Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator — AMD Ryzen 7 5700G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination of AMD's 8-core Ryzen 7 5700G and NVIDIA's flagship RTX 5090 D delivers remarkably high frame rates across all tested resolutions in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing a system that is firmly GPU-limited at 4K but increasingly CPU-bound as resolution drops. The measured results place this combo at rank 99 out of 2996 tested combinations, putting it in the top 3.3% of all configurations — an impressive standing that reflects the sheer graphics horsepower of the RTX 5090 D paired with a capable Zen 3 processor.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear story about where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 140 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 114 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 84 FPS. That is a 40% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, a scaling pattern that suggests the CPU is starting to assert itself at lower resolutions. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 26 FPS (from 140 to 114), while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 30 FPS (from 114 to 84). The near-linear decline indicates the GPU is still the dominant factor even at 4K, but the shrinking gains at lower resolutions — where 1080p Ultra is only 23% faster than 4K Ultra — point to the Ryzen 7 5700G's single-thread performance becoming a limiting factor.

Looking at Low settings, the scaling is even more telling. At 1080p Low, the system hits 174 FPS, which drops to 161 FPS at 1440p and 146 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is only 16% lower than 1080p Low, a much smaller gap than the 40% seen at Ultra. This compressed range at Low settings strongly indicates that the CPU is capping performance — the GPU has plenty of headroom at 1080p Low, but the Ryzen 7 5700G's 3DMark single-thread score of 899 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1494 simply cannot push the frame rate higher. The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the system is heavily CPU-limited, while at 4K Ultra, the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is fully engaged.

The Medium settings row provides the only min/max FPS data in the pack, and it offers a glimpse into frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the average is 118 FPS with a minimum of 100 and maximum of 135 — a 35 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average rises to 147 with a 125-170 range (45 FPS spread), and at 1080p Medium, the average is 158 with 135-182 (47 FPS spread). The widening range at lower resolutions is consistent with CPU-induced frame time variance, where the 5700G's 16 MB L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth become more critical as the GPU finishes frames faster.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 99 out of 2996 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the 96.7th percentile of all tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places it ahead of the vast majority of systems, though the ranking also reflects that the RTX 5090 D is doing most of the heavy lifting. The CPU's own percentile ranking is 79th among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs — a notable discrepancy that suggests the processor is the weaker link in this equation.

The CPU's nearest rivals in general benchmark scores show how tightly grouped the 5700G is with other mid-range-to-high-end parts. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G averages 27,051 in overall benchmarks, sitting just 0.2% behind the Intel Core i9-9900K (27,097) and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 (26,936). It trails the Intel Core i5-14400T by 0.4% (27,166) and beats the Intel Core i7-1370P by 0.6% (26,900). These sub-1% deltas indicate that the 5700G is essentially performance-equivalent to those four rivals in synthetic workloads — yet in this flight simulator, the combo ranking of 99 suggests the GPU is what separates this system from thousands of others.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a different story. The RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77,712 places it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) but 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940) and 2.1-2.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (79,396 and 79,605). These are surprisingly close margins for a flagship consumer GPU, which raises questions about whether the benchmark methodology captures the RTX 5090 D's full capabilities or whether synthetic tests understate its real-world potential — the measured FPS in this game clearly show a very fast card.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700G holding back the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: Yes, particularly at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 174 FPS, but the 4K Low result of 146 FPS is only 16% lower — a smaller gap than the 40% difference seen at Ultra settings. This compression at low settings indicates the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 899, Cinebench R23 single-core of 1494) is capping frame rates.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p Ultra, the system delivers 114 FPS, only 26 FPS less than 1080p Ultra (140 FPS) but 30 FPS more than 4K Ultra (84 FPS). The 1440p Medium result of 147 FPS with a 125-170 FPS range suggests smooth gameplay without the CPU limitations visible at 1080p.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700G's average benchmark score of 27,051 is within 0.6% of all four nearest rivals: it trails the Intel Core i9-9900K by 0.2%, beats the AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 by 0.4%, trails the Intel Core i5-14400T by 0.4%, and beats the Intel Core i7-1370P by 0.6%. These are negligible differences.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM necessary for this game?

A: The measured FPS data does not indicate VRAM capacity as a limiting factor at any tested resolution or setting. The card's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 512-bit bus width are more likely contributors to the high frame rates, though the game's performance at 4K Ultra (84 FPS) suggests the GPU's compute capability is the primary constraint.

Q: What settings give the highest minimum frame rate?

