Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveal a predictable but steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 119.2 FPS, but this drops to 93.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 69.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 21.4% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 26.3% reduction from 1440p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, yet the system maintains playable frame rates even at 4K.

The scaling pattern changes notably at higher settings. At Ultra, the 1080p result is 69.7 FPS, dropping to 51.5 FPS at 1440p and 37.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage losses are steeper here: 26.1% from 1080p to 1440p, and 26.8% from 1440p to 4K. This consistent reduction suggests that the limiting component shifts from CPU-bound at low settings to GPU-bound at higher presets. The data shows that at Low settings, the frame rate gap between 1080p and 1440p is 25.5 FPS, while at Ultra, the same resolution gap is 18.2 FPS, reinforcing that the GPU’s rendering load dominates at higher quality tiers.

At Medium settings, the resolution scaling tells a similar story. The 1080p result of 92.6 FPS falls to 76.3 FPS at 1440p (a 17.6% drop) and then to 53.9 FPS at 4K (a 29.4% drop from 1440p). The larger relative decline at 4K Medium compared to 4K Low (69.1 FPS) indicates that the RX 6700 XT’s 12 GB GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the higher texture and shading demands at 4K begin to expose the GPU’s limits. Overall, the benchmark results show that this combination is most comfortable at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K requiring a compromise in settings to maintain smooth flight simulation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to Medium as the optimal preset for balancing visual fidelity and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium yields 92.6 FPS, which is 26.6 FPS higher than High (73.3 FPS) and only 26.6 FPS lower than Low (119.2 FPS). This positions Medium as the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it stays well above the 60 FPS threshold while delivering richer scenery detail than Low.

At 1440p, the Medium preset produces 76.3 FPS, which remains comfortably above 60 FPS. High drops to 57.9 FPS, which may cause noticeable stutter in dense urban areas or during weather transitions, while Ultra falls to 51.5 FPS. For 4K, Medium delivers 53.9 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a smooth experience; High at 4K yields 41 FPS, and Ultra drops to 37.7 FPS. Given that Flight Simulator benefits from stable frame pacing, the data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for 1440p and 4K, while High is acceptable only at 1080p where the 73.3 FPS result still provides headroom.

Low settings are not recommended for regular play, as the visual downgrade is significant, but the 119.2 FPS at 1080p and 93.7 FPS at 1440p demonstrate that this preset can serve as a fallback for competitive or performance-critical scenarios. Ultra, conversely, should be reserved for screenshot or cinematic purposes, given that its 69.7 FPS at 1080p is the only Ultra result above 60 FPS. The benchmark data clearly shows that Medium offers the best compromise, with the smallest performance penalty relative to Low while providing substantial visual improvements over Low.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 1002 out of 1795 combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 55.8th percentile, meaning it outperforms more than half of all tested systems but sits below the top tier. The ranking reflects a balanced mid-range configuration: the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads provide solid processing power, while the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM and 2581 MHz boost clock handle the game’s heavy rendering demands adequately but not exceptionally.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% higher average score), Intel Core i7-12700H (0.8% higher), Intel Core i7-1370P (0.8% higher), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (1.2% higher). These margins are negligible, indicating that the Ryzen 7 5700 is not the bottleneck in this combo. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (0.7% higher average score), AMD Radeon HD 7950 (1% lower), AMD Radeon RX 480 (1% lower), and NVIDIA RTX A5000 (1.3% higher). The RX 6700 XT’s performance is thus closely matched with several competitors, but none of these alternatives appear in the measured FPS data for this game.

The rank of 1002 suggests that this combo is a viable choice for Flight Simulator, but users seeking higher frame rates, especially at 4K, would need to consider stronger GPUs. The data shows that the combo’s performance is consistent with its mid-range positioning, delivering playable results at 1080p and 1440p but struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on higher presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 119.2 FPS, Medium produces 92.6 FPS, High produces 73.3 FPS, and Ultra produces 69.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 26.6 FPS, while the gap from Medium to High is 19.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra is only 3.6 FPS. This indicates diminishing returns at the highest preset, where the visual uplift is minimal relative to the frame rate cost.

At 2560x1440, the results are 93.7 FPS (Low), 76.3 FPS (Medium), 57.9 FPS (High), and 51.5 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 17.4 FPS, from Medium to High is 18.4 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 6.4 FPS. The 1440p data shows a more linear scaling than 1080p, with High and Ultra both falling below the 60 FPS threshold, making Medium the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are 69.1 FPS (Low), 53.9 FPS (Medium), 41 FPS (High), and 37.7 FPS (Ultra). Here, only Low achieves a smooth frame rate, while Medium is borderline playable. The gap from Low to Medium is 15.2 FPS, from Medium to High is 12.9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 3.3 FPS. The 4K results confirm that this GPU is not designed for maximum settings at this resolution, but the Low preset’s 69.1 FPS proves that the combo can still deliver a playable experience with reduced visuals.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p provides the highest frame rates across all settings, with Low at 119.2 FPS and Medium at 92.6 FPS. For a balance of quality and smoothness, 1440p Medium (76.3 FPS) is also viable.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Flight Simulator?

A: At 4K, only Low settings achieve a playable average of 69.1 FPS. Medium drops to 53.9 FPS, and High/Ultra fall below 42 FPS, so 4K requires significant visual compromises.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1002 out of 1795 combos, placing it in the 55.8th percentile, meaning it outperforms a majority of systems but is not a top-tier performer.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The difference is only 3.6 FPS (73.3 vs 69.7 FPS), suggesting that Ultra offers marginal visual gains at a small performance cost at this resolution.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more in this game?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher settings, as frame rate drops more steeply from 1440p to 4K, while the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads provide stable processing.

Q: What is the recommended preset for 1440p?

A: Medium is recommended, as it delivers 76.3 FPS, while High falls to 57.9 FPS and Ultra to 51.5 FPS, both below the 60 FPS mark.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 features 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne) on a 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it has 16 MB of L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and a single-core score of 2916, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% higher), Intel Core i7-12700H (0.8% higher), Intel Core i7-1370P (0.8% higher), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (1.2% higher).

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s 8-core/16-thread configuration ensures that the game’s simulation logic, which includes physics, weather, and AI traffic, has ample parallel processing headroom. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz benefits single-threaded tasks, which the game uses for main loop updates. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 119.2 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower settings where GPU load is minimal. However, as resolution increases, the frame rate drops consistently, suggesting that the CPU’s contribution remains stable while the GPU’s rendering load grows.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture (Navi 22) with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 40 RT cores, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. Its pixel rate is 165.2 GPixel/s, texture rate is 413.0 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 13.21 TFLOPS. The GPU ranks in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (0.7% higher average score) and NVIDIA RTX A5000 (1.3% higher).

In Flight Simulator, the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all presets, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. At 4K, the VRAM capacity is still adequate, but the rendering load pushes the GPU to its limits: the 4K Ultra result of 37.7 FPS indicates that the GPU’s compute throughput (13.21 TFLOPS) is the primary constraint at this resolution. The 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth also plays a role, as higher resolution textures require faster data transfer. The benchmark results show that the GPU’s performance scales predictably with preset, with the largest frame rate drop occurring between Low and Medium at all resolutions, suggesting that the GPU’s shading and texture units are fully utilized at Medium and above.