Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator pairs an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with NVIDIA’s flagship GeForce RTX 4090, producing a combination that ranks 210th out of 1,795 tested combos in this game. The benchmark results show a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but reveals a clear CPU bottleneck at 1080p with low settings, where the frame rate ceiling becomes apparent. This analysis interprets the measured FPS data to explain how this pairing behaves across settings and resolutions, and what users should expect from it.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X provides 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Zen 2 architecture processor, built on a 7 nm process, sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 28,631. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12600 (28,654, -0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28,591, +0.1% delta), indicating the 3700X is positioned right at the edge of a performance tier where a few percentage points separate competitors.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling from 1440p to 1080p. At 1440p with Low settings, the system delivers 128.9 FPS, but dropping to 1080p with Low settings only raises that to 143.1 FPS — a modest 14.2 FPS gain (11%) despite a 44% reduction in pixel count. This small improvement at lower resolution strongly suggests the Ryzen 7 3700X is limiting the frame rate in that scenario. The CPU’s single-thread performance, reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,694, is adequate but not outstanding for a flight simulator that relies heavily on simulation logic and terrain processing.

The 3700X’s multi-threaded capabilities, however, are more robust: its Cinebench R23 multi-core score reaches 19,087, and its PassMark multi-thread score is 22,458. These figures indicate that while the CPU can handle the parallel workloads of the simulator, its per-core performance constrains maximum FPS when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143.1 FPS, which is likely near the ceiling for this processor in this title, regardless of the RTX 4090’s immense headroom.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of settings for this combination. At 1440p, which is often the sweet spot for high-refresh gaming, the Ultra preset yields 103.1 FPS, while High delivers 109.4 FPS, and Medium reaches 120.2 FPS. The data indicates that the jump from Medium to High costs about 10.8 FPS (9%), and from High to Ultra costs another 6.3 FPS (6%). For a flight simulator where smoothness is critical for immersion, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance with 120.2 FPS, staying above the 60 FPS threshold with substantial margin.

At 1080p, the situation changes. Ultra delivers 116.1 FPS, High 113.9 FPS, and Medium 126.9 FPS, but Low jumps to 143.1 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, and the GPU’s extra performance headroom is wasted on lower settings. The 1080p Ultra result of 116.1 FPS is notably higher than the 1440p Ultra result of 103.1 FPS, showing that resolution still matters, but the gains from lowering settings diminish as the CPU bottleneck tightens.

For the best experience, the data points to 1440p Medium as the optimal choice, providing 120.2 FPS while avoiding the harsh visual compromises of Low settings. At 4K, the High preset (78.2 FPS) is preferable over Ultra (76.4 FPS) because the difference is only 1.8 FPS, but High likely preserves better visual fidelity than the lower presets. The Ultra preset at any resolution offers diminishing returns relative to High, with only a 3.6% FPS penalty at 4K (76.4 vs 78.2) but no indication of proportional visual gains in the data.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals the balance between CPU and GPU load. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 116.1 FPS at 1080p to 103.1 FPS at 1440p (an 11% decrease) and then to 76.4 FPS at 4K (a further 26% decrease). This progressive decline indicates that the RTX 4090 is increasingly the limiting factor as resolution rises, because the GPU must render more pixels, while the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant.

At Low settings, the scaling is different: 143.1 FPS at 1080p drops to 128.9 FPS at 1440p (10% decrease) and then to 115.5 FPS at 4K (10% decrease from 1440p). The smaller relative drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings (10%) compared to Ultra (26%) suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is still the primary limiter even at 4K. The RTX 4090 has ample headroom at Low settings, so the frame rate is held back by the Ryzen 7 3700X’s processing speed.

