Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents an unusual scaling pattern for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination. The measured data shows that performance drops are not uniform across resolutions, indicating a shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 128.4 FPS, which is a strong result for a flight simulator. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset drops the average to 102.8 FPS, a reduction of roughly 20 percent. The jump to 4K Low yields 75 FPS, which is another 27 percent decline from the 1440p figure. This pattern suggests that even at Low settings, the rendering load grows substantially with pixel count.

The scaling story changes when examining higher presets. At High settings, the frame rates are 76.5 FPS at 1080p, 57.3 FPS at 1440p, and 42.2 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 25 percent, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 26 percent. This consistency implies that the GPU is the primary limiter under High settings across all resolutions. The Ultra preset tells a similar tale: 72.3 FPS at 1080p, 55.7 FPS at 1440p, and 39.2 FPS at 4K. The proportional declines are nearly identical to the High preset, reinforcing that the graphics card is saturated. The data indicates that the CPU overhead is not the main constraint in this title, as the frame rate scales predictably with resolution rather than plateauing at lower pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: resolution scaling is almost linear for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator. At Low settings, the 128.4 FPS at 1080p drops to 102.8 FPS at 1440p, a 25.6 FPS difference. Moving to 4K Low yields 75 FPS, which is 27.8 FPS lower than the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that the GPU workload increases proportionally with the number of pixels rendered. For a flight simulator that renders vast landscapes and detailed cockpits, this is expected behavior when the graphics card is the limiting factor.

The Medium preset shows a similar proportional drop: 99.6 FPS at 1080p, 79.6 FPS at 1440p, and 59.3 FPS at 4K. The absolute differences are 20 FPS and 20.3 FPS respectively, which mirrors the Low preset's scaling. This consistency suggests that the game engine's rendering pipeline is well-balanced across these settings. The High preset, however, shows slightly different absolute drops: 19.2 FPS from 1080p to 1440p, and 15.1 FPS from 1440p to 4K. The smaller 4K drop might indicate that at higher quality settings, some effects become relatively less expensive at higher resolutions, or that the CPU starts to play a minor role in capping performance. The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern with 16.6 FPS and 16.5 FPS drops.

Looking at the percentage changes, Low settings lose 44.2 percent of the 1080p frame rate when moving to 4K. Medium loses 40.5 percent, High loses 44.8 percent, and Ultra loses 45.8 percent. These values are tightly clustered, which strongly implies that the GPU's fill rate and shading throughput dominate the performance equation. The RX 6750 XT has a 192-bit memory bus and 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 4K but not excessive. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo produces 39.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider playable. This suggests that for 4K gaming, the user should consider lower presets or accept the frame rate as is.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance for this combo. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with Low at 128.4 FPS, Medium at 99.6 FPS, High at 76.5 FPS, and Ultra at 72.3 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 4.2 FPS, which is remarkably small. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution. For users with a 1080p display, the High preset offers a solid balance, as it delivers 76.5 FPS while leaving 4.2 FPS on the table compared to Ultra. The data shows that Medium provides a 23.1 FPS advantage over High, which might be preferable for those who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more nuanced. Low delivers 102.8 FPS, Medium 79.6 FPS, High 57.3 FPS, and Ultra 55.7 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 22.3 FPS, which is substantial. The High preset at 57.3 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Ultra at 55.7 FPS is slightly worse. For 1440p, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot, offering 79.6 FPS while still providing a reasonable level of visual quality. The Low preset at 102.8 FPS is the only option that guarantees high refresh rate performance, but it sacrifices much of the sim's visual detail.

At 4K, the data shows that only Low and Medium presets yield playable frame rates. Low achieves 75 FPS, which is solid for a flight simulator. Medium drops to 59.3 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target. High at 42.2 FPS and Ultra at 39.2 FPS are likely to feel stuttery during complex scenes such as city flyovers or weather changes. For 4K users, the Low preset is the safest recommendation, as it provides a 15.7 FPS advantage over Medium. The benchmark results indicate that this combo is not suited for 4K Ultra settings, as the 39.2 FPS figure is well below the smoothness threshold.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT plays a central role in this combo's performance profile. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game's large texture sets, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates do not collapse at higher resolutions. The GPU's base clock is 2150 MHz, with a boost clock of 2600 MHz and a game clock of 2495 MHz. These clock speeds are relatively high for the RDNA 2 architecture, and the data suggests they are being utilized effectively. The 40 ray accelerators and 2560 shading units provide the compute throughput necessary for the game's lighting and shadow calculations.

