Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 reveal a steep performance gradient as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 120.4 FPS, but this drops to 97.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 71.2 FPS at 4K. That represents a 19.2% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 40.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 4060 becomes increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count grows, though the CPU still has headroom at lower resolutions.

Moving to High settings, the frame rate falls from 69.4 FPS at 1080p to 54.7 FPS at 1440p, then to 38.5 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 29.6%, which is substantial and indicates the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K with High presets. At Medium settings, the progression goes from 91 FPS at 1080p to 73.8 FPS at 1440p, then 56.9 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows a similar trend: 69 FPS at 1080p, 51.2 FPS at 1440p, and 37.7 FPS at 4K.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is 51.4 FPS, while at 4K that gap narrows to 33.5 FPS. This compression at higher resolutions is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios, where the rendering load grows faster than the CPU can feed frames. The 4K Ultra result of 37.7 FPS sits below the 38.5 FPS High result, showing that the Ultra preset's additional overhead yields diminishing returns at this resolution. Overall, the resolution scaling data suggests the RTX 4060 is the primary constraint above 1080p, while the Ryzen 7 7700 maintains sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking at lower settings.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock reaches 2460 MHz, with a base clock of 1830 MHz, and the card is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 3072 shading units. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 19545 places it in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321, which is only 0.6% higher, indicating the RTX 4060 is closely matched with that mobile part.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth play a defining role. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all tested settings, as evidenced by the playable frame rates. At 4K, however, the memory bus width of 128 bits and the 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become limiting factors, especially under High and Ultra presets where texture streaming demands are higher. The measured 4K Ultra result of 37.7 FPS suggests the card is working at its memory and compute limits, whereas the 4K Low result of 71.2 FPS shows that reducing settings alleviates the pressure.

The RTX 4060's compute capabilities, rated at 15.11 TFLOPS FP32, are adequate for the game's rendering workload at lower resolutions. The card's 48 ROPs and 96 TMUs provide the pixel and texture throughput needed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K the pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s is insufficient to maintain high frame rates with demanding presets. The data shows that the GPU's performance in this game is solid for mainstream resolutions but falls short of smooth 4K experiences, particularly when compared to the 1440p results where the card achieves 51.2 FPS at Ultra.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1018 out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the middle of the distribution, roughly at the 56.7th percentile of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component drastically outperforms the other, but the overall performance is constrained by the GPU's mid-range positioning.

The CPU itself ranks in the 91st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 40468. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H, scores 40431, a negligible 0.1% difference, while the Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40712, which is 0.6% higher. This suggests the Ryzen 7 7700 is a strong performer in general compute tasks, but in this game, the combo's rank is pulled down by the GPU's 66th percentile positioning among graphics cards.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, has an average score of 23321, which is 0.6% higher than the RTX 4060's 23181. The Intel Arc B580 scores 23021, 0.7% lower, and the AMD Radeon 760M scores 22999, 0.8% lower. These small deltas indicate the RTX 4060 sits in a tightly contested performance band, and its 1018th rank in this game reflects that competitive middle ground. The combo's rank suggests that for users with this pairing, expecting top-tier performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator would be unrealistic, but the measured frame rates show it handles the game competently at mainstream resolutions.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 120.4 FPS on Low settings, 91 FPS on Medium, 69.4 FPS on High, and 69 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium transition costs 29.4 FPS, while the Medium-to-High transition costs 21.6 FPS, and High-to-Ultra costs only 0.4 FPS. This last gap is notable: the Ultra preset at 1080p yields virtually the same frame rate as High, suggesting the additional settings in Ultra are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution, or the CPU becomes the limiting factor.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are 97.3 FPS on Low, 73.8 FPS on Medium, 54.7 FPS on High, and 51.2 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium drop is 23.5 FPS, Medium-to-High is 19.1 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 3.5 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset still maintains a playable frame rate above 50 FPS, and the small gap between High and Ultra indicates that the GPU is handling the extra load with minimal performance penalty.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are 71.2 FPS on Low, 56.9 FPS on Medium, 38.5 FPS on High, and 37.7 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium drop is 14.3 FPS, Medium-to-High is 18.4 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 0.8 FPS. The 4K results show that Low settings are the only preset that achieves a smooth 60+ FPS experience, while Medium is borderline at 56.9 FPS, and High/Ultra fall below 40 FPS. The near-identical High and Ultra scores at 4K reinforce that the GPU is fully saturated, with any additional settings overhead causing negligible frame rate changes.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution and desired smoothness. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 69 FPS, which is only 0.4 FPS lower than High, making Ultra the best choice for users who want maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing performance. The data shows no meaningful penalty for enabling Ultra at this resolution, so there is little reason to settle for High.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 73.8 FPS provides a solid balance between visual quality and frame rate, while High at 54.7 FPS remains playable and Ultra at 51.2 FPS is marginally slower. For users prioritizing frame rate, Low at 97.3 FPS offers a significant boost, but Medium appears to be the sweet spot for maintaining a responsive experience without dropping to the lowest visual tier. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is small, so choosing Ultra over High costs only 3.5 FPS and may be worthwhile for visual enthusiasts.

At 4K, the recommendation is clearer: Low settings at 71.2 FPS is the only preset that delivers a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS. Medium at 56.9 FPS is playable but may exhibit occasional stutter, while High at 38.5 FPS and Ultra at 37.7 FPS are below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The data indicates that 4K users should either accept Low settings or consider lowering the resolution, as the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus cannot sustain high-quality presets at this pixel count. The Ultra preset at 4K offers no practical benefit over High, given the 0.8 FPS difference.

# CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It is built on the Zen 4 architecture using a 5 nm process, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multithreaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29302 and a single-core score of 4136. Its 3DMark max-threads score of 8479 and single-thread score of 1049 indicate solid overall compute capability.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is less prominent than the GPU's, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the 120.4 FPS result suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a high rate, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as settings and resolution increase. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 40468, reinforces that it is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

The nearest CPU rivals show minimal performance deltas: the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H scores 40431 (0.1% lower), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40262 (0.5% lower), and the Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40712 (0.6% higher). These tight margins mean that swapping the Ryzen 7 7700 for any of these alternatives would likely produce negligible frame rate changes in this game. The CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration is well-suited to the game's threading model, and its 5.30 GHz boost clock provides the single-thread performance needed for flight simulation's physics and AI calculations. The data shows that the CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 4060, with no evidence of CPU-induced bottlenecks at any tested resolution or settings combination.