The High preset shows the most balanced scaling: 113.9 FPS at 1080p, 109.4 FPS at 1440p (4% drop), and 78.2 FPS at 4K (29% drop from 1440p). This pattern indicates that High settings at 1080p and 1440p are still partially CPU-limited, but the 4K result is clearly GPU-bound. The data suggests that users who want to maximize FPS should play at 1080p with Low settings (143.1 FPS), but those who prioritize visual quality with high frame rates should target 1440p Medium or High, where the CPU and GPU are more balanced.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1440p with Medium settings provides 120.2 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining reasonable visual quality. At 4K, the High preset yields 78.2 FPS, which is playable but lower.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 3700X bottleneck the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: Yes, the data indicates a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143.1 FPS, but the GPU is capable of much more, as shown by its 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

Q: How does the RTX 4090’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4090’s average benchmark score of 66,473 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, -0.4% delta) and the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127, +0.5% delta), showing that the 4090 is at the top of its performance tier.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows 76.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. This is only 1.8 FPS lower than High settings (78.2 FPS), so the visual fidelity trade-off for Ultra may not be worth the small FPS loss.

Q: Is the CPU’s single-thread performance sufficient for this game?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,694, which places it at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. In this game, the single-thread performance appears adequate but limits maximum FPS, as seen in the 1080p Low result of 143.1 FPS.

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

A: This pairing ranks 210th out of 1,795 tested combos, placing it in the top 12% of all configurations tested in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2,235 MHz with a boost clock of 2,520 MHz, and the memory runs at 1,313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU’s compute capabilities are immense: it has 16,384 shading units, 128 ray-tracing cores, and 512 tensor cores, delivering 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This hardware sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the RTX 4090’s role is most apparent at 4K resolution. At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 76.4 FPS, which is a 34% drop from the 1080p Ultra result of 116.1 FPS. This substantial decrease highlights the GPU’s workload at high resolutions, where the 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are essential for handling the game’s detailed terrain textures and complex lighting. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 9,223 confirm its top-tier status, but the measured FPS shows that even this hardware cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K with maximum settings.

The RTX 4090’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is noteworthy: the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, -0.4% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097, -0.9% delta) are within 1% of its average benchmark score. However, these are workstation cards, not gaming GPUs, and the 4090’s gaming-specific features like DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level are what matter in this simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all tested configurations.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low settings average 143.1 FPS, Medium averages 126.9 FPS, High averages 113.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 116.1 FPS. The anomaly here is that High (113.9) is slightly lower than Ultra (116.1), a 2.2 FPS difference that falls within measurement variance but suggests the settings overhead is not linear. The spread from Low to Ultra is 26.2 FPS, with Low being 19% faster than Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the data shows: Low averages 128.9 FPS, Medium averages 120.2 FPS, High averages 109.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 103.1 FPS. The progression is more consistent here, with each step from Medium to High to Ultra costing approximately 8-10 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread is 25.8 FPS, nearly identical to 1080p in absolute terms, but the percentage difference is larger (20% vs 19%).

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low averages 115.5 FPS, Medium averages 104.5 FPS, High averages 78.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 76.4 FPS. The dramatic drop from Medium (104.5) to High (78.2) — a 26.3 FPS decline — indicates a significant increase in GPU workload at this resolution. The Ultra setting is only 1.8 FPS lower than High, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds minimal additional GPU load over High at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 210th out of 1,795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 11.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system’s overall capability, but the data reveals an imbalance: the GPU is a top-tier component (91st percentile) while the CPU is only mid-range (85th percentile). This mismatch means the combo’s ranking is likely held back by the CPU, especially in scenarios where the frame rate is CPU-limited.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in raw benchmark performance are the Intel Core i5-12600 (28,654, -0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28,591, +0.1% delta), all within 0.2% of the 3700X’s average score. This tight grouping suggests that swapping to any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results in this game, as they all have similar single-thread and multi-thread capabilities. The GPU’s nearest rivals — Tesla T4, Tesla P40, and Radeon Pro Vega 56 — are all within 1.3% of the RTX 4090’s average score, but these are not gaming-focused products and do not represent realistic alternatives for this simulator.

The data indicates that the combo’s 210th rank is respectable but not exceptional, given that the RTX 4090 is one of the most powerful GPUs available. The bottleneck analysis suggests that upgrading the CPU to a higher single-thread performer would likely improve the ranking, particularly in the 1080p Low settings scenario where the 143.1 FPS ceiling is clearly CPU-imposed. However, for most users playing at 1440p or higher with Medium or better settings, the current pairing delivers smooth performance well above 60 FPS, which is the primary requirement for an immersive flight simulation experience.