Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: How well does the Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 7700 combo rank in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: This configuration ranks 1324th out of 2996 tested combos for this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. The rank reflects a balanced pairing where the GPU's 16 GB VRAM and the CPU's 12-thread design handle the simulation's demands without a severe bottleneck.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a smooth experience?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo delivers 79 FPS on Medium settings and 60 FPS on High, making it the sweet spot for playability. At 3840x2160, frame rates dip to 44 FPS on High and 42 FPS on Ultra, which may feel less fluid for a flight sim.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 7700 scores 15,852 in average benchmark score, sitting 1% below the AMD Radeon RX 9060, 1.1% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, and 1.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. Its percentile rank of 58 means it outperforms most GPUs in the database.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance like relative to its peers?

A: The i5-11400F averages 17,177 in benchmark scores, which is 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 7H12 and 0.6% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, but 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-12450H and 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G. It sits in the 71st percentile for all CPUs.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 59 FPS on Medium and 75 FPS on Low, but drops to 44 FPS on High and 42 FPS on Ultra. The 16 GB VRAM helps avoid texture swapping, but the average frame rates at 4K Ultra suggest a compromise is needed for full detail.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and why does it matter for this game?

A: The Radeon RX 7700 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. For a flight simulator that streams vast terrain and scenery data, the high VRAM capacity prevents stutter when loading detailed environments, directly supporting the measured FPS at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 occupies the 1324th position out of 2996 combinations tested in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places it in the 55th percentile of all combos, a respectable middle-ground result for a simulation that heavily taxes both CPU and GPU.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is the stronger component relative to its own field. The i5-11400F ranks in the 71st percentile for all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,177. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17,120 (0.3% lower), while the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17,074 (0.6% lower). On the flip side, the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17,239 (0.4% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17,278 (0.6% higher). These margins are narrow enough that real-world gaming performance will hinge on clock behavior and memory latency rather than raw computational throughput.

The GPU tells a different story. The Radeon RX 7700 ranks in the 58th percentile for all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon R9 370X, scores 15,862 (0.1% higher), demonstrating how tight the mid-range GPU market is. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 scores 16,014 (1% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16,129 (1.7% higher). The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 trails at 15,679 (1.1% lower). This puts the RX 7700 in a competitive position, but not a dominant one.

The combo's overall rank of 1324 out of 2996 suggests that while neither component is a top-tier performer, their combination delivers consistent frame rates across the measured settings. The data shows no catastrophic bottleneck: at 1080p Medium, the combo hits 98 FPS, and at 1440p High, it maintains 60 FPS. This indicates the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at mainstream resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the Navi 32 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Memory runs at 2438 MHz, translating to 19.5 Gbps effective, across a 256-bit bus.

The 16 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is the standout feature for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This game streams high-resolution satellite imagery, photogrammetry cities, and dynamic weather systems, all of which consume VRAM aggressively. The 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth ensures that texture data moves quickly enough to avoid hitches when the camera pans over dense scenery.

In synthetic tests, the GPU scores 20,974 in Passmark G3D and 10,963 in Passmark GPU Compute. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,865 reflects modern API performance. The 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is substantial for a mid-range card, and the 40 ray accelerators provide hardware support for ray-traced effects, though this game does not heavily utilize them.

The measured results show the GPU's scaling with resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 126 FPS, which drops to 102 FPS at 1440p Low and 75 FPS at 4K Low. This scaling factor of roughly 1.68 from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as expected for a flight sim with dense geometry.

The GPU's 96 ROPs and 160 TMUs deliver a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s. These figures support the observed FPS at medium and high settings, where the GPU must rasterize complex terrain meshes and apply detailed textures simultaneously.

Settings Recommendations

For a fully smooth experience, the measured data suggests that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium yields 98 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS, offering headroom for sudden scenery loads. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS, which is playable on most monitors.

High settings are viable at 1080p (74 FPS) and 1440p (60 FPS), but the 4K High result of 44 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth flight simulation. Ultra settings push the combo to 70 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K, making it unsuitable for high-refresh monitors at higher resolutions.

Low settings are only recommended for competitive or testing scenarios, as they yield 126 FPS at 1080p and 102 FPS at 1440p, but sacrifice the visual detail that makes this game immersive. The data reveals that Medium at 1440p offers the most consistent experience, with a 79 FPS average and a narrow 67-91 FPS range, indicating stable performance without aggressive dips.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its strongest performance. On Low settings, the average frame rate is 126 FPS. Medium settings yield 98 FPS, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 74 FPS, while Ultra settings bring it down to 70 FPS. This resolution shows a smooth degradation curve from Low to Ultra, with only a 56 FPS difference between the extremes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop proportionally. Low settings average 102 FPS. Medium settings average 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. High settings average 60 FPS, and Ultra settings average 57 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows here, with only a 3 FPS difference, suggesting that the GPU is approaching its limit for this game's rendering demands.

At 3840x2160, the impact of resolution becomes pronounced. Low settings average 75 FPS, which is still playable. Medium settings average 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 67 FPS, providing a usable experience for less action-heavy flight phases. High settings drop to 44 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 42 FPS. The 33 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K highlights the GPU's struggle to maintain high frame rates with maximum detail at this resolution.

The Medium settings row is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, which allows for detailed analysis. At 1080p, the 84-113 FPS range indicates reliable performance. At 1440p, the 67-91 FPS range shows a tighter distribution. At 4K, the 50-67 FPS range reveals occasional dips below 60 FPS, which could be noticeable during rapid camera movements or dense urban flyovers.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, offering 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU handles flight dynamics, AI traffic, weather simulation, and the game's complex scenery loading system. The 12 threads allow the game to distribute these tasks, though the sim is known for its heavy single-threaded dependency. The CPU's single-core performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 at 2,024 points, is adequate for this workload.

Benchmark data shows the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 14,340, while Cinebench R20 multicore scores 6,022. The 3DMark 16-thread test yields 5,619, and the max-thread test scores 5,652. These numbers indicate that the CPU can sustain high all-core loads, which matters when the game simulates multiple aircraft or complex weather fronts.

The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB L2 cache per core provide fast access to frequently used data. For a flight sim that repeatedly loads terrain tiles, this cache helps reduce latency. The CPU's percentile rank of 71 means it outperforms most processors in the database, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.6% of its average score, showing that it competes well with more modern designs.

The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is critical for this game, as single-threaded performance directly influences frame pacing. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 126 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited given the low graphical load. This indicates the i5-11400F can drive high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck, and it sustains enough throughput to keep the RX 7700 fed at lower resolutions.