Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator pairs the 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the 8 GB AMD Radeon RX 7600, and the measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily sculpted by the graphics card’s capabilities. The CPU is a top-tier part, sitting in the 94th percentile of all processors, while the GPU is more mid-range, landing in the 63rd percentile. This imbalance is visible in the data, where the combination ranks 1210th out of 1795 tested combos in this specific title. The following analysis breaks down how this pairing behaves across resolutions and settings, using only the measured FPS and hardware specifications provided.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, pointing directly at the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 103.1 at 1920x1080 to 79.9 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 23.2 FPS, and then to 57.4 at 3840x2160, another 22.5 FPS drop. This pattern shows a nearly linear scaling with pixel count, which is characteristic of a render-bound scenario where the RX 7600’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

Moving to High settings, the same trend holds but with lower absolute numbers. The average at 1080p is 60.6 FPS, dropping to 48.4 at 1440p and then to 33.6 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 12.2 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is 14.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU struggles more as resolution increases. At Ultra settings, the 4K result of 32.3 FPS is barely playable, and the 1080p result of 58.1 FPS shows that even at the lowest resolution, the settings are too demanding for the card to push past 60 FPS.

The data implies that the Ryzen 9 9900X is not the limiting component in any of these tests. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, as the processor’s workload would remain constant. Instead, the consistent and substantial FPS drops with each resolution increase confirm that the RX 7600’s 8 GB of VRAM and 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being saturated, especially at 4K where the Ultra preset averages just 32.3 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth experience, the Low preset is the only reliable option at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, Low delivers 103.1 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a flight simulator. At 2560x1440, Low still provides 79.9 FPS, keeping the simulation fluid. Even at 3840x2160, Low manages 57.4 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced game like this. The data suggests that Low is the sweet spot for this combo if the goal is to maintain headroom above 60 FPS at 1080p and 1440p.

The Medium preset is a compromise. It yields 77.6 FPS at 1080p and 65.9 FPS at 1440p, which are both playable, but it drops to 44.3 FPS at 4K, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings are only viable at 1080p, where the 60.6 FPS average is just above the line. At 1440p, High falls to 48.4 FPS, and at 4K it plummets to 33.6 FPS. Ultra is not recommended for any resolution in this data, as even 1080p only reaches 58.1 FPS, and 4K is a slideshow at 32.3 FPS.

The measured rows show a clear hierarchy: to prioritize frame rate, use Low; to balance visuals and performance, use Medium at 1080p or 1440p. The Ultra preset is essentially unplayable at 4K and offers no benefit over High at 1080p, since both are below or near 60 FPS. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is likely a factor in the steep drop from Medium to High, as the higher presets may exceed the memory capacity, causing performance degradation beyond just raw compute limits.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 64 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 46438 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 6555 in single-core, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores 54681, which is only 0.4% higher, showing that the 9900X is essentially on par with the 3D V-Cache version in average benchmark scores.

Despite this CPU’s strength, the measured FPS in Microsoft Flight Simulator does not reflect its capability. The game is not CPU-bound in this pairing, as evidenced by the resolution scaling discussed earlier. The 9900X’s high single-thread score of 6555 in R23 suggests it can handle the simulation’s physics and scenery generation logic, but the GPU’s limitations cap the overall frame rate. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would have the most influence, the FPS is 103.1, which is far below what the processor could theoretically push if the GPU were faster.

The processor’s 12 cores and 24 threads are likely underutilized in this title, as flight simulators typically scale with single-thread performance and a few additional threads. The 9900X’s single-core performance is excellent, but the RX 7600 cannot translate that into high frame rates at higher settings. The benchmark results imply that this CPU has significant headroom for a more powerful GPU, and in this specific combo, it is effectively waiting for the graphics card to catch up.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RX 7600 ranks 1210th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-range standing, as the CPU is in the top 6% of all processors. The data suggests that this pairing is unbalanced for this game, where the GPU is the clear performance limiter.

Looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RX 7600 scores an average of 20258 in its benchmark suite, with the RX 7600 XT scoring 20146 (0.6% lower) and the RX 460 scoring 20088 (0.8% lower). This means the RX 7600 is only marginally faster than a much older card, which explains its limited ability to push high frame rates in a demanding title like Flight Simulator. On the CPU side, the 9900X’s rivals include the Intel Core i7-14700F, which scores 54097 (0.7% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, which scores 55304 (1.5% higher). These deltas are small, confirming that the CPU is not the differentiator in this combo’s rank.

The rank of 1210 out of 1795 indicates that most other tested combos achieve better performance in this game. This is not surprising, as the RX 7600’s 63rd percentile standing among GPUs puts it below many other cards that are paired with similar or better CPUs. The data implies that to improve this combo’s rank, the GPU would need to be upgraded, as the CPU is already performing near the top of its class.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is a RDNA 3.0 architecture GPU with a chip codenamed Hotpink Bonefish, manufactured on a 6 nm process. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, with 32 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 1720 MHz, the boost clock is 2655 MHz, and the game clock is 2250 MHz. Memory is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 21.75 TFLOPS, and it has a TDP of 165 W.

In terms of raw performance, the RX 7600 scores 16634 in Passmark G3D and 8790 in GPU Compute, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RX 7600 XT, scores 20146 in average benchmark, which is only 0.6% higher, showing that the non-XT version is very close to its sibling in performance. However, the data in Microsoft Flight Simulator shows that this GPU is not sufficient for high settings at 4K, where the Ultra preset averages 32.3 FPS.

The 8 GB VRAM is a likely limiting factor in this game. At 4K Ultra, the game’s texture and scenery data can easily exceed 8 GB, causing the GPU to spill into system memory and tank performance. The steep drop from Medium to High at all resolutions (e.g., from 65.9 to 48.4 at 1440p) suggests that the memory capacity is being hit, not just the compute units. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is also modest for 4K, which explains why the FPS scales so poorly with resolution. The GPU’s 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs are sufficient for 1080p but become a bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play this game with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo can exceed 60 FPS on High and Ultra presets, with 60.6 and 58.1 FPS respectively. At 2560x1440, only Low (79.9 FPS) and Medium (65.9 FPS) are above 60 FPS, while at 3840x2160, even Low (57.4 FPS) falls below 60 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the CPU compared to its closest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, while its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores 54681, which is 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097, which is 0.7% higher than the 9900X.

Q: Is the GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: Yes, the resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at all settings, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU’s high percentile ranking (94th) versus the GPU’s lower one (63rd) supports this.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 79.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 48 FPS. This is a difference of 31.9 FPS, showing that the visual quality jump from Low to Ultra costs nearly a third of the frame rate.

Q: How does the RX 7600 compare to the RX 7600 XT?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 20258, while the RX 7600 XT scores 20146, which is 0.6% lower. This means the RX 7600 is actually slightly faster in average benchmark scores, despite being the non-XT variant.

Q: What is the combo’s rank in this game?

A: The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RX 7600 ranks 1210th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower third of all tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS for each preset is as follows: Low is 103.1, Medium is 77.6, High is 60.6, and Ultra is 58.1. The spread from Low to Ultra is 45 FPS, indicating that the GPU has headroom at this resolution but the highest presets still push it to its limits.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 79.9 for Low, 65.9 for Medium, 48.4 for High, and 48 for Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 17.5 FPS, which is the largest single-preset jump at this resolution, suggesting that the High preset introduces a significant load increase, likely from VRAM pressure.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 57.4 for Low, 44.3 for Medium, 33.6 for High, and 32.3 for Ultra. The difference between High and Ultra is only 1.3 FPS, showing that both presets are equally unplayable at 4K. The Low preset at 4K is the only one that approaches a playable frame rate, but it still falls below 60 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset is the only one that maintains a playable frame rate (above 57 FPS) at every resolution tested. The Medium preset is playable at 1080p and 1440p but not at 4K. The High and Ultra presets are only marginally playable at 1080p, with both falling below 60 FPS at 1440p and dropping to the low 30s at 4K. These numbers confirm that the RX 7600 is best suited for 1080p gaming in this title, with 1440p achievable only on lower presets.