Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with AMD Ryzen 7 5800X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

This combo pairs AMD's 8-core Zen 3 flagship with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace flagship, producing a system that ranks 295th out of 3,714 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator — placing it in the top 8% of all tested systems. The data shows a setup that delivers playable frame rates at every resolution and quality setting tested, though the scaling patterns reveal where the bottlenecks sit.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is expected for a flight simulator that pushes geometry and terrain data heavily. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 182 FPS at 1920x1080 to 170 FPS at 2560x1440 — a modest 7% reduction — and then to 125 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 26% drop. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, even at 4K, the CPU still has headroom to feed the GPU, and the frame rate remains well above what most monitors can display.

Moving to High settings, the scaling becomes steeper. The average drops from 123 FPS at 1080p to 99 FPS at 1440p (a 20% reduction) and then to 73 FPS at 4K (another 26% reduction). The 4K-to-1080p ratio at High settings is 73/123, meaning 4K delivers roughly 59% of the 1080p frame rate. This is a significant penalty, but the absolute numbers remain playable.

Ultra settings tell a similar story: 117 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 19%, and from 1440p to 4K is 26%. The 4K Ultra result of 70 FPS is the lowest measured average in the entire dataset, yet it still holds above the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the floor for smooth gameplay.

The Medium settings data is the only set that includes minimum and maximum frame rates, which provides additional insight into the scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 and maximum of 188. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 and maximum of 152. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 and maximum of 112. The minimum frame rate at 4K Medium — 83 FPS — is still comfortably above the 60 FPS mark, suggesting that even in demanding scenes, this combo does not suffer severe stuttering.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K across all settings shows that the RTX 4080 is the primary limiter at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 7 5800X becomes more relevant at 1080p. At Low settings, the 1080p-to-4K drop of 57 FPS (182 to 125) is the largest absolute gap in the dataset, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder as pixel count rises, but the CPU is still capable of feeding it at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. It carries 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and memory runs at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective speed. The GPU has 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores.

In this game, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for the highest resolution and settings tested. Flight simulators are known for loading large textures and terrain data, but the measured data shows no indication of VRAM-related performance cliffs — the frame rates scale smoothly with resolution changes, which would not be the case if the GPU were running out of memory.

The RTX 4080's compute capabilities, measured at 48.74 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, are substantial, but Microsoft Flight Simulator tends to be more dependent on raw rasterization throughput and memory bandwidth than on raw compute. The 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate and 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the specifications that likely matter most here, as the game renders dense scenery and complex geometry.

The GPU's benchmark percentiles place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54,209 — a delta of only 0.1%, meaning the two cards are effectively identical in general benchmark performance. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698 (2.6% higher). These small deltas suggest that the RTX 4080 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

Looking at the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes clear when comparing Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (182 FPS) and Ultra (117 FPS) is 65 FPS, or 36% lower. At 1440p, the gap grows to 75 FPS (170 to 95), or 44% lower. At 4K, the gap is 55 FPS (125 to 70), or 44% lower. The consistent percentage drop from Low to Ultra across 1440p and 4K indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at these resolutions, as raising quality settings directly reduces the frame rate proportionally.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 295 out of 3,714 tested combinations places this system in the top 8% of all tested setups. This is a strong result, but not a top-tier one — there are 294 other combinations that outperform it in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Given that the RTX 4080 is in the 86th percentile of GPUs and the Ryzen 7 5800X is in the 81st percentile of CPUs, the rank is roughly in line with what the individual component percentiles would suggest.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance tier. The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H scores 29,093 on average, just 0.1% below the Ryzen 7 5800X's 29,123 average. The Intel Xeon Phi 7210 scores 29,245 (0.4% higher), and the Intel Core i5-13500HX scores 29,270 (0.5% higher). The AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT scores 28,940 (0.6% lower). These are all extremely close deltas, meaning the Ryzen 7 5800X sits in a crowded performance band where small differences in workload can flip the ranking.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern. The RTX 4080 SUPER is 0.1% lower in average score, making the two essentially indistinguishable in general benchmarks. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% higher. These small deltas mean that in real-world gaming, the differences would be within the margin of error for most titles.

