Microsoft Flight Simulator

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 16 MB L3 pool. The processor's multi-threaded capability is demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20,655 and single-core score of 2,916. In PassMark's multithread test, it scores 24,303, while its single-thread score is 3,296.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's thread handling is critical because the simulator's physics, weather, and AI traffic systems create substantial single-thread and multi-thread workloads. The 16 threads allow the CPU to distribute these tasks, but the benchmark data suggests that the Ryzen 7 5700's performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 119.6 FPS average, indicating that the CPU can push frames well above typical display refresh rates when the GPU load is light. The processor's PassMark physics score of 984 and its 3DMark 16-thread score of 6,628 reflect its ability to handle the game's dynamic simulation elements without stalling.

The Ryzen 7 5700 ranks in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,220. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% higher score), Intel Core i7-12700H (0.8% higher), Intel Core i7-1370P (0.8% higher), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (1.2% higher). This positioning places it firmly in the upper mid-range tier, capable of driving the RTX 4060 without being the limiting factor in most scenarios. The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache helps with the game's large world-streaming data, though the 51.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth is modest by current standards.

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

Examining the measured FPS across all presets and resolutions reveals a clear pattern: the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience relative to performance gains. At 1080p, Medium delivers 92.3 FPS average, which is a substantial 29% higher than High's 71.7 FPS. Moving from Medium to Low at 1080p only increases FPS by 27.3 points to 119.6 FPS, but the visual quality degradation from Medium to Low is typically much more noticeable than the gain from High to Medium. At 1440p, Medium averages 75.7 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, while High drops to 56.7 FPS. At 4K, Medium produces 53.7 FPS, which is playable but not smooth; High at 4K yields 38.7 FPS, which is marginal for a flight simulator.

The data indicates that Ultra presets provide diminishing returns. At 1080p, Ultra averages 67.7 FPS, only 4 FPS lower than High, but the gap widens at higher resolutions: at 1440p, Ultra is 53.3 FPS versus High's 56.7 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra is 39.7 FPS versus High's 38.7 FPS. This suggests that Ultra's additional graphical effects (likely higher shadow quality, volumetric clouds, and terrain detail) impose a nearly constant cost regardless of resolution, while High scales more predictably.

For the best experience, the Medium preset is recommended. It maintains 60+ FPS at 1080p and 1440p, and its 4K performance of 53.7 FPS is acceptable for a genre where frame timing consistency matters more than raw refresh rates. Users with 144 Hz displays at 1080p might prefer Low to approach 120 FPS, but the visual compromise in a game that relies heavily on scenery fidelity is generally not justified. High is viable only for 1080p displays where 71.7 FPS is sufficient, but Medium provides a 28.7% performance uplift at minimal visual cost.

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

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 119.6 at 1080p to 92.6 at 1440p (a 22.6% reduction) and then to 70.6 at 4K (a 23.8% further reduction). This near-linear scaling with pixel count indicates that the RTX 4060's rendering throughput is the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU at these settings.

At Medium settings, the progression from 1080p (92.3 FPS) to 1440p (75.7 FPS) represents an 18% drop, while 4K (53.7 FPS) is 29% lower than 1440p. The slightly steeper drop at 4K Medium compared to Low suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth (272.0 GB/s) and 8 GB VRAM capacity are being taxed by the combination of higher resolution and increased texture detail. At High settings, the drops are more pronounced: 1080p (71.7 FPS) to 1440p (56.7 FPS) is a 21% reduction, and 1440p to 4K (38.7 FPS) is a 32% reduction. This non-linear scaling at High indicates that the GPU's compute units (3,072 shading units) and 48 ROPs are saturated, causing frame time spikes as the render load increases.

The Ultra preset shows a different behavior: 1080p (67.7 FPS) to 1440p (53.3 FPS) is a 21% drop, but 1440p to 4K (39.7 FPS) is only a 25.5% drop. This smaller relative decline suggests that at Ultra, the CPU's 16 threads are also contributing to the bottleneck, as the game's simulation complexity increases with higher graphics settings. The 0.8% aggregate benchmark difference between the Ryzen 7 5700 and its nearest rival (Intel Core i7-12700H) indicates that this CPU is near the edge of its capability envelope for this title at maximum settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1,010 out of 1,795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 56th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 44% of combos perform worse. Given that the CPU sits in the 84th percentile among all CPUs and the GPU in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, the combo's ranking is dragged down by the GPU's mid-range positioning.

The RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 23,181 places it just below the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (0.6% higher score) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (0.7% higher), while being 0.7% above the Intel Arc B580 and 0.8% above the AMD Radeon 760M. This tight cluster of scores (all within 1.5% of each other) indicates that the GPU is not a standout performer in this title, and the combo's rank reflects that mediocrity.

However, the CPU's strength partially compensates. The Ryzen 7 5700's 3DMark single-thread score of 901 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,916 are competitive, which helps maintain minimum frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios like dense airport areas or complex weather systems. The data shows that the combo's 1080p Low average of 119.6 FPS is a strong result, placing it above many combos with more powerful GPUs but weaker CPUs. The overall rank of 1,010 suggests that users should expect a solid mid-pack experience, with the ability to achieve smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings, but not a top-tier configuration for 4K ultra gaming.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its compute resources include 3,072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, 48 ROPs, 24 ray tracing cores, and 96 tensor cores, delivering 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a critical constraint. The game's high-resolution terrain textures and detailed aircraft models can quickly consume available VRAM, particularly at 4K resolution with High or Ultra settings. At 4K High, the combo averages only 38.7 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, 39.7 FPS — these low frame rates suggest that the GPU is both VRAM-limited and compute-limited. The 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest for 4K workloads, where the engine must stream textures and geometry at high rates.

The GPU's Pascal-era predecessor comparisons (the GTX 780 Ti has a 0.7% higher average score) are telling: the RTX 4060's modern features like ray tracing and DLSS do not translate into raw rasterization performance gains in this title. The passmark DirectX 12 score of 76 and DirectX 11 score of 175 indicate that the GPU's API performance is adequate but not exceptional. At 1080p, the GPU can achieve 119.6 FPS on Low settings, but this drops to 67.7 FPS on Ultra — a 43% reduction that highlights how the GPU's 48 ROPs become a bottleneck when pixel fill requirements increase.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,181, places it in the upper mid-range tier. Its nearest rivals (RX 6600M, GTX 780 Ti, Arc B580, Radeon 760M) all score within 1% of each other, indicating that the RTX 4060 is not a performance outlier. For this game, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are the primary limiting factors at high resolutions, while its 15.11 TFLOPS compute is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 115 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU indicate an efficient design, but efficiency does not translate to higher frame rates in this simulation-heavy title.