Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding flight simulation title released in 2020, and the combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti produces a distinct performance profile. The measured data indicates that this pairing yields playable frame rates primarily at lower settings and resolutions, with a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and smoothness. The benchmark results show a system that is capable of handling the simulator, but requires careful settings management to achieve a consistent experience, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo at 1920x1080?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 115.7 FPS, which is achieved with the Low settings preset at 1920x1080 resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at the Ultra preset in 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Ultra settings preset, the combination yields an average frame rate of 34.3 FPS, which is the lowest measured score across all tested configurations.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440 resolution, the Low preset delivers an average of 93.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces an average of 48.8 FPS. This represents a significant 44.3 FPS drop when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the GTX 1080 Ti's 11 GB VRAM a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth is 484.4 GB/s, and its performance percentile is 61. While the VRAM capacity is substantial, the benchmark results indicate that the GPU's overall compute capabilities, such as its FP32 performance of 11.34 TFLOPS, are more influential on the final frame rates than memory capacity alone.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested configurations in this game?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti combination ranks 1072 out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the lower-to-mid portion of the performance spectrum for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: What is the average frame rate at the Medium preset in 1920x1080?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 yields an average frame rate of 87.4 FPS, which is noticeably higher than the 65.7 FPS average seen at the High preset for the same resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the optimal experience balances frame rate and visual quality. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the clear sweet spot, delivering an average of 87.4 FPS. This is significantly above the 65.7 FPS of the High preset, while still offering a substantial visual upgrade over the Low preset's 115.7 FPS. The Medium setting provides a smooth and responsive experience without sacrificing all graphical detail.

For users with 2560x1440 displays, the Medium preset remains the recommended choice, achieving an average of 69.4 FPS. While the Low preset reaches 93.1 FPS, the Medium setting offers a better balance for a more immersive visual experience. The High preset at this resolution drops to 52.8 FPS, which may be acceptable for some, but the Medium preset provides a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold for smoother gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only configuration that achieves a playable average frame rate of 63.7 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 51.4 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets fall to 36.5 FPS and 34.3 FPS, respectively. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only viable option for maintaining a consistent and fluid experience, as higher settings will result in noticeable stutter and reduced responsiveness.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall ranking for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific hardware combination achieves a rank of 1072 out of 1795 tested combos. This places it in the lower 40% of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is far from the bottom of the list. The ranking reflects a system that can run the game, but with significant compromises in graphical settings to achieve playable frame rates.

The CPU's percentile against all other CPUs is 72, suggesting it performs better relative to its peers than the GPU does. The GPU's percentile is 61, which is lower. This disparity indicates that the GTX 1080 Ti is more of a bottleneck in this pairing than the Core i3-12100F. The combo's overall rank of 1072 is a consequence of this GPU limitation, particularly in a game that is known for its heavy graphical load.

The data shows that this system is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can hold its own. At 4K, the combo's rank is effectively determined by its inability to handle higher settings, as evidenced by the sub-60 FPS averages on all presets except Low. This makes it a mid-range solution for the simulator, prioritizing frame rate over maximum visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy based on resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates scale predictably: Low delivers 115.7 FPS, Medium 87.4 FPS, High 65.7 FPS, and Ultra 66.2 FPS. Notably, the Ultra preset performs almost identically to the High preset at this resolution, suggesting a potential CPU or engine limitation that prevents higher frame rates even with reduced graphical load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same trend continues but with lower overall numbers. The Low preset achieves 93.1 FPS, Medium 69.4 FPS, High 52.8 FPS, and Ultra 48.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows further, and the difference between Medium and High is a significant 16.6 FPS, indicating that the High preset begins to tax the GPU more heavily.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops considerably. The Low preset is the only one to remain above 60 FPS, with an average of 63.7 FPS. Medium falls to 51.4 FPS, High to 36.5 FPS, and Ultra to 34.3 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium is a drop of 12.3 FPS, and from Medium to High another 14.9 FPS. This demonstrates that the GPU's compute resources are quickly overwhelmed at 4K, and the Ultra preset offers no meaningful advantage over High, with only a 2.2 FPS difference.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, with its Pascal architecture and 11 GB of GDDR5X memory, is the primary driver of the frame rates in this benchmark. Its memory bandwidth of 484.4 GB/s is substantial, but the data indicates that the GPU's raw compute power, measured at 11.34 TFLOPS FP32, is what determines its performance ceiling. The GPU's percentile of 61 against all other GPUs reflects its aging architecture, which struggles with the demanding rendering workloads of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The GPU's boost clock of 1582 MHz and base clock of 1481 MHz are fixed parameters that dictate its processing speed. The benchmark results show that the GTX 1080 Ti begins to struggle significantly at 3840x2160, where even the High preset only yields 36.5 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's shading units (3584) and texture mapping units (224) are insufficient to handle the pixel and texture processing demands of 4K resolution in this simulator.

The performance delta between the GTX 1080 Ti and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA TITAN Xp, is 1.1%, indicating they are nearly identical in average benchmark score. However, in this specific game, the measured FPS data shows that the card is better suited for lower resolutions. The GPU's 11 GB memory size is ample, but it is not a mitigating factor against the overall compute limitations that surface at higher settings and resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz and a base clock of 3.30 GHz. Its performance in this game appears to be sufficient to keep up with the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 115.7 FPS score at 1080p Low settings. The CPU's single-thread performance, indicated by a Geekbench single-core score of 2224, is crucial for a simulation game that relies heavily on single-threaded game logic.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, such as its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912, are less of a bottleneck in this scenario. The data suggests that as the resolution increases, the frame rate drops are predominantly due to the GPU's inability to render frames fast enough, not the CPU. At 3840x2160, the CPU's role diminishes further, as the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, with the High and Ultra presets both falling to around 35 FPS.

The Core i3-12100F's performance is within 0.6% of the Intel Core i3-10105 and 1.8% of the Intel Core i7-7700K, according to the average benchmark scores. This places it in a competitive position for its class. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a significant differentiator in this game; the frame rates are more strongly correlated with the GPU's workload, especially at higher resolutions where the CPU has more idle time waiting for the GPU to complete its rendering tasks.