Microsoft Flight Simulator

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 shows a clear progression in frame rates as settings scale down, but the most notable observation is the modest gap between Ultra and High presets. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 77 FPS, while High improves that to 81 FPS, a gain of only 4 FPS. This small delta suggests that the Ultra preset's additional graphical demands are largely absorbed by the RTX 4090's substantial resources, and the visual quality increase from High to Ultra is obtained with a minimal performance penalty.

Moving to Medium at 4K, the average FPS rises to 108, with a recorded minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS. This represents a 31 FPS jump over Ultra, which is a significant improvement for a flight simulator where smooth panning over dense scenery matters. The Low preset at 4K pushes the average to 138 FPS, which is 61 FPS higher than Ultra. However, the Low preset likely sacrifices too much terrain detail and object density for a simulator where visual fidelity is central to the experience.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with narrower gaps. Ultra averages 105 FPS, High averages 110 FPS, Medium averages 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS, and Low averages 161 FPS. The High preset at 1440p offers a 5 FPS advantage over Ultra, which is nearly imperceptible in practice. The Medium preset at 1440p provides a 41 FPS advantage over Ultra, and its minimum of 124 FPS ensures that even demanding scenes stay well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1920x1080, the differences compress further. Ultra averages 130 FPS, High averages 136 FPS, Medium averages 158 FPS with a minimum of 135 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS, and Low averages 174 FPS. Here, the gap between Ultra and High is only 6 FPS, and even Ultra remains comfortably above 120 FPS on average.

The data suggests that the High preset provides the optimal balance for this combination. At 4K, High delivers 81 FPS, which is 4 FPS above Ultra but still below the 90 FPS threshold that many users consider ideal for flight simulation. At 1440p, High delivers 110 FPS, which is smooth and leaves headroom for complex add-on aircraft or dense urban areas. At 1080p, High delivers 136 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display refresh rate below 144 Hz. The Medium preset, while offering higher frame rates, introduces a visible drop in scenery detail that undermines the simulator's core purpose. The Low preset, despite its high frame rates, is not recommended for a game where situational awareness depends on reading ground details.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in this configuration provides 24 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. For Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast terrain and photogrammetry data, this memory capacity and bandwidth are critical. The 4K Ultra preset at 77 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can handle the highest texture loads without becoming memory-bound. The GPU's boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz, combined with 16,384 shading units, deliver the raw compute needed for the simulator's complex lighting and shadow calculations.

The recorded data shows that the RTX 4090's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rate differences between settings are relatively small: Low at 174 FPS versus Ultra at 130 FPS, a 44 FPS spread. At 4K, the spread widens to 61 FPS (138 FPS on Low versus 77 FPS on Ultra). This widening indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance scaling in this game, as higher resolutions demand more pixel throughput and memory traffic. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to keep the CPU-fed draw calls flowing smoothly.

The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present in the architecture, though Microsoft Flight Simulator's measured results do not indicate a specific reliance on ray tracing or DLSS in these presets. The recorded frame rates are raw rasterization figures, and the 24 GB frame buffer provides ample space for the simulator's high-resolution textures at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium (92 FPS) and 1440p Medium (124 FPS) and 1080p Medium (135 FPS) show that the GPU maintains consistent frame pacing even when settings are adjusted downward.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 77 FPS. This is the lowest average across all tested settings and resolutions.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 174 FPS while Ultra averages 130 FPS. This represents a 44 FPS advantage for Low, or approximately 34% higher frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 provide playable frame rates at 4K with this CPU?

A: Yes. The 4K High preset averages 81 FPS, and the 4K Medium preset averages 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS. Even the 4K Ultra preset maintains 77 FPS on average, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold for most users.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 146, with a minimum of 124 FPS and a maximum of 168 FPS. This provides a stable experience with no dips below 120 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 187th out of 3,714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations.

Q: Is there a significant difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is small. At 1080p, High averages 136 FPS versus Ultra's 130 FPS, a 6 FPS gap. At 1440p, High averages 110 FPS versus Ultra's 105 FPS, a 5 FPS gap. At 4K, High averages 81 FPS versus Ultra's 77 FPS, a 4 FPS gap. The Ultra preset costs only 4-6 FPS across resolutions while providing higher visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the recorded averages show a tight grouping. The Low preset delivers 174 FPS, which is the highest figure in this resolution class. Medium settings produce 158 FPS on average, with a minimum of 135 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS. High settings yield 136 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 130 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS, indicating that the CPU-GPU combination has enough headroom at 1080p that even the most demanding preset remains well above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show more separation. Low averages 161 FPS, Medium averages 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS, High averages 110 FPS, and Ultra averages 105 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 56 FPS at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 124 FPS is particularly notable, as it ensures that no scene drops below the 120 FPS threshold, making this the most consistent high-refresh-rate option at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down predictably. Low averages 138 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS, High averages 81 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra reaches 61 FPS, the largest of any resolution. The 4K Medium preset's minimum of 92 FPS is the only recorded minimum above 90 FPS at this resolution, while the 4K High preset's 81 FPS average suggests that users targeting 4K should prefer High over Ultra for a smoother experience.

