Microsoft Flight Simulator

# FAQ

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2210 out of 2996 tested combos in this game. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, indicating that while it is playable, many other combinations deliver higher frame rates.

Q: At which resolution and settings does this combo achieve the highest average frame rate?

A: The best measured performance is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the combo reaches an average of 98 FPS. The lowest average frame rate recorded is 33 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996. It sits 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875), 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163), 0.7% above the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515), and 0.9% above the Intel Core i7-14700K (69355). The differences are marginal, effectively placing it in a performance tie with these chips.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RX 5700 XT sits in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 16361, which is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 0.1% higher), and slightly below the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, -0.3%) and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415, -0.3%).

Q: Does the measured FPS data include frame time consistency information?

A: Only the Medium settings rows include minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1920x1080 Medium, the range is 65 to 88 FPS (average 77). At 2560x1440 Medium, the range is 52 to 71 FPS (average 62). At 3840x2160 Medium, the range is 39 to 52 FPS (average 46). Other settings rows only report average FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance score, and how does that relate to flight simulators?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F scores 4691 in the PassMark single-thread test. Flight simulators are known to be sensitive to single-thread performance due to their complex physics and scenery calculations, so this score is a relevant indicator of the CPU's ability to drive the simulation logic.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, moving from Low to Ultra settings drops the average FPS from 98 to 55, a reduction of 43 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 77 FPS average, with a minimum of 65 FPS, which keeps the experience smooth while still providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low.

For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the strongest choice from the measured rows. It offers a 19 FPS improvement over High (77 vs 58) and 22 FPS over Ultra (77 vs 55), while maintaining a minimum FPS of 65 that avoids most stutter. The High preset at 1080p (58 FPS) is also viable, but the margin to Medium is significant enough that the extra visual detail may not justify the performance loss.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (62 FPS average, 52 min) is the only setting that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset drops to 46 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid. At 3840x2160, no setting achieves 60 FPS; the best option is Low at 59 FPS average, with Medium at 46 FPS and High at 34 FPS. For 4K users, Low is the only settings level that approaches a playable frame rate, while 1440p users should stick to Medium for the best compromise.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with Medium or High settings, or 1440p with Medium settings. Pushing to Ultra at any resolution results in sub-60 FPS averages (55 at 1080p, 44 at 1440p, 33 at 4K), which may be acceptable for a flight simulator but is not ideal for a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 2210 out of 2996 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the 26th percentile of all combos tested in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a below-average result, but it is important to contextualize this ranking given the components involved.

The CPU alone performs at the 94th percentile of all processors, indicating that the Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-end part. The GPU, however, sits at the 59th percentile of all graphics cards, which is a mid-range position. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU creates a significant imbalance, and the ranking reflects that the GPU is likely the limiting factor in this game.

The rank of 2210 means that roughly 74% of tested combos achieve higher frame rates in this specific title. This is not surprising given that Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding game that benefits heavily from GPU rasterization power at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong benchmark scores (e.g., 36470 in PassMark multithread, 4691 in single-thread) do not translate directly into FPS when the GPU cannot keep up with the rendering load.

Compared to the nearest GPU rivals, the RX 5700 XT is statistically tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 in synthetic benchmarks. This suggests that the combo's ranking is representative of what users would expect from this class of GPU when paired with a high-end CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 98, Medium 77 (min 65, max 88), High 58, and Ultra 55. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 44% reduction in frame rate, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (77 to 58, a 19 FPS loss). The gap between High and Ultra is minimal (58 to 55), suggesting that the Ultra preset adds little visual benefit relative to its cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 79, Medium 62 (min 52, max 71), High 46, and Ultra 44. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings reduces FPS by roughly 19-20% across all presets. The Medium preset retains a 62 FPS average, but High and Ultra both fall below 50 FPS, indicating that this resolution pushes the GPU to its limits.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 59, Medium 46 (min 39, max 52), High 34, and Ultra 33. The jump from 1440p to 4K costs approximately 25-28% of performance at each setting level. Notably, the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 1 FPS (34 vs 33), suggesting that the Ultra preset is effectively unplayable and High offers no meaningful advantage over it.

The data reveals that the Medium preset is the only setting that provides both a playable average FPS and a reasonable minimum FPS across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 65 FPS minimum ensures consistency; at 1440p Medium, the 52 FPS minimum is borderline but acceptable; at 4K Medium, the 39 FPS minimum will result in noticeable stutter during dense scenery.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the 8 GB capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors in a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large textures.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score is 16277, placing it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 0.1% higher), NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, 0.3% higher), and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415, 0.3% higher). These deltas are negligible, meaning the RX 5700 XT performs as expected for its class.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K, even Low settings only achieve 59 FPS, and Ultra drops to 33 FPS. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that has sufficient raw compute (9.754 TFLOPS FP32) but lacks the memory capacity and bandwidth to handle 4K textures in a complex flight simulator. The 8 GB VRAM is likely fully utilized at 4K Ultra, causing the steep performance drop from Medium (46 FPS) to High (34 FPS).

At 1080p, the GPU performs more adequately, with Low hitting 98 FPS and Medium at 77 FPS. This indicates that the RX 5700 XT is well-suited for 1080p gaming in this title, where its 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs can keep up with the rendering load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), built on TSMC's 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus yielding 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 4691 in single-threaded performance and 36470 in multithreaded performance. Its percentile ranking of 94 indicates it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs. The nearest rivals in average score are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.2% lower), Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, 0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.7% lower), and Intel Core i7-14700K (69355, 0.9% lower). These tiny deltas confirm the CPU is competitive with top-tier desktop and mobile chips.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the simulation logic, including flight physics, weather systems, and scenery generation. The strong single-thread score of 4691 is particularly relevant, as this game is known to be sensitive to single-core performance. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo.

Evidence for this comes from the scaling pattern: at 1080p, the difference between Low (98 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS) is 43 FPS, which is a GPU-bound characteristic. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across settings. The fact that FPS scales significantly with resolution (98 FPS at 1080p Low vs 59 FPS at 4K Low) further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of FPS degradation as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 98 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p (a 19% decrease) and then to 59 at 4K (a 40% decrease from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 77 to 62 to 46, representing a 20% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 40% drop from 1080p to 4K.

This scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU-bound system. When the CPU is the limiting factor, resolution changes have minimal impact on FPS because the CPU workload remains constant. Here, each resolution step costs roughly 20% of performance, which is a typical signature of a GPU that is saturated by the increasing pixel count.

The most telling data point is the 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS, which is only 1 FPS lower than 4K High (34 FPS). This near-flat performance between High and Ultra at 4K suggests that the GPU has hit a hard memory or bandwidth limit, rather than a compute limit. The 8 GB VRAM is likely exhausted at 4K with high-quality textures, causing the GPU to thrash.

At 1080p, the scaling between settings is more gradual: Low 98, Medium 77, High 58, Ultra 55. The small gap between High and Ultra (3 FPS) again indicates a resource limit, but at 1080p the GPU has enough headroom to render most settings without hitting the memory ceiling. The conclusion from this scaling analysis is that the Ryzen 7 9700F provides ample CPU performance to drive the simulation, but the RX 5700 XT cannot maintain playable frame rates at 4K and struggles beyond Medium settings at 1440p.