Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents an unusual stress pattern for the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination. The data shows a system where the 12-core, 24-thread processor provides a robust foundation, yet the final frame rate is consistently dictated by the graphics card's workload. This analysis walks through the measured FPS data to explain how this pairing behaves across resolutions and settings.

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

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture using a 5 nm process. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz place it among the faster desktop CPUs available. With a 64 MB shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory, the processor is designed to handle high-throughput workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a multi-thread score of 29,300 in Cinebench R23 and a single-thread score of 2,016.5, which positions it strongly for both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded tasks.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to manage the simulation's world, physics, and AI traffic. The benchmark results indicate that the Ryzen 9 7900X is not the limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p Low settings, the combination achieves 98 FPS, which is the highest average across all tested configurations. This suggests the CPU can feed frames well above what the GPU can render at higher settings. The processor's 3DMark scores—10,972 for 16 threads and 12,536 for max threads—show strong scaling, though the game does not appear to rely heavily on that scaling. The single-thread performance, reflected in a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,093 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,617, is more relevant for the simulator's primary thread. The data shows that the CPU's headroom is sufficient, as the FPS drops are more pronounced when increasing resolution or settings, both of which shift the burden to the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Ryzen 9 7900X and RX 5700 XT ranks 2,745 out of 3,714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the lower-mid tier of all combinations tested, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's age and position rather than the CPU's capability. The GPU's percentile rank is 59, meaning it performs better than 59% of all GPUs in the database, but its average benchmark score of 16,361 is modest compared to modern cards. The CPU, conversely, sits in the 91st percentile, with an average score of 53,288.

Comparing the individual components to their nearest rivals clarifies the bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7313P, has an average score of 53,206, a mere 0.2% difference. The Intel Xeon 634 is 0.6% behind, and the Intel Core i7-14700F is 0.6% ahead. These are negligible differences, indicating the Ryzen 9 7900X is performing exactly as expected for its class. The GPU's nearest rivals, however, include the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (0.1% ahead) and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (0.3% behind), which are not gaming-focused cards. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank highlights a mismatch: the processor is capable of much higher performance, but the graphics card limits the overall result in this specific game.

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

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 98 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 79 FPS, a 19 FPS decrease. At 4K Low, the average falls to 59 FPS, another 20 FPS drop. This scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario: as the pixel count increases, the rendering workload grows, and the frame rate drops proportionally.

The same pattern holds for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the average is 77 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 62 FPS. At 4K Medium, it falls to 46 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings is 31 FPS, a 40% reduction. For High settings, the progression is 58 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 55 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K.

The consistent FPS drops across all settings indicate that the RX 5700 XT is the limiting component. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences when increasing resolution, as the CPU load would remain similar. Instead, the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking supports this interpretation; it has ample headroom, but the GPU cannot keep up with the rendering demands at higher resolutions.

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

The measured data provides a complete grid of average FPS for each resolution and settings preset. For 1920x1080, the lowest setting yields 98 FPS, Medium yields 77 FPS, High yields 58 FPS, and Ultra yields 55 FPS. The Medium preset also includes minimum and maximum values of 65 and 88 FPS, respectively, indicating some frame variability. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 3 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 79 FPS for Low, 62 FPS for Medium, 46 FPS for High, and 44 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset shows a range of 52 to 71 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 2 FPS, similar to the 1080p pattern. At 3840x2160, the averages are 59 FPS for Low, 46 FPS for Medium, 34 FPS for High, and 33 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K shows a range of 39 to 52 FPS.

The data shows that the Ultra preset provides only marginal gains over High settings at every resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 3 FPS; at 1440p, it is 2 FPS; and at 4K, it is 1 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces additional effects that are not worth the performance cost for this GPU. The Medium preset, however, offers a significant jump over Low, with a 21 FPS improvement at 1080p, a 17 FPS improvement at 1440p, and a 13 FPS improvement at 4K.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest average FPS is 98, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 33, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile, while the combo ranks 2,745 out of 3,714. The FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases, which indicates GPU-bound performance.

Q: What is the FPS difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 46 FPS and Ultra averages 44 FPS, a difference of only 2 FPS.

Q: Does the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The data does not show VRAM-specific failures, but the average FPS at 4K ranges from 33 FPS at Ultra to 59 FPS at Low, indicating the GPU is struggling with the rendering load.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53,288, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 7313P and 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon 634.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 77 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The minimum FPS of 65 ensures that most drops are manageable. At 1440p Medium, the average is 62 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS, making it a playable option for users with a 1440p monitor. The minimum of 52 FPS might cause occasional stutters, but the overall experience is acceptable.

At 4K, the Medium preset drops to 46 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. However, it is significantly better than High (34 FPS) or Ultra (33 FPS). For users prioritizing frame rate, the Low preset at 4K, with an average of 59 FPS, is the only 4K option that approaches a smooth experience. The High preset is not recommended, as it offers only a small improvement over Ultra while costing a significant FPS hit compared to Medium. Specifically, at 1080p High is 58 FPS versus Medium's 77 FPS, a 19 FPS difference for diminishing visual returns. The data suggests that the Ultra preset is not worth the performance cost, as it provides less than a 5% FPS increase over High across all resolutions.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is a Radeon RX 5000 series GPU based on the RDNA 1.0 architecture, using the Navi 10 chip built on a 7 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. The memory runs at 1750 MHz, effectively 14 Gbps. The GPU's compute capability is rated at 9.754 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is to render the terrain, aircraft, and weather effects. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the tested settings, as the data does not show any crashes or errors, but the GPU's overall throughput limits the frame rate. The GPU's percentile rank of 59 and average benchmark score of 16,361 are modest. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, scores 16,351, a 0.1% difference, which shows the GPU is performing in line with its expected tier. The boost clock of 1905 MHz is relatively high, but the RDNA 1.0 architecture lacks the efficiency of newer designs. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (98 FPS) is close to the GPU's ceiling, but at higher settings and resolutions, the rendering load exceeds its capabilities. The 4K Ultra average of 33 FPS is a clear indicator that this GPU is not suited for maximum settings in this simulation. The data confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint on the combo's performance, preventing the powerful Ryzen 9 7900X from delivering higher frame rates.