Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding flight simulation title, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F processor with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D graphics card produces a specific performance profile that varies significantly across resolutions and settings. This analysis examines the measured frame rates, the roles of each component, and how this particular pairing ranks among a large set of tested configurations, using only the data provided.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The processor sits on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes from the CPU. It has no integrated graphics, meaning the discrete GPU is mandatory for display output.

In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is primarily in handling game logic, physics calculations, and the complex scenery generation that the sim is known for. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides substantial parallel processing capability, which the data suggests is sufficient to keep up with the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 248 FPS, and at 1440p Low it reaches 205 FPS. These high values indicate that the CPU is not a limiting factor in these scenarios, allowing the GPU to render frames at very high rates. The single-thread performance of the Ryzen 7 9700F, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4691, is strong, which is important for a flight simulator that often relies on a primary simulation thread.

The CPU’s Passmark multithread score is 36470, and its average benchmark score is 69996, placing it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in overall CPU benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher average score), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower average score), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher), and Intel Core i7-14700K (0.9% higher). These are very close margins, indicating that the Ryzen 7 9700F is competitive with these high-end parts in general compute tasks. However, in Microsoft Flight Simulator specifically, the measured results show that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 84, which is a significant reduction from the 142 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This suggests that while the CPU is capable, the demands of the simulation at higher resolutions and settings shift the bottleneck more towards the GPU, though the CPU still must maintain the simulation’s internal state.

The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is relevant because flight simulators often exhibit sensitivity to high clock speeds due to their reliance on single-threaded performance for core simulation loops. The data reflects this: at 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 198, and at 1080p High it is 149. These are strong results that imply the CPU’s high boost capability is being utilized effectively. The 65 W TDP is noteworthy for a desktop processor, suggesting efficient power draw while delivering this level of performance, but the data provided does not allow for a direct comparison of power consumption in-game.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 5 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is an exceptionally high placement, meaning that this specific pairing outperforms the vast majority of other CPU-GPU combinations that have been benchmarked for this game. The top 5 ranking implies that this setup is among the elite configurations for running this title, likely due to the synergy between the strong 8-core CPU and the top-tier GPU.

This rank is notable when considering the CPU’s overall percentile of 94 and the GPU’s percentile of 92. While both components are in the top decile of their respective categories, their combined performance in this game is even more impressive, landing in the top 0.17% of tested combos. This suggests that the pairing is particularly well-suited to Microsoft Flight Simulator’s specific workload, which may favor the balance of high single-thread IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) from the Zen 5 architecture and the massive computational throughput of the RTX 5090 D.

The fact that this combo ranks 5th out of 2996 configurations indicates that only four other CPU-GPU pairings produce higher average frame rates across the tested scenarios. While the exact composition of those top four combos is not provided, the data implies that the Ryzen 7 9700F is not a bottleneck that holds back the RTX 5090 D in this game. The measured frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are exceptionally high, and even at 4K, the results are playable, which would not be possible if the CPU were severely limiting performance. The rank is a holistic measure that likely accounts for consistency across various settings and resolutions, and a 5th place finish demonstrates that this is a top-tier configuration for flight simulation enthusiasts.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

Examining the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear trend: performance decreases as resolution increases, but the rate of decrease is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 248, dropping to 205 at 1440p (a 17.3% decrease) and further to 151 at 4K (a 26.4% decrease from 1440p, and a 39.1% decrease from 1080p). This steep drop at Low settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, since the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 198 at 1080p to 159 at 1440p (a 19.7% decrease) and then to 118 at 4K (a 25.8% decrease from 1440p, and a 40.4% decrease from 1080p). The pattern is similar, with a significant drop when moving to 4K. For High settings, the averages are 149 at 1080p, 120 at 1440p (a 19.5% decrease), and 88 at 4K (a 26.7% decrease from 1440p, and a 40.9% decrease from 1080p). Finally, at Ultra settings, the averages are 142 at 1080p, 114 at 1440p (a 19.7% decrease), and 84 at 4K (a 26.3% decrease from 1440p, and a 40.8% decrease from 1080p).

