Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 presents a notable imbalance in Microsoft Flight Simulator, where the GPU is clearly the dominant force at higher resolutions, but the CPU begins to assert its influence as resolution drops. This combination ranks 646th out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the top 17.4% of all systems tested. The data reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution, though the performance ceiling at 1080p suggests the six-core Comet Lake processor is nearing its limits in this simulation-heavy title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern: as resolution increases, average frame rates decrease, but the rate of decline reveals where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High settings, the system produces 110 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 99 FPS, a reduction of 10%. At 4K High, the average falls further to 73 FPS, which is a 33.6% drop from the 1440p figure and a 33.6% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 4080’s raw throughput becomes the limiting factor.

However, the story changes when examining the Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 134 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 125 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 113 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is only 15.7%, compared to the 33.6% gap at High settings. This smaller delta at Low settings strongly suggests that the CPU is beginning to cap performance at lower resolutions when the GPU has less work to do. The i5-10400F’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration and 2.90 GHz base clock appear to be the ceiling at 1080p Low, preventing the RTX 4080 from pushing frame rates higher.

The Medium settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Medium, the average is 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS and maximum of 141 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 114 FPS (min 97, max 131), and at 4K Medium, it falls to 97 FPS (min 83, max 112). The spread between minimum and maximum FPS narrows as resolution increases, which is expected as the GPU becomes more consistently saturated. The 1080p Medium minimum of 104 FPS, compared to the 4K Medium minimum of 83 FPS, shows a 25.3% drop, while the averages drop by 21.1%. This suggests that frame pacing remains stable even when the GPU is stressed.

Ultra settings show the most significant resolution penalty. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 109 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 95 FPS (a 12.8% decline), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 70 FPS (a 35.8% decline from 1440p and a 35.8% decline from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result of 70 FPS is the lowest measured average across all settings and resolutions, indicating that the RTX 4080 is fully utilized at this extreme configuration. The 1080p Ultra result of 109 FPS being nearly identical to the 1080p High result of 110 FPS (a 0.9% difference) is a strong indicator that the CPU is the limiting component at this resolution, regardless of whether High or Ultra settings are applied.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F holding back the RTX 4080 in this game?

A: The data suggests yes at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between High (110 FPS) and Ultra (109 FPS) is negligible at 0.9%, while at 4K, the same settings gap produces a 4.3% difference (73 FPS vs 70 FPS). This indicates that the CPU is capping performance at 1080p, preventing the GPU from showing its full potential.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: 1440p appears to be the sweet spot. At High settings, it delivers 99 FPS, which is 10% lower than 1080p but 35.6% higher than 4K (73 FPS). The 1440p Ultra result of 95 FPS remains highly playable, and the 4K Medium result of 97 FPS is also viable if you prefer higher resolution over maximum settings.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 646th out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the top 17.4% of all systems. This is a strong result, but the ranking reflects the CPU’s limitations, as the RTX 4080 alone sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for this combo?

A: The data only includes minimum FPS measurements for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 104 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 97 FPS. At 4K Medium, it drops to 83 FPS. These figures indicate that frame dips are well-controlled, even at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the RTX 4080’s 16 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6X memory with a 256-bit bus and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for this game. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 70 indicates the GPU is handling the memory load without issue, as no VRAM-related stutters or crashes are evident in the data.

Q: How does the i5-10400F’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163) and 0.5% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115). It is 0.3% lower than the Intel Core 7 160UL (14232) and 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277). These are marginal differences, indicating the CPU is competitive within its class.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data places this combo at rank 646 out of 3714 tested combinations, which is in the 82.6th percentile. This is a solid position, but it is important to contextualize this ranking. The RTX 4080 alone holds the 86th percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-10400F holds the 68th percentile among all CPUs. The combo’s ranking of 82.6% is closer to the GPU’s percentile than the CPU’s, suggesting that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting in this pairing.

Looking at the measured FPS data, the combo’s strength is clearly at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, it achieves 70 FPS, which is a playable frame rate for a flight simulator. At 4K High, it reaches 73 FPS, and at 4K Medium, 97 FPS. These results are respectable for a game known for its demanding rendering workload. However, at 1080p, the combo’s performance is less impressive relative to what the GPU alone could achieve. The 1080p Ultra result of 109 FPS is only 0.9% higher than the 1080p High result of 110 FPS, indicating a CPU bottleneck that caps the system’s potential.

In terms of the overall ranking, the combo outperforms 71.6% of all tested systems (3714 minus 646 equals 3068 systems below, which is 82.6% of 3714). This places it firmly in the upper quartile of systems, but it is not among the top-tier combinations. The data suggests that a more powerful CPU would improve the combo’s ranking, particularly at 1080p where the CPU is the limiting factor. The 68th percentile ranking of the i5-10400F indicates that there is room for improvement, and pairing the RTX 4080 with a higher-performing CPU would likely push this combo higher in the ranks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo performs across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers the following averages: Low settings produce 134 FPS, Medium settings produce 123 FPS (with a minimum of 104 FPS and maximum of 141 FPS), High settings produce 110 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 109 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 25 FPS, or 18.7%, which is relatively small and indicates that the CPU is the primary constraint at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low settings produce 125 FPS, Medium settings produce 114 FPS (with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS), High settings produce 99 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 95 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 30 FPS, or 24%, which is larger than at 1080p. This suggests that the GPU is becoming more involved in the performance equation, as the increased pixel count gives the RTX 4080 more work to do.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low settings produce 113 FPS, Medium settings produce 97 FPS (with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 112 FPS), High settings produce 73 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 70 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 43 FPS, or 38.1%, which is the largest gap across all resolutions. This confirms that at 4K, the GPU is the dominant factor, and the RTX 4080’s performance scales predictably with settings.

The Medium settings data provides the only minimum and maximum FPS measurements. At 1080p, the range is 104 to 141 FPS (a spread of 37 FPS). At 1440p, the range is 97 to 131 FPS (a spread of 34 FPS). At 4K, the range is 83 to 112 FPS (a spread of 29 FPS). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the frame rate becomes more consistent as the GPU is more fully utilized, which is a positive sign for gameplay smoothness.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the star of this combo, and its specifications explain the strong performance at 4K. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This is ample for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for its large textures and complex scenery. The GPU’s 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs deliver the raw compute power needed to render the game’s detailed environments.

The clock speeds are also notable: a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, allow the RTX 4080 to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra settings, where it achieves 70 FPS. The GPU’s 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are also relevant, as Microsoft Flight Simulator uses ray tracing for some effects, though the data does not specify whether these are enabled in the tested settings.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 86th among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209, a difference of only 0.1%. This indicates that the RTX 4080 is performing at its expected level. The GPU’s memory specifications—16 GB of GDDR6X at 22.4 Gbps effective—are more than sufficient for this game, and the 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck.

The TDP of 320 W and the suggested PSU of 700 W are relevant for system builders, but the data shows that the GPU’s power draw does not negatively impact performance in this game. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (70 FPS) and 4K High (73 FPS) are both above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is delivering a smooth experience at the highest resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the CPU’s 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs reflects this. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 14185 is close to its nearest rivals, with a 0.2% difference from the Intel Xeon 6756E and a 0.3% difference from the Intel Core 7 160UL.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is critical for simulating flight physics, AI traffic, and other complex calculations. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p High, the system achieves 110 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it achieves 109 FPS—a difference of only 0.9%. This indicates that the CPU is unable to feed the GPU with enough frames at this resolution, capping performance at around 110 FPS regardless of settings.

The CPU’s single-thread performance, as measured by the 3dmark_single_thread score of 688, is relatively low compared to modern processors. This is significant because Microsoft Flight Simulator is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance. The CPU’s multi-thread performance, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 10283, is more respectable, but the game’s reliance on single-thread performance means that the i5-10400F’s 2.90 GHz base clock is a limiting factor.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate, but not exceptional. The data shows that at 4K, the CPU is less of a bottleneck, as the GPU’s workload increases and the CPU has more time to process frames. At 4K High, the system achieves 73 FPS, which is 33.6% lower than the 1080p High result of 110 FPS, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid stuttering, as evidenced by the minimum FPS figures at Medium settings (104 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K).