Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with AMD Ryzen 7 5700X + AMD Radeon RX 570

This pairing ranks near the bottom of the tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, sitting at position 1724 out of 1795 tested configurations. The benchmark data shows a system that can manage playable frame rates only at 1080p with reduced settings, while higher resolutions and quality presets push it well below acceptable thresholds. The combination of an 8-core Zen 3 CPU with a 4 GB Polaris GPU creates a substantial bottleneck, with the graphics card being the primary limiting factor in almost every scenario.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers an average of 50.6 FPS, which is the only configuration exceeding 50 FPS. Medium at 1080p drops to 36.4 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 27.7 and 26.6 FPS respectively. For smooth gameplay, 1080p Low is the only viable option.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 1724th out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 4% of all tested systems for this game. The rank indicates that nearly all other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more limiting for this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit bus, while the Ryzen 7 5700X provides 8 cores and 16 threads with a 4.60 GHz boost clock. The massive frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to higher resolutions indicate GPU-bound performance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K resolution in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only produce 26.4 FPS, while Medium, High, and Ultra yield 23.5, 15, and 15.7 FPS respectively. These frame rates are far below what is needed for a smooth flight simulation experience.

Q: How much performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The gap is substantial. Low settings deliver 50.6 FPS, Medium drops to 36.4 FPS, High falls to 27.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26.6 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium alone costs 14.2 FPS, representing a 28% reduction in frame rate.

Q: What is the GPU's VRAM capacity and how does it affect performance?

A: The RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. This limited VRAM capacity is insufficient for higher quality settings in a visually demanding title like Microsoft Flight Simulator, contributing to the steep performance degradation at higher presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data places this AMD pairing at rank 1724 out of 1795 tested combinations, establishing it as one of the weakest configurations for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This ranking reflects the fundamental mismatch between the CPU's solid multi-threaded capabilities and the GPU's age and limited memory capacity. The Ryzen 7 5700X itself performs admirably in synthetic benchmarks, scoring 26214 on average and placing in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. However, the RX 570, while sitting in the 74th percentile among GPUs, lacks the raw throughput needed for this simulation's demanding rendering workload.

The combo's rank is particularly telling when considering the individual component strengths. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-11900KF with a deltaPct of 0.1, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U at -0.2, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT at 0.2, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X at -0.2. These tight margins show the 5700X is competitive with modern mid-range and older high-end processors. The GPU's nearest rivals, however, include modern cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 0.2 deltaPct and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 0.2, which are dramatically faster in real-world gaming despite similar synthetic scores. This disparity underscores how the GPU drags down the overall combo ranking.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, delivering 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. Memory is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, running at 1750 MHz with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The card has a 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W power supply.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, these specifications prove insufficient for quality gaming. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is particularly problematic, as the game's high-resolution textures and detailed scenery quickly exhaust available memory. The pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are simply too low to maintain fluid frame rates when the simulation renders dense urban environments or complex terrain. The GPU's end-of-life production status and legacy GCN architecture limit its ability to efficiently handle the modern DirectX 12 workload, despite officially supporting DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression: Low settings achieve 50.6 FPS, Medium produces 36.4 FPS, High drops to 27.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26.6 FPS. The step from Low to Medium represents a 14.2 FPS loss, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 1.1 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades significantly across all settings. Low yields 37.3 FPS, Medium drops to 32.7 FPS, High falls to 23.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 22.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium narrows to 4.6 FPS, while High and Ultra remain close with just 0.9 FPS separating them.

At 3840x2160, the results become largely unplayable. Low produces 26.4 FPS, Medium drops to 23.5 FPS, High falls to 15 FPS, and Ultra manages only 15.7 FPS. Interestingly, Ultra slightly outperforms High at 4K, suggesting the GPU is so heavily bottlenecked that preset differences have minimal impact. The 4K High result of 15 FPS is the worst measured value, while Ultra's 15.7 FPS is only marginally better.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly indicates that 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only configuration that delivers acceptable performance, achieving 50.6 FPS average. This is the sole setting combination that exceeds the 50 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for any playable experience. Medium at 1080p drops to 36.4 FPS, which may be tolerable for less action-intensive flight phases but will struggle during complex maneuvers or over dense scenery.

For users who prioritize visual quality over smoothness, 1080p Medium at 36.4 FPS represents a compromise that retains some graphical fidelity while maintaining playability. However, the jump to High at 27.7 FPS or Ultra at 26.6 FPS offers minimal visual improvement for a substantial performance cost. At 2560x1440, even Low settings only achieve 37.3 FPS, making this resolution impractical for consistent gameplay. The 4K resolution is entirely unsuitable, with all settings producing frame rates below 27 FPS and most below 24 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X provides 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and the processor connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5700X demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620 and a Passmark multithread score of 26612. Single-thread performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3193 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3385. The CPU's 3DMark results show scaling from 1821 with 2 threads to 6858 with 16 threads, indicating efficient multi-core utilization. This processing power is more than sufficient for Microsoft Flight Simulator's simulation and physics calculations, but the GPU cannot keep pace with the CPU's output.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU bottleneck. At Low settings, performance drops from 50.6 FPS at 1080p to 37.3 FPS at 1440p (a 26% reduction) and further to 26.4 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom remains constant regardless of resolution.

At Medium settings, the drop is from 36.4 FPS at 1080p to 32.7 FPS at 1440p (a 10% reduction) and 23.5 FPS at 4K (a 35% reduction). The smaller percentage drop between 1080p and 1440p suggests the GPU is already saturated at 1080p Medium. High settings show a steeper decline: 27.7 FPS at 1080p drops to 23.6 FPS at 1440p (a 15% reduction) and 15 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction). Ultra settings follow a similar pattern with 26.6 FPS at 1080p, 22.7 FPS at 1440p, and 15.7 FPS at 4K.

The relatively modest FPS differences between resolution steps at higher presets confirm that the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed regardless of resolution. The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache and 16 threads provide ample processing capability, but the GPU's limited pixel fill rate and texture throughput create an insurmountable bottleneck. This system cannot deliver a satisfactory Microsoft Flight Simulator experience beyond 1080p Low, and even that configuration leaves no headroom for demanding scenarios.