The consistency of the percentage drops across settings is striking. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 17-20%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 25-27%. This uniformity suggests that the scaling behavior is dominated by the GPU’s rendering workload, which increases predictably with the number of pixels. The fact that the CPU is capable of maintaining high frame rates at 1080p (up to 248 FPS at Low) proves that it is not the limiting component at lower resolutions. As resolution increases, the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity become the constraining factor, leading to the observed frame rate reductions. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 D, despite being a very high-end card, still sees a substantial performance hit at 4K, with the average FPS falling from 142 to 84 at Ultra settings, a 40.8% reduction. This is a clear sign that Microsoft Flight Simulator is extremely demanding on the GPU at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 248 FPS, Medium settings produce 198 FPS with a minimum of 168 FPS and a maximum of 227 FPS, High settings produce 149 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 142 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 7 FPS, indicating a small performance cost for the highest preset. The Medium settings data includes the only provided minimum and maximum FPS values in the entire dataset, with a range from 168 to 227 FPS, showing some frame time variance but an overall high average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are: Low at 205 FPS, Medium at 159 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 183 FPS, High at 120 FPS, and Ultra at 114 FPS. At this resolution, the gap between High and Ultra narrows further to just 6 FPS. The Medium settings range at 1440p is from 136 to 183 FPS, which is a tighter window than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent frame pacing at this resolution. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, with Low settings losing 43 FPS, Medium losing 39 FPS, High losing 29 FPS, and Ultra losing 28 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are: Low at 151 FPS, Medium at 118 FPS with a minimum of 100 FPS and a maximum of 135 FPS, High at 88 FPS, and Ultra at 84 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 33 FPS reduction, while the step from Medium to High is a 30 FPS reduction. The step from High to Ultra is only 4 FPS, indicating that Ultra offers marginal visual gains over High at a very small performance cost at this resolution. The Medium settings range at 4K is from 100 to 135 FPS, which is a 35 FPS spread, the largest of the three resolutions for this setting. This suggests that 4K Medium can see more variable performance, likely due to scene complexity. Overall, the data shows that 4K Ultra is playable, with an average of 84 FPS, but it is clearly the most demanding configuration tested.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, with the GB202 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The card’s base clock is 2017 MHz, and its boost clock is 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz, or 28 Gbps effective. The GPU has 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. It also includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The card’s FP32 performance is 104.8 TFLOPS, and it has a TDP of 575 W, requiring a suggested PSU of 950 W. It connects via PCIe 5.0 x16 and has a dual-slot design with a 16-pin power connector.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU’s role is to render the vast and detailed scenery, including terrain, aircraft models, and lighting effects. The 32 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game at any resolution and setting, eliminating any concerns about memory capacity limiting performance. The high memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s helps with streaming high-resolution textures, which is critical for a game that loads large geographic areas. The GPU’s clock speeds, with a boost of 2407 MHz, contribute to its raw compute capability, which is reflected in the high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The RTX 5090 D’s benchmark scores show it is a top-tier GPU. Its Passmark G3D score is 44065, and its Passmark G2D score is 1487. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310674, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 77712, placing it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher average score), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% lower), NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (2.1% lower), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% lower). These are relatively small differences, but the RTX 5090 D’s performance in this game is clearly at the high end, as evidenced by the measured frame rates.

The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to allow the GPU to push frame rates well above 140 FPS at all settings. At 4K, the GPU’s workload becomes much heavier, and the average FPS drops to 84 at Ultra, which is still a very playable frame rate for a flight simulator. The GPU’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are likely key factors in maintaining these frame rates, as the game requires massive amounts of pixel and texture processing. The 176 ROPs help with the final pixel output, and the 170 RT cores provide ray tracing capabilities, though their impact on this game’s average FPS is not explicitly measured in the provided data.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 84 FPS.

Q: How does this CPU-GPU combo rank compared to other tested combos in this game?

A: This combination ranks 5th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this setup?

A: The highest average FPS is 248, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values provided for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 136 and the maximum FPS is 183.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D?

A: The memory bandwidth is 1.79 TB/s, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus.

Q: What is the boost clock of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F?

A: The boost clock is 5.50 GHz, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz.