Microsoft Flight Simulator

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with the AMD Radeon 8060S lands at rank 2166 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places this configuration in the lower-middle portion of the field, roughly the 42nd percentile of all combinations tested. The ranking suggests this is a workable but not exceptional pairing for this particular flight simulator, which is known for stressing both CPU and GPU heavily.

What makes this rank interesting is the gap between the two components' individual standings. The CPU sits in the 83rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU reaches the 87th percentile among all graphics cards. Yet the combo's in-game rank falls well below both of those individual percentiles. This indicates that Microsoft Flight Simulator's specific demands are not fully satisfied by either component, or that the pairing creates a bottleneck that neither part can overcome alone. The data points to a system where the whole is somewhat less than the sum of its parts in this particular title.

The rank also reflects the mobile nature of this hardware. Both the Core Ultra 7 155H and the Radeon 8060S are designed for laptops, with the CPU carrying a 28-watt TDP and the GPU rated at 55 watts. Those power envelopes constrain sustained performance in a demanding simulation title, likely explaining why the combo does not climb higher in the rankings despite respectable individual benchmark scores.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8060S is built on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process from TSMC. Its chip, codenamed Strix Halo, belongs to the Navi Mobile generation, positioning it as a modern integrated graphics solution rather than a discrete card. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1295 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz, which is a substantial boost margin that allows for significant performance scaling when thermal headroom permits.

Memory configuration for this GPU is unusual: it uses system shared memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This means the Radeon 8060S relies entirely on the host system's DDR5 memory, and its effective bandwidth will vary based on the CPU's memory configuration. For Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large amounts of terrain and aircraft data, this shared memory arrangement could become a limiting factor at higher resolutions and detail settings.

The GPU's compute resources include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. It also features 40 ray tracing cores, which are relevant for the simulator's lighting effects but are unlikely to be the primary workload driver in typical flight scenarios. The pixel rate is 185.6 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 464.0 GTexel/s, while the FP32 performance reaches 14.85 TFLOPS. These figures place the Radeon 8060S in a competitive position against discrete mobile GPUs from the previous generation.

In the benchmark database, the Radeon 8060S achieves an average benchmark score of 55757, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB with a delta of 0.1 percent, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 at -0.6 percent, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 1.7 percent, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 at 2.8 percent. The close margins to these rivals — all within roughly three percent — suggest that the integrated Radeon 8060S delivers performance comparable to established discrete cards in synthetic benchmarks.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the Radeon 8060S handles the transition from 1080p to 4K in Microsoft Flight Simulator. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 111 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 89 FPS, a reduction of approximately 20 percent. At 4K Low, the average falls to 66 FPS, which is roughly 41 percent below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern suggests that the GPU is becoming more stressed as resolution increases, but even at 4K Low, the system maintains a playable frame rate.

The Medium settings tell a similar story with more detail. At 1080p Medium, the average is 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 and maximum of 99. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 69 FPS with a range of 59 to 80. At 4K Medium, the average reaches 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 and maximum of 59. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 20 percent of average FPS, while the step from 1440p to 4K costs another 26 percent. This consistent degradation indicates a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, as the CPU workload does not scale with pixel count.

High settings show a similar trend but with lower absolute numbers. The 1080p High average is 65 FPS, dropping to 52 FPS at 1440p and 39 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are larger here — about 20 percent from 1080p to 1440p and 25 percent from 1440p to 4K. Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 62 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K. The narrowing gap between High and Ultra at 4K (39 versus 37 FPS) suggests that the GPU is nearing its limits, with additional detail settings providing diminishing returns.

The resolution scaling data implies that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU may still have room to influence performance, given that the frame rates exceed 60 FPS even at High settings. But by 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as frame rates cluster in the 37 to 66 range depending on settings, and the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to just 29 FPS at 4K compared to 49 FPS at 1080p.

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and AMD Radeon 8060S combination ranks 2166 out of 3714 tested combos in this game.

Q: How does the Radeon 8060S compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Radeon 8060S has an average benchmark score of 55757, placing it 0.1 percent behind the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, 0.6 percent behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, 1.7 percent ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, and 2.8 percent ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080.

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average at 1920x1080 is 111 FPS, achieved with Low settings. Medium produces 86 FPS, High produces 65 FPS, and Ultra produces 62 FPS.

Q: Is the system playable at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 4K Low, the average is 66 FPS. Medium averages 51 FPS, High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS.

Q: What memory configuration does the Radeon 8060S use?

A: The GPU uses system shared memory, with the memory size, type, and bus width all listed as "System Shared" and bandwidth described as "System Dependent."

Q: How does the CPU's individual performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 155H has an average benchmark score of 32697, which is effectively tied with the Intel Core i5-14600T at 32707, 0.1 percent ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, 0.2 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F, and 0.4 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression across settings. Low settings produce an average of 111 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded for this combo in any configuration. Medium settings reduce the average to 86 FPS, with a minimum of 73 and maximum of 99. High settings bring the average down to 65 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 62 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 49 FPS, indicating that the GPU has considerable headroom at this resolution even with maximum detail.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages shift downward across the board. Low settings achieve 89 FPS, representing a 22 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 69 FPS, with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80. High settings produce 52 FPS, and Ultra settings average 50 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 39 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p but still substantial.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings average 66 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 45 FPS drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 and maximum of 59. High settings produce 39 FPS, and Ultra settings average 37 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 29 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is becoming saturated and additional settings have less impact on the final frame rate.

The data also reveals the minimum and maximum values for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the range is 73 to 99 FPS, a spread of 26 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 59 to 80 FPS, a spread of 21 FPS. At 4K, the range is 44 to 59 FPS, a spread of 15 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing, likely because the GPU is uniformly stressed rather than occasionally bottlenecked by CPU or memory behavior.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a Meteor Lake architecture processor with 16 cores and 22 threads, built on Intel's 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, and it carries a 28-watt TDP designed for mobile systems. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, which is directly relevant to the Radeon 8060S's shared memory architecture.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 15028, while single-core reaches 1743. The PassMark multi-thread score is 24873, with a single-thread score of 3468. These figures place the processor in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32697. The nearest rivals are all within fractional percentages: the Intel Core i5-14600T scores 32707 (0 percent delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 scores 32662 (0.1 percent), the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F scores 32750 (-0.2 percent), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores 32812 (-0.4 percent).

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is significant because the game simulates complex flight physics, weather systems, and air traffic. The 16 cores and 22 threads provide ample parallelism for these workloads, and the 4.80 GHz boost clock helps with single-threaded tasks that the simulator still relies on. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache aids in keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores, which can reduce memory latency in simulation scenarios.

The CPU's integrated graphics, Arc Xe-LPG with 128 execution units, are not used in this combo because the Radeon 8060S handles display output. However, the shared memory architecture means that both the CPU and GPU compete for the same system memory bandwidth. The 89.6 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 bandwidth is a shared resource, and in demanding scenes, the CPU's memory access patterns could interfere with the GPU's frame buffer operations. This is a potential explanation for why the combo's in-game rank is lower than either component's individual percentile.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator with this hardware. At 1920x1080, Medium settings offer the best balance, with an average of 86 FPS and a minimum of 73 FPS. This configuration ensures smooth performance without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. High settings at 1080p drop to 65 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for complex scenes. Ultra at 1080p produces 62 FPS, which is close to High but with diminishing returns.

For users targeting 2560x1440, Medium settings again appear optimal, averaging 69 FPS with a minimum of 59. This keeps frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the time, though the minimum suggests occasional dips. Low settings at 1440p achieve 89 FPS, which could be preferred for competitive or smoothness-focused play, but the visual compromise is significant. High and Ultra at 1440p average 52 and 50 FPS respectively, which may be acceptable for a flight simulator where precise frame timing is less critical than in fast-paced genres.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations become more constrained. Low settings average 66 FPS, providing a playable experience with reduced detail. Medium settings average 51 FPS, which is workable for a simulator but may feel less smooth. High and Ultra at 4K average 39 and 37 FPS, which are borderline for most users. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the highest setting that maintains a reasonable frame rate, while Low is the safest choice for consistent performance.

The overall pattern indicates that Medium settings are the sweet spot across all resolutions for this combo. The 1080p Medium result of 86 FPS, 1440p Medium of 69 FPS, and 4K Medium of 51 FPS all represent playable experiences that balance visual quality with frame rate. Users who prioritize smoothness should consider Low settings, especially at 4K, while those who accept lower frame rates can explore High and Ultra but should expect averages below 40 FPS at 4K.