Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing that all four tested presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—remain at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold at every resolution from 1920x1080 up to 3840x2160. This combination of a 72nd-percentile CPU and an 83rd-percentile GPU produces a system where the user's choice of settings is dictated by preference for visual fidelity rather than by performance constraints.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS at each resolution is Ultra across the board, which is an exceptional result for a flight simulator known for its heavy draw on both processor and graphics hardware.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Ultra preset achieves an average of 60.8 FPS. This is a marginal clearance above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 4K Ultra is technically playable but leaves little headroom for dips in complex scenarios such as dense city flyovers or heavy weather. For a more comfortable margin, the High preset at this resolution delivers 63.1 FPS, offering a modest buffer while still providing strong visual quality.

Moving down to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset runs at 80.7 FPS. This represents a 32.7% performance increase over the 4K Ultra result, demonstrating that the resolution scaling is steep but the hardware handles the 1440p Ultra load with significant headroom. The High preset at this resolution reaches 86.2 FPS, while Medium sits at 116.7 FPS and Low at 147.1 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 99.5 FPS, which is nearly double the 4K Ultra score and indicates that the RTX 4070 SUPER is far from being the limiting factor at this resolution. The data shows that at 1080p, even the most demanding preset is comfortably above the playable threshold, with the Low preset reaching 181.4 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K resolution?

A: Yes. The benchmark data shows that at 3840x2160, all four settings presets—Low (108.5 FPS), Medium (81.7 FPS), High (63.1 FPS), and Ultra (60.8 FPS)—stay at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold. Ultra is the most demanding preset that remains playable, though its margin is slim.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is the best choice, averaging 80.7 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a substantial performance buffer while using the highest quality settings. The High preset runs at 86.2 FPS, Medium at 116.7 FPS, and Low at 147.1 FPS.

Q: How much performance difference is there between 1080p and 1440p?

A: At the Ultra preset, moving from 1920x1080 (99.5 FPS) to 2560x1440 (80.7 FPS) results in an 18.9% drop in average frame rate. Scaling further to 3840x2160 (60.8 FPS) from 1440p yields a 24.7% decrease, showing that the performance penalty is not linear with pixel count.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER the bottleneck, or is the CPU limiting performance?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes more significant at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops from 181.4 FPS at 1080p Low to 108.5 FPS at 4K Low, a 40.2% reduction that indicates GPU scaling pressure. At Ultra settings, the drop from 99.5 FPS at 1080p to 60.8 FPS at 4K is a 38.9% reduction, showing the GPU is increasingly the constraining factor as resolution and settings increase.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination ranks 622nd out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 16.7% of all tested configurations.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, the system achieves an average of 141.9 FPS. For comparison, the High preset runs at 107.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset runs at 99.5 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions and settings. All values below are average frame rates, as the data does not include minimum or maximum FPS figures.

At 1920x1080, the frame rate ranges from 181.4 FPS at Low settings to 99.5 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset produces 141.9 FPS, while High produces 107.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 39.5 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 34.8 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 7.6 FPS. This suggests that the jump from High to Ultra is relatively inexpensive in performance terms at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 147.1 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium produces 116.7 FPS, High produces 86.2 FPS, and Ultra produces 80.7 FPS. The relative gap between High and Ultra narrows further, with only a 5.5 FPS difference, indicating that Ultra is nearly as efficient as High at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset runs at 108.5 FPS, Medium at 81.7 FPS, High at 63.1 FPS, and Ultra at 60.8 FPS. The transition from Medium to High costs 18.6 FPS, while the transition from High to Ultra costs only 2.3 FPS. This diminishing penalty suggests that the Ultra preset is heavily optimized relative to High at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings shows an 18.9% reduction in FPS, while scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra shows a 24.7% reduction. At Low settings, the same resolution transitions produce reductions of 18.9% and 26.3%, respectively. This indicates that the performance cost of higher resolutions is slightly more pronounced at lower settings presets.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: this system can run Microsoft Flight Simulator at the playable threshold of 60 FPS across every tested resolution and settings combination. The verdictByResolution data confirms that all four settings presets are playable at all three resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is the best choice, averaging 60.8 FPS. This is technically playable, but the margin is thin enough that users might prefer High at 63.1 FPS for additional stability. The Medium preset at 81.7 FPS offers a much larger performance buffer if visual quality is less critical.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset at 80.7 FPS is the clear recommendation, providing both high visual fidelity and a comfortable 20 FPS margin above the threshold. Even the most demanding settings at this resolution leave room for the frame rate to breathe.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 99.5 FPS is the obvious choice, delivering nearly 100 FPS at maximum settings. This is a scenario where the user can enable every visual enhancement without concern for performance.

