Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

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

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 posts an average benchmark score of 27,220, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. It is essentially neck-and-neck with the Intel Core i9-9900K, which scores 27,043 (0.7% slower), and the Intel Core i7-12700H at 27,006 (0.8% slower). The AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 trails by 1.2% with a score of 26,909.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves an average benchmark score of 35,787, placing it in the 80th percentile of all GPUs. It sits within a tight band of competitors: the AMD Radeon Pro Duo is 0.2% ahead (35,860), the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is 0.9% ahead (36,101), while the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% behind (35,646) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1.0% behind (35,435).

Q: What is the best 4K performance this combo can deliver?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate is achieved on Low settings, hitting 90.9 FPS. Dropping to Medium yields 73.6 FPS, High settings produce 54.9 FPS, and Ultra dips to 48.6 FPS. This indicates that 4K Ultra is borderline playable, while 4K Low is smooth.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-thread performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 shows strong scaling. In Cinebench R23, it scores 20,655 in multi-core and 2,916 in single-core. In 3DMark, the 16-thread score is 6,628, while the single-thread score is 901. The 8-thread score of 5,585 suggests that the 8-core/16-thread configuration scales efficiently with workload.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: The scaling is significant. On High settings, frame rate drops from 93.0 FPS at 1920x1080 to 54.9 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of about 41%. On Low settings, the drop is from 156.8 FPS to 90.9 FPS, a 42% decrease, indicating the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the combo's rank suggest it is a top-tier configuration for this game?

A: The combination ranks 549 out of 1,795 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top third of all configurations. This suggests a solid, mid-to-high-tier setup that can handle the game well, though it is not at the absolute top of the leaderboard.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, featuring 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. Its memory subsystem includes 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, and it has 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores for ray tracing and AI workloads.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is substantial, as the measured FPS data shows that settings changes have a massive impact on performance. At 1920x1080, the RTX 3080 delivers 156.8 FPS on Low and 89.8 FPS on Ultra, a 43% drop, which indicates that the GPU is handling the increased visual load of Ultra settings. The VRAM capacity of 10 GB is adequate for this title at 4K, as the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 still manages 48.6 FPS without stuttering, suggesting memory is not a bottleneck.

The boost clock of 1710 MHz allows the GPU to sustain high throughput, which is critical for the complex geometry and terrain rendering of flight simulation. The data shows that the RTX 3080 is the primary driver of performance scaling across settings, as the CPU (Ryzen 7 5700) maintains a consistent 84th percentile ranking regardless of resolution. The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate are directly reflected in the FPS numbers, particularly at 4K where the pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s becomes a limiting factor for Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the dominant limiter at higher pixel counts. At 1920x1080, the RTX 3080 delivers 156.8 FPS on Low and 122.5 FPS on Medium, which are well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, these figures drop to 125.3 FPS and 96.3 FPS respectively, still maintaining smooth gameplay. However, at 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 90.9 FPS while Medium drops to 73.6 FPS, showing a 27% reduction from 1440p.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is most pronounced on the Ultra preset, where frame rate falls from 89.8 FPS to 48.6 FPS, a 46% decrease. This steep drop indicates that the GPU is saturated at 4K Ultra, with the 10 GB VRAM and 320-bit bus being pushed to their limits. In contrast, the High preset shows a more moderate decline from 93.0 FPS at 1080p to 72.9 FPS at 1440p and 54.9 FPS at 4K, suggesting that High settings provide a balance that scales more predictably.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the system may be partially CPU-bound, as the Ryzen 7 5700's single-thread score of 2,916 in Cinebench R23 is sufficient for high frame rates. However, at 4K, the GPU's workload increases exponentially, and the RTX 3080's 760.3 GB/s bandwidth becomes the key factor. The 4K Low result of 90.9 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra result of 89.8 FPS is telling: the GPU can handle 4K if visual fidelity is reduced, but Ultra settings at 4K are beyond its comfortable range.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the data supports a specific recommendation: the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced performance. At 1440p High, the system delivers 72.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target for smooth simming, while the visual quality is significantly better than Medium (96.3 FPS) or Low (125.3 FPS). The 4K High result of 54.9 FPS is close to playable but not ideal, so 1440p High is the sweet spot.

For users prioritizing frame rate over fidelity, 1080p Low at 156.8 FPS or 1440p Low at 125.3 FPS are excellent choices, providing headroom for recording or streaming. However, the Ultra preset should be avoided at any resolution above 1080p, as the 4K Ultra result of 48.6 FPS and 1440p Ultra result of 69.2 FPS both fall short of the 70 FPS threshold that many simmers prefer. At 1080p Ultra, the 89.8 FPS result is acceptable, but the visual gains over High (93.0 FPS) are minimal.

The data indicates that Medium settings at 4K (73.6 FPS) are a viable alternative for those who must have 4K resolution, providing a 34% improvement over High while still looking better than Low. For the absolute highest visual quality, 4K Ultra is technically playable at 48.6 FPS, but the frame pacing in flight simulators makes this a marginal choice. The recommended path is 1440p High for most users, with 4K Medium as the fallback for 4K displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 3080 and Ryzen 7 5700 combination delivers the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 156.8 FPS, Medium produces 122.5 FPS, High produces 93.0 FPS, and Ultra produces 89.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 3.2 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds minimal visual benefit at this resolution while costing performance. The Low-to-Ultra spread of 67 FPS demonstrates the GPU's ability to handle the workload at 1080p, with the CPU still providing sufficient single-thread performance for the simulation's logic.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down predictably: Low delivers 125.3 FPS, Medium delivers 96.3 FPS, High delivers 72.9 FPS, and Ultra delivers 69.2 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 20% across all settings, which aligns with the increase in pixel count. The High and Ultra results are both above the 60 FPS line, making 1440p a viable resolution for High and Ultra presets, though Ultra's 69.2 FPS is only marginally smooth.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained: Low produces 90.9 FPS, Medium produces 73.6 FPS, High produces 54.9 FPS, and Ultra produces 48.6 FPS. The 4K Low result of 90.9 FPS is impressive, showing that the GPU can handle 4K when settings are reduced. However, the 4K Ultra result of 48.6 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, and the 4K High result of 54.9 FPS is also borderline. The data reveals that the RTX 3080 is best utilized at 1440p or 4K with Medium settings, as the 4K Medium result of 73.6 FPS provides a playable experience with decent visual quality. The overall ranking of 549 out of 1,795 combos confirms that this setup is competitive but not top-tier for Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the GPU's 80th percentile ranking being the limiting factor at 4K Ultra.