The measured data includes minimum and maximum values only for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the range is 135 to 182 FPS, a 47 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the range is 124 to 168 FPS, a 44 FPS variance. At 4K Medium, the range is 92 to 124 FPS, a 32 FPS variance. This narrowing variance at higher resolutions indicates that the RTX 4090's workload becomes more uniform as pixel count increases, reducing the impact of scene complexity on frame time.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 holds rank 187 out of 3,714 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the configuration in the 95th percentile of all tested systems, meaning only 186 combos achieve higher frame rates in this game. Given that the RTX 4090 is paired with an older 5000-series CPU, the ranking reflects the GPU's dominant role in driving frame rates for this title.

The Ryzen 7 5700G's average benchmark score of 27,051 places it near the Intel Core i9-9900K, which scores 27,097 with a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 445, which scores 26,936 with a delta of 0.4%. The Intel Core i5-14400T scores 27,166 with a delta of -0.4%, and the Intel Core i7-1370P scores 26,900 with a delta of 0.6%. These rival CPUs are all within 0.6% of the 5700G in general benchmarks, yet the 5700G's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs shows it is a mid-to-upper tier processor. In the context of this game, the CPU's performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4090 at the tested settings.

The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 and 88th percentile among all GPUs place it near the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, delta 0%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, delta 0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, delta -2.5%), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657, delta 2.9%). These rival GPUs are within 2.9% of the RTX 4090 in aggregate benchmarks, but the RTX 4090's 24 GB memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth provide the specific capabilities that Microsoft Flight Simulator requires for high-resolution terrain streaming. The combo's rank of 187 out of 3,714 confirms that no other tested pairing in the database consistently outperforms this configuration in this game, despite the presence of newer CPUs and GPUs.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Cezanne, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with a 16 MB L3 cache, provide the single-thread performance that flight simulators rely on for physics calculations and scenery loading. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 899 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,494 indicate moderate single-thread capability, while the multi-thread scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 12,830.5 and Geekbench multi-core of 9,950) show that the 8-core configuration can handle the simulator's background tasks.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to process aircraft systems, weather simulation, and AI traffic while feeding draw calls to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that the 5700G does not bottleneck the RTX 4090 at any tested setting. At 1080p Low, the combination achieves 174 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's ceiling for this game. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra still delivers 130 FPS suggests that even at the highest CPU load, the 8-core Zen 3 design maintains adequate throughput.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is a potential limitation, but the recorded frame rates do not show signs of memory starvation. The 5700G's integrated Radeon Vega 8 graphics are present but not utilized in this discrete GPU configuration. The CPU's 65 W TDP and AM4 socket compatibility indicate that it is a power-efficient choice, and its percentile rank of 79 among all CPUs places it in the upper quartile for general processing tasks. The nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i9-9900K and Intel Core i7-1370P, exhibit benchmark scores within 0.6% of the 5700G, confirming that this CPU's performance is competitive with several newer or higher-tier models.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how the combination's performance scales from 1080p to 4K across the four settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 174 at 1080p to 161 at 1440p (a 13 FPS reduction) and then to 138 at 4K (a further 23 FPS reduction). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 36 FPS, or approximately 21% of the 1080p value. At Medium settings, the averages are 158 at 1080p, 146 at 1440p, and 108 at 4K, representing a total drop of 50 FPS (32%). At High settings, the averages are 136 at 1080p, 110 at 1440p, and 81 at 4K, for a total drop of 55 FPS (40%). At Ultra settings, the averages are 130 at 1080p, 105 at 1440p, and 77 at 4K, for a total drop of 53 FPS (41%).

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K increases with higher settings presets, from 21% at Low to 41% at Ultra. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the preset quality increases. At Low settings, the CPU is likely the limiting component at 1080p, and the GPU has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates even at 4K. At Ultra settings, the GPU's workload grows substantially with resolution, and the 41% drop reflects the increased pixel and texture demands.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a consistent pattern. At Low, the drop is 23 FPS (14% of the 1440p value). At Medium, the drop is 38 FPS (26%). At High, the drop is 29 FPS (26%). At Ultra, the drop is 28 FPS (27%). The Medium, High, and Ultra presets all show similar percentage drops around 26-27% from 1440p to 4K, which is consistent with pure GPU-bound scaling. The Low preset's smaller 14% drop suggests that the CPU is still contributing meaningfully at 1440p Low, preventing the GPU from being fully utilized until the resolution reaches 4K.

The data supports the conclusion that the RTX 4090 is the primary performance limiter at 4K with High and Ultra settings, while the Ryzen 7 5700G becomes more relevant at lower resolutions and settings. Users seeking maximum frame rates at 4K should select High or Medium, as the 4K High average of 81 FPS and 4K Medium minimum of 92 FPS both exceed the 4K Ultra average of 77 FPS. The resolution scaling analysis confirms that this combination is well-balanced for 4K gaming, with the 24 GB GPU memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth providing the necessary resources for the simulator's high-resolution terrain data.