Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding flight simulation title released on 2020-08-17, and the benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combo provides a detailed look at how this hardware handles its heavy workloads. The measured FPS data spans three resolutions and four quality presets, offering a comprehensive view of performance scaling and system bottlenecks. This analysis walks through the numbers, comparing the combo's standing against 2996 other tested configurations and interpreting what the frame rates indicate about the CPU and GPU roles.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The combo ranks 251st out of 2996 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.4% of all configurations. This high percentile indicates that the Ryzen 7 9700F and RTX 5070 Ti together deliver strong performance for this specific flight simulator.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, scores 69875, making the 9700F just 0.2% faster. Against the Intel Core i7-14700KF (score 70163), the 9700F is 0.2% slower, showing a tightly contested performance band among these processors.

Q: What is the best FPS achieved at 1920x1080 resolution?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 198 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 154 at Medium, 116 at High, and 110 at Ultra, showing a clear performance hierarchy based on quality presets.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, has an average score of 50951, which is 2% higher than the 5070 Ti's score of 49957, though the specific memory specs of the rival are not listed.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest minimum FPS is 78, observed at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. The only other recorded minimum is 106 at 2560x1440 Medium and 131 at 1920x1080 Medium, indicating that the combo maintains playable frame rates even at 4K.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics?

A: No, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F has no integrated graphics (N/A). This means the system relies entirely on the discrete RTX 5070 Ti for all visual output, making the GPU's performance critical for every frame rendered.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 110 FPS on average, which is fully playable for a flight simulator that prioritizes visual fidelity. The High preset at 116 FPS is nearly identical in performance, so Ultra is the recommended choice for 1080p users seeking maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The Low preset at 198 FPS is excessive for most scenarios, and Medium at 154 FPS is a middle ground, but Ultra offers the best balance of immersion and frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset still holds at 89 FPS, which is comfortably playable. The High preset provides 94 FPS, a marginal 5 FPS improvement, making either preset viable depending on preference for extra detail versus a slight frame rate buffer. The Medium preset at 124 FPS is smoother but sacrifices significant visual richness. For a 1440p display, High is recommended as it offers a nearly identical experience to Ultra with a small performance headroom, while Ultra remains a strong choice for those prioritizing graphics over a few extra frames.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Ultra preset drops to 66 FPS, which is below the 70 FPS threshold many consider ideal for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 69 FPS is only marginally better, still hovering near that threshold. The Medium preset at 92 FPS provides a much more comfortable frame rate, and with a minimum of 78 FPS, it ensures no significant stutters. For 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it delivers a smooth experience with acceptable visual compromises. The Low preset at 118 FPS is unnecessary unless the user prioritizes maximum frame rates over all else. The data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p and 1440p, Ultra is the best experience, while at 4K, Medium offers the optimal balance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 251 out of 2996 tested configurations places it in the top 8.4% of all systems benchmarked in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a strong result, indicating that the Ryzen 7 9700F and RTX 5070 Ti combination is well-suited for this game's demanding rendering and simulation workloads. The high rank is corroborated by the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. This suggests a balanced pairing where neither component is a significant bottleneck.

In comparison to other combos, the 251st rank out of 2996 means the system outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations. The nearest rival data for the CPU shows it trades blows with high-end chips like the Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% faster) and the Core i7-14700KF (0.2% slower), indicating that the 9700F is competitive with previous-generation flagship processors. The GPU, while ranking lower in percentile, still delivers solid performance, with its nearest rival being the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is 2% faster in synthetic benchmarks. This combination of a top-tier CPU and a strong GPU results in a system that handles the game's complex flight models and terrain rendering effectively. The rank data shows that for users seeking a high-performance flight sim experience, this combo is well above average and should handle most scenarios without issue.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 198 FPS on Low, 154 FPS on Medium, 116 FPS on High, and 110 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum FPS of 131 and a maximum of 177, showing a stable frame rate range. At 2560x1440, performance scales down to 160 FPS on Low, 124 FPS on Medium (min 106, max 143), 94 FPS on High, and 89 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the numbers are 118 FPS on Low, 92 FPS on Medium (min 78, max 106), 69 FPS on High, and 66 FPS on Ultra.

