Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination delivers a strong, high-refresh-rate experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing the RTX 3080 firmly in control of performance across all tested resolutions. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing is well-balanced for the simulator's demands, offering a clear path to smooth gameplay at 1440p and even respectable 4K performance when settings are adjusted.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve, with average frame rates decreasing as pixel count rises, but the pattern is notably smooth and predictable. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 92 FPS, which climbs to 140 FPS at Low and drops to 88 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the performance scales down proportionally, with High settings yielding 74 FPS, Low producing 127 FPS, and Ultra achieving 71 FPS. The jump to 4K is where the most significant impact is visible, as High settings fall to 55 FPS, Low drops to 94 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 52 FPS.

This scaling pattern strongly suggests that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, while the CPU has ample headroom to feed it. The total drop from 1080p High to 4K High is 37 FPS, representing a 40% reduction in frame rate. Meanwhile, the drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 46 FPS, a 33% reduction. Interestingly, the percentage drop is slightly smaller at the Low preset, which indicates that the GPU is still handling the workload efficiently even when the visual load is minimized.

The data points to a system where the GPU's raw throughput becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 1080p, the average frame rates range from 88 FPS at Ultra to 140 FPS at Low, showing that even the most demanding settings remain fluid. At 1440p, the range tightens to 71-127 FPS, which is still excellent for a flight simulator that prioritizes visual fidelity. The 4K results, ranging from 52-94 FPS, demonstrate that the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle the simulator's high-resolution textures, but the GPU is clearly working harder to maintain playable frame rates.

The scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 3080 is not being bottlenecked by the CPU at any resolution. The Ryzen 7 3700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, provides consistent performance that allows the GPU to scale its output based on resolution. The measured data shows no anomalous drops or stutters, suggesting that the CPU is delivering frames to the GPU without introducing latency. This is a well-matched pairing where the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor only at 4K, and even then, the frame rates remain acceptable for most users.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X plays a supporting role in this combination, providing the computational foundation for the flight simulator's complex physics and AI calculations. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture, this processor offers a balanced mix of single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 2092 and a single-core score of 204, while Geekbench results indicate 8899 multi-core and 1593 single-core. These numbers place the CPU at the 84th percentile when compared to all processors, indicating solid performance within its generation.

The processor's 3.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide adequate speed for the simulator's main thread, which handles input, physics, and rendering commands. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which is crucial for the large, streamed environments common in flight simulation. The data shows that this CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at any resolution, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K.

Comparing the 3700X to its nearest rivals, the data shows a tight grouping around the 34,000 average benchmark score mark. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 scores 34,222, a negligible 0.1% difference, while the Intel Core i5-13450HX scores 34,333, putting it 0.2% ahead. The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H trails by 0.5% with a score of 34,083. These results indicate that the 3700X is competitive with newer processors in terms of raw compute, though it lacks their newer instruction set extensions.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator specifically, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame pacing, particularly in complex scenarios like busy airports or dense urban areas. The measured data shows the combo achieving 140 FPS at 1080p Low, which suggests the CPU can handle the simulator's minimum workload with significant headroom. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 88 FPS average demonstrates that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's demands without becoming a limiting factor. The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 51.2 GB/s provide a stable platform, though the data does not indicate that memory bandwidth is a constraint in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution, and the data indicates that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, Medium produces an average of 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. This is a 31 FPS improvement over High settings while only sacrificing some visual fidelity. The Low preset achieves 140 FPS, but the visual penalty is substantial, making Medium the recommended choice for most users at this resolution.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS, which is still excellent for a flight simulator. High settings reduce this to 74 FPS, which remains playable but begins to approach the lower end of comfortable frame rates for fast-moving scenes. The data shows that Medium at 1440p provides a 25 FPS advantage over High and a 28 FPS advantage over Ultra, making it the clear choice for maintaining both quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 71 FPS is acceptable for those prioritizing maximum visuals, but the Medium preset offers a more consistent experience.

At 4K, the recommendation shifts to High settings, which produce an average of 55 FPS. While this is below the 60 FPS target, the flight simulator's slower pacing makes it acceptable. The Medium preset at 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS is the best option for 4K, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 52 FPS, which is playable but may exhibit occasional stutters in dense environments. The Low preset at 94 FPS is unnecessarily sacrificing visual quality for performance that exceeds the display's refresh rate in most cases.

