Microsoft Flight Simulator

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the data shows that settings management is crucial for a smooth framerate. Across the measured resolutions, the Medium preset consistently offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 86 FPS, with a minimum of 73 FPS, which keeps the sim fluid even in demanding low-altitude scenery. The High preset drops to 65 FPS at the same resolution, which is still acceptable but leaves less headroom for stutters. At 1440p, Medium remains the sweet spot at 70 FPS average (59 FPS minimum), while High falls to 52 FPS. The story is similar at 4K, where Medium produces 51 FPS (44 FPS minimum) versus 39 FPS on High. The Ultra preset is the least advisable option, yielding 62 FPS at 1080p but only 37 FPS at 4K, indicating significant GPU strain. Low settings provide a performance boost—111 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K—but the visual trade-offs in a game that relies heavily on scenery detail are likely too severe for most users. Therefore, Medium is the recommended preset for consistent frame pacing, especially if you want to avoid the sub-60 FPS dips seen at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal settings preset for this hardware combination. The reasoning is straightforward: it is the only preset where the minimum FPS remains above 44 FPS across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium achieves an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset, while offering better visuals, reduces the average to 65 FPS and lacks a listed minimum, which introduces uncertainty about worst-case performance. At 1440p, the Medium preset's 70 FPS average (59 FPS minimum) is the only configuration that consistently holds above 60 FPS; High drops to 52 FPS. For 4K users, Medium is the only preset that remains above the 40 FPS playability floor, with a 51 FPS average and a 44 FPS minimum. Choosing Ultra is not recommended, as it yields a 37 FPS average at 4K and 50 FPS at 1440p, which will feel sluggish during flight. Low settings are viable for maximum smoothness—111 FPS at 1080p—but the visual compromise is substantial. The data suggests that Medium is the pragmatic choice: it preserves enough detail to appreciate the sim's scenery while keeping frame drops manageable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, boosting to 1770 MHz, and it features 2560 shading units. The GPU's percentile rank is 65, meaning it outperforms 65% of all GPUs in the benchmark database. Its average benchmark score is 20282, with nearest rivals including the Intel Arc B570 (score 20556, delta -1.3%) and the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582, delta -1.5%), indicating the RTX 2070 SUPER is slightly slower than these newer cards. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. The performance deltas between presets at 4K are telling: dropping from Ultra to Low nearly doubles the frame rate (37 FPS to 66 FPS), which shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck at that resolution. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the measured presets, as no VRAM-related stutters are indicated by the data. The card's 12 nm process and 215 W TDP mean it runs relatively warm, but the dual-slot cooler handles it, and the 550 W suggested PSU provides adequate headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which confirms the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component at higher pixel counts. At Medium settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a 19% drop in average FPS (86 to 70). Moving from 1440p to 4K yields a further 27% reduction (70 to 51). The Low preset shows a similar trend: 111 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The High preset falls from 65 FPS at 1080p to 52 FPS at 1440p and 39 FPS at 4K. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU (Ryzen 7 7700) has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions but the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth become bottlenecks as pixel count increases. At 4K with Medium settings, the 51 FPS average is borderline playable, but the 44 FPS minimum suggests that dense urban areas or heavy weather effects could cause noticeable hitches. The data indicates that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, 1080p is the native resolution for this combo, while 1440p is achievable with Medium settings and a tolerance for occasional dips.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2138th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 42nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 58% of tested combos deliver higher average FPS in this game. The rank reflects the balanced but mid-range nature of the pairing: the CPU is strong (87th percentile among all CPUs), but the GPU is only in the 65th percentile. The combo's ranking suggests that while it handles the sim adequately at Medium settings, it is not a high-end solution for this demanding title. Users with higher-ranked combos are likely running more powerful GPUs, as the game's performance scales heavily with GPU capability. The data shows that the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are not the limiting factor here; the RTX 2070 SUPER's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is what caps the frame rate. For context, the CPU's nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, Intel Core 5 221E) have nearly identical average benchmark scores, so the difference in this game's ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's position relative to other tested cards.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a Zen 4 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. The CPU's percentile rank is 87, indicating it is faster than 87% of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 40081, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (score 40048, delta 0.1%) and the Intel Core 5 221E (score 40144, delta -0.2%), showing the 7700 is essentially tied with these processors. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the simulation's physics, AI traffic, and terrain streaming. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution, as evidenced by the FPS scaling: if the CPU were limiting, the FPS would remain flat across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 4K, which is the signature of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1930) is beneficial for the game's main thread, which handles the flight model and input processing. The 8-core, 16-thread layout also ensures that background tasks, such as photogrammetry loading, do not cause frame drops. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 5 nm process make it an efficient choice, and its 87th percentile ranking confirms it will not hold back the RTX 2070 SUPER in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU/GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The Medium preset provides the best experience, yielding 86 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K, with minimums of 73, 59, and 44 FPS respectively.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER a bottleneck in this game?

A: Yes, the data shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 37, while at 1080p with Low settings, it reaches 111 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's performance ceiling.

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

A: This combo ranks 2138th out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the 42nd percentile. The CPU is in the 87th percentile, but the GPU's 65th percentile ranking drags the overall combo down.

Q: Can this system run the game at 4K?

A: Yes, but only with Medium settings, which produce a 51 FPS average and a 44 FPS minimum. Low settings improve this to 66 FPS average, but with significant visual loss.

Q: Does the CPU's core count matter for this game?

A: The 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 7700 is sufficient; the FPS scaling across resolutions proves the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU. Its high single-core score (Cinebench R23: 1930) handles the main simulation thread well.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, which is 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B570 (score 20556) and 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582), making it marginally slower than these competing cards.