Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents one of the most demanding rendering workloads in the current benchmark database, and the measured results for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 illustrate a system that is consistently bound by the graphics card. The data shows a clear progression of frame rates that scale inversely with resolution, but the magnitude of the performance drop between 1080p and 4K reveals a configuration where the GPU is working at its absolute limit. At 1920x1080, the combination achieves an average of 111 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 65 FPS on High and 62 FPS on Ultra, indicating that even at the lowest resolution, the graphical load is significant. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall to 89 FPS on Low, 69 FPS on Medium, and 52 FPS on High, showing a steady erosion of performance as pixel count increases. At the demanding 3840x2160 resolution, the system manages 66 FPS on Low but only 39 FPS on High and 37 FPS on Ultra, which places the experience in a range that is playable but far from smooth for a flight simulator that benefits from consistent frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The relationship between resolution and frame rate in this dataset is non-linear, which provides insight into the bottleneck structure of the system. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS at High settings decreases from 65 to 52, a reduction of approximately 20 percent, while moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at the same preset yields a further drop from 52 to 39 FPS, another 25 percent reduction. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the performance penalty scales closely with the increase in pixel count. At Low settings, the scaling is even more telling: 111 FPS at 1080p falls to 89 FPS at 1440p and then to 66 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is nearly half the 1080p Low result, which suggests that the graphics card’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput are being saturated by the higher resolution, regardless of the reduced visual complexity. The data does not include minimum frame rate values for most rows, but the Medium preset at each resolution provides a partial view: 73 FPS minimum at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K, with corresponding maximums of 99, 80, and 59 FPS. These ranges show that the frame time variance increases with resolution, meaning that the experience becomes less stable as the GPU works harder.

The 8 GB of VRAM on the RX 9060 is a likely contributor to the scaling behavior, as Microsoft Flight Simulator’s vast scenery and terrain data can exceed this capacity at higher resolutions. The benchmark results do not include VRAM usage numbers, but the steep drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings, where the average falls from 52 to 39 FPS, is consistent with a card that is spilling over into system memory or encountering texture thrashing. The GPU’s 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest that the pixel throughput required at that resolution outstrips what the memory subsystem can feed. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, shows no signs of being the limiting factor in this data, as the frame rate drops are almost entirely attributable to the resolution scaling.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in the dataset?

A: The highest average frame rate is 111 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only row in the measured data that exceeds 100 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 37 FPS. This is the lowest average recorded across all resolution and settings combinations in the dataset, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is not a viable target for this hardware.

Q: Is there a significant difference between High and Ultra settings at the same resolution?

A: Yes, but the difference narrows as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, High averages 65 FPS and Ultra averages 62 FPS, a difference of 3 FPS. At 2560x1440, High averages 52 FPS and Ultra averages 50 FPS, also a difference of 2 FPS. At 3840x2160, High averages 39 FPS and Ultra averages 37 FPS, a difference of 2 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate range for the Medium preset at 2560x1440?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a minimum average of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, with an overall average of 69 FPS. This is the only preset at 1440p that includes both minimum and maximum values in the dataset.

Q: How does the combo’s performance at 1080p Low compare to 4K Low?

A: The 1080p Low average is 111 FPS, while the 4K Low average is 66 FPS. This represents a 45 FPS drop, or approximately 40 percent reduction in performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest resolution tested.

Q: Which resolution provides the most consistent frame pacing according to the data?

A: Based on the available minimum and maximum values, 1920x1080 at Medium settings has a range from 73 to 99 FPS, which is a spread of 26 FPS. The 2560x1440 Medium range is from 59 to 80 FPS, a spread of 21 FPS, and the 3840x2160 Medium range is from 44 to 59 FPS, a spread of 15 FPS. The 4K Medium preset has the smallest absolute spread, but its average of 51 FPS is lower than the other resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and the user’s tolerance for frame rate variability. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS and a maximum of 99 FPS. This provides a smooth experience that remains above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the range, while the High preset at 65 FPS and Ultra at 62 FPS are also playable but leave less headroom for demanding scenes. For users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset at 111 FPS is the fastest option, but it sacrifices the graphical detail that makes the simulator immersive. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, which is just at the edge of smoothness; the High preset at 52 FPS is acceptable for slower flight phases but may stutter during fast maneuvers or over dense urban areas. The Low preset at 89 FPS is the most responsive choice at this resolution, though it reduces the visual quality significantly.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that only the Low preset, with an average of 66 FPS, provides a consistently playable experience. The Medium preset at 51 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 44 FPS that could be noticeable during scenery loading, while the High and Ultra presets at 39 and 37 FPS respectively are below the threshold for comfortable simulation. The benchmark results indicate that the combo is not well-suited for 4K gaming with this title unless the user is willing to accept substantial compromises in visual quality. The best overall experience in the measured rows is the 1920x1080 Medium preset, which combines a high average frame rate with a frame time distribution that avoids extreme dips. For users with 1440p displays, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it maintains an average above 60 FPS and only dips to 59 FPS at the minimum, which is unlikely to be noticeable in most flight scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s position in the benchmark database is recorded as rank 1712 out of 2996 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the overall distribution. This rank reflects the performance of the pairing specifically in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and it is important to note that the game is notoriously demanding on both CPU and GPU resources. The rank of 1712 out of 2996 means that approximately 57 percent of tested combos outperform this configuration in this particular title, which is consistent with the GPU’s position in the broader hardware landscape. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has a percentile rank of 59 among all GPUs, indicating that it outperforms 59 percent of the graphics cards in the database, but its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with a delta of -0.7 percent and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 with a delta of 1 percent. This suggests that the RX 9060 is a mid-range card that competes closely with previous-generation offerings, and its performance in Flight Simulator is limited by its 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus.