A: The Medium preset provides the only min FPS data in the pack. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 100 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it's 125 FPS; and at 1080p Medium, it's 135 FPS. These represent the only measured minimums, so Medium is the only preset where frame floor is documented.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 99th out of 2996 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.3% of all systems tested for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 79th percentile ranking suggest the high rank is primarily attributable to the graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy across presets, and the choice of settings depends heavily on the target resolution. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 84 FPS average, which is playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenarios. The High preset at 4K improves to 88 FPS, a modest 4 FPS gain, while Medium jumps to 118 FPS with a documented minimum of 100 FPS — this is the safest choice for 4K if frame dips are a concern. The Low preset at 4K reaches 146 FPS but sacrifices visual fidelity for a 58 FPS gain over Ultra, which seems disproportionate.

At 1440p, the picture changes. Ultra runs at 114 FPS, High at 120 FPS, Medium at 147 FPS (125 minimum), and Low at 161 FPS. The jump from High to Medium is 27 FPS, while the gap between Medium and Low is only 14 FPS — suggesting diminishing returns past Medium. For 1440p gaming, Medium appears to offer the best measured experience because it's the only preset with a documented minimum FPS (125) that stays comfortably above refresh-rate thresholds for most displays.

At 1080p, all presets exceed 140 FPS, with Ultra at 140, High at 143, Medium at 158 (135 minimum), and Low at 174. The difference between Ultra and High is negligible at 3 FPS, but the 15 FPS gain from High to Medium and the 16 FPS gain from Medium to Low suggest the CPU is increasingly the limiting factor. The Medium preset's 135 FPS minimum is the only documented floor at 1080p, making it the most reliable choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play. Overall, Medium settings provide the best combination of documented frame stability and visual quality across all three resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system produces the following averages: Low settings hit 146 FPS, Medium averages 118 FPS with a range of 100 to 135, High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 28 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 30 FPS, and between High and Ultra it's only 4 FPS. This pattern suggests that the Ultra preset adds significant visual load for minimal FPS cost at 4K, making it a viable choice if the 84 FPS average is acceptable.

At 2560x1440, the results scale upward: Low delivers 161 FPS, Medium averages 147 FPS with a range of 125 to 170, High averages 120 FPS, and Ultra averages 114 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap shrinks to 14 FPS, while the Medium-to-High gap expands to 27 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is again only 6 FPS. The 1440p data shows a more pronounced step between Medium and High, indicating that the High preset introduces effects that disproportionately impact performance at this resolution.

At 1920x1080, the system reaches its peak: Low produces 174 FPS, Medium averages 158 FPS with a range of 135 to 182, High averages 143 FPS, and Ultra averages 140 FPS. The Low-to-Medium delta is 16 FPS, Medium-to-High is 15 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is just 3 FPS — the smallest preset-to-preset difference in the entire dataset. At 1080p, the Ultra preset only costs 3 FPS over High, making it the obvious choice for users at this resolution, as the CPU appears to level the playing field between presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with 16 MB of L3 cache, provide the computational foundation for this game's complex flight simulation logic. The 3DMark scores — 899 single-thread, 1758 for 2 threads, 3389 for 4 threads, 5648 for 8 threads, and 6629 for 16 threads — reveal a processor whose multi-threaded scaling is strong but whose single-thread performance lags modern high-end parts.

The Cinebench R23 results of 1494 single-core and 12,830.5 multi-core, along with Geekbench scores of 1894 single-core and 9950 multi-core, place this CPU in the 79th percentile of all processors. The PassMark results — 3283 single-thread, 24,419 multithread, 91,541 integer math, 51,296 floating point math — show a balanced workload profile. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the FPS data suggests that the 5700G's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor at 1080p, where the 174 FPS Low result appears capped by CPU throughput rather than GPU capability. The 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and DDR4 support may also contribute to this ceiling, as the CPU's data feed to the GPU becomes more critical at lower resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rival comparison shows it is effectively tied with several other processors — within 0.6% of the Intel Core i9-9900K, AMD Ryzen AI 7 445, Intel Core i5-14400T, and Intel Core i7-1370P. Yet the combo's 99th rank in this game suggests that even a CPU performing at this level can keep up with the RTX 5090 D's demands, albeit with measurable limitations at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a monster of a graphics card, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process, housing 92,200 million transistors across a 750 mm² die. Its 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores deliver 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, while the base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz drive the processing.

The GPU's benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326, Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674, and Vulkan score of 376,915. The PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and GPU compute score of 28,396 place this card in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are surprisingly close — within 2.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, RX 6850M XT, and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants — yet the measured FPS in this game clearly show a card capable of 4K Ultra at 84 FPS.

The 4K scaling pattern in this game — from 146 FPS at Low to 84 FPS at Ultra — demonstrates the GPU's massive headroom. Even at 4K Ultra, the card is likely not fully saturated, as evidenced by the CPU's limitations at lower resolutions. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is unlikely to be a factor in this game at these measured settings, as the FPS differences across resolutions and presets are more consistent with compute and memory bandwidth constraints. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth and 104.8 TFLOPS throughput are the specifications most likely driving the high frame rates, and the data shows that this GPU can handle Microsoft Flight Simulator at maximum settings with playable performance at 4K.