Microsoft Flight Simulator

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer) and fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts up to 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This desktop chip supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, offering 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and it connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes. The processor's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 pool.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5700X posts a multicore score of 13,184 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 1,499 in the same test. Its Geekbench results show 10,779 multicore and 2,016 single-core. The PassMark multithread score is 26,612, with a single-thread score of 3,385. In 3DMark, the processor achieves 6,858 with 16 threads, 5,768 with 8 threads, and 921 in single-thread tests. These figures place the CPU in the 79th percentile against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27,578 — exactly matching the Intel Core i5-12600K, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 trails by 0.2% and the Ryzen 5 7600X leads by 0.2%.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are relevant because the simulator's world rendering and physics simulation can exploit multiple threads, though single-thread performance remains critical for frame pacing. The 5700X's boost clock of 4.60 GHz and its single-thread scores (921 in 3DMark, 1,499 in Cinebench R23, 3,385 in PassMark) suggest it can handle the game's per-frame simulation load without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions, where the GPU has more headroom. At 1080p Low settings, the measured average FPS of 179 indicates the CPU can feed frames quickly, but the scaling pattern across settings reveals where the CPU's influence wanes.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its compute resources include 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 128 RT cores, and 512 tensor cores, achieving 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In GPU benchmarks, the RTX 4090 scores 38,194 in PassMark G3D and 26,613 in PassMark GPU compute, with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 255,416 and Vulkan score of 271,631. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test yields 9,223. This performance places the GPU in the 88th percentile against all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 60,347 — nearly identical to the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% ahead and the Radeon PRO V710 trails by 2.9%.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's high-resolution textures and detailed scenery, even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU's bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that texture streaming from VRAM to the render pipeline is not a limiting factor. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo averages 77 FPS, while at 4K High it reaches 81 FPS — a modest difference that suggests the GPU is still managing the load. The GPU's high boost clock and massive shading unit count enable the simulator's complex lighting and shadow calculations without causing significant frame drops, as evidenced by the 4K Medium minimum FPS of 92.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides four settings presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — across three resolutions. At 4K, the average FPS for each preset is as follows: Low 138, Medium 108, High 81, and Ultra 77. The gap between Medium and High is 27 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS. This suggests that High offers a substantial visual improvement over Medium for a moderate performance cost, but Ultra's additional fidelity comes at a relatively small FPS penalty compared to High.

At 1440p, the averages are Low 167, Medium 146, High 110, and Ultra 105. Here, Medium to High drops by 36 FPS, while High to Ultra drops by only 5 FPS. At 1080p, the pattern shifts: Low 179, Medium 163, High 136, and Ultra 130. The Medium to High drop is 27 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6 FPS.

The data indicates that High is the sweet spot for this combo. At every resolution, High delivers playable frame rates — 81 FPS at 4K, 110 FPS at 1440p, and 136 FPS at 1080p — while Ultra adds only 4-6 FPS of cost over High, meaning the visual upgrade per frame lost is minimal. Conversely, Medium at 4K provides 108 FPS but sacrifices significant visual detail compared to High, and the 27 FPS gain may not justify the graphical downgrade for a simulator where visual fidelity enhances immersion. Low settings are only useful for maximum frame rates (138 FPS at 4K, 167 FPS at 1440p, 179 FPS at 1080p), but the lack of detail would detract from the flight simulation experience. For most users, High at 1440p or 4K offers the best balance of smoothness and visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 164th out of 3,714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the top 4.4% of all configurations tested. The rank reflects the strong GPU performance, but the CPU's position in the 79th percentile suggests that the processor is not the primary driver of this ranking — the RTX 4090's 88th percentile GPU status carries more weight.

The fact that 163 other combos outperform this pairing indicates that some configurations with faster CPUs or more optimized pairings achieve higher frame rates. Given that the RTX 4090 is among the most powerful consumer GPUs available, the 164th rank implies that the Ryzen 7 5700X may be holding back the GPU in frame generation, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more pronounced. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 179 FPS, but this is likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread capabilities rather than the GPU's raw power, which could otherwise push higher.

The rank also contextualizes the measured FPS: while 77 FPS at 4K Ultra is respectable, other combos with more recent CPUs or higher-clocked processors may achieve better frame pacing. The deltaPct values from the CPU's nearest rivals — all within 0.3% of each other — suggest that swapping the 5700X for a Core i5-12600K or Ryzen 5 7600X would yield negligible differences, so the combo's rank is more dependent on the GPU and the game's optimization for specific hardware.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals clear scaling patterns across resolutions for each settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 179 at 1080p to 167 at 1440p (a 6.7% drop) and then to 138 at 4K (a 17.4% drop from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 163 at 1080p, 146 at 1440p (a 10.4% drop), and 108 at 4K (a 26.0% drop from 1440p). For High settings, the averages are 136 at 1080p, 110 at 1440p (a 19.1% drop), and 81 at 4K (a 26.4% drop). At Ultra, the figures are 130 at 1080p, 105 at 1440p (a 19.2% drop), and 77 at 4K (a 26.7% drop).

The pattern shows that the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest for Low and Medium settings (6.7% and 10.4% respectively), but much larger for High and Ultra (around 19%). This indicates that at lower settings, the CPU is more of a limiting factor — the GPU has spare capacity, so increasing resolution to 1440p doesn't penalize frame rates as heavily. However, at High and Ultra, the GPU becomes more engaged, and the resolution increase imposes a larger performance cost.

From 1440p to 4K, the drops are more uniform across settings, ranging from 17.4% at Low to 26.7% at Ultra. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is the dominant bottleneck, as the resolution increase demands significantly more pixel throughput and texture bandwidth. The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 82.58 TFLOPS of compute are being taxed, but the GPU still maintains playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra (77 FPS). The scaling behavior confirms that the CPU is the limiting component at 1080p, especially at Low and Medium settings, while the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K for all settings, and particularly at High and Ultra presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 179 FPS. Medium settings yield 163 FPS, with a minimum of 139 FPS and a maximum of 188 FPS. High settings average 136 FPS, and Ultra settings average 130 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 49 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from Medium to High (27 FPS). The minimum FPS of 139 at Medium indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above 120 FPS, suggesting a smooth experience for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 167 FPS on Low, 146 FPS on Medium (with a min of 124 and max of 168), 110 FPS on High, and 105 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 62 FPS, with the step from Medium to High being the most significant at 36 FPS. The minimum of 124 FPS at Medium shows that the combo can maintain above 120 FPS even in heavier scenes, while High and Ultra averages in the 105-110 range are still excellent for 1440p gaming.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down further. Low settings average 138 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS (with a min of 92 and max of 124), High averages 81 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 61 FPS, with Medium to High again being the largest step at 27 FPS. At 4K, even the minimum FPS of 92 at Medium stays above 90, and the 77 FPS at Ultra is playable for a flight simulator where frame rates in the 60-80 range are often acceptable. The maximum FPS of 124 at Medium shows that in less demanding scenes, the combo can push beyond 120 FPS even at 4K, but the average tells a more conservative story.