Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: This CPU/GPU pairing ranks 1060th out of 2996 tested combos in this game, placing it in the 65th percentile of all configurations tested.

Q: What is the strongest resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows the best balance at 1080p, where the combo delivers 139 FPS on Low and 77 FPS on Ultra settings, with 1440p remaining highly playable at 112 FPS on Low and 62 FPS on Ultra.

Q: How much does the CPU outperform its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores 84003 on average, which is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX.

Q: What GPU is this Radeon RX 7700 XT most comparable to?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 22549 puts it 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile and 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, while sitting 0.8% behind the RTX 4060 Mobile.

Q: Does this combo perform better at 4K or 1440p?

A: The measured FPS data shows 4K Ultra runs at 46 FPS average, while 1440p Ultra runs at 62 FPS average — a 16 FPS difference that indicates the resolution scaling is substantial but controllable.

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the combo delivers 81 FPS at 1080p but only 48 FPS at 4K, representing a 33 FPS reduction that highlights the GPU's workload at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the primary driver of frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator, particularly at higher resolutions. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample memory capacity for the game's demanding textures and scenery data. The GPU's base clock of 1435 MHz, game clock of 2171 MHz, and boost clock of 2544 MHz show a broad performance envelope, with the boost clock being the most relevant for sustained gaming loads.

The RDNA 3.0 architecture with 3456 shading units, 216 TMUs, and 96 ROPs provides the raw throughput needed for the flight simulator's complex geometry. The 54 ray tracing cores and 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are notable for a mid-range GPU, though Microsoft Flight Simulator's primary load is rasterization-heavy. The pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s directly influence how quickly the game can render terrain, buildings, and weather effects.

The GPU's benchmark results show it sits at the 67th percentile of all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 22547 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 138383 and Vulkan score of 46443 indicate strong compute performance, which matters for the game's physics and flight modeling calculations. The card's memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is critical for streaming high-resolution textures during flight, and the 12 GB capacity ensures that even at 4K with High settings the game does not run out of memory, as evidenced by the 48 FPS average at that resolution.

The GPU's performance relative to rivals is tightly clustered. The RX 7700 XT is 0.5% ahead of the RTX 5060 Mobile, 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700, but 0.8% behind the RTX 4060 Mobile and 1.5% behind the RTX 2080. This narrow delta means the card is competitively positioned, and in a CPU-heavy game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is to keep up with the CPU's scene generation without becoming a bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor built on a 3 nm TSMC process, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. This combination of high core count and high boost clock is particularly well-suited for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which offloads significant work to the CPU for flight physics, AI traffic, and world simulation. The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is crucial for the game's streaming of terrain data.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303, along with a PassMark multi-thread score of 60860 and single-thread score of 4823. These numbers place the CPU at the 96th percentile of all CPUs, indicating top-tier processing capability. The processor's memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is sufficient for the game's data demands, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures the GPU can communicate at full bandwidth.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is evident in the scaling between resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 139 FPS, and at 1440p Low, it still manages 112 FPS — the 27 FPS drop is relatively modest, suggesting the CPU is keeping up with scene complexity. However, at 4K Low, the FPS drops to 82, indicating that the GPU becomes more constrained at higher pixel counts. The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's multi-threaded simulation logic, and the 5.80 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance for the main game loop.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is marginally ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by 0.2% and ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1%, but behind the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%. This tight competition means the Ultra 9 290K Plus is a top-tier performer, and in a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's strength helps maintain high frame rates even when the GPU is stressed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1060 out of 2996 tested configurations places it in the top 35% of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a strong showing, especially considering that the GPU is a mid-range card (67th percentile) while the CPU is a flagship part (96th percentile). The rank reflects the balance of the two components: the CPU provides a solid foundation, but the GPU ultimately limits the combo's absolute performance ceiling.

Compared to the GPU's rivals, the combo's rank is consistent with the RX 7700 XT's competitive position. The GPU is 0.5% ahead of the RTX 5060 Mobile and 1.7% ahead of the RX 5700, and the combo rank reflects that the system is faster than many configurations using weaker GPUs. However, the GPU is 0.8% behind the RTX 4060 Mobile and 1.5% behind the RTX 2080, which means combos using those cards with comparable CPUs could rank higher.

The CPU's strong performance does not fully compensate for the GPU's mid-range positioning. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves only 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target many players prefer, and even at 1440p Ultra, the 62 FPS average is playable but not high-refresh-rate territory. The combo excels at 1080p, where it delivers 77 FPS at Ultra and 139 FPS at Low, making it a capable performer for that resolution.

The rank of 1060 out of 2996 also indicates that there are many combos with faster GPUs that achieve higher frame rates, but the data shows this particular pairing is well-matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the CPU ensuring that the GPU is not starved for data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points to the GPU as the limiting component at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the combo delivers 139 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 82 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27 FPS (19.4%), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 30 FPS (26.8%). This accelerating decline indicates that the GPU's rendering workload grows quadratically with resolution, and the RX 7700 XT cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 108 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop of 23 FPS is proportionally larger than the 1080p to 1440p drop of 21 FPS, further confirming the GPU bottleneck. At High settings, the pattern continues: 81 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is below 60 FPS, which is a significant threshold for flight simulation where smooth panning is essential.

Ultra settings show the most severe scaling: 77 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 15 FPS is notable, but the 1440p to 4K drop of 16 FPS is slightly larger, indicating that the GPU is struggling with the pixel count. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain playable frame rates across all settings, while 4K is only viable at Low settings (82 FPS) or Medium settings (64 FPS).

The resolution scaling also reveals that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The fact that FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, regardless of settings, indicates that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (7303 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that it can feed the GPU at all resolutions, but the GPU cannot keep up at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 139 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in this dataset. Medium settings yield 108 FPS average with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS, providing a smooth experience. High settings drop to 81 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 77 FPS average. The 1080p results show that the combo is more than capable of high-refresh-rate gaming at lower settings, and even Ultra settings remain comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected drop. Low settings deliver 112 FPS average, which is still excellent for 1440p. Medium settings produce 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, maintaining a playable experience with some headroom. High settings yield 65 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 62 FPS average. The 1440p results indicate that the combo can handle most settings at this resolution, though Ultra sits close to the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings produce 82 FPS average, which is the only 4K setting above 60 FPS. Medium settings deliver 64 FPS average with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS, dipping below 60 FPS at times. High settings drop to 48 FPS average, and Ultra settings yield 46 FPS average. The 4K results show that the combo is not suitable for high or ultra settings at this resolution, as both fall below the 50 FPS mark.

The measured data also shows a consistent pattern across resolutions: the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (139 FPS) and Ultra (77 FPS) is 62 FPS. At 1440p, the difference is 50 FPS (112 vs 62). At 4K, the difference is 36 FPS (82 vs 46). This narrowing indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's workload is dominated by pixel processing rather than settings complexity, making the settings less impactful on overall performance. The data suggests that players should target 1080p for maximum frame rates, 1440p for a balance of quality and speed, and only use 4K with Low or Medium settings for a playable experience.