The combo rank of 295 suggests that while each component is individually strong, the pairing does not unlock any special synergy in this game. The 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 5800X with its Zen 3 architecture is capable, but the data shows that there are many other CPU+GPU combinations that achieve higher frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 182 FPS, Medium produces 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 and maximum of 188, High produces 123 FPS, and Ultra produces 117 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 65 FPS, with Ultra delivering 64% of the Low frame rate. The Medium settings data shows a tight range between minimum and maximum, indicating consistent frame pacing.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong. Low averages 170 FPS, Medium averages 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 and maximum of 152, High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 95 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at High settings (123 to 99, a 24 FPS reduction) and least pronounced at Low settings (182 to 170, a 12 FPS reduction). The Medium settings range at 1440p — 112 to 152 — shows a wider spread than at 1080p, suggesting more variability in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the combo's limits. Low averages 125 FPS, Medium averages 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 and maximum of 112, High averages 73 FPS, and Ultra averages 70 FPS. The Ultra result of 70 FPS is the lowest average in the entire dataset, but it remains playable. The Medium settings minimum of 83 FPS is particularly notable — it shows that even in the worst-case measured scenes, the frame rate stays above 80 FPS.

The full dataset shows that the combo is most comfortable at 1440p and below, where even Ultra settings stay above 95 FPS. At 4K, the user must choose between High (73 FPS) and Medium (97 FPS) settings to maintain smooth gameplay, with Ultra (70 FPS) being borderline.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel access, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1,574.5 in single-core and 15,476 in multi-core. In Geekbench, it scores 2,032 single-core and 11,036 multi-core. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 943 in single-thread to 7,578 in max-threads, with 16-thread performance at 7,586. The PassMark scores include 3,445 in single-thread and 27,732 in multi-thread.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 182 FPS, which is far above what the GPU alone would likely deliver at that resolution if the CPU were a bottleneck. The fact that the frame rate drops by only 7% when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (182 to 170) suggests that the CPU is still capable of keeping up at these settings.

However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 70 FPS, which is 62% lower than the 1080p Low result. This large drop indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at high resolutions and quality settings. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are sufficient for the game's demands, but the data shows that the Ryzen 7 5800X does not provide the same headroom as newer CPUs might in this specific title.

The CPU's percentile of 81 means it outperforms 81% of all CPUs in general benchmarks, but its nearest rivals — all within 0.6% of its average score — show that it is not a standout performer. The single-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 1,574.5 is modest by modern standards, and Microsoft Flight Simulator's reliance on single-threaded performance for game logic could be a factor in the combo's overall rank.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play this game with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 is the sweet spot. At Medium settings, the combo averages 132 FPS with a minimum of 112, and even Ultra settings stay at 95 FPS. At 4K, Ultra drops to 70 FPS, which is playable but much closer to the edge.

Q: How much FPS do you lose going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 123 FPS at 1920x1080 to 73 FPS at 3840x2160 — a reduction of 50 FPS, or roughly 41% lower performance at 4K compared to 1080p.

Q: Is 16 GB of VRAM enough for Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K?

A: The measured data shows no VRAM-related issues. At 4K Ultra, the combo still delivers 70 FPS average, and at 4K Medium it reaches 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS. The frame rates scale smoothly with resolution changes, indicating the 16 GB GDDR6X memory is sufficient.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 295th out of 3,714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8% of all tested systems. This is a strong result, though not elite — there are 294 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in this game.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K Ultra. The frame rate drops to 70 FPS, and the scaling from Medium (97 FPS) to Ultra (70 FPS) shows a 28% reduction, which is consistent with GPU-bound behavior. The CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides sufficient processing power at this resolution.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo averages 164 FPS, with a minimum of 139 FPS and a maximum of 188 FPS. This provides a very smooth experience with consistent frame pacing, as indicated by the relatively tight range between minimum and maximum.