Microsoft Flight Simulator

The pairing of an Intel Core i5-13400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 sits in an interesting position for Microsoft Flight Simulator: strong enough to push high frame rates at mainstream resolutions, but visibly constrained once 4K and Ultra presets enter the picture. The measured data shows a pairing that comfortably clears the 60 FPS playability threshold in most configurations, with only the top-tier visual settings at the highest resolution falling short. The RTX 3070 is a card from the Ampere generation — 5888 shading units, 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth — paired with a ten-core, sixteen-thread Raptor Lake CPU that holds a 77th percentile position among all tested processors. The following breakdown covers every resolution and preset measured for this combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the pairing scales from a low of 75.6 FPS on Ultra to a high of 132.7 FPS on Low, with Medium landing at 105.3 and High at 79.3. Every preset at 1080p sits comfortably above the 60 FPS playability threshold. Even the most demanding visual configuration leaves a margin of 15.6 frames per second over the threshold, which matters in a flight simulator where sudden scenery loads and weather effects can produce transient dips — although minimum and maximum frame rates were not recorded in this dataset, so conclusions rest on averages.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress into a narrower band: 110.4 FPS on Low, 85 on Medium, 61.6 on High, and 58.4 on Ultra. The High preset is the ceiling for a 60 FPS experience at this resolution, and it clears the bar by only 1.6 frames per second — a thin margin that suggests Ultra is out of reach without accepting sub-60 averages. The drop from High to Ultra costs 3.2 FPS, which pushes the average below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the demands of a quadrupled pixel count show clearly: 81.1 FPS on Low, 62 on Medium, 48.6 on High, and 43.9 on Ultra. Medium is the highest preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, and it does so with just 2 frames per second to spare. High falls 11.4 frames short of the threshold, and Ultra falls 16.1 short. The performance profile at 4K is steep: each preset step upward costs roughly 15 to 19 frames per second at this resolution, compared to a gentler cost at 1080p.

A useful way to read the dataset: Low-preset performance drops by 22.3 FPS going from 1080p to 1440p and by another 29.3 FPS going to 4K, indicating that the GPU — not the CPU — is absorbing nearly all of the resolution scaling burden.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the Core i5-13400F's average benchmark score of 25292 places it in a tightly clustered neighborhood. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS averages 25284, a 0 percent difference; the Intel Core 5 120 averages 25362, 0.3 percent ahead; the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D averages 25365, also 0.3 percent ahead; and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H averages 25201, 0.4 percent behind. All four are statistically equivalent partners for this GPU in this game — a system built around any of them would be expected to produce frame rates within a fraction of a percent of the measured results, since the i5-13400F's 3DMark maximum-threads score of 7307 nearly equals its 16-thread score of 7314, indicating full utilization of its sixteen-thread capacity.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 17208 has similarly close rivals. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT averages 17083, 0.7 percent behind; the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 averages 17037, 1 percent behind; the AMD Radeon HD 7970M averages 17019, 1.1 percent behind; and the NVIDIA Tesla K40c averages 17468, 1.5 percent ahead. Substituting any of these cards would yield near-identical Microsoft Flight Simulator behavior at every resolution and preset measured here. The RTX 3070 holds a 61st percentile position among all tested GPUs, so the pairing is better described as upper-midrange than flagship territory.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data points unambiguously to GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions. From 1080p to 1440p, Ultra-preset performance falls from 75.6 to 58.4 FPS — a loss of 17.2 frames. From 1440p to 4K, it falls further to 43.9, another 14.5 frames. If the CPU were the limiting factor, resolution increases would produce much smaller declines, since the processor's workload is largely resolution-independent. Instead, each pixel-count increase strips away double-digit frame rates at every preset.

At 1080p, the picture shifts partially toward the processor. The Low preset reaches 132.7 FPS, and the gap between presets widens at lower resolutions — Low to Ultra spans 57.1 frames at 1080p versus 37.2 frames at 4K. The i5-13400F's strong threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 22604, Geekbench multi-core of 11068) and its 77th percentile ranking mean the CPU is not a bottleneck here; Microsoft Flight Simulator's heavy draw-call and scenery-streaming load is being met without constraining the frame rate ceiling at 1080p. The data shows the RTX 3070 is the component that determines which presets are playable at 1440p and 4K.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC runs Microsoft Flight Simulator — with clear limits at the top end. At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable: Low at 132.7, Medium at 105.3, High at 79.3, and Ultra at 75.6 FPS, making Ultra the best settings choice with an average of 75.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low, Medium, and High are playable while Ultra at 58.4 FPS misses the threshold; High is the best setting at 61.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low and Medium clear the bar — Medium at 62 FPS is the best setting, while High at 48.6 and Ultra at 43.9 fall short. In short: full preset freedom at 1080p, High ceiling at 1440p, Medium ceiling at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

Across the benchmark database, this CPU-and-GPU combination ranks 1617 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator — placing it just above the midpoint. That ranking is consistent with the component-level percentiles: a 77th percentile CPU paired with a 61st percentile GPU produces a system that outperforms roughly the top half of tested configurations in this specific title. The ranking also reflects the game's unusually broad hardware spread; Microsoft Flight Simulator is demanding enough that combo performance separates sharply, and landing in the upper half with a sub-flagship pairing is a solid result.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-13400F + RTX 3070 run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low or Medium settings. Medium averages 62 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold; High averages 48.6 and Ultra averages 43.9, both below it.

Q: Can this combo run the game at Ultra settings?

A: Only at 1920x1080, where Ultra averages 75.6 FPS. At 2560x1440 Ultra averages 58.4 FPS and at 3840x2160 it averages 43.9 FPS — both under the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: What is the best setting for 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: High, averaging 61.6 FPS. Medium offers more headroom at 85 FPS, while Ultra at 58.4 FPS falls just short of the threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Ultra, average FPS falls from 75.6 to 43.9; at Low, from 132.7 to 81.1. The GPU absorbs nearly all of this cost, indicating a GPU-bound scaling profile.

Q: Are there CPUs or GPUs that perform about the same with this game?

A: Yes. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (0 percent difference), Intel Core 5 120 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (both 0.3 percent ahead), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (0.4 percent behind) match the i5-13400F. On the GPU side, the Radeon RX 7600 XT, GTX 690, HD 7970M, and Tesla K40c all sit within 1.5 percent of the RTX 3070's average score.

Q: How does this pairing rank against other tested combinations?

A: It ranks 1617 out of 3714 combos in this game — above the midpoint, aligning with the CPU's 77th percentile and the GPU's 61st percentile standings.

Best Settings per Resolution

• 1920x1080 — Ultra at 75.6 FPS. The most demanding preset is fully playable, with Medium at 105.3 and Low at 132.7 available for even higher frame rates.
• 2560x1440 — High at 61.6 FPS. Ultra at 58.4 misses the threshold; dropping to Medium yields 85 FPS for comfortable headroom.
• 3840x2160 — Medium at 62 FPS. High at 48.6 and Ultra at 43.9 are not playable; Low at 81.1 is the alternative when maximum fluidity matters at 4K.