Microsoft Flight Simulator

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a formidable Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, ranking 124th out of 1,795 tested combinations. This places the combo in the top 7% of all systems tested for this title, with measured frame rates ranging from 69.8 FPS at 4K Ultra to 183.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows a system that handles the game's demanding flight simulation workload with consistent headroom across all tested settings and resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 183.8 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium settings deliver 164 FPS, High settings reach 123.3 FPS, and Ultra settings hit 114.7 FPS.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the system delivers 120.4 FPS on Low, 98.1 FPS on Medium, 69.8 FPS on High, and 70.3 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result remains above 60 FPS, indicating playable performance at the highest fidelity.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 124th out of 1,795 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the top 7% of all systems benchmarked for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 53,610 is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S, and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti.

Q: What CPU performance tier does the Ryzen 7 5800X occupy?

A: The Ryzen 7 5800X sits in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,606. It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12600KF.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at all settings in 1440p?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, the system delivers 169.2 FPS on Low, 128.9 FPS on Medium, 97.2 FPS on High, and 93.5 FPS on Ultra. All results exceed 90 FPS, making 1440p a strong resolution for high-refresh displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary driver of Microsoft Flight Simulator's visual output, equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1438 MHz, translating to 23 Gbps effective, while its base clock is 2295 MHz and boost clock reaches 2550 MHz. With 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, the card processes geometry and textures at 816.0 GTexel/s and rasterizes at 285.6 GPixel/s.

The measured frame rates demonstrate that the GPU's 16 GB frame buffer is well-suited for this flight simulator's large textures and expansive draw distances. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 70.3 FPS, while 4K High delivers 69.8 FPS — nearly identical results. This suggests that at 4K, the workload is sufficiently heavy that even a GPU with this level of compute throughput (52.22 TFLOPS FP32) reaches its limits. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores also provide headroom for the simulator's lighting and rendering features, though the game's primary bottleneck at higher resolutions remains GPU-bound.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 124 out of 1,795 tested combinations places it in the top 6.9% of all systems benchmarked for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is an exceptional position, especially considering the game's reputation as one of the most demanding simulation titles available. The rank reflects the synergy between the Ryzen 7 5800X's strong multi-threaded performance and the RTX 4080 SUPER's high-end rasterization capabilities.

In the context of the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% in average benchmark score (53,610 vs 53,489). This slim margin indicates that the 4080 SUPER's performance advantage is real but not overwhelming in synthetic tests. However, in a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which benefits from both CPU and GPU headroom, the combo's rank suggests that the pairing extracts more value from the hardware than raw benchmark scores alone would predict. The CPU's 84th percentile standing and the GPU's 88th percentile standing combine to place this system well above the median tested configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings deliver 183.8 FPS, Medium reaches 164 FPS, High hits 123.3 FPS, and Ultra achieves 114.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 69.1 FPS, indicating a substantial performance range that allows users to prioritize either frame rate or visual fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the system maintains excellent performance. Low settings yield 169.2 FPS, Medium drops to 128.9 FPS, High settles at 97.2 FPS, and Ultra reaches 93.5 FPS. The 1440p results show the combo can sustain high refresh rates even at Ultra settings, making it an ideal resolution for this pairing.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings produce 120.4 FPS, Medium delivers 98.1 FPS, High manages 69.8 FPS, and Ultra achieves 70.3 FPS. Notably, High and Ultra results are nearly identical at 4K, differing by only 0.5 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not significantly more demanding than High at this resolution, or that the system is hitting a performance ceiling where the extra settings have minimal impact.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X provides the computational backbone for this combo, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture. With a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, the CPU delivers strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. The chip's 32 MB of L3 cache and 4,150 million transistors on a 7 nm process node contribute to its efficiency, while its 105 W TDP indicates a moderate power envelope for a desktop processor.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on CPU performance for flight physics, weather simulation, and AI traffic, the 5800X's capabilities are evident. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23,571 and single-core score of 3,327 demonstrate robust processing power. Its 3DMark multi-thread scores (7,586 for 16 threads, 7,578 for max threads) show excellent scaling across cores. The CPU's percentile rank of 84 among all processors means it outperforms the vast majority of installed CPUs, ensuring that the GPU is not starved for data at lower resolutions.

The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 183.8 FPS, a result that would be impossible without a capable CPU feeding the GPU. Even at 1080p Ultra, the system holds 114.7 FPS, indicating that the 5800X handles the increased CPU load of higher settings without becoming a limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 183.8 FPS, while at 1440p it produces 169.2 FPS. These results suit competitive or fast-paced flying scenarios where smoothness is paramount. However, given the game's visual nature, most users will find the Medium preset the best balance: 164 FPS at 1080p, 128.9 FPS at 1440p, and 98.1 FPS at 4K.

The High preset offers a meaningful visual upgrade over Medium with only a moderate FPS cost: 123.3 FPS at 1080p, 97.2 FPS at 1440p, and 69.8 FPS at 4K. For users with 144Hz or 165Hz displays, High at 1440p remains above 90 FPS, making it the recommended choice for high-refresh 1440p monitors. The Ultra preset provides the best visual fidelity but shows diminishing returns at 4K, where it achieves 70.3 FPS versus High's 69.8 FPS — a negligible difference. At 1080p and 1440p, Ultra delivers 114.7 FPS and 93.5 FPS respectively, both playable but with a noticeable FPS penalty compared to High.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At Low settings, frame rates drop from 183.8 FPS at 1080p to 169.2 FPS at 1440p (a 7.9% decrease) and then to 120.4 FPS at 4K (a 28.9% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU remains a significant contributor to performance, as the GPU has ample headroom and the resolution increase does not proportionally reduce FPS.

At Medium settings, the drop is more pronounced: 164 FPS at 1080p, 128.9 FPS at 1440p (21.4% decrease), and 98.1 FPS at 4K (23.9% decrease from 1440p). This suggests a more balanced load between CPU and GPU. At High settings, the scaling is 123.3 FPS to 97.2 FPS (21.2% decrease) to 69.8 FPS (28.2% decrease from 1440p), showing that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises.

Ultra settings show the most interesting pattern: 114.7 FPS at 1080p, 93.5 FPS at 1440p (18.5% decrease), and 70.3 FPS at 4K (24.8% decrease from 1440p). The fact that 4K Ultra (70.3 FPS) nearly matches 4K High (69.8 FPS) suggests the system hits a GPU-bound limit around 70 FPS at 4K, regardless of settings. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 4080 SUPER is the definitive bottleneck, while at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU plays a more significant role in determining final frame rates.