The overall verdict is that this PC is exceptionally well-suited for Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the only caveat being the minimal 60.8 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which could drop below 60 FPS in the most demanding in-game situations given the lack of minimum FPS data.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearestRivals data provides context for how this specific CPU and GPU combination compares to other hardware that would produce similar overall benchmark scores.

For the Intel Core i5-12400, the closest rivals by average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% lower score), the Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (0.7% lower), and the Intel Core i3-14100F (0.9% higher). The i3-14100F is particularly notable as a lower-tier desktop part that benchmarks nearly identically to the i5-12400, suggesting that systems built around it would exhibit similar CPU-driven performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (0.1% lower score), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (0.1% lower), and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (0.2% lower). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is 1% lower in average benchmark score, which is curious given the RTX 4090 Mobile's higher positioning in NVIDIA's mobile lineup. These GPU rivals would produce nearly identical frame rates in this game, though the Quadro cards are professional-grade products not typically used for gaming.

A system pairing the i5-12400 with any of these rival GPUs would deliver essentially the same average FPS in Microsoft Flight Simulator, as would a system pairing the RTX 4070 SUPER with any of the rival CPUs. The deltaPct values are all within 1% of the reference hardware, meaning the user experience would be indistinguishable in practice.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 622nd out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 16.7% of all configurations tested. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 72nd percentile standing among all CPUs and the GPU's 83rd percentile among all GPUs. The CPU's slightly lower percentile ranking suggests that it may be the more limiting factor in this pairing, particularly in CPU-bound scenarios typical of flight simulators, such as complex scenery loading and AI traffic calculations.

Given that the combo ranks in the top sixth of all tested systems, users can expect this configuration to outperform the vast majority of other systems running Microsoft Flight Simulator. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems is likely attributable to higher-end CPUs with greater core counts and faster single-thread performance, which are particularly relevant for flight simulation workloads.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data across resolutions and settings reveals how the CPU and GPU divide responsibilities in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 181.4 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests that neither component is heavily stressed. However, the drop to 99.5 FPS at Ultra settings (a 45.1% reduction) indicates that the GPU is being tasked with significantly more work as settings increase. The fact that the frame rate remains above 99 FPS even at Ultra suggests that the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 147.1 FPS, which is 18.9% lower than the 1080p Low result. This scaling is consistent with the GPU handling the increased pixel count, while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant. The Ultra preset at 80.7 FPS represents a 45.1% drop from the Low preset, similar to the 1080p ratio, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of settings-based performance scaling.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces 108.5 FPS, which is still well above the playable threshold. The Ultra preset at 60.8 FPS shows a 43.9% reduction from Low, confirming that the GPU's workload scales nearly linearly with settings quality. The fact that 4K Low outperforms 1440p Ultra (108.5 FPS vs 80.7 FPS) suggests that settings quality has a larger impact on performance than resolution alone, highlighting the GPU's dominant role in visual effects processing.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing the same settings across resolutions. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 99.5 FPS at 1080p to 60.8 FPS at 4K, a 38.9% reduction. At Low settings, the same resolution change produces a 40.2% reduction. The similar percentage drops across settings suggest that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU maintains a consistent level of performance regardless of pixel count.

The data indicates that for this game, the GPU is the more significant component at all resolutions when using higher settings presets, while the CPU's contribution is relatively constant. At 1080p with Low settings, the system approaches the CPU's output limit, but the i5-12400's 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock appears sufficient to avoid becoming a major bottleneck at any tested configuration.