The CPU, on the other hand, is a strong performer, with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X ranking in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 35909 places it just above the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which has a delta of 0.3 percent, and it is slightly ahead of the Intel Core 7 250H and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, which have deltas of 0.5 percent. This indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as its processing power is more than sufficient for the game’s simulation logic. The low rank of the overall combo is therefore attributable to the GPU, which cannot keep up with the demands of the higher resolution presets. In the context of the 2996 tested combos, this pairing sits in a position that reflects the GPU’s mid-range status, and the measured frame rates confirm that it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, which are relatively high frequencies that help compensate for the modest core count. The memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory bandwidth is a critical constraint in Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large amounts of terrain and photogrammetry data, and the 8 GB capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K resolution where the High and Ultra presets result in averages of 39 and 37 FPS respectively.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, measured at 21.43 TFLOPS for FP32 and FP16, are respectable for a mid-range card, but the pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s indicate that it can fill a 4K frame, but not at high settings. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: at 1080p, the GPU can maintain playable frame rates across all presets, but at 4K, the performance collapses to below 40 FPS on High and Ultra. The GPU’s percentile rank of 59 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014, places it in the same performance tier as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which has a delta of -0.7 percent, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which has a delta of 1 percent. The data suggests that the RX 9060 is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but its 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus are inadequate for the highest settings in this simulator at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides twelve distinct measurements, covering three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 111 FPS, the Medium preset averages 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 99, the High preset averages 65 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 62 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 49 FPS drop, which is a 44 percent reduction in performance, indicating that the visual settings have a substantial impact on the GPU load. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 89 FPS, the Medium preset averages 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 and a maximum of 80, the High preset averages 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 50 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 39 FPS, or 44 percent, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p scaling. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 66 FPS, the Medium preset averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 59, the High preset averages 39 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 37 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 29 FPS, or 44 percent, maintaining the same proportional reduction.

The medium preset is the only one with complete minimum and maximum data across all three resolutions, allowing for a direct comparison of frame time stability. At 1080p, the range is from 73 to 99 FPS, which represents a 26 FPS spread, while at 1440p, the range is from 59 to 80 FPS, a 21 FPS spread, and at 4K, the range is from 44 to 59 FPS, a 15 FPS spread. The absolute spread decreases as resolution increases, but the relative spread, as a percentage of the average, increases from 30 percent at 1080p to 30 percent at 1440p and 29 percent at 4K. This indicates that the frame time consistency is similar across resolutions, but the lower averages at higher resolutions make the dips more noticeable. The data also shows that the High and Ultra presets at 4K produce averages that are nearly identical, with a difference of only 2 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling that cannot be improved by reducing settings from Ultra to High.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a desktop processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with base and boost clocks of 4.50 GHz and 5.40 GHz respectively. The processor is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die, and it supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus that provides 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the 7700X achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19088 and a single-core score of 1987, along with a Geekbench multicore score of 12451 and a single-core score of 2289. These numbers place the CPU in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35909, which is 0.3 percent higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.5 percent higher than the Intel Core 7 250H.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is to handle the simulation logic, including flight physics, weather systems, and autopilot functions, which are largely single-threaded. The 7700X’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1090 and PassMark single-thread score of 4190, ensures that the game’s main thread does not become a bottleneck. The multi-threaded capabilities, with a 3DMark 16-thread score of 8859 and a PassMark multithread score of 35686, are more than sufficient for the game’s background tasks, such as scenery loading and AI traffic. The measured frame rates show that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as the performance scales consistently with GPU load across resolutions. The data indicates that the CPU maintains a stable frame delivery even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not fully saturated, allowing the system to reach 111 FPS without CPU-induced stutters. The CPU’s 32 MB of L3 cache is also beneficial for the game’s data streaming, reducing the need to access slower system memory. Overall, the Ryzen 7 7700X provides a solid foundation for this GPU, but the combination is ultimately held back by the graphics card’s limitations at higher resolutions and settings.