The GPU's benchmark scores put it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35327. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, which scores 35264, a 0.2 percent delta. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile scores 35435, which is 0.3 percent higher, making the RX 6750 XT slightly slower. The AMD Radeon 880M scores 35646, a 0.9 percent advantage, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 35787, a 1.3 percent edge. These small deltas indicate that the RX 6750 XT is well-positioned in its performance class. The PassMark G3D score of 20700 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2548 further substantiate its mid-range standing.

In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient, as the game does not show signs of texture thrashing at 4K. The frame rate drops from Low to Ultra at any resolution are consistent with the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth limits. The pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s are the key metrics that determine how fast the GPU can fill the screen with detailed terrain. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is producing 39.2 FPS, which aligns with its overall performance tier. The GPU's 250 W TDP suggests it can sustain these clocks without thermal throttling, though the data does not include temperature measurements.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1080p provides the highest frame rates across all presets, with 128.4 FPS at Low and 72.3 FPS at Ultra. At 1440p, the Medium preset still achieves 79.6 FPS, making it viable. For 4K, only Low (75 FPS) and Medium (59.3 FPS) are playable.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RX 6750 XT has an average benchmark score of 35327, which is 0.2 percent higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (35264) and 0.3 percent lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435). The deltaPct values indicate a near tie with these parts.

Q: Why is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K so large at Low settings?

A: The drop from 128.4 FPS at 1080p Low to 75 FPS at 4K Low is 53.4 FPS, a 41.6 percent reduction. This is because the GPU must process four times as many pixels, and the RX 6750 XT's bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s becomes a limiting factor.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p, the frame rate scales consistently with settings (128.4 Low, 99.6 Medium, 76.5 High, 72.3 Ultra), which suggests the GPU is the primary constraint. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D's 3D V-Cache likely helps maintain consistent frame pacing.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 842nd out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle range. This ranking reflects its balanced CPU and GPU performance in this specific game.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity affect 4K performance?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6 memory appears sufficient, as the frame rates at 4K do not show anomalous drops that would indicate memory overflow. The 42.2 FPS at 4K High is consistent with the GPU's compute capabilities rather than a VRAM limitation.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination ranks 842nd out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 47th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 47 percent of all tested configurations. This rank is notably lower than the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that the game's performance is not purely additive; the combination of these two mid-to-high-end parts does not boost the overall ranking as much as their separate scores might imply.

The combo's rank is likely influenced by the fact that Microsoft Flight Simulator is heavily dependent on single-thread performance and memory latency. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D has a single-thread benchmark score of 884 in 3DMark, which is respectable but not exceptional. The GPU's 79th percentile ranking is strong, but the game's rendering demands may not fully utilize the GPU's capabilities at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates are high, but the combo's rank of 842 suggests that other configurations with faster CPUs or GPUs achieve better overall results. The 1795 tested combos include a wide range of hardware, and the 842nd position indicates that this combo is competitive but not top-tier.

The rank also reflects the balance between CPU and GPU. The CPU's 96 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for this game, as flight simulators often stream large amounts of terrain data. However, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate but not outstanding for 4K Ultra settings. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 39.2, which is below the 60 FPS target, contributing to the mid-pack ranking. Users looking for a higher rank would need to upgrade either component, but the data shows that the combo is well-matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a unique processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and it has a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This cache is the standout feature, as it helps reduce memory latency, which is critical for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator that loads data continuously. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong: it achieves 24063 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3397 in single-core. The 3DMark single-thread score is 884, and the multi-thread score is 7285, indicating solid performance across both low-thread and high-thread workloads.

In the context of this game, the CPU's role appears to be supportive rather than dominant. The frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, which implies that the GPU is the limiting factor. However, the CPU's performance ensures that it does not introduce stutters or frame hitches, even at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed. The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 versus all CPUs puts it in the top 17 percent, and its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 8024P (0.1 percent higher), Intel Core i9-11900K (0.1 percent higher), AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (0.2 percent lower), and Intel Core i9-12900HK (0.4 percent lower). These small deltas confirm that the 5800X3D is competitive with modern parts.

The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this game, which likely uses fewer threads for its main simulation loop. The single-thread score of 3397 in Cinebench R23 suggests that the CPU can handle the game's physics and AI calculations without bottlenecking. The data shows that at 4K Low, the frame rate is 75 FPS, which is higher than the 4K High score of 42.2 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not the constraint. The CPU's 105 W TDP and AM4 socket make it an accessible upgrade path for many users, though the data does not include thermal or power measurements. Overall, the CPU provides a stable foundation that allows the GPU to perform at its measured levels.