Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range combination from recent hardware generations, and Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most demanding flight simulators in the database. The recorded measurements show this pairing sits right at the boundary of comfortable playability: it handles the game at 1080p across every preset, holds a 60 FPS average at 1440p up to Medium, and only clears the threshold at 4K on Low. The CPU, a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake part with a 4.40 GHz boost clock, sits in the 71st percentile of all tested processors, while the Turing-based RTX 2070 SUPER with its 8 GB of GDDR6 sits in the 65th percentile of tested GPUs. That is a balanced pairing for this title, and the numbers below show exactly where the limits fall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows the pairing holding up across the entire quality spectrum. Low averages 113.9 FPS, Medium averages 86.3 FPS, High averages 67.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 62.1 FPS. Even the heaviest preset stays above the 60 FPS playability threshold, which is a strong result for a simulator of this type. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is large, 51.8 FPS, which tells you the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB frame buffer and 448 GB/s memory bandwidth are being pushed hard once detail settings climb.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop but remain workable at moderate settings. Low averages 86.5 FPS, Medium averages 69.9 FPS, High averages 53.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. Medium is the highest preset that clears 60 FPS, doing so with nearly 10 FPS of headroom. High falls short by 6.1 FPS on average, so players wanting the higher presets at this resolution will need to accept frame rates in the high 40s to mid 50s.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low averages 61.7 FPS, Medium averages 52.3 FPS, High averages 39.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. Only Low clears the 60 FPS threshold, and just barely, with 1.7 FPS to spare. The drop from Medium to High at 4K is severe, 12.5 FPS, indicating that texture and shadow-heavy settings at this resolution exceed what the card handles comfortably.

Across all twelve measured configurations, the frame rate span runs from 37 FPS at 4K Ultra up to 113.9 FPS at 1080p Low. The single-frame minimum and maximum values were not captured in these runs, so the averages are the reliable guide here.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-11400F + RTX 2070 SUPER run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but the settings depend on the resolution. At 1920x1080 every preset from Low through Ultra averages at least 62.1 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low and Medium clear the bar, topping out at 69.9 FPS on Medium. At 3840x2160, only Low averages above 60 FPS, at 61.7 FPS.

Q: What is the highest preset this combo can use at 1080p?

A: Ultra. The recorded average at 1920x1080 Ultra is 62.1 FPS, which stays above the 60 FPS playability threshold. There is little headroom, though, so Medium at 86.3 FPS or High at 67.9 FPS offers a more stable margin.

Q: Is 4K playable on this hardware?

A: Technically yes, but only on Low settings, which average 61.7 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 52.3 FPS, and High falls to 39.8 FPS, both below the threshold.

Q: How demanding is this game compared to typical titles?

A: Very demanding. Even a 1080p Low preset only reaches 113.9 FPS, and pushing resolution plus quality together causes steep drops, down to 37 FPS at 4K Ultra. The game released in 2020 and remains one of the heavier simulation workloads in the database.

Q: How strong are the CPU and GPU individually?

A: The i5-11400F sits in the 71st percentile of all tested CPUs with an average benchmark score of 17177, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and single-core score of 2024. The RTX 2070 SUPER sits in the 65th percentile of GPUs with an average score of 20282 and a PassMark G3D score of 18169.

Q: Will a faster CPU change the 4K results?

A: The pattern of the data, with 4K averages far below the 1080p figures at identical settings, points to the GPU as the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU's 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient for the recorded results at 1080p, where Ultra already averages 62.1 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17177 places it in a cluster of processors that would deliver near-identical behavior in this game. The AMD EPYC 7H12 averages 17120, just 0.3 percent below this chip. The Intel Core i5-12450H averages 17239, 0.4 percent higher. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G averages 17278, 0.6 percent higher. The Intel Core Ultra 7 164U averages 17074, 0.6 percent lower. All four sit within a fraction of a percent of the 11400F's overall score, so any of them paired with the same GPU would be expected to produce flight frame rates within a rounding error of the numbers above.

On the GPU side, the RTX 2070 SUPER's average score of 20282 has equally close neighbors. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M averages 20480, 1 percent higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile averages 20534, 1.2 percent higher. The Intel Arc B570 averages 20556, 1.3 percent higher. The Intel Arc A750 averages 20582, 1.5 percent higher. If a system swaps the 2070 SUPER for any of these cards, expect the Microsoft Flight Simulator results to land within roughly 1 to 2 percent of the recorded averages, meaning the same 1080p-everything, 1440p-Medium, 4K-Low pattern would hold.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database's tested configurations for this game, the i5-11400F plus RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2135 out of 3714 combos. That places it slightly below the halfway point, in the bottom half of results for a game that punishes mid-range hardware. The interpretation is straightforward: the pairing beats roughly 1579 of the tested combinations, which is respectable given the game's appetite for GPU horsepower, but there is a large field of faster hardware above it. The ranking also matches the component percentiles, with the GPU at the 65th percentile acting as the practical ceiling for this title. For a flight simulator that scales heavily with both rendering load and world detail, a bottom-half ranking with a 62.1 FPS 1080p Ultra average is a coherent result, not an anomaly.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, with clear caveats by resolution. At 1920x1080 the answer is unconditional: every preset from Low to Ultra averages at least 62.1 FPS, and Medium offers a comfortable 86.3 FPS. At 2560x1440 the answer is conditional: Low at 86.5 FPS and Medium at 69.9 FPS clear the 60 FPS bar, while High at 53.9 FPS and Ultra at 49 FPS do not. At 3840x2160 the answer is marginal: Low at 61.7 FPS is the only preset above the threshold, and anything higher drops into the 30s and 50s. The practical takeaway for a builder running this hardware is that 1080p is the sweet spot with full visual detail available, and 1440p at Medium is the best compromise between image quality and frame rate.

Best Settings per Resolution

• 3840x2160: Low, averaging 61.7 FPS. Medium at 52.3 FPS falls below the threshold, so Low is the ceiling at 4K.
• 2560x1440: Medium, averaging 69.9 FPS. High drops to 53.9 FPS, under the 60 FPS mark, leaving Medium as the most demanding playable preset.
• 1920x1080: Ultra, averaging 62.1 FPS. Every preset in the recorded data clears 60 FPS at this resolution, so the maximum quality tier is fully usable, with Medium at 86.3 FPS as the option if extra headroom is preferred.