Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a system that is decisively GPU-limited in Microsoft Flight Simulator. At 1080p with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combo delivers 133.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 108.9 FPS, a reduction of about 18.5%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 81.1 FPS, which is 39.3% below the 1080p result. This scaling pattern—where frame rate drops roughly in proportion to pixel count—is the classic signature of a graphics-bound workload.

The CPU headroom becomes more apparent when looking at the higher settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 77.6 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p High result of 77.6 FPS. This flatlining between High and Ultra at 1080p suggests the rendering pipeline is no longer being extended by additional graphics work; instead, the scene complexity and draw calls are saturating what the CPU can feed. However, the GPU is still the primary limiter at 4K, where Ultra yields 45.9 FPS versus 47.8 FPS at High—a modest 4.0% penalty for the Ultra preset.

The 4K data tells a clear story about the RTX 3070’s capabilities in this simulator. From Low to Medium at 4K, the average drops from 81.1 FPS to 58.6 FPS, a 27.7% reduction. From Medium to High at 4K, the drop is 15.7% (58.6 to 47.8 FPS). From High to Ultra at 4K, the drop is only 4.0% (47.8 to 45.9 FPS). The diminishing returns at the top end indicate that Ultra is pushing the GPU’s shading and memory throughput to its limits, while the incremental cost of the final preset tier is relatively small in FPS terms.

At 1440p, the scaling is more even. Low produces 108.9 FPS, Medium 83.5 FPS, High 63.9 FPS, and Ultra 59.7 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 6.6%, which is larger than the 4.0% gap at 4K. This suggests that at lower pixel counts, the GPU has enough spare throughput to render the extra effects of Ultra, whereas at 4K those effects are already bottlenecked by raw pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth.

The 1080p Medium result of 104.5 FPS is notable because it is 34.7% higher than the 1080p High result. This indicates that the Medium preset removes a significant portion of the simulation’s rendering load—likely volumetric clouds, shadow cascades, and terrain detail—allowing the RTX 3070 to run far more efficiently. For users targeting high refresh rates at 1080p, this preset is the clearest path to triple-digit frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a straightforward recommendation hierarchy. For 4K displays, the Low preset at 81.1 FPS is the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS threshold, and it does so by a comfortable margin. The Medium preset at 58.6 FPS is playable but sits below 60 FPS, while High at 47.8 FPS and Ultra at 45.9 FPS are both in the 40s—acceptable for a flight simulator but not smooth by modern standards. Given that Low is 38.4% faster than Medium at 4K, users on 4K panels should strongly consider Low as the baseline.

For 1440p, the situation is more balanced. Low at 108.9 FPS is excellent for fast-moving scenarios, but Medium at 83.5 FPS still provides a 23.3% improvement in visual fidelity over Low for only a 23.3% FPS cost. High at 63.9 FPS remains above 60 FPS and is the best visual-to-performance trade-off for users who prioritize scenery detail. Ultra at 59.7 FPS is just under 60 FPS, so the 6.6% FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the extra load on the GPU in busy airspace.

At 1080p, the recommendation shifts toward higher presets. Medium at 104.5 FPS is the sweet spot for high-refresh monitors, as it comfortably exceeds 100 FPS while retaining moderate detail. High at 77.6 FPS is still smooth and is only 25.7% slower than Medium. Ultra at 77.6 FPS delivers the same average as High, meaning there is no reason to choose Ultra over High at 1080p if the only goal is maximizing FPS—the two are identical in this measurement. Low at 133.6 FPS is available for competitive or minimal-settings use, but the simulator’s core appeal is visual, so the 28.1% FPS gain from High to Low may not be worth the loss of terrain and cloud detail.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 816th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 45.5th percentile of all configurations, meaning roughly 54.5% of tested combos perform better in this specific title. The rank reflects the RTX 3070’s position as a mid-range GPU in a simulator known for heavy draw calls and large memory footprints.

