Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents one of the most demanding workloads in modern PC gaming, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a dataset that reveals a complex interaction between the CPU, GPU, and game engine. The measured frames per second across three resolutions and four settings presets provide a clear picture of where the bottlenecks lie and how users can optimize their experience. This analysis examines the scaling behavior, performance rankings, and component roles based solely on the provided measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern of that drop varies significantly depending on the settings preset, revealing how the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 173 FPS at 1920x1080 to 139 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 34 FPS, and then to 103 FPS at 3840x2160, another 36 FPS drop. This steady decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming progressively more stressed as pixel count rises, but the CPU still has headroom to push high frame rates at lower resolutions.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar in magnitude, with averages of 135 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 29 FPS, which is slightly less severe than the Low preset's 36 FPS drop over the same range, suggesting that the Medium preset's additional GPU workload is smoothing out the scaling curve. High settings show a different pattern: 101 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is exactly 60 FPS, which may indicate a frame rate cap or a specific performance target being hit.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling behavior. At 1080p, it achieves 96 FPS, which is only 5 FPS lower than High settings at the same resolution. However, at 1440p, Ultra drops to 78 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 57 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra widens as resolution increases: only 5 FPS at 1080p, but 3 FPS at 1440p (82 vs 78) and 3 FPS at 4K (60 vs 57). This suggests that the Ultra preset's extra graphical features are more demanding at higher resolutions, and the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor. The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU is heavily involved in maintaining frame rates, as evidenced by the relatively small differences between presets at that resolution, but by 4K, the GPU's rendering load dominates the performance equation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience, balancing frame rate against visual fidelity. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 101 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset only achieves 96 FPS. The 5 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal, suggesting that the High preset is the more efficient choice for users who prioritize frame rate, as the visual gains from Ultra may not justify the small performance cost. However, the Medium preset at 1080p offers 135 FPS, which is a significant 34 FPS improvement over High, making it the best option for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 1440p, the High preset's 82 FPS is playable, but the Medium preset's 109 FPS provides a much smoother experience with only a moderate reduction in visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 78 FPS, which is below the 80 FPS threshold that many users consider acceptable for a flight simulator. The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot at 1440p, offering a 27 FPS advantage over High and a 31 FPS advantage over Ultra, while still maintaining a frame rate above 100 FPS.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. The High preset achieves exactly 60 FPS, which is the minimum target for many users, while the Ultra preset falls to 57 FPS, which is below that target. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 80 FPS, which is 20 FPS higher than High and 23 FPS higher than Ultra. This makes Medium the clear recommendation at 4K, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while the other presets either barely hit or miss that target. The Low preset at 4K offers 103 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for a game that relies heavily on scenery detail. Based on the measured data, Medium settings provide the best overall experience across all three resolutions, with High being a viable alternative for users who prioritize visual fidelity and are willing to accept lower frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 586th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 19.5% of all configurations. This ranking is noteworthy because the individual components are high-end, yet the combo does not crack the top 500, suggesting that the game's specific engine bottlenecks prevent the hardware from reaching its full potential. The CPU's average benchmark score is 76212, which places it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU's average benchmark score is 79842, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Despite both components being in the top 8% of their respective categories, the combo rank of 586 indicates that other factors, such as the game's reliance on single-threaded performance or memory bandwidth, are limiting the overall experience.

The rank of 586 out of 2996 means that 2410 other combos perform worse, but it also means that 585 combos perform better. This is a significant number of superior configurations, and the data suggests that the mobile nature of the CPU (a 55 W TDP part) may be a limiting factor compared to desktop CPUs with higher power budgets. The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155, +0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779, +0.6% delta), which are both competitive, but the Ryzen 9 8945HX's performance in this specific game may be constrained by its thermal and power envelope. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605, +0.3% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940, +1.1% delta), are all within a small margin, indicating that the RTX 5090's raw compute power is not the primary differentiator in this game. The combo rank suggests that Microsoft Flight Simulator is more sensitive to CPU performance than GPU performance, and the Ryzen 9 8945HX, while excellent in synthetic benchmarks, may not provide the same level of gameplay performance as its benchmark scores would imply.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 173 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 135 FPS, with a minimum of 114 FPS and a maximum of 155 FPS, indicating a relatively stable frame time distribution. The High preset at 1080p delivers 101 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves 96 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 77 FPS, showing that the settings presets have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 139 FPS, which is 34 FPS lower than the same preset at 1080p. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 109 FPS, with a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 125 FPS. The High preset at 1440p delivers 82 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves 78 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 61 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor. At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 103 FPS, the Medium preset produces 80 FPS (68 FPS minimum, 92 FPS maximum), the High preset delivers 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves 57 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra at 4K is 46 FPS, further confirming that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at this resolution. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 68 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target, while the High and Ultra presets do not report minimum FPS values, suggesting that their frame pacing may be less consistent.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 brings a substantial amount of hardware to this game, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for loading large textures and terrain data. The 32 GB capacity ensures that the GPU will not run out of memory even at 4K Ultra settings, which can be a limiting factor on lower-capacity cards. The GPU's 21760 shading units and 680 TMUs provide massive compute throughput, with an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. The boost clock of 2407 MHz is moderate for a high-end GPU, but the sheer number of cores compensates for the clock speed.

The benchmark results show that the RTX 5090 has a Passmark G3D score of 39650 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 26756, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, where the CPU appears to be more involved. However, at 4K, the GPU's workload increases significantly, as evidenced by the FPS dropping from 103 at Low to 57 at Ultra. The fact that the 4K High preset hits exactly 60 FPS suggests that the GPU is being pushed to its limits, and the 57 FPS at Ultra indicates that the extra settings are causing a measurable performance hit. The GPU's 176 ROPs are responsible for pixel output, and the pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s is sufficient for 4K gaming, but the complex lighting and shadow calculations in Flight Simulator may be taxing the RT and tensor cores. The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of benchmark scores are all within a 1.4% range, but in this game, the RTX 5090's performance is clearly superior to those rivals at 4K, as evidenced by the measured FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 64 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel configuration providing 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's TDP is 55 W, which is low for a processor with this many cores, and this power constraint may affect sustained performance in gaming workloads. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 and single-core score of 6030 demonstrate strong synthetic performance, with the multi-core score placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where the difference between the Low and Ultra presets is only 77 FPS (173 vs 96), but the absolute frame rates are high. The fact that the Low preset at 1080p achieves 173 FPS indicates that the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates, but the GPU is not the bottleneck at that setting. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the CPU still needs to maintain a minimum frame rate to avoid stuttering. The CPU's 32 threads may not be fully utilized by the game, as Flight Simulator is known to be more dependent on single-threaded performance, but the 5.40 GHz boost clock helps in this regard. The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which have similar scores, but the Ryzen 9 8945HX's 55 W TDP may cause it to throttle in sustained gaming sessions, potentially reducing its performance in this game. The data suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this combo, but its power envelope may prevent it from achieving the same frame rates as higher-TDP desktop CPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest average FPS is 173, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve exactly 60 FPS?

A: The combo achieves exactly 60 FPS at 3840x2160 resolution with the High settings preset.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 586th out of 2996 tested combos, placing it in the top 19.5% of all configurations.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 139 FPS and the Ultra preset achieves 78 FPS, resulting in a 61 FPS difference.

Q: Does the GPU have enough memory for 4K gaming in this game?

A: Yes, the GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is more than sufficient for 4K gaming, as the highest 4K setting (Ultra) still achieves 57 FPS without memory-related issues.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock and how many cores does it have?

A: The CPU has 16 cores and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, which helps with single-threaded performance in this game.