Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents one of the most demanding rendering workloads in the benchmark database, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a distinctive performance profile. The measured data reveals a system that is consistently bound by the graphics card across all tested resolutions, with the CPU's substantial single-thread capability providing a stable foundation that never becomes the primary constraint. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS values, scaling behavior, and component roles to characterize this specific hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly demonstrates where the performance ceiling resides. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system produces 65 FPS average, which drops to 52 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 39 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 40% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, with the gap between resolutions widening as the preset quality increases.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is more aggressive in relative terms. The system achieves 111 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is approximately 20%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is approximately 26%. This non-linear scaling suggests that at lower quality settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the margins become tighter as the resolution increases and the pixel throughput demands grow. The fact that even at Low settings the 4K result (66 FPS) is less than 60% of the 1080p result (111 FPS) reinforces that the RTX 2070 SUPER's rasterization throughput is the dominant constraint.

At Medium settings, where min and max FPS data is available, the pattern becomes more nuanced. At 3840x2160 Medium, the system averages 51 FPS with a min of 44 and max of 59, showing a 15 FPS spread. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average rises to 70 FPS with a min of 59 and max of 80, a 21 FPS spread. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 86 FPS with a min of 73 and max of 99, a 26 FPS spread. The widening variance at lower resolutions indicates that while the GPU remains the bottleneck, the CPU's ability to feed frames at higher rates introduces more variability in frame delivery.

The scaling behavior points to a classic GPU-limited scenario. The RTX 2070 SUPER's pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s are the specifications that ultimately determine how many pixels can be processed per frame. As resolution increases, the number of pixels grows geometrically, and the FPS drops correspondingly. The CPU's role in this equation is minimal, as even the highest resolution and settings combination (4K Ultra at 37 FPS) does not approach the threshold where the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's single-thread performance would become a limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the clear performance arbiter in this configuration. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has sufficient memory throughput for most scenarios, but the capacity becomes a consideration at higher resolutions and settings. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 37 FPS average, which is the lowest result in the entire dataset. This is consistent with the card's memory constraints and compute limitations when handling the high-resolution textures and complex shader work that Flight Simulator demands.

The GPU's clock behavior is characterized by a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. These clocks are modest by modern standards, and the card's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places it in the mid-range tier of the database. The benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 18169 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1651, with the GPU's percentile versus all GPUs at 65. This places it slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which has an average score of 20534 and a delta of -1.2%, and roughly on par with the Intel Arc B570 at 20556 showing a -1.3% delta.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is a potential constraint in Flight Simulator, which is known for loading large amounts of terrain and scenery data. At 4K with Ultra settings, the combination of high-resolution textures and dense geometry can push memory usage toward the limit. The fact that the 4K Ultra result (37 FPS) is significantly lower than the 4K High result (39 FPS) suggests that the additional settings complexity at Ultra may be causing memory pressure or shader compilation overhead. The 4K Medium result of 51 FPS with a min of 44 and max of 59 shows a more stable performance envelope, indicating that Medium settings provide a better balance for the GPU's memory and compute resources.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant for Flight Simulator's rendering path. The card's passmark DirectX 12 score of 67 is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 151, suggesting that the Turing architecture's DX12 implementation may not be fully optimized for this workload. This could explain why the game shows substantial FPS drops when moving from Medium to High or Ultra settings, as the additional draw calls and render passes tax the GPU's fixed-function units.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1697 out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the lower-middle portion of the database, at approximately the 56th percentile of all tested pairings. Given that the GPU alone sits at the 65th percentile versus all GPUs and the CPU at the 92nd percentile versus all CPUs, the combo ranking is dragged down by the graphics card's relative weakness in this specific game.

The ranking disparity between the CPU and GPU performance percentiles is telling. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a top-tier processor with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807 and single-core score of 2228, placing it among the fastest CPUs in the database. However, in Flight Simulator, the GPU's rendering throughput is what ultimately determines the playable frame rates. The combo's rank of 1697 out of 2996 indicates that there are 1299 combinations that outperform this pairing, which makes sense given that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range card from the previous generation.