Context from the individual component benchmarks helps interpret this rank. The CPU sits in the 91st percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 40468. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H (0.1% higher score), the Intel Core i9-13905H (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T (1.2% lower). This indicates the Ryzen 7 7700 is a strong processor that is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 72nd percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rivals are the AMD FirePro S7150 (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (1.0% lower). The combination of a top-decile CPU with a mid-70s-percentile GPU means the overall combo rank is dragged down by the graphics card, which aligns with the GPU-bound scaling observed in the frame rate data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset ladder is as follows: Low produces 133.6 FPS, Medium 104.5 FPS, High 77.6 FPS, and Ultra 77.6 FPS. The identical High and Ultra figures are a critical data point—they indicate that the Ultra preset does not add measurable average FPS cost over High at this resolution, likely because the CPU is already feeding frames as fast as the GPU can render them. The jump from Low to Medium costs 21.8% of the frame rate, while the jump from Medium to High costs 25.7%.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 108.9 FPS, Medium 83.5 FPS, High 63.9 FPS, and Ultra 59.7 FPS. The step from Medium to High is the largest percentage drop at 23.5%, while the step from High to Ultra is the smallest at 6.6%. The 1440p Low figure is 81.5% of the 1080p Low figure, showing a near-linear relationship with pixel count. The 1440p Ultra figure is 77.1% of the 1080p Ultra figure, which is a slightly steeper drop and reflects additional pressure on the GPU’s memory subsystem.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 81.1 FPS, Medium 58.6 FPS, High 47.8 FPS, and Ultra 45.9 FPS. The 4K Low result is the only one above 60 FPS. The drop from 4K Medium to 4K High is 18.4%, and from 4K High to 4K Ultra is 4.0%. Comparing across resolutions, the 4K Ultra result (45.9 FPS) is 23.1% lower than the 1440p Ultra result (59.7 FPS), which is a smaller penalty than the 28.4% gap between 1440p and 1080p Ultra. This suggests the GPU’s rendering efficiency degrades less at the highest pixel counts when the scene is already heavily loaded.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams terrain and scenery data continuously, this bandwidth is a key determinant of the frame rate at higher resolutions. The 4K data shows a 41.5% drop from Low to Medium (81.1 to 58.6 FPS), which is larger than the 23.3% drop from Low to Medium at 1440p (108.9 to 83.5 FPS). This widening gap at 4K points to memory bandwidth saturation as pixel count increases.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also relevant. With a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, the RTX 3070 has modest headroom for sustained loads. The 4K Ultra result of 45.9 FPS suggests the boost clock is being maintained but the shading units (5888) and texture units (184) are fully engaged. The pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits that the measured FPS can be compared against—at 4K Ultra, the system is achieving roughly 45.9 frames per second, which implies the GPU is operating near its fill-rate ceiling.

The 8 GB memory capacity is not directly measured in the FPS data, but the sharp drop from 4K Low to 4K Medium (27.7%) versus the smaller drop from 4K High to 4K Ultra (4.0%) indicates that the Medium preset likely exceeds the comfortable working set for the memory subsystem. The RTX 3070’s 72nd percentile standing among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, confirms it is a solid mid-range card, but the 4K results show it is stretched thin by this simulator’s demands. The GPU’s compute score of 11195 in Passmark’s GPU compute test is also a data point that correlates with the 45-50 FPS range seen at 4K High and Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to stay above 60 FPS?

A: At 1440p, the High preset delivers 63.9 FPS, which is above 60 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS at 81.1 FPS. At 1080p, all four presets are above 60 FPS, with Low at 133.6 FPS and Ultra at 77.6 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The data indicates a GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 1080p High and Ultra results are identical at 77.6 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed frames at that rate, but the GPU cannot push beyond it. The CPU’s 91st percentile standing versus the GPU’s 72nd percentile supports this interpretation.

Q: How much FPS do you gain by dropping from Ultra to Low at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 81.1 FPS compared to 45.9 FPS at Ultra. This is a gain of 35.2 FPS, or a 76.7% improvement in frame rate.

Q: Does the Ultra preset offer any advantage over High at 1080p?

A: No—the measured averages are identical at 77.6 FPS for both High and Ultra at 1920x1080. There is no FPS penalty for Ultra, but also no FPS benefit, so the choice depends on whether the visual differences matter to the user.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 816th out of 1795 combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 45.5th percentile, meaning about half of all tested combos perform better.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p Low and 1440p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the average is 133.6 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 108.9 FPS. This is a reduction of 24.7 FPS, or about 18.5% lower.