Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a playable experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the data shows that settings and resolution dramatically dictate the outcome. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces the highest frame rates, but the Medium preset offers a superior balance of visual fidelity and smoothness. The measured results show that Medium at 1080p achieves an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, which provides a stable baseline for a flight simulator where consistent frame pacing matters more than raw speed. The High preset at the same resolution drops to an average of 54 FPS, which is still fluid, but the jump to Ultra yields only 51 FPS, a marginal gain in visual quality for a noticeable performance cost. For users prioritizing maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that breaks the 90 FPS barrier, hitting 92 FPS, but this comes at the expense of the detailed scenery that defines this genre. The sweet spot for this combo is the Medium preset, as it provides the only measured configuration with a reported minimum frame rate above 60 FPS, ensuring minimal stutter during complex flight maneuvers. At higher resolutions, the Medium preset remains the most viable option, with 2560x1440 producing an average of 58 FPS and 3840x2160 at 43 FPS, though the 4K minimum of 36 FPS indicates that the GPU is nearing its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific pairing of the Core i5-11400F and Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2870 out of 3714 tested combos. This places it in the lower-mid tier of systems, indicating that while it is capable of running the game, there are a substantial number of more powerful configurations that achieve higher frame rates. The rank percentile suggests that roughly 77% of tested systems outperform this combo in this specific title. This is a demanding simulation that scales heavily with both CPU and GPU resources, and the data reflects that this mid-range hardware sits below the median performance curve. The ranking is not a condemnation; rather, it contextualizes the measured FPS results, showing that the 1080p Medium experience of 72 FPS is a reasonable outcome for hardware in this tier. The gap between this combo and the top performers is significant, but the measured data indicates that the hardware is not bottlenecked to the point of being unplayable. At 4K, the combo falls to an average of 31 FPS on Ultra, which is a slideshow, but the Low preset at that resolution still manages 55 FPS, showing that the hardware has enough headroom to adapt to user preferences. The overall rank of 2870 is a reflection of the hardware's aggregate benchmark scores, where the CPU sits at the 71st percentile and the GPU at the 63rd percentile, but the game's specific demands can amplify or diminish those standings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the primary driver of frame rate in this configuration, given the visual complexity of Microsoft Flight Simulator. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the Ultra preset average drops to 31 FPS. The GPU's boost clock of 2491 MHz and game clock of 2044 MHz are solid for its class, and the 1792 shading units handle the rendering load. The measured results show a clear scaling pattern: at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 41 FPS (92 vs 51), while at 4K, that difference narrows to 24 FPS (55 vs 31). This indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has enough compute headroom to be limited by other factors, but at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput and memory bandwidth become the dominant constraints. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 15096 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1492, place it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA RTX 4050 Mobile and Quadro K6000, show a delta of less than 1%, meaning this GPU is performance-neutral within its immediate competitive set. For this game, the 8 GB VRAM is adequate for 1080p Medium, but users should expect to lower settings at 1440p to maintain frame rates above 60 FPS, as the High preset at that resolution only achieves 43 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for playing at 1920x1080 with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS. This is the only 1080p setting that maintains a minimum frame rate above 60 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The Low preset at 3840x2160 achieves an average of 55 FPS, while Medium drops to 43 FPS and High falls to 32 FPS. Ultra is not recommended, as it averages just 31 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its immediate rivals?

A: The Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177, which is within 0.6% of the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074). It is slightly behind the Intel Core i5-12450H (17239) by 0.4%.

Q: Is the GPU's memory bandwidth sufficient for this game?

A: The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1080p and 1440p Medium settings, but the 4K results show a significant drop-off, indicating that the 128-bit bus and 8 GB capacity become constraints at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 averages 74 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 41 FPS. This represents a 33 FPS difference, showing that the GPU has limited headroom for high-fidelity settings at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested systems in this game?

A: It ranks 2870 out of 3714 combos, placing it in the lower half of the performance distribution. This suggests that while the hardware is capable, most other tested systems deliver higher frame rates in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a predictable pattern of GPU-bound behavior. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 72 FPS, which is a playable baseline. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings, the average drops to 58 FPS, a 19% reduction. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset falls to 43 FPS, a further 26% reduction from 1440p. This scaling curve indicates that the Radeon RX 6600 is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's compute resources are less stressed at higher resolutions where pixel throughput dominates. The Low preset shows a similar trend: 92 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is 26% for Medium and 26% for Low, showing a consistent level of GPU pressure. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with averages of 51 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K, representing a 39% total drop from 1080p to 4K. This data suggests that users targeting 60 FPS should stick to 1080p Medium, while those willing to accept 30 FPS can attempt 4K Low. The frame rate deltas between resolutions are not linear, indicating that the memory bandwidth and shading unit count of the GPU are the determining factors. The 4K Medium result of 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS shows that the hardware is right at the edge of playability, and any complex scenery with heavy draw distances will likely cause dips below 30 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F serves as the supporting actor in this configuration, providing six cores and twelve threads based on the Rocket Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz offer sufficient single-thread performance for the game's simulation logic, which is typically the bottleneck in flight simulators. The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 80 KB of L1 per core and 512 KB of L2 per core, alongside a shared 12 MB L3 cache, helps feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. Benchmark data shows the CPU scores 2024 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 14340 in multi-core, placing it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17278) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074), are all within 0.6% of its average score of 17177, indicating that the 11400F is well-matched to its peers. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to maintain frame pacing, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to 92 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 51 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher settings. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is adequate for the game, but the lack of integrated graphics means the discrete GPU handles all rendering tasks. The 65W TDP indicates efficient power delivery, and the 14 nm process node is older but still capable. For this game, the CPU provides enough headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at 1080p Medium, but users should not expect to see significant frame rate gains from overclocking, as the multiplier is locked. The measured FPS data does not show a scenario where the CPU is clearly the limiting factor, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, pointing to the GPU as the dominant performance driver.