Microsoft Flight Simulator

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 covers three resolutions and four settings presets. All figures are average FPS, as the database did not capture minimum or maximum frame times for this combination.

At 3840x2160, the combo delivers 83.2 FPS on High, 115 FPS on Low, 102.9 FPS on Medium, and 80.6 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 34.4 FPS, with Ultra being the most demanding preset and Low the least. The step between Medium and High is 19.7 FPS, while the step between High and Ultra is only 2.6 FPS, which suggests the High preset sits close to Ultra in terms of load for this GPU at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the numbers rise across the board: 100.6 FPS on High, 121.9 FPS on Low, 116.5 FPS on Medium, and 99.1 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 22.8 FPS. Notably, the difference between 1440p Ultra and 4K Ultra is 18.5 FPS, which indicates that resolution scaling has a measurable but not overwhelming effect on this pairing.

At 1920x1080, the combo reaches 112.7 FPS on High, 131.9 FPS on Low, 124 FPS on Medium, and 106.4 FPS on Ultra. This is the only resolution where every preset clears 100 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p is the single highest recorded average in the entire dataset at 131.9 FPS, while 4K Ultra at 80.6 FPS is the lowest.

Looking at the pattern, the delta between 1080p and 1440p is modest: about 7.3 FPS on Ultra (106.4 to 99.1) and 10 FPS on Low (131.9 to 121.9). The delta between 1440p and 4K is larger: 18.5 FPS on Ultra (99.1 to 80.6) and 6.9 FPS on Low (121.9 to 115). This tells you that the RTX 5090 has enough headroom to keep frame rates high even at 4K, but the CPU starts to become a limiting factor at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.

FAQ

Q: What is the fastest preset for this CPU and GPU combo at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 delivers the highest average FPS at 115, but the best visual setting that still clears 60 FPS is Ultra at 80.6 FPS. All four presets at 4K are playable.

Q: How much FPS do you lose going from 1080p to 4K on Ultra?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 106.4 at 1920x1080 to 99.1 at 2560x1440, then to 80.6 at 3840x2160. That is a total loss of 25.8 FPS from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 bottlenecked by the i5-10400F at lower resolutions?

A: The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 131.9 FPS, while at 4K Low it hits 115 FPS. The relatively small difference (16.9 FPS) between these two extremes suggests that the CPU limits the frame rate when the GPU is not heavily loaded, since a fully GPU-bound scenario would show a much larger gap between 1080p and 4K.

Q: Can this system run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 60 FPS on all settings?

A: Yes. Every resolution and preset combination in the measured data is above 60 FPS. The lowest recorded average is 80.6 FPS at 4K Ultra, which still clears the playable threshold by 20.6 FPS.

Q: Which preset offers the best balance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 116.5 FPS and High delivers 100.6 FPS, while Ultra delivers 99.1 FPS. The delta between High and Ultra is only 1.5 FPS, so Ultra is effectively free at this resolution if you want maximum visual quality.

Q: How does the 4K High preset compare to the 4K Ultra preset?

A: At 3840x2160, High averages 83.2 FPS while Ultra averages 80.6 FPS. The difference is only 2.6 FPS, so the Ultra preset is the better choice for 4K if you want the highest fidelity without a meaningful frame rate penalty.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded FPS data across resolutions and presets reveals how the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 split responsibilities in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This game is known for heavy single-thread CPU loads, and the benchmark numbers reflect that character.

At 1080p, the CPU is the primary constraint. The i5-10400F has a passmark single-thread score of 2541 and a 3dmark single-thread score of 688, which places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. When the GPU is asked to render at a lower resolution, it can push far more frames than the CPU can feed. The evidence is the small FPS delta between presets at 1080p: Low hits 131.9 FPS, Medium hits 124 FPS, High hits 112.7 FPS, and Ultra hits 106.4 FPS. The spread of 25.5 FPS from Low to Ultra indicates that the GPU still matters, but the ceiling is set by CPU throughput.

At 1440p, the balance shifts slightly. The GPU starts to take on more work, but the CPU still holds the upper hand. The FPS range at 1440p is 99.1 to 121.9, a spread of 22.8 FPS. The fact that Low and Medium are only 5.4 FPS apart (121.9 vs 116.5) suggests that the CPU is still capping performance at the lower end of the settings spectrum.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. The FPS range at 3840x2160 is 80.6 to 115, a spread of 34.4 FPS. This is the largest spread across resolutions, which means the RTX 5090 is now the bottleneck at higher settings. The gap between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 34.4 FPS, compared to 25.5 FPS at 1080p. This widening spread shows that the GPU's workload scales with resolution and preset complexity, whereas the CPU's load stays relatively flat.

The scaling between resolutions further clarifies the roles. From 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, the FPS drops by 7.3 FPS. From 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the drop is 18.5 FPS. The larger drop at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU-bound behavior. In contrast, from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the drop is 10 FPS, and from 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is only 6.9 FPS. The smaller drop at Low settings indicates that the CPU is preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential, since the GPU is less loaded and the CPU's frame generation limit is the same regardless of resolution.

For builders, the practical takeaway is this: at 1080p and 1440p, the i5-10400F will cap frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator, even with the RTX 5090. At 4K, the RTX 5090 takes over as the primary driver, and the CPU's limitations become less visible. The i5-10400F's cinebench r23 multicore score of 10283 and geekbench multicore score of 6257 are respectable for a 6-core, 12-thread part, but they are not near the top of the database. The GPU's passmark g3d score of 39650 and 3dmark steel nomad score of 18355 place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, so the imbalance is clear.

The Verdict

The question is whether this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, and the recorded data says yes, decisively. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, and every single measured configuration exceeds it.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is "playable" across all four presets. The best settings are Ultra, which runs at 80.6 FPS average. That is 20.6 FPS above the threshold. Even the most demanding preset at the highest resolution leaves substantial headroom.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is again "playable" for all presets. Ultra runs at 99.1 FPS, which is 39.1 FPS above the threshold. Low runs at 121.9 FPS, and Medium at 116.5 FPS. There is no configuration at 1440p that even approaches the 60 FPS line.

At 1920x1080, the verdict is "playable" for all presets. Ultra runs at 106.4 FPS, and Low runs at 131.9 FPS. This is the strongest resolution for the combo, with every preset well above 100 FPS.

The overall pattern is clear: the RTX 5090 provides more than enough GPU power, and even the i5-10400F's CPU limitations do not drag the system below the playable threshold at any setting. If you want to maximize visual quality, use Ultra at your native resolution. The lowest margin you will encounter is 4K Ultra at 80.6 FPS, which is still comfortably playable. This combo does not merely run the game; it runs it at high frame rates with maximum settings at every resolution tested.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The database's nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-10400F are based on average benchmark scores, and they show that several CPUs fall within a narrow band of performance. The Intel Xeon 6756E has an average score of 14163, which is 0.2% lower than the i5-10400F's average of 14185. The Intel Core 7 160UL scores 14232, which is 0.3% higher. The AMD EPYC 7552 scores 14115, which is 0.5% lower. The AMD Ryzen 3 7320C scores 14277, which is 0.6% higher. These deltas are all within 1%, so any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator when paired with the same GPU. The practical implication is that the i5-10400F's performance class is well populated, and swapping to any of these rivals would not meaningfully change the FPS results.

For the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's nearest rivals are also tightly clustered. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79605, which is 0.3% lower than the RTX 5090's average of 79842. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, which is 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, which is 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% higher. All of these deltas are within 1.5%, so the RTX 5090's performance bracket is consistent. A system with any of these GPUs and the i5-10400F would deliver frame rates that are statistically indistinguishable from the measured results, assuming the CPU remains the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

It is notably the rival GPUs listed here are not gaming-focused parts in some cases, but the benchmark averages place them in the same performance tier. For the purposes of this analysis, the data indicates that the RTX 5090 sits in a performance neighborhood where small score differences translate to small FPS differences, and the CPU rivals behave similarly.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds a rank of 581 out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places it in the top 15.6% of all recorded pairings for this game. The rank reflects the overall performance of the combo across the measured scenarios, and it is driven primarily by the GPU's strength.

The CPU's percentile of 68 means it outperforms 68% of all CPUs in the database, but its benchmark scores are not exceptional. The GPU's percentile of 92 means it outperforms 92% of all GPUs, which is a much stronger position. The combination of a mid-tier CPU with a top-tier GPU results in a rank that is high but not at the very top, because the CPU holds the system back in CPU-bound scenarios.

In practical terms, the rank of 581 out of 3714 tells you that there are 580 other combos in the database that achieve higher FPS scores in this game. Those combos almost certainly pair stronger CPUs with comparable or better GPUs. However, the rank also tells you that the vast majority of tested combos, 3133 of them, score lower than this pairing. For a system with a 6-core, 12-thread Comet Lake CPU, this is a strong showing, and the RTX 5090 is the reason.

If you are comparing this combo to others in the database, the data suggests that the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting. Upgrading the CPU to a faster part would likely push the combo much higher in the rankings, especially at 1080p and 1440p where the CPU is the bottleneck. Conversely, keeping the i5-10400F and swapping the GPU to a slower one would drop the rank significantly, as the GPU is the stronger component. The recorded rank of 581 is a direct result of this pairing's characteristics, and it positions the combo as a capable but CPU-limited setup for Microsoft Flight Simulator.