Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a clear pattern: the game becomes progressively more GPU-bound as resolution increases, but the scaling is not perfectly linear. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 155.7 FPS, which drops to 126.6 FPS at 1440p Low (a 18.7% reduction) and further to 88.2 FPS at 4K Low (a 30.3% reduction from 1440p). This scaling suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is still contributing meaningfully, but the GPU begins to dominate as pixel count rises.

Moving to High settings, the pattern intensifies. The 1080p High result of 93.8 FPS falls to 71.2 FPS at 1440p High (a 24.1% drop), then to 52.7 FPS at 4K High (a 26.0% drop from 1440p). The diminishing returns between 1440p and 4K at High settings indicate that the RX 9070 is nearing its throughput ceiling in this simulator, which is known for heavy draw-call and terrain-streaming demands. At Ultra settings, the figures are 87.1 FPS at 1080p, 69.4 FPS at 1440p, and 51.9 FPS at 4K — the gap between 1440p and 4K shrinks to 25.2%, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting factor at the highest preset.

The data reveals that the most significant FPS drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, where the loss is 29.1 FPS. In contrast, the 4K-to-1440p drop at Ultra is only 17.5 FPS. This asymmetry suggests that at lower settings, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are still feeding the GPU adequately, but at higher settings and resolutions, the RX 9070's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth become the bottleneck. The overall trend indicates that Microsoft Flight Simulator is a hybrid workload: it stresses the CPU's single-thread performance for flight physics and AI, but the GPU's rasterization and memory subsystem dominate at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium costs 33.2 FPS (from 155.7 to 122.5), while Medium to High costs another 28.7 FPS (to 93.8). The most efficient choice at 1080p is Medium, which still delivers 122.5 FPS and retains visual fidelity without the steep penalty of High or Ultra. Ultra at 1080p yields 87.1 FPS, which is playable but represents a 28.9% drop from Medium for marginal visual gains in a flight simulator where terrain detail matters less than cockpit readability.

At 1440p, Medium stands out as the sweet spot: 99.4 FPS. High drops to 71.2 FPS (a 28.4% reduction), while Ultra falls to 69.4 FPS — a negligible 1.8 FPS difference from High. This suggests that between High and Ultra at 1440p, the visual improvements are not worth the performance hit, but Medium offers a 39.8% headroom over High. For 4K, the situation changes: Medium delivers 70.1 FPS, while High sits at 52.7 FPS and Ultra at 51.9 FPS. The 4K Medium result is the only 4K preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for this resolution.

The data indicates that Medium is the universal recommendation across all three resolutions, as it provides the best balance of frame rate and visual quality. At 4K, High and Ultra are nearly indistinguishable in performance (0.8 FPS apart), meaning users who prioritize fidelity should choose Ultra for the extra detail without worrying about a meaningful FPS penalty. However, for smooth gameplay, 4K Medium is the only viable option, delivering 70.1 FPS versus 52.7 FPS for High.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is a Zen 3 Vermeer part with 8 cores and 16 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are critical for a simulation that streams terrain and weather data. The benchmark scores show a strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multicore hits 22620, while the single-core score is 3193. This combination is well-suited for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies on both high single-thread performance for flight dynamics and multi-threading for AI traffic and scenery generation.

The CPU's percentile rank of 83 versus all CPUs places it in the upper tier, though its nearest rivals are interesting. The Intel Core i9-11900KF scores 26196 (0.1% lower), while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X scores 26272 (0.2% higher). This means the 5700X is effectively within a hair's breadth of these competitors in synthetic benchmarks, yet the measured FPS in this game shows the combo ranking 556 out of 1795 tested combinations. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6858 and 8-thread score of 5768 indicate that the CPU scales well with thread count, but the single-thread score of 921 in 3DMark suggests that the game's frame pacing may be limited by per-core performance in certain scenes.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is not the bottleneck — the 155.7 FPS result is likely limited by the GPU's geometry throughput. However, the gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low (29.1 FPS) is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K at Low (38.4 FPS), which suggests that the CPU's 16 threads are adequate for feeding the RX 9070 at lower resolutions. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node allow it to maintain boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is beneficial for sustained simulation workloads.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 7 5700X and Radeon RX 9070 achieves a rank of 556 out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 69th percentile of all tested combinations, which is respectable but not top-tier. The GPU's percentile rank of 79 versus all GPUs is higher than the CPU's 83, yet the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the fact that the game is heavily CPU-dependent in certain scenarios. The RX 9070's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA A2 (0.2% lower) and the Quadro GV100 (0.3% higher), but these are not gaming-focused GPUs, so the actual in-game performance is better than those synthetic comparisons suggest.

