Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7700 in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: This combination ranks 1,324 out of 2,996 tested combos in the game, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the field.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D has an average benchmark score of 24,709. It is 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D (24,728), 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (24,822), and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12450HX (24,576).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,852.

Q: What are the key specifications of the CPU's cache?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the GPU provide?

A: The RX 7700 has a 256-bit memory bus with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields the highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 126, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with the RX 7700 achieves a rank of 1,324 out of 2,996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo just below the 56th percentile of all tested systems, indicating a solid but not dominant position. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 77th percentile standing among all processors and the GPU's 58th percentile among all graphics cards.

The CPU's nearest rivals show how tightly contested this segment is. The Ryzen 7 5700X3D's average benchmark score of 24,709 is nearly identical to the Ryzen 5 7600X3D's 24,728, a mere 0.1% difference. The gap to the Ryzen 9 5900HX is slightly larger at 0.5%, while the Intel Core i5-12450HX trails by 0.5%. These sub-1% deltas mean the 5700X3D is effectively performance-equivalent to its closest competitors in general compute tasks.

For the GPU, the RX 7700's average score of 15,852 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15,862), 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16,014), and 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16,129). The RX 7700 also leads the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 1.1%. These small deltas suggest that in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 7700 trades blows with older and newer cards alike.

The combination's overall rank of 1,324 out of 2,996 suggests that while neither component is top-tier, the pairing works well enough for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The game is known for being demanding on both CPU and GPU, and this combo's mid-pack rank reflects a balanced system that should handle the game's default presets without extreme compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 74 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at High drops to 60 FPS, a 19% reduction. At 3840x2160 at High, the average falls to 44 FPS, which is 41% below the 1080p figure.

The Low settings preset shows a steeper scaling curve. At 1080p, the combo delivers 126 FPS. At 1440p, this drops to 102 FPS (a 19% decline), and at 4K it reaches 75 FPS (a 40% drop from 1080p). Medium settings exhibit similar relative scaling: 98 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p (19% lower), and 59 FPS at 4K (40% lower). Ultra settings follow the same proportional pattern: 70 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (19% lower), and 42 FPS at 4K (40% lower).

This consistent ~19% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~40% drop from 1080p to 4K across all presets indicates that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound. The GPU's 16 GB of memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient to feed the frame buffer at all tested resolutions, as the percentage drops remain uniform regardless of preset. The limiting factor at higher resolutions is likely the GPU's raw compute throughput, given its 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is more of a limiting factor, as the gap between Low (126 FPS) and Ultra (70 FPS) is 56 FPS. At 4K, the same preset gap narrows to 33 FPS (75 vs 42), indicating the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions. This is typical for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, where the CPU handles simulation logic and the GPU renders the world.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces the following average FPS: Low 126, Medium 98 (with min 84 and max 113), High 74, and Ultra 70. The spread of 56 FPS between Low and Ultra shows the GPU has headroom at this resolution, but the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads at 3.00 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost are likely the limiting factor for the Low preset's high frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 102, Medium 79 (min 67, max 91), High 60, and Ultra 57. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 45 FPS, indicating the GPU is starting to become more relevant. The Medium preset's min of 67 FPS shows that even at this resolution, there is acceptable frame pacing for most displays.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 75, Medium 59 (min 50, max 67), High 44, and Ultra 42. The Low-to-Ultra spread is now 33 FPS, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The Medium preset's min of 50 FPS is still playable for a flight simulator, but the Ultra preset's 42 FPS average suggests that 4K Ultra may be too demanding for smooth gameplay.

The Medium preset consistently provides the only min/max data across all resolutions, showing frame times of 84-113 at 1080p, 67-91 at 1440p, and 50-67 at 4K. This suggests the Medium preset offers the most stable frame delivery of the four tested settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Memory runs at 2438 MHz, translating to 19.5 Gbps effective.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is substantial for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which loads large terrain and texture data. The 96 ROPs and 160 TMUs help with pixel and texture throughput, yielding a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS is shared with FP16 at a 1:1 ratio.

The GPU's percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs indicates it is slightly above average. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 370X, scores nearly identically (15,862 vs 15,852, a 0.1% difference), which is surprising given the architectural gap. The RX 7700 trails the RX 9060 by 1% and the RTX 3060 Ti by 1.7%, but leads the Pro W5500 by 1.1%.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role becomes more critical as resolution increases. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (42 FPS) is only 60% of the 1080p Ultra figure (70 FPS), showing that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are stressed at higher resolutions. The 16 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for the game's textures at all tested settings, as there are no signs of memory-related stutters in the measured data.

Settings Recommendations

The Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 98 FPS with a min of 84 and max of 113, providing smooth gameplay with headroom for complex scenes. At 1440p, Medium averages 79 FPS (min 67, max 91), which is above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. At 4K, Medium falls to 59 FPS (min 50, max 67), which is marginal but acceptable for a flight simulator where precise frame timing is less critical than in fast-paced games.

The High preset is a reasonable alternative for those who prefer visual fidelity over frame rate. It delivers 74 FPS at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The drop from Medium to High is 24 FPS at 1080p, 19 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K. This suggests that High settings are more demanding on the GPU at lower resolutions, where the CPU can still keep up.

The Ultra preset offers the lowest frame rates and is only recommended for 1080p displays. At 70 FPS, it is playable but only slightly above the High preset's performance. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 57 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 42 FPS, which may cause noticeable stutter in dense urban or mountainous areas.

The Low preset provides the highest frame rates (126 FPS at 1080p) but sacrifices visual quality significantly. For users with high-refresh-rate monitors, Low at 1440p (102 FPS) might be preferable over Medium at 1080p (98 FPS), depending on whether resolution or settings matter more.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is a 5000 series processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture (codename Vermeer). It operates at a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU is fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process with 8,850 million transistors on a 74 mm² die.

The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a significant feature for gaming, as it reduces memory latency for frequently accessed data. The L1 cache is 64 KB per core and L2 is 512 KB per core. Memory support includes DDR4 with dual-channel operation, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU uses the AMD Socket AM4 and supports PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5700X3D shows strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 22,366, while single-core scores 3,157. The Geekbench multicore score is 11,086 with a single-core of 1,849. PassMark multithread reaches 26,318, with single-thread at 2,970. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 6,764, which is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 6,755, indicating the CPU scales well with all threads available.

The CPU's percentile rank of 77 among all processors places it in the upper quartile. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 5 7600X3D, scores 24,728, just 0.1% higher. The Ryzen 9 5900HX is 0.5% higher, while the Intel Core i5-12450HX is 0.5% lower.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the combo achieves 126 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the 70 FPS average indicates the GPU is still capable, but the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 3,157) may limit the simulation's frame rate in complex scenarios. The 96 MB L3 cache likely helps with the game's streaming of terrain data, reducing stutter during flight.