Microsoft Flight Simulator

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D lands at rank 289 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations evaluated. That rank is notable given the age of the CPU, which was released in the 3000 series generation, yet the combination still outperforms the vast majority of tested systems in this simulation title.

The CPU's own percentile ranking sits at 84, meaning it beats 84% of all processors in the database across general benchmarks. The GPU, however, is even stronger, with a percentile rank of 92 against all GPUs. This gap suggests the processor is the more limiting factor in this pairing, a pattern that becomes clearer when examining how the system behaves across resolutions and settings in the measured FPS data.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Ryzen 7 3700X posts an average benchmark score of 34,260, which is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34,222, deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD EPYC 4244P (34,220, deltaPct 0.1). It sits just 0.2% behind the Intel Core i5-13450HX (34,333) and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (34,083). These are tight margins, indicating that the 3700X remains competitive with much newer silicon in general compute workloads, though Flight Simulator's specific demands will tell a different story.

For the GPU, the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77,712 places it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 2.1% (79,396) and the 16 GB variant by 2.4% (79,605). These deltas are small, suggesting the 5090 D is in a tightly contested performance band, though its massive memory capacity and bandwidth set it apart in ways general benchmarks may not fully capture.

The combo rank of 289 out of 2996 is particularly interesting because it shows that even with a top-tier GPU, the older CPU holds this system back from the absolute top tier. Systems with newer processors and similar GPUs would likely occupy the upper echelons of this ranking, but the 3700X's Zen 2 architecture, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, still delivers enough throughput to keep the system well ahead of the median.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 D brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, or 28 Gbps effective, which is exceptional by any measure. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz. This is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture chip built on a 5 nm process, containing 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, making it one of the largest consumer GPUs ever produced.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is primarily to render the vast, detailed scenery and weather effects that define the simulation. The 32 GB VRAM is overkill for this title at any of the tested resolutions, but it ensures that texture streaming and draw distances never become memory-limited. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample raw power for the game's rendering pipeline.

The GPU's benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326, with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674 and Vulkan score of 376,915. These numbers place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, confirming its high-end status. However, in this specific game, the GPU is rarely the bottleneck, as the FPS data reveals.

At 1080p with Low settings, the system hits 140 FPS, which is the highest average across all tested configurations. This suggests the GPU is not limiting performance at lower resolutions and settings, as the CPU becomes the primary constraint. The RTX 5090 D is designed for 4K and high-refresh-rate gaming, and its performance in this sim at 1080p is essentially CPU-bound. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is far beyond what this game requires at 1080p, reinforcing that the processor is the gating factor in this combo.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop reveals the limiting component. At 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 140 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 131 FPS, a 6.4% decrease. At 4K Low, the average falls to 118 FPS, which is 15.7% below the 1080p result. These are relatively modest drops, indicating that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at lower settings, as the GPU has plenty of headroom.

For High settings, the scaling is similar. At 1080p High, the system averages 115 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 107 FPS (7% lower), and at 4K High, it reaches 88 FPS (23.5% lower than 1080p). The larger drop from 1440p to 4K suggests the GPU begins to take on more of the workload at higher resolutions, but the CPU still plays a significant role.

Ultra settings show the most interesting pattern. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 114 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 106 FPS (7% lower), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 84 FPS (26.3% lower). The 4K Ultra result is the lowest FPS in the entire dataset, confirming that this is where the GPU is finally stressed, but even then, the CPU's limitations are apparent because the drop from 1080p to 1440p is small, while the 1440p to 4K drop is much larger.

This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the Ryzen 7 3700X is the limiting factor, capping performance at around 114-140 FPS depending on settings. The GPU has enough headroom to push higher, but the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 design, with its 3.60 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clock, cannot feed frames fast enough. At 4K, the GPU's workload increases significantly, and while the RTX 5090 D still delivers playable frame rates, the combination is more balanced, with both components contributing to the final result.

Settings Recommendations

Across all three tested resolutions, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS, while Ultra provides the lowest. The gap between Low and Ultra is consistent: at 1080p, the difference is 26 FPS (140 vs 114); at 1440p, it is 25 FPS (131 vs 106); and at 4K, it is 34 FPS (118 vs 84). This suggests that the settings scaling is relatively uniform, with each tier adding roughly the same performance cost.