The combo's rank of 556 out of 1795 means it outperforms roughly 69% of tested systems. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The CPU's 0.1% delta from the i9-11900KF and 0.2% delta from the Ryzen 5 7600X indicate that the 5700X is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Instead, the RX 9070's 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are what drive the higher-resolution results. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a faster GPU would yield diminishing returns, as the CPU's 3DMark 2-thread score of 1821 indicates moderate per-core strength.

In the context of the full combo list, this system sits comfortably in the upper third, making it a viable choice for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being playable at Medium settings. The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data: it delivers above-average frame rates in most presets but falls short of top-tier combos that likely pair higher-core-count CPUs with more powerful GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: 1440p Medium delivers 99.4 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and smoothness. At 4K, only Medium clears 60 FPS with 70.1 FPS, while 1080p Medium offers 122.5 FPS for maximum headroom.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X scores an average of 26214, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26196) and 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (26272). These differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 51.9 FPS, and the drop from 1440p Ultra (69.4 FPS) is 25.2%. This indicates the RX 9070 is the limiting factor, as the CPU's 16 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: High delivers 71.2 FPS while Ultra delivers 69.4 FPS — a difference of only 1.8 FPS, suggesting that the visual upgrade to Ultra is nearly free in performance terms.

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

A: It ranks 556 out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the upper 31% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: Does the CPU's 8-core/16-thread configuration help in this game?

A: Yes, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 6858 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620 indicate strong multi-threading, which helps with AI traffic and scenery generation, though the single-thread score of 3193 in R23 is also important for flight physics.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 155.7, Medium 122.5, High 93.8, and Ultra 87.1. The spread from Low to Ultra is 68.6 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium (33.2 FPS). The drop from Medium to High is 28.7 FPS, while High to Ultra costs only 6.7 FPS. This suggests that Ultra is a minor upgrade over High at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the values are: Low 126.6, Medium 99.4, High 71.2, and Ultra 69.4. The Low-to-Medium drop is 27.2 FPS, Medium-to-High is 28.2 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is only 1.8 FPS. The 1440p data shows a more uniform scaling between Low, Medium, and High, with Ultra being nearly identical to High.

At 3840x2160, the values are: Low 88.2, Medium 70.1, High 52.7, and Ultra 51.9. The Low-to-Medium drop is 18.1 FPS, Medium-to-High is 17.4 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 0.8 FPS. At 4K, the game becomes heavily GPU-bound, and the differences between High and Ultra are negligible.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset shows the highest FPS and the largest resolution scaling penalty: 155.7 at 1080p, 126.6 at 1440p, and 88.2 at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute differences: 87.1, 69.4, and 51.9 respectively. This indicates that at higher settings, the GPU's workload saturates earlier, reducing the relative impact of resolution changes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 48 chip on a 4 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock is 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz and a base clock of 1330 MHz. The GPU has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 36.13 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a flight simulator that renders vast landscapes.

The GPU's percentile rank of 79 versus all GPUs indicates it outperforms 79% of tested graphics cards. Its PassMark G3D score of 25381 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 confirm strong rasterization performance. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 51.9 FPS, which is 40.4% lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 87.1 FPS. This scaling is typical for a GPU with 16 GB of VRAM, as the memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The RX 9070's 56 ray tracing cores are not heavily utilized in this game, as the measured presets focus on traditional rasterization. The GPU's 220 W TDP and PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensure it can maintain performance without bandwidth bottlenecks. The data shows that the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K across all settings, as the FPS differences between High and Ultra are minimal (0.8 FPS), indicating the GPU is saturated. At 1080p, the GPU has more headroom, allowing the CPU to push frame rates above 150 FPS at Low settings.