Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding title that scales heavily with both CPU and GPU, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a fascinating dataset. The 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 processor paired with the flagship Blackwell GPU shows where the bottlenecks lie at different resolutions and settings, offering clear guidance on what to expect when flying over dense scenery or cruising at altitude. The measured results reveal a system that is capable of high frame rates, but the relationship between the two components shifts dramatically as you move from 1080p to 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable trend: average frame rates decrease as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop depends heavily on the graphics settings. At Low settings, the game scales from 174 FPS at 1920x1080 down to 162 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 146 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a drop of 28 FPS from 1080p to 4K, which is a relatively modest 16% reduction. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is the limiting factor; the GPU has enough headroom to push more frames, but the processor cannot feed it any faster, so the resolution increase has a smaller impact on performance.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at High settings. Here, the average FPS drops from 143 at 1080p to 120 at 1440p, and then to 88 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K is 55 FPS, a 38% reduction. This shift suggests that as the visual load increases, the GPU begins to take on more of the work, and the resolution becomes a more significant factor. The trend continues at Ultra settings, where the average FPS falls from 141 at 1080p to 114 at 1440p, and then to 84 at 4K. The 1080p to 4K delta here is 57 FPS, a 40% drop, confirming that the RTX 5090 D is being pushed harder at higher resolutions.

The Medium setting provides the only complete dataset with min and max frame rates. At 1080p, the average is 159 FPS with a minimum of 135 and a maximum of 183. At 1440p, the average drops to 148 FPS, with a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 170. At 4K, the average falls to 118 FPS, with a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 135. The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, from 48 FPS at 1080p to 44 FPS at 1440p and 35 FPS at 4K. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the frame time variance is higher, likely due to CPU-driven frame pacing fluctuations, while at 4K the GPU becomes the more consistent bottleneck.

The critical takeaway is that this combo is capable of very high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the performance cliff between 1440p and 4K at High and Ultra settings is steep. The data indicates that for a smooth 4K experience, users will need to rely on the High settings or lower, as the Ultra preset yields an average of 84 FPS, which might not be ideal for a flight simulator where smoothness is paramount. The scaling pattern strongly suggests that the Ryzen 7 5700 is holding back the RTX 5090 D at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor in determining performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a powerhouse on paper, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU clocks are listed with a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz with an effective speed of 28 Gbps. In this game, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K resolution, where the average frame rates at High (88 FPS) and Ultra (84 FPS) are relatively close, differing by only 4 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset is not significantly more demanding on the GPU than High, or that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling that is not solely related to pixel count.

The VRAM capacity is a notable asset for a flight simulator, which is known for loading large textures of terrain and aircraft. With 32 GB of memory, the RTX 5090 D is unlikely to be constrained by VRAM capacity in this title, even at 4K Ultra. The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its high-end positioning, with a passmark G3D score of 44065 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326. These numbers place it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating that it is near the top of the performance stack.

The nearest rivals listed for the GPU are interesting because they are mobile and datacenter parts, not desktop gaming cards. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT has an average score of 76904 with a deltaPct of 1.1, meaning the RTX 5090 D is about 1.1% faster than that mobile chip. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, which is 1.6% higher than the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77712. This is an odd comparison, but the data shows that in synthetic benchmarks, these parts are in the same ballpark. The RTX 5090 D's raw compute power is massive, with an FP32 rating of 104.8 TFLOPS, but the game results suggest that the CPU is often the limiting factor in Flight Simulator, especially below 4K.

The fact that the 4K Low setting yields 146 FPS while 4K High yields 88 FPS shows that the GPU is heavily utilized when the settings are increased. The gap between Low and High at 4K is 58 FPS, while the gap between Low and Ultra is 62 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is doing significantly more work at higher presets, and the performance penalty is substantial. The RTX 5090 D is clearly capable of producing very high frame rates in this game, but only when paired with a CPU that can keep up; at 1080p, the GPU is often idle waiting for the CPU to deliver draw calls.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is ranked 98th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This rank places it in the top 3.3% of all tested systems, which is a strong result, but it is not at the very top. The high rank is likely driven by the GPU's immense power, which ensures that even if the CPU is not the best available, the overall frame rates are still very high. The data suggests that this combo is significantly better than a typical mid-range system, but there is room for improvement by pairing the RTX 5090 D with a more powerful CPU.

