Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER represents an unusual combination for Microsoft Flight Simulator, pairing a high-end 2022 processor with a mid-range 2019 graphics card. The data shows this combo ranks 3143rd out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all systems tested for this title. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is consistently GPU-limited, with the CPU's substantial headroom never becoming the primary constraint in any tested configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 78, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 63 at 2560x1440 Low and 46 at 3840x2160 Low, showing the impact of resolution on even the lightest settings preset.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in general GPU benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12,699 in PassMark G3D, placing it 0.4% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12,940) and 0.4% below the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12,928). It sits 0.7% above the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 (13,075) and 0.9% above the AMD Radeon 740M (12,870), indicating performance parity with these contemporaries.

Q: What is the best 1080p experience available with this hardware?

A: At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69 FPS, providing the best balance between visual quality and fluidity. High settings drop to 45 FPS, while Ultra falls to 43 FPS, making Medium the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 46 FPS, with Medium dropping to 36 FPS and High/Ultra falling to 27 and 26 FPS respectively. The 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth of the GTX 1660 SUPER prove insufficient for smooth 4K gameplay in this title.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700X perform in multi-threaded benchmarks?

A: The CPU scores 19,088 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 8,859 in 3DMark 16-thread tests. Its PassMark multithread score of 35,686 places it 0.3% above the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35,802) and 0.5% above the Intel Core 7 250H (35,728), showing strong multi-core capability.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us about this system's overall standing?

A: With a rank of 3143 out of 3714 combos, this system sits in the 15th percentile of tested configurations for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This low ranking reflects the GPU's position in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, which becomes the limiting factor despite the CPU's 85th percentile standing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the clear bottleneck in this combination, and the measured FPS data confirms this at every resolution. The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1530 MHz boosts to 1785 MHz, driving 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The card's 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, a modest standing that becomes immediately apparent in Microsoft Flight Simulator's demanding rendering workloads.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for this game, which streams vast amounts of terrain and scenery data. At 1080p, the memory capacity is sufficient, but as resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the combination of higher pixel counts and the game's detailed world data begins to strain the memory subsystem. The measured data shows a steep drop in performance when moving from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution, with the gap widening at higher resolutions—at 4K, the difference between Low (46 FPS) and Ultra (26 FPS) is 20 FPS, while at 1080p the same settings gap is 35 FPS (78 to 43). This pattern indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily constrained that even reducing settings provides diminishing returns compared to lower resolutions.

The GTX 1660 SUPER's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, with score differences of just 0.4%. This places the card in a performance class that is adequate for 1080p gaming but struggles beyond that, which aligns perfectly with the measured results in this simulator.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is almost entirely GPU-limited in Microsoft Flight Simulator. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 78 at 1920x1080 to 63 at 2560x1440 (a 19.2% reduction) and then to 46 at 3840x2160 (a 27.0% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern shows that pixel count increases are directly translating to frame rate losses, with no indications of CPU stalling or other bottlenecks.

At Medium settings, the progression is from 60 FPS at 1080p to 49 FPS at 1440p (18.3% drop) and 36 FPS at 4K (26.5% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings presets suggests that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the sole constraint, with the Ryzen 7 7700X's 8 cores and 16 threads providing ample headroom for the game's simulation and physics calculations.

The High settings row shows a similar pattern: 45 FPS at 1080p, 37 FPS at 1440p (17.8% drop), and 27 FPS at 4K (27.0% drop). Ultra settings follow the same trend with 43, 35, and 26 FPS respectively. The fact that the proportional drops are nearly identical across all settings levels is a strong indicator that resolution scaling is purely a function of GPU pixel throughput, and that the CPU's performance—including its 4.50 GHz base clock boosting to 5.40 GHz—is never a limiting factor even at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings achieve 78 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate for this combo. Medium settings produce 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS, offering smooth gameplay with only occasional dips below 60. High settings drop to 45 FPS, and Ultra is only marginally lower at 43 FPS. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra (2 FPS) suggests that Ultra's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution, but both remain below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, performance decreases noticeably. Low settings yield 63 FPS, still playable but 15 FPS lower than at 1080p. Medium settings average 49 FPS with a range of 41 to 56 FPS, showing that 1440p Medium is the edge of acceptable smoothness. High settings produce 37 FPS, and Ultra drops to 35 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that this resolution is only viable for Low or Medium settings if frame rates above 50 FPS are desired.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings. Low settings reach 46 FPS, which is the only 4K preset above 40 FPS. Medium settings average 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 and maximum of 41 FPS, making for a stutter-prone experience. High settings achieve 27 FPS, and Ultra manages only 26 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, just 1 FPS below the High preset, indicating that at this resolution the GPU is completely saturated and additional settings changes have minimal impact.

Settings Recommendations

The data clearly indicates that Medium settings at 1920x1080 provide the best overall experience for this combo. The 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS offers the smoothest gameplay while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity. This is the only settings/resolution combination that stays consistently above 50 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users prioritizing fluid interaction with the simulator's controls.

At 2560x1440, Low settings at 63 FPS is the best option if resolution is the priority, though the visual downgrade is significant. Medium at 1440p produces 49 FPS average, which may be acceptable for players who prefer higher detail over absolute smoothness, but the 41 FPS minimum suggests occasional stutters during dense scenery areas.

For 4K, Low settings at 46 FPS is the only remotely playable option, though even this falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Players attempting 4K should be prepared for a visually compromised experience that still may not maintain consistent frame rates. The Ultra preset at 4K (26 FPS) is not recommended for any gameplay scenario, as the 1 FPS difference from High (27 FPS) provides no meaningful visual benefit at this resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a Zen 4 architecture processor built on TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 4.50 GHz boosts to 5.40 GHz, and it carries 32 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 1 MB L2 and 64 KB L1 per core. The CPU's 105 W TDP and DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide substantial computational headroom for Microsoft Flight Simulator's complex flight dynamics and world simulation.

Benchmark results show the CPU performing in the 85th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35,909. Its nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35,802, 0.3% slower), Intel Core 7 250H (35,728, 0.5% slower), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (35,719, 0.5% slower)—are all closely matched, indicating the 7700X sits at the top of its immediate performance class. Single-thread performance is equally strong, with a PassMark single-thread score of 4,190 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,289.

In the context of this game's measured results, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to keep it busy, and the data shows it does this effortlessly. The proportional FPS drops across resolutions and settings are entirely consistent with GPU-bound behavior, with no sudden cliffs or stalls that would indicate CPU limitations. The 16 threads handle the simulator's background tasks—weather simulation, AI traffic, and terrain loading—without impacting frame rates, even at 1080p where the GPU has less work per frame relative to the CPU's capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 3143rd out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the bottom 15% of all systems tested. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's strong 85th percentile standing, but it underscores how heavily this game depends on GPU performance. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary determinant of this system's overall position, and the data shows that even a top-tier processor cannot compensate for a mid-range graphics card in this title.

The gap between the CPU's capabilities and the GPU's limitations is stark. The 7700X's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19,088 and 3DMark max-thread score of 8,852 demonstrate a processor capable of handling far more demanding workloads than this GPU can feed. This mismatch suggests that users could upgrade the GPU significantly before the CPU becomes a bottleneck, as the measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU constraint at any resolution or settings level.

For context, this combo sits in the same performance neighborhood as systems pairing lower-end CPUs with similar GPUs, since the GPU dominates the frame rate outcomes. The 3143rd rank means that approximately 571 tested combos perform worse, while 3,143 perform better. Given that the GPU's benchmark score is within 1% of several rivals including the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, systems with those cards and any reasonably capable CPU would likely achieve similar ranks and frame rates in this simulator.