The data suggests that users should prioritize the Medium preset for most scenarios, as it offers the best combination of frame rate and visual fidelity. For those with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p, the Medium preset's 123 FPS average will satisfy most requirements. At 1440p, Medium's 99 FPS is ideal for 100Hz displays. At 4K, Medium's 73 FPS is the safest choice for maintaining smooth gameplay without dropping below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination ranks 1095th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 30% of all configurations. This ranking is notable considering the hardware's age, as both components were released in 2020. The RTX 3080, with its 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, provides substantial compute power, while the 3700X offers a solid foundation for the simulator's physics calculations.

This ranking indicates that the combo outperforms approximately 70% of tested configurations, which includes many newer and more expensive setups. The data shows that this pairing is particularly effective for this game, likely due to the RTX 3080's high memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s and the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread design. The rank of 1095 out of 3714 suggests that while this is not a top-tier combination, it is well above average and capable of delivering a satisfying experience.

The RTX 3080's percentile rank of 68th among all GPUs indicates that it is above average, but its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are surprisingly modest, including the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, both within 0.4% of its score. This suggests that the RTX 3080's raw benchmark scores may not fully reflect its gaming performance, particularly in a title like Microsoft Flight Simulator that benefits from high memory bandwidth and ray tracing capabilities.

The combo's rank in this specific game is higher than what the individual component percentiles might suggest, which indicates that the pairing is well-suited to the simulator's workload. The 3700X's 84th percentile CPU ranking and the RTX 3080's 68th percentile GPU ranking combine to produce a top-30% result in this title, demonstrating that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts for this particular application.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the data shows that it is responsible for the majority of the performance scaling across resolutions. With 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output processors, this GPU provides substantial raw compute power. The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus delivers 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the high-resolution textures and streaming environments in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The GPU's base clock of 1440 MHz and boost clock of 1710 MHz, combined with its 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, allow it to handle the simulator's complex rendering tasks efficiently. The benchmark results show a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 and a Passmark G3D score of 25086, indicating strong overall performance. However, the GPU's percentile rank of 68th among all GPUs places it below some newer competitors, which is expected given its 2020 release date.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the RTX 3080's role is to render the detailed terrain, aircraft, and weather effects. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU can easily maintain high frame rates, with the Low preset achieving 140 FPS. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with 4K Ultra dropping to 52 FPS. This is a clear indication that the GPU's pixel throughput is the key constraint at higher resolutions.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly important for this game, which streams large amounts of terrain data. The 10 GB capacity is sufficient for the tested settings, as evidenced by the stable frame rates at 4K. The GDDR6X memory type provides higher bandwidth than standard GDDR6, which helps with the game's constant data streaming. The 68 ray tracing cores are not heavily utilized in this title, but they provide future-proofing for updates or mods that may add ray-traced effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates range from 140 FPS at Low to 88 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset achieves 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS. High settings produce 92 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is well within the RTX 3080's comfort zone, with even the most demanding settings remaining highly playable.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. Low settings produce 127 FPS, which is still excellent. Medium settings achieve 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. High settings drop to 74 FPS, while Ultra produces 71 FPS. The 1440p results show that this resolution is the sweet spot for this combo, offering a good balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. The Medium preset's 99 FPS average is particularly impressive, providing smooth gameplay with substantial visual detail.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly working harder. Low settings produce 94 FPS, which is still playable. Medium settings achieve 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. High settings drop to 55 FPS, while Ultra produces 52 FPS. The 4K results show that the RTX 3080 can handle this resolution, but users must be selective with settings to maintain a consistent experience. The Medium preset at 73 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K, as it provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold.

The frame time consistency, as indicated by the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset, shows that the combo maintains stable performance. At 1080p, the minimum of 104 FPS against an average of 123 FPS indicates a well-paced experience. At 1440p, the minimum of 84 FPS against an average of 99 FPS shows similar stability. At 4K, the minimum of 62 FPS against an average of 73 FPS demonstrates that even at the highest resolution, the combo avoids severe frame drops. This consistency is crucial for a flight simulator, where stutters can be disorienting and detract from the experience.