Microsoft Flight Simulator

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 lands at rank 67 out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places this configuration in the top 3.7% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a flight simulator that tends to punish both CPU and GPU heavily. The data indicates this combo sits firmly in the enthusiast tier, though it is not the absolute top performer. The gap between this combo and the very best systems is likely due to the CPU's single-thread performance ceiling, as Flight Simulator is known to be sensitive to per-core throughput. The RTX 4090 is clearly not the limiting factor here, given its 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs. Instead, the Ryzen 9 5900X, while excellent, shows its age slightly against newer CPUs with higher single-thread speeds. Still, a rank of 67 out of 1795 means this build will deliver a smooth, high-fidelity experience in nearly any scenario the sim presents.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This memory configuration is critical for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast amounts of terrain and scenery data. The GPU's 16,384 shading units and 128 RT cores handle the sim's DirectX 12 rendering workload with ease. Clock speeds are set at a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, which are high enough to sustain consistent frame pacing. In the benchmark data, the RTX 4090 scores 38,194 in Passmark G3D and 26,613 in Passmark GPU compute, with a 91st percentile ranking versus all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the database—such as the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56—are within 1.3% of its average score, but those are workstation cards with different driver optimizations. For this game, the RTX 4090's raw rasterization power is what matters, and the measured FPS shows it can push 4K Ultra above 75 FPS, which is impressive for a flight sim.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 182.7 FPS, which drops to 171.9 FPS at 1440p Low and then to 134.5 FPS at 4K Low. This is a 26% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. However, at Ultra settings, the scaling is different: 130.6 FPS at 1080p, 102.1 FPS at 1440p, and 75.5 FPS at 4K. That is a 42% drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra. The steeper decline at Ultra indicates that the GPU becomes more of a bottleneck as settings increase, but even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate remains playable. At Low settings, the CPU has more headroom, and the GPU is doing less work, which explains the smaller performance gap. The data shows that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is often the limiting factor, especially at Low and Medium settings where the FPS exceeds 143.6 at 1440p Medium. At 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary constraint, as evidenced by the 75.5 FPS at Ultra—still a solid result for a sim this demanding.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. Low settings produce 182.7 FPS, Medium drops to 167.7 FPS, High yields 136.3 FPS, and Ultra comes in at 130.6 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 31.4 FPS, which suggests a significant visual quality jump that costs performance. Moving to 2560x1440, Low hits 171.9 FPS, Medium 143.6 FPS, High 109.8 FPS, and Ultra 102.1 FPS. The drop from 1440p High to 1440p Ultra is only 7.7 FPS, so the Ultra preset is relatively efficient at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the numbers are 134.5 FPS for Low, 103.5 FPS for Medium, 78.8 FPS for High, and 75.5 FPS for Ultra. The 4K High to 4K Ultra delta is just 3.3 FPS, meaning you can run the highest preset with negligible cost. Notably, the 4K Low result of 134.5 FPS is still higher than the 1440p Ultra result of 102.1 FPS, which underscores how much headroom the GPU has when settings are reduced.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes. The measured data shows 75.5 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay in most scenarios.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of performance and visual quality?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the combo achieves 102.1 FPS, which is a 26.6 FPS improvement over 4K Ultra while still offering high detail. For higher frame rates, 1440p High at 109.8 FPS is also viable.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 182.7 FPS to 134.5 FPS, a 48.2 FPS reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 130.6 FPS to 75.5 FPS, a 55.1 FPS reduction. The percentage loss is larger at Ultra (42%) than at Low (26%).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p Medium?

A: The data shows 143.6 FPS at 1440p Medium, which is high enough that the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU has more headroom at this resolution and settings level.

Q: What is the best preset to use for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing playability?

A: At 4K, the Ultra preset at 75.5 FPS is recommended since it is only 3.3 FPS slower than High. At 1440p, Ultra at 102.1 FPS offers the best visual return for the performance cost.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems in the database?

A: It ranks 67th out of 1795 combos, placing it in the top 3.7% of all tested configurations for this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, with 64 MB of L3 cache. In the benchmark data, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33,150 and a single-core score of 4,680. Its Passmark multithread score is 39,002, and it ranks in the 90th percentile against all CPUs. For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the single-thread performance is more critical than raw core count, and the 4,680 single-core score is respectable but not class-leading. The nearest rivals in the database—such as the Intel Core i7-13700 and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS—are within 1% of its average benchmark score, which indicates this CPU is still competitive. However, the FPS data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p with lower settings, the CPU's single-thread speed limits performance more than the GPU. At 4K, the GPU workload becomes dominant, and the CPU has enough headroom to keep up. The 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for the sim's background tasks, but the per-core speed is what drives the frame rate in CPU-bound scenarios.