Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: Is this combination of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Intel Arc B370 capable of running Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data shows playable results at 1920x1080 on Low settings, where the combo achieves an average of 50 FPS. Medium settings drop the average to 39 FPS, while High and Ultra presets fall to 30 FPS and 28 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. This places it within 0.5% of the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), 0.2% below the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), and 1.4% above the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168). The GPU sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

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

A: The sweet spot is 1920x1080 with Low settings, delivering 50 FPS average. At 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 41 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it falls to 30 FPS. Higher presets at any resolution produce averages below 40 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has an average benchmark score of 34260. It is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34222, 0.1% faster) and the AMD EPYC 4244P (34220, 0.1% faster). The Intel Core i5-13450HX is 0.2% ahead, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is 0.5% behind.

Q: What CPU and GPU specifications are most relevant for this flight simulator's performance?

A: The CPU provides 8 cores, 16 threads, a 3.60 GHz base clock, and a 4.40 GHz boost clock. The GPU has 1280 shading units, a 300 MHz base clock, and a 2400 MHz boost clock with system-shared memory. The GPU's FP32 compute is 6.144 TFLOPS.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combination ranks 2770th out of 2996 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations tested for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is a Panther Lake-based integrated GPU using the Xe3-LPG architecture on Intel's 3 nm process. Its role in Microsoft Flight Simulator is constrained by its hardware fundamentals: 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units. The GPU also includes 10 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Clock behavior is a critical factor here. The base clock sits at 300 MHz, which is quite low, but the boost clock reaches 2400 MHz — an eightfold increase under load. This wide boost range means the GPU's performance is highly dependent on thermal headroom and power delivery, which for an IGP (integrated graphics processor) is shared with the CPU. The memory subsystem is entirely system-shared, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent," meaning the GPU borrows from the host's DDR4 memory rather than having dedicated VRAM.

The FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s give a theoretical ceiling, but the measured results in Microsoft Flight Simulator show that this ceiling is rarely approached at demanding settings. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo averages 17 FPS; at 3840x2160 High, 18 FPS; and at 3840x2160 Medium, 23 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as even the Low preset only yields 30 FPS.

The GPU's benchmark standing reinforces this. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals are all older discrete parts — the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, and AMD FirePro M2000 — with score deltas ranging from -0.7% to +1.4%. This is a GPU that competes with hardware from over a decade ago in synthetic tests, which explains why the flight simulator's framerates are modest.

With 25 W TDP and no power connectors, the Arc B370 is designed for low-power integrated use. The boost clock of 2400 MHz is the key factor in extracting any playable performance; without that boost, the 300 MHz base would be unusable for a game like this. The system-shared memory means that the CPU's dual-channel DDR4 bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is also the GPU's bandwidth, creating a shared resource constraint that becomes more apparent at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a Zen 2 (Matisse) desktop processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It provides 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 32 MB L3 cache and 512 KB L2 per core are typical for this generation. The CPU communicates over PCIe Gen 4 with 24 lanes and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, handle the flight model physics, and process the terrain streaming system. The 8-core/16-thread configuration is well-suited to the simulator's multi-threaded workload, which can leverage multiple cores for weather simulation, AI traffic, and scenery loading. The 4.40 GHz boost clock helps with single-threaded tasks like the main game loop, but the CPU's overall performance is middle-of-the-pack.

The benchmark data confirms this positioning. The Ryzen 7 3700X scores 2092 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 204 in single-core. Geekbench results are 8899 multi-core and 1593 single-core. PassMark tests show 22458 for multi-thread, 2656 for single-thread, and 1181 for physics. The average benchmark score is 34260, placing the CPU in the 84th percentile of all CPUs — a solid but not elite position.