Breaking this down by resolution, the 1080p results show that the combo is never CPU-limited, as even the highest quality preset maintains over 100 FPS. The 1440p results show a similar pattern, with Ultra staying above 85 FPS. The 4K results are more revealing: the gap between Low (118 FPS) and Medium (92 FPS) is 26 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High (69 FPS) is 23 FPS, and High to Ultra (66 FPS) is only 3 FPS. This suggests that the High and Ultra presets at 4K are heavily GPU-bound, with diminishing returns in frame rate as settings increase. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best compromise, with a minimum FPS of 78 ensuring smooth gameplay. The data shows that the combo's performance is strong at all resolutions, but the 4K Ultra setting is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS, making it less ideal for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the primary driver of visual performance in this combo, and its specifications directly influence the measured FPS. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This high bandwidth is crucial for flight simulation, which streams large textures and terrain data. The 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores support advanced rendering features, though the benchmark data does not specify which features were enabled. The base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2452 MHz, and the GPU has 8960 shading units, which handle the bulk of pixel and vertex processing.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 4K, the FPS drop from Low (118) to Medium (92) to High (69) demonstrates the GPU's workload scaling with increased detail. The fact that Ultra only drops 3 FPS from High (66 vs 69) suggests that the GPU is nearing its limits at 4K, with memory bandwidth or compute capacity becoming the bottleneck. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 32974 in Passmark G3D and 20203 in compute, placing it in the 86th percentile. Its nearest rival, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 50951, which is 2% higher, indicating that the 5070 Ti is slightly behind that high-end card. However, the 16 GB VRAM is ample for this game, and the measured FPS at 1080p and 1440p shows that the GPU has headroom, as it delivers over 89 FPS even at Ultra settings. The data indicates that the GPU is well-suited for 1440p gaming and can handle 4K with medium settings, but it is not powerful enough to maintain 60+ FPS at 4K Ultra in this specific title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. It has 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The CPU's synthetic benchmarks show strong multithreaded performance, with a Passmark multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691. Its average benchmark score of 69996 places it in the 94th percentile, and it trades blows with high-end rivals like the Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% faster) and the Core i7-14700K (0.9% faster).

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the simulation logic, including flight dynamics, AI traffic, and weather systems. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as the FPS scales smoothly with GPU settings (198 Low to 110 Ultra). At 1440p, the same pattern holds, with FPS dropping proportionally to GPU workload. However, at 4K, the FPS drop from Low to Medium is significant (118 to 92), but the drop from High to Ultra is minimal (69 to 66), indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at high settings. The CPU's high single-thread performance (4691 score) is beneficial for this game, as flight simulators often rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The 16 threads provide ample parallel processing for background tasks, ensuring smooth frame delivery. The data suggests that the CPU is well-matched to the GPU, providing enough processing power to keep the RTX 5070 Ti fed at lower resolutions, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's limiting component. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 198 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, it drops to 160 FPS, a 19% decrease. At 4K Low, it falls to 118 FPS, a further 26% decrease from 1440p. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, as the CPU can handle the simulation load regardless of resolution. At Medium settings, the pattern continues: 154 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p (20% drop), and 92 FPS at 4K (26% drop). The consistent percentage drops across resolutions indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as its workload increases with pixel count.

At High settings, the scaling is similar but more pronounced: 116 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p (19% drop), and 69 FPS at 4K (27% drop). The Ultra preset shows the steepest drop: 110 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (19% drop), and 66 FPS at 4K (26% drop). The fact that the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is consistent across all settings (26-27%) strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor, as its raw pixel throughput scales with resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, especially at lower settings. The data shows that the CPU has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU's workload at 4K causes significant frame rate reductions. This analysis indicates that users with 4K displays should prioritize GPU settings to achieve smooth performance, while those with 1080p or 1440p displays can push settings higher without worrying about CPU limitations.