The nearest GPU rivals in the database include the Intel Arc A750 with an average score of 20582 (-1.5% delta) and the Intel Arc B570 at 20556 (-1.3% delta). These cards would likely produce similar or slightly better results in Flight Simulator, given their higher compute scores. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-14900 with an average score of 58115 (0.5% delta), highlight that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is performing as expected relative to other high-end processors, but this CPU performance does not translate into a higher combo ranking when paired with a weaker GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset provides a comprehensive picture of the system's capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 111 FPS on Low, 86 FPS on Medium, 65 FPS on High, and 62 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a min of 73 and max of 99, indicating that the 86 FPS average is stable with occasional dips and peaks. The High and Ultra results are close, with only 3 FPS separating them, suggesting that the additional rendering features in Ultra do not substantially impact performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results scale down predictably: 89 FPS on Low, 70 FPS on Medium, 52 FPS on High, and 50 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again shows the full range with a min of 59 and max of 80, a 21 FPS spread that indicates more variability than at 1080p. The High and Ultra results are separated by just 2 FPS, showing that at 1440p, the GPU's compute capabilities are starting to become the limiting factor for higher-quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the system produces 66 FPS on Low, 51 FPS on Medium, 39 FPS on High, and 37 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a min of 44 and max of 59, which is the tightest range of all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is consistently saturated. The High and Ultra results are again close, with only 2 FPS separating them, but both are below the 40 FPS threshold that many users would consider playable for a flight simulator. The 4K Low result of 66 FPS is the only 4K setting that achieves a comfortable frame rate, while 4K Medium at 51 FPS is marginally acceptable.

The pattern across all resolutions shows that the gap between Low and High settings is substantial, while the gap between High and Ultra is minimal. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 49 FPS; at 1440p, it is 39 FPS; and at 4K, it is 29 FPS. This diminishing return at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint, and the additional settings complexity in Ultra does not translate into proportionally higher frame times.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a formidable processor that provides ample headroom for this GPU pairing. With 8 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, the CPU's single-thread performance is exceptional, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2228 and Passmark single-thread score of 4704. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for Flight Simulator, which often exhibits high cache sensitivity due to its large asset streaming workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results show it performing at the 92nd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 58386. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M with a delta of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 with a delta of -0.7%, indicating that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is well within the expected performance range for a high-end desktop processor. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807 and Passmark multithread score of 41318 demonstrate strong multi-threaded capabilities, though Flight Simulator's primary thread load means that single-thread performance is more critical.

In the context of this game, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery pipeline. The measured FPS data shows that the system never exhibits signs of CPU bottlenecking, as even the lowest FPS results align with what would be expected from the GPU's rendering capabilities. The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 111 FPS without any min FPS data indicating stutters suggests that the CPU can easily sustain frame rates well above what the GPU can render. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s on a dual-channel DDR5 interface provides sufficient data throughput for the game's streaming assets, and the 4 nm process node with Zen 5 architecture ensures efficient instruction execution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the most comfortable frame rates across all settings, with 65 FPS on High and 62 FPS on Ultra. At 2560x1440, the system drops to 52 FPS on High and 50 FPS on Ultra, which is playable but marginal. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset (66 FPS) achieves a consistently smooth experience, while High (39 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) fall below acceptable thresholds.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals in the database?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, placing it at the 65th percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M with a delta of -1%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile with a delta of -1.2%, and the Intel Arc A750 with a delta of -1.5%. These rivals have slightly higher average scores, indicating they may offer marginally better performance in this game.

Q: Why is the FPS difference between High and Ultra settings so small?

A: Across all three resolutions, the difference between High and Ultra averages is consistently 2-3 FPS. At 1080p, High produces 65 FPS and Ultra produces 62 FPS; at 1440p, the figures are 52 and 50; and at 4K, they are 39 and 37. This narrow gap suggests that the GPU's rendering resources are already saturated at High settings, and the additional features in Ultra do not significantly increase the computational load.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9850X3D bottlenecking the RTX 2070 SUPER in this game?

A: No, the data indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D performs at the 92nd percentile versus all CPUs with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2228. The FPS scaling patterns show that performance drops consistently with resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's substantial single-thread and cache capabilities ensure it can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested CPU-GPU pairings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 1697 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the lower-middle range of the database, reflecting the GPU's mid-range positioning despite the CPU's top-tier performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's resolution and frame rate preferences. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 65 FPS offers a solid balance between visual quality and performance, while the Ultra preset at 62 FPS provides only marginal visual improvements for a 3 FPS cost. Users prioritizing frame rate should consider the Medium preset at 86 FPS, which provides a significant boost over High with a moderate reduction in visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 70 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a comfortable frame rate while offering better visual quality than Low (89 FPS). The High preset at 52 FPS is playable but may feel less smooth, and the Ultra preset at 50 FPS offers no meaningful advantage over High. The Medium preset's min FPS of 59 and max of 80 indicate a stable experience with acceptable variance.

At 3840x2160, the options are more constrained. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience, while the Medium preset at 51 FPS is marginally playable for users who prioritize visual quality. The High (39 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) presets fall below the threshold for a comfortable flight simulation experience and are not recommended. Given the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, the Medium preset at 4K represents the practical ceiling for this configuration, balancing memory usage against frame rate. For users who wish to maximize visual quality without sacrificing playability, the 1440p Medium preset is the best overall experience, delivering 70 FPS with a stable frame time distribution.