Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator pairs the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, and the measured frame rates reveal a configuration that is consistently fast but with distinct scaling behavior across presets. The data shows a clear hierarchy where Low settings produce the highest frame rates at every resolution, while Ultra and High presets remain closely matched, particularly at 4K. This combination delivers playable performance across the board, but the choice of preset significantly alters the experience, making the settings selection more impactful than the resolution choice in many scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific CPU-GPU pairing in Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 176.1 FPS, which is 13.7% higher than High’s 130.2 FPS while offering a substantial improvement over Low’s 193.2 FPS in terms of visual quality. The gap between Medium and High narrows at 2560x1440, where Medium produces 139.8 FPS versus High’s 104.2 FPS, a 34.2% advantage for Medium. At 3840x2160, Medium still leads High by 35.2% (99.8 FPS vs 73.8 FPS).

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo at any resolution. At 1080p, Ultra scores 122.4 FPS, which is only 6.4% behind High but 43.9% slower than Medium. The penalty becomes more pronounced at 1440p, where Ultra drops to 96.7 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra falls to 73.6 FPS, essentially tied with High’s 73.8 FPS. Since Ultra offers no measurable frame rate benefit over High at 4K and only marginal gains at lower resolutions, the extra rendering overhead does not translate into a better experience.

Low settings are viable for competitive or maximum smoothness scenarios. The 1080p Low result of 193.2 FPS is the highest measured value in the entire dataset, and even at 4K, Low maintains 128.8 FPS, which is 74.5% faster than Ultra at the same resolution. However, the visual downgrade from Low to Medium is substantial, and for a flight simulator where terrain and cockpit detail matter, Medium provides a far superior image without sacrificing the ability to exceed 90 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F plus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 76th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 4.2% of all configurations. This percentile ranking reflects the strong synergy between the two components, though it is important to note that the ranking is specific to this game’s workload, which is heavily reliant on both CPU single-thread performance and GPU rasterization throughput.

The CPU itself sits at the 82nd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 25064. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X scores 25057 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 scores 25099 (-0.1% delta), and the AMD EPYC 9474F scores 25103 (-0.2% delta). The Ryzen 5 7500F is the closest competitor at 24993, just 0.3% behind. This indicates that the 8400F is a solid mid-range CPU whose performance is well within the expected range for its class.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5080 achieves an average benchmark score of 59188, placing it at the 89th percentile among all graphics cards. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A570M at 58239 (1.6% delta), the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (-1.9% delta), the Intel Arc A580 at 57756 (2.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X at 57661 (2.6% delta). The RTX 5080’s score is notably higher than these rivals, though the delta percentages are small, suggesting that the GPU’s raw compute power is not the limiting factor in this particular game at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest measured average is 193.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080 scores 59188, which is 1.6% higher than the Intel Arc A570M’s 58239 and 2.5% higher than the Intel Arc A580’s 57756. The closest rival is the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326, which is 1.9% higher than the RTX 5080.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using at 4K resolution?

A: No. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 73.6 FPS, while High averages 73.8 FPS. The difference is negligible, so High offers the same performance with potentially more stable frame pacing.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: This combo ranks 76th out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the top 4.2% of all configurations.

Q: How much faster is Low compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low achieves 179.7 FPS, while Ultra achieves 96.7 FPS. Low is 85.8% faster than Ultra at this resolution.

Q: What is the CPU’s percentile ranking relative to all processors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25064.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low produces 193.2 FPS, Medium produces 176.1 FPS, High produces 130.2 FPS, and Ultra produces 122.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 70.8 FPS, representing a 36.6% performance difference between the two extreme presets. Medium is notably close to Low, with only a 9.7% gap, while High is 26.1% slower than Medium.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low achieves 179.7 FPS, Medium achieves 139.8 FPS, High achieves 104.2 FPS, and Ultra achieves 96.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium widens to 28.5%, while High is 25.5% slower than Medium. The difference between High and Ultra narrows to 7.2%, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

At 3840x2160, the results show a tighter grouping among the higher presets. Low maintains 128.8 FPS, Medium drops to 99.8 FPS, High drops to 73.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 73.6 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is effectively zero (0.3% difference), while Medium is 35.2% faster than High. Low remains 29.1% faster than Medium, indicating that even at 4K, the CPU is not fully bottlenecked.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 193.2 FPS at 1080p to 128.8 FPS at 4K, a 33.3% reduction. This relatively modest drop suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is the primary limiter, as the GPU has ample headroom even at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is from 176.1 FPS to 99.8 FPS, a 43.3% reduction. This indicates that Medium begins to stress the GPU more significantly, but the CPU still plays a substantial role. The transition from 1440p to 4K at Medium shows a 28.6% drop (139.8 to 99.8 FPS), which is consistent with a balanced workload.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 130.2 FPS at 1080p falls to 104.2 FPS at 1440p (20.0% drop) and then to 73.8 FPS at 4K (43.3% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern, with 122.4 FPS at 1080p dropping to 96.7 FPS at 1440p (21.0% drop) and 73.6 FPS at 4K (39.9% drop from 1080p). The convergence of High and Ultra at 4K suggests that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at this resolution, as both presets hit the same performance ceiling.

The data points to the GPU being the primary constraint at 4K with High or Ultra settings, while the CPU remains more influential at 1080p and with lower presets. The RTX 5080’s 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the rendering pipeline, but the shading workload at 4K Ultra exceeds what the 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 compute can deliver at higher frame rates. The Ryzen 5 8400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide enough single-thread performance to avoid severe bottlenecks, but the measured scaling indicates that neither component is fully saturated across all settings.