The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 78, which is respectable but not elite. The GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 92, which is much higher. The combo rank of 98 reflects that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting in this pairing. If the Ryzen 7 5700 were replaced with a higher-end processor, the combo rank would likely improve, especially at lower resolutions where the CPU is the bottleneck. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the frame rates at 1080p are not substantially higher than at 1440p, indicating that the CPU is capping performance.

It is notably the combo rank is based on the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions. The system's ability to hit 174 FPS at 1080p Low reflects the GPU's raw speed, but the fact that it only reaches 141 FPS at 1080p Ultra shows that the CPU is preventing the GPU from stretching its legs. This ranking implies that for users who play at 4K, this combo is near-optimal, but for esports-style 1080p gaming, the CPU would need an upgrade to fully utilize the RTX 5090 D. The 98th rank out of 2996 is a strong endorsement for a high-resolution gaming setup, but not for a max-FPS 1080p machine.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings is 114 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5090 D compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, while the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT has an average score of 76904, making the RTX 5090 D about 1.1% faster.

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

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 174, which is the highest in the entire dataset. The performance is likely limited by the CPU, as the GPU has enough power to render frames faster than the processor can issue instructions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 100 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank out of all tested systems?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combo is ranked 98th out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's performance compare to the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB has an average score of 79605, which is 2.4% higher than the RTX 5090 D's score.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 174 FPS, Medium settings produce 159 FPS with a minimum of 135 and a maximum of 183, High settings produce 143 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 141 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 33 FPS, which is relatively small, indicating that the CPU is likely the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are: Low settings produce 162 FPS, Medium settings produce 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 170, High settings produce 120 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 114 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now 48 FPS, showing that the GPU is becoming more involved as the pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are: Low settings produce 146 FPS, Medium settings produce 118 FPS with a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 135, High settings produce 88 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 84 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 62 FPS, which is the largest in the dataset, confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K. The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent pattern where the CPU limits performance at lower resolutions, and the GPU takes over at higher resolutions.

The data for Medium settings provides the only complete picture of frame time variance, with the minimum and maximum values. At 1080p, the average is 159 FPS, but the minimum is 135 FPS, which is a 15% drop from the average. At 4K, the average is 118 FPS, and the minimum is 100 FPS, which is also a 15% drop. This suggests that the frame time consistency is similar across resolutions, even though the average FPS changes significantly.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It has a 65W TDP and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 20655 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2916 in single-core, which are solid numbers for a mid-range desktop CPU. The data shows that this processor is capable of driving high frame rates in Flight Simulator, but it is clearly not the best match for the RTX 5090 D at lower resolutions.

The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 78, and its average benchmark score is 25517. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon D-2752TER, which scores 25530 (0.1% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U, which scores 25485 (0.1% faster). These rivals have similar average scores, indicating that the Ryzen 7 5700 is in a performance tier that is competitive with other mid-range options.

In the game, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the average FPS is 174. This is the highest frame rate measured across all resolutions, but it is not significantly higher than the 162 FPS at 1440p Low. The difference is only 12 FPS, which suggests that the CPU is hitting a performance ceiling around 170-180 FPS in this game. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 141, which is only 3 FPS lower than 1080p High, indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor even at higher settings.

The CPU's clock speeds and core count are adequate for this game, but the lack of a higher boost clock or additional cache means it cannot keep up with the RTX 5090 D's raw rendering power. The 16 MB of L3 cache is standard for the Zen 3 architecture, but it may not be enough to hold the large data sets used by Flight Simulator. The data suggests that for users who want to maximize frame rates at 1080p, a CPU with a higher single-thread performance would be beneficial, but for 4K gaming, the Ryzen 7 5700 is sufficient, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The benchmark results indicate that this CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 5090 D, but it leaves some performance on the table at lower resolutions.