Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher settings, while showing surprising headroom at lower presets. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 103.1 FPS, but stepping up to 1440p Low drops this to 79.5 FPS, a 23% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields 58.9 FPS, another 26% decline from 1440p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario even at Low preset, where the RX 7600's rendering workload grows faster than the CPU can feed it.

The picture changes dramatically when examining High settings across resolutions. At 1080p High, the system produces 60.6 FPS, which falls to 45 FPS at 1440p High (-26%) and further to 38.1 FPS at 4K High (-37% from 1440p). The 4K-to-1440p drop is steeper than the 1080p-to-1440p drop, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading resources become the primary limiter as pixel count rises. The 8 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth of the RX 7600 appear sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K High pushes the card near its limits.

Ultra settings exacerbate this trend. The 1080p Ultra result of 56.2 FPS drops to 44.3 FPS at 1440p Ultra (-21%) and then to 31.8 FPS at 4K Ultra (-28%). The consistent ~20-30% penalties per resolution step suggest a well-behaved scaling curve, but the absolute values at 4K Ultra (31.8 FPS) fall below playable thresholds for a flight simulator where smooth panning is critical.

The most telling data point comes from comparing Low-to-Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (103.1 FPS) and Ultra (56.2 FPS) is 45.5%. At 1440p, Low (79.5 FPS) versus Ultra (44.3 FPS) is a 44.3% gap. At 4K, Low (58.9 FPS) versus Ultra (31.8 FPS) is a 46% gap. This near-constant percentage gap across resolutions indicates that the visual quality settings impose a consistent multiplier on the GPU workload, regardless of pixel count. The CPU, an 8-core Zen 3 part with 16 threads and a 4.6 GHz boost clock, is not the bottleneck at any resolution tested — the evidence points to the GPU as the limiting component once settings rise above Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 103.1, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 100 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 27220 places it 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K (27043), 0.8% ahead of both the Intel Core i7-12700H (27006) and Intel Core i7-1370P (26991), and 1.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (26909). These deltas are within run-to-run variance, indicating near-parity with all four rivals.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 20258 places it 0.6% ahead of the RX 7600 XT (20146), 0.8% ahead of the RX 460 (20088), but 1.3% behind the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 1.5% behind the Intel Arc B570 (20556).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the system produces 60.6 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target. Given that the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 901) is strong for a 2022 part, and the GPU's percentile rank is only 63, the data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at this preset. The 1080p Low result of 103.1 FPS further confirms the GPU's role, as lowering graphics load yields a 70% FPS increase.

Q: What memory configuration does the CPU support?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. It also supports ECC memory, which is notable for a desktop part. The memory bus is dual-channel, and the CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 3 lanes.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1261 out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the 30th percentile (calculated from the rank and total). This means roughly 70% of tested combos deliver higher frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip manufactured on a 6 nm process. Its 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs provide the raw throughput for this flight simulator's complex scenery rendering. The boost clock of 2655 MHz and game clock of 2250 MHz are relatively high for the class, enabling the card to reach 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. This computational headroom explains why the card performs admirably at 1080p Low (103.1 FPS) where the rendering workload is light.

The memory subsystem is a critical consideration for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large terrain and photogrammetry data. The 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 1080p and 1440p, this appears sufficient, as the FPS drops from Low to High are proportional (roughly 25-30% at each resolution). However, at 4K Ultra, the card delivers only 31.8 FPS, suggesting the VRAM capacity or bandwidth becomes a limiting factor. The 128-bit bus width is narrow for a 4K-class card, and the measured data confirms this limitation.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 63rd among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 20258, places it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the RX 7600 XT, is only 0.6% faster in average score, which is within measurement noise. The RTX 3070 Mobile and Intel Arc B570 both outperform it by 1.3-1.5%, but these are not dramatic margins. In practical terms, this GPU is competitive with its immediate peers, but the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus cap its performance at higher resolutions in memory-intensive titles.

The card's pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are respectable for its class. These figures translate to real-world performance in flight simulator scenarios, where the engine must fill large portions of the screen with detailed terrain, clouds, and aircraft models. The data shows that the GPU handles 1080p and 1440p well, but 4K requires reducing settings to Low (58.9 FPS) to achieve playable frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1080p displays, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 81.4 FPS — a 34% improvement over High (60.6 FPS) while maintaining 25% better performance than Ultra (56.2 FPS). The jump from Low (103.1 FPS) to Medium (81.4 FPS) retains 79% of the maximum frame rate while providing substantially better visual quality.

For 1440p, the Medium preset again provides the best experience, achieving 60.4 FPS. This is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it represents a 34% improvement over High (45 FPS) and a 36% improvement over Ultra (44.3 FPS). Users who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness might tolerate the 45 FPS High setting, but the data shows Medium is the sweet spot for maintaining responsive controls while flying over dense scenery.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset delivers 58.9 FPS, which is playable but visually sparse. Medium drops to 45 FPS, and High falls to 38.1 FPS. Ultra is not recommended at 4K, as 31.8 FPS is below the threshold for a smooth flight experience. For 4K users, Low settings are the only viable option for maintaining near-60 FPS performance, while those willing to accept 45 FPS could use Medium.

The pattern across all resolutions is clear: Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. The delta between Medium and High is consistently around 25-30%, while the delta between Medium and Low is similarly large. This suggests that Medium captures most of the visual improvements without the disproportionate performance cost of High or Ultra presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1261 out of 1795 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the bottom third of all tested systems. This ranking might seem surprising given the CPU's strong synthetic performance — the Ryzen 7 5700 sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 27220. However, the GPU's 63rd percentile ranking drags the combo down, as flight simulator performance is heavily dependent on graphics rendering.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks reveal a processor that punches above its weight. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and single-core score of 2916 are strong for a 65W TDP part. The 3dmark single-thread score of 901 and 16-thread score of 6628 confirm balanced multithreaded performance. Yet in this game, the combo's rank of 1261 indicates that the RX 7600 cannot fully leverage the CPU's capabilities at higher resolutions and settings.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the RX 7600 XT, RX 460, RTX 3070 Mobile, and Intel Arc B570 — all score within 1.5% of the RX 7600 in average benchmark score. This tight clustering means the combo's ranking is not an outlier but rather reflects the mid-range nature of the GPU. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are the likely culprits for the below-average ranking in a game known for demanding large memory pools.

When interpreting the 1261st rank, it is important to consider the game's genre. Flight simulators are notoriously demanding on both CPU and GPU due to complex physics, detailed terrain streaming, and dynamic weather systems. The combo's 1080p Medium score of 81.4 FPS and 1440p Medium score of 60.4 FPS are perfectly playable, suggesting that the ranking is skewed by the wide variety of high-end combos in the database rather than a fundamental weakness of this pairing. For users targeting 1080p or 1440p at Medium settings, this combo delivers a solid experience, but it is not competitive with higher-tier GPU pairings at 4K.