). This means that the combo's ranking is not overly sensitive to the CPU choice, as swapping in a slightly faster processor would yield minimal FPS gains. The GPU, however, is the differentiator. The RTX 4080's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is nearly identical in performance (0.1% difference), suggesting that this combo's ranking is representative of what any high-end GPU would achieve with a mid-range CPU.

The ranking also indicates that this system is better suited for 1440p and 4K gaming than for 1080p esports. At 1080p, the combo's FPS figures are high, but the CPU's single-thread score (951 in 3DMark) may limit the maximum frame rate in CPU-bound scenarios. At 4K, the combo's performance is more consistent, as the GPU takes over as the primary driver, allowing the system to achieve its high percentile ranking.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 70 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209) and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828).

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 8400F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 195 FPS, but the CPU's single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark suggests it may limit maximum frame rates. The data shows a 70 FPS difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low, indicating the GPU is not fully saturated at 1080p.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Ultra preset at 95 FPS is recommended, as it is only 4 FPS lower than High (99 FPS) but offers superior visual quality. Medium provides 132 FPS if higher frame rates are preferred.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM of the RTX 4080 cause any issues in this game?

A: The data shows no evidence of VRAM limitations. At 4K Ultra, the system still achieves 70 FPS, indicating that the 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for this game's requirements.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 273rd out of 3,714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.4% of all systems benchmarked for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table summarizes the exact measured average FPS values across all tested configurations:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 73 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 125 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 97 | 83 | 112 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 70 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | High | 99 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 170 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 132 | 112 | 152 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 95 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | High | 123 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 195 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 164 | 139 | 188 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 117 | - | - |

The Medium preset provides the only min/max data points, showing that at 1080p, the frame rate ranges from 139 to 188 FPS, indicating a stable experience with a variance of 49 FPS. At 1440p, the range narrows to 112–152 FPS (40 FPS variance), and at 4K, it tightens further to 83–112 FPS (29 FPS variance). This trend suggests that as resolution increases, the frame time consistency improves, which is typical for GPU-bound scenarios.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide solid single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,943. These scores are crucial for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on single-thread performance for its simulation logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, while not as critical for this game, are still respectable. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20,851 and PassMark multi-thread score of 24,389 indicate that it can handle background tasks without impacting gameplay. However, the data suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most scenarios. At 1080p Low, the 195 FPS average is likely near the CPU's limit, but at higher settings, the GPU takes over. This is confirmed by the fact that the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, scores only 0.2% higher on average, yet the combo's FPS figures are dominated by the GPU's performance.

The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. While this is not directly measured in the FPS data, it ensures that the CPU can feed the GPU with adequate data, particularly at 4K where texture streaming is more demanding. The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache is shared across all cores, which is sufficient for the game's data access patterns, but the lack of 3D V-Cache means it does not have the extra cache that some rivals offer. Despite this, the combo's ranking of 273rd out of 3,714 shows that the Ryzen 5 8400F is more than capable of supporting the RTX 4080 in this title, with the GPU being the clear performance driver.