For players seeking the smoothest experience, the Low preset is the clear choice, especially at 1080p where it hits 140 FPS. However, the Medium preset offers a better balance. At 1080p Medium, the average is 128 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 147 FPS. This is only 12 FPS slower than Low but likely provides significantly better visual fidelity in the flight sim. At 1440p Medium, the average is 119 FPS (min 101, max 137), and at 4K Medium, it is 108 FPS (min 92, max 124).

The Medium preset is particularly noteworthy at 4K, where it delivers 108 FPS average, which is 24 FPS higher than Ultra and 10 FPS higher than High. The minimum FPS of 92 at 4K Medium is also the only measured minimum above 90 at that resolution, making it the safest choice for consistent frame pacing.

The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra in performance, but at 4K it drops to 88 FPS, which is noticeably lower than Medium. Given that the Medium preset offers the best combination of visual quality and performance across all resolutions, it is the recommended starting point. Players with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors could consider Low for maximum FPS, but the diminishing returns above 140 FPS are unlikely to be perceptible in a flight simulator where camera movement is often slow and deliberate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. The Low preset averages 140 FPS. The Medium preset averages 128 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 147 FPS. The High preset averages 115 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 114 FPS. The narrow gap between High and Ultra at 1080p (just 1 FPS) suggests that the CPU is the bottleneck at these settings, as the GPU has more than enough power to render the scene, but the processor cannot supply frames fast enough to differentiate between the two presets.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops slightly. Low averages 131 FPS, Medium averages 119 FPS (min 101, max 137), High averages 107 FPS, and Ultra averages 106 FPS. The pattern repeats: Medium is 12 FPS slower than Low, High is 12 FPS slower than Medium, and Ultra is just 1 FPS slower than High. The minimum FPS at Medium (101) remains above the 100 FPS threshold, indicating smooth performance.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits, but the CPU still influences results. Low averages 118 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS (min 92, max 124), High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The drop from Medium to High at 4K is 20 FPS, which is much larger than the 8 FPS drop from Low to Medium. This suggests that the High preset introduces graphics features that are particularly taxing on the GPU, while the CPU remains the limiting factor at Low and Medium settings.

The complete dataset shows a clear hierarchy: at each resolution, performance decreases in the order Low, Medium, High, Ultra. The only exception is at 1080p, where High and Ultra are nearly identical (115 vs 114 FPS). The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, but those numbers (109 at 1080p, 101 at 1440p, 92 at 4K) are all within 15% of the average, indicating that the Medium preset provides stable frame delivery without severe drops.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p Medium offers the best balance, with an average of 119 FPS and a minimum of 101 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average is 128 FPS, but the higher resolution provides more detail without a significant performance penalty. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 108 FPS, which is still playable but with a lower minimum of 92 FPS.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 3700X bottleneck the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: The data suggests yes, particularly at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between High (115 FPS) and Ultra (114 FPS) is negligible, indicating the CPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the system averages 84 FPS, showing that the GPU is more stressed, but the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread design with a 4.40 GHz boost clock still caps performance relative to newer processors.

Q: How much FPS do you lose by increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K?

A: On the Low preset, the average drops from 140 FPS at 1080p to 118 FPS at 4K, a loss of 22 FPS (15.7%). On the Medium preset, it drops from 128 FPS to 108 FPS, a loss of 20 FPS (15.6%). On High, it drops from 115 FPS to 88 FPS, a loss of 27 FPS (23.5%). On Ultra, it drops from 114 FPS to 84 FPS, a loss of 30 FPS (26.3%).

Q: Which settings preset provides the most stable frame times?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values, and they are relatively high: 109 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The gap between average and minimum FPS is 19 FPS at 1080p, 18 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K, suggesting consistent performance without major frame drops.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's memory configuration affect this game?

A: The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This is far more than Microsoft Flight Simulator requires at any tested resolution, meaning memory capacity and bandwidth are not limiting factors. The GPU's 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost clocks provide ample compute power, which is why the CPU becomes the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: Is the combo's rank of 289 out of 2996 good?

A: Yes, it places in the top 9.6% of all tested combos. Given that the CPU has a percentile rank of 84 and the GPU has a percentile rank of 92, the combined system performs slightly below the GPU's potential, but still well above the vast majority of configurations tested in this game.