The nearest rivals show how close the competition is. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 scores 34222 (0.1% behind), the AMD EPYC 4244P scores 34220 (0.1% behind), the Intel Core i5-13450HX scores 34333 (0.2% ahead), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H scores 34083 (0.5% behind). All four rivals are within 0.5% of each other, indicating that the 3700X's CPU performance is not a differentiator in this combo — it is the GPU that limits the experience.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier suggest headroom for overclocking, but the stock boost clock of 4.40 GHz is what the measured results reflect. In the game's measured FPS data, the CPU's influence is most visible at lower resolutions and settings, where the GPU is less stressed. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 50 FPS; at 2560x1440 Low, 41 FPS; and at 3840x2160 Low, 30 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings follows a pattern consistent with GPU-bound behavior — the CPU is capable enough to push higher framerates if the GPU could keep up.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined configuration of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2770th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the bottom 7.5% of all configurations tested, which is a poor showing for a desktop CPU paired with a modern integrated GPU.

The rank reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's. The Ryzen 7 3700X sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, while the Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The combo's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU's low compute throughput and system-shared memory constraints, which are particularly problematic for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator that streams large textures and terrain data.

Given that the Arc B370's nearest GPU rivals are all legacy parts (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, AMD FirePro M2000), it is unsurprising that the combo lands near the bottom of the ranking. The CPU's strong multi-core performance cannot compensate for a GPU that is effectively a decade behind in rasterization capability.

The rank of 2770 out of 2996 also means that 226 combos tested slower, which provides some context — this is not the worst configuration possible, but it is far from recommended for this simulator at any resolution above 1080p Low. The data indicates that users with this combo should expect to compromise heavily on visual quality to achieve playable framerates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS is 50. This is the only configuration that achieves a comfortably playable framerate without dipping below 30 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, which is also playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 41 FPS average, which is acceptable for a flight simulator where precise timing is less critical than in fast-paced genres. Medium at 1440p drops to 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS, which is borderline. High and Ultra at 1440p are not recommended, with averages of 24 FPS and 23 FPS respectively.

At 3840x2160, no preset is truly playable. Low settings average 30 FPS, Medium averages 23 FPS, High averages 18 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. Even the Low preset at 4K will struggle in busy areas with dense scenery or weather effects.

The data suggests a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low is the primary recommendation, with 1080p Medium as a secondary option for users who prioritize visual fidelity over framerate stability. At 1440p, Low is the only sensible choice. 4K should be avoided entirely unless the user accepts sub-30 FPS framerates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 50 FPS average
• Medium: 39 FPS average, 33 FPS minimum, 45 FPS maximum
• High: 30 FPS average
• Ultra: 28 FPS average

At 1080p, the scaling from Low to Ultra is steep — a 44% drop in average FPS from Low to Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 33 FPS shows that even the "playable" presets can dip below 30 FPS in demanding moments. The maximum of 45 FPS on Medium indicates that less complex scenes can approach the Low preset's performance.

2560x1440:

• Low: 41 FPS average
• Medium: 32 FPS average, 27 FPS minimum, 36 FPS maximum
• High: 24 FPS average
• Ultra: 23 FPS average

At 1440p, the Low preset loses 18% of its 1080p performance, dropping to 41 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 27 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. High and Ultra are within 1 FPS of each other, suggesting a hard GPU limit around 24 FPS at this resolution for higher presets.

3840x2160:

• Low: 30 FPS average
• Medium: 23 FPS average, 20 FPS minimum, 27 FPS maximum
• High: 18 FPS average
• Ultra: 17 FPS average

At 4K, the GPU is severely overtaxed. The Medium preset's minimum of 20 FPS is the lowest recorded value across all tested configurations. The difference between High (18 FPS) and Ultra (17 FPS) is negligible, indicating that the GPU has no headroom to spare at this resolution regardless of settings optimization.

The overall pattern shows that this combo's performance scales predictably with resolution and settings. The GPU's system-shared memory and low compute throughput create a hard ceiling around 50 FPS at 1080p Low, with diminishing returns at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong multi-core performance does not translate into higher framerates because the GPU cannot process frames fast enough to utilize the CPU's headroom.