Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the Intel Arc B570 presents a specific performance profile for Microsoft Flight Simulator, a flight simulation title released on 2020-08-17. The measured data shows this combination is highly resolution-dependent, with the ability to hit the 60 FPS playable threshold only at lower resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves playable frame rates on Medium settings, while at 2560x1440, only the Low preset crosses the 60 FPS line. The 3840x2160 resolution proves too demanding, with no settings reaching playable levels.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions. At 3840x2160, the combo struggles significantly. With Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 28, which is below the playable threshold. High settings produce an average of 30 FPS, while Medium settings yield 40 FPS on average, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46. The only bright spot at this resolution is the Low preset, which reaches an average of 51 FPS, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS target.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance picture improves noticeably. The Low settings preset achieves an average of 69 FPS, which clears the playable threshold with some headroom. Medium settings deliver 54 FPS on average, with a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 62, meaning the experience can fluctuate between playable and unplayable territory. High settings average 41 FPS, while Ultra drops to 39 FPS, both clearly below the 60 FPS target.

At 1920x1080, the combo shows its best performance. The Low preset delivers a strong average of 86 FPS, providing a smooth experience. Medium settings maintain an average of 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 and a maximum of 77, which keeps the frame rate mostly above the playable threshold. High settings average 50 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 48 FPS, both falling short of the 60 FPS target. The data indicates that the step from Medium to High at 1080p costs 17 FPS on average, a significant drop that pushes the experience below playable levels.

CPU and GPU Roles

Analyzing the scaling between resolutions and presets reveals which component is the bottleneck in this pairing. The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, while the Intel Arc B570 features 2304 shading units and 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. The GPU's architecture is Xe2-HPG on a 5 nm process, and it has a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s.

The performance deltas between resolutions point to the GPU being the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average FPS is 69, while at 1920x1080 with the same preset, it reaches 86. This 17 FPS difference when lowering resolution by roughly 1.8x the pixel count suggests the GPU is being stressed more at 1440p. Similarly, the drop from 51 FPS at 2160p Low to 69 FPS at 1440p Low represents a 35% improvement when reducing resolution, indicating the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when examining the settings scaling at a fixed resolution. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 19 FPS on average (86 to 67), while the jump from Medium to High costs 17 FPS (67 to 50). These consistent drops across settings suggest that the CPU can keep up with the increased draw calls and simulation logic, but the GPU's rendering capabilities are what dictate the final frame rate. The i5-12400F's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 909, appears sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, but the GPU's raw throughput limits higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant constraint. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 23 FPS (51 to 28), which is a smaller relative gap than at lower resolutions. This compression of performance across settings at 4K suggests that the GPU is completely saturated, and the CPU's ability to prepare frames is not the limiting factor. The Arc B570's 10 GB memory buffer and 160-bit bus width likely struggle with the texture and geometry demands of 4K flight simulation, as evidenced by the sub-40 FPS results on all presets except Low.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for both components provide context for what similar hardware would deliver. For the Intel Core i5-12400F, the closest alternatives include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with an average score of 19047, the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056, the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982, and the AMD EPYC 7773X at 18979. The deltaPct values are minimal, with the i5-12400F scoring 19039 on average. This indicates that any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in this game, assuming GPU performance remains constant, as the CPU benchmark scores are within a fraction of a percent of each other.

For the Intel Arc B570, the nearest performance equivalents are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile with an average score of 20534, the Intel Arc A750 at 20582, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20480, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 20662. The Arc B570 scores 20556 on average, placing it right between the RTX 3070 Mobile and the Arc A750. In practical terms, a system with the i5-12400F and an RTX 3070 Mobile or an Arc A750 would likely show very similar FPS numbers to the measured results, with the deltaPct being under 1% in all cases. This suggests that swapping the B570 for one of these near-identical GPUs would not meaningfully change the playability verdicts at any resolution.

The Verdict

This PC can run Microsoft Flight Simulator, but only under specific conditions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable performance on both Low and Medium settings, with the Medium preset averaging 67 FPS and providing the best visual quality while staying above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset clears the playable bar, achieving an average of 69 FPS. The 3840x2160 resolution is not playable on any setting, with even the Low preset falling to 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.

The data indicates that this is fundamentally a 1080p gaming combo for this title. At 1440p, users would need to accept Low settings to maintain smooth performance, while 4K is entirely out of reach. The measured results show that the Intel Core i5-12400F and Intel Arc B570 combination is capable of running the game, but the experience is heavily constrained by the GPU at higher resolutions. For users with a 1080p monitor, the Medium preset offers a solid balance of visual fidelity and performance, with the average FPS of 67 providing enough headroom to handle the title's simulation-heavy scenes without dropping below the playable threshold.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1920x1080 that maintains 60 FPS?

A: The Medium preset is the most demanding settings level that stays at or above 60 FPS at 1920x1080, with an average FPS of 67, a minimum of 57, and a maximum of 77.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K resolution in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: No, at 3840x2160, no settings preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best result is on Low settings with an average of 51 FPS, while Ultra settings average only 28 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400F compare to its nearest CPU rival?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19039, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 19047, showing a deltaPct of 0%. This indicates essentially equivalent performance for this workload.

Q: What is the lowest FPS recorded at 2560x1440 on Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 on Medium settings is 46, with an average of 54 and a maximum of 62, meaning the frame rate can dip below the 60 FPS threshold during demanding scenes.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 closer in performance to the RTX 3070 Mobile or the Arc A750?

A: The Arc B570 scores 20556 on average, while the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (deltaPct 0.1%) and the Arc A750 scores 20582 (deltaPct -0.1%). The B570 sits nearly equidistant between the two, making either a close performance match.

Q: What percentile does this CPU achieve compared to all other tested CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F ranks in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B570 ranks in the 65th percentile among all GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and Intel Arc B570 ranks at position 2988 out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the lower half of all tested systems, specifically in the 20th percentile of performance (calculated from the rank and total). The relatively low ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the system struggling to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings.

The rank of 2988 indicates that a significant majority of tested hardware combinations outperform this setup in this particular game. This is notable because the CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 73, which is respectable, but the GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is only 65. The game's heavy reliance on GPU rendering power at higher resolutions likely drags the overall combo ranking down, as the i5-12400F's solid 6-core, 12-thread performance is not enough to compensate for the Arc B570's limitations in this specific title. The data suggests that users considering this combo should focus on 1080p gaming, where the ranking would be more favorable, rather than expecting competitive performance at 1440p or 4K.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS varies by resolution, based on the measured data. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the best choice, delivering an average FPS of 67 with a minimum of 57 and a maximum of 77. This provides the highest visual quality while maintaining playable performance, though the minimum FPS of 57 indicates occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that clears the playable bar, achieving an average FPS of 69. This is the most demanding setting available at this resolution that stays at or above 60 FPS, though it sacrifices significant visual quality compared to the Medium or High presets, which average 54 and 41 FPS respectively.

For 3840x2160, there is no playable settings preset. The verdict data shows no playable settings at this resolution, with the best average FPS being 51 on Low settings. Users with a 4K display would need to consider either lowering the render resolution or accepting frame rates below the 60 FPS threshold, as the data confirms this resolution is not viable for this hardware combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator.