Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator — Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 9060

This combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with measured frame rates that scale predictably across the three tested resolutions. The data indicates a balanced pairing where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the six-core processor maintains sufficient headroom at 1080p to let the graphics card reach its full potential.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 111 FPS, but this drops to 89 FPS at 1440p and further to 66 FPS at 4K. This represents a 40.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 86 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K — a 40.7% total drop. High settings produce 65 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K, a 40% reduction. Ultra settings follow suit with 62, 50, and 37 FPS respectively, a 40.3% decline.

The consistency of these percentage drops — all hovering around 40% from 1080p to 4K — indicates that the system is scaling in a uniform manner across all settings presets. This uniformity suggests the limiting component is the GPU, as pixel-count scaling would produce a steeper decline if the processor were the bottleneck. The RX 9060's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus contribute to this behavior, as the increased pixel workload at 4K directly impacts the rasterization throughput.

Interestingly, the gap between 1440p and 4K is proportionally larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p. For example, at High settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 13 FPS (65 to 52), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is also 13 FPS (52 to 39). This linear scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the processor is not introducing additional frame time variance. The data suggests that users targeting 60 FPS should remain at 1080p, as even Medium settings at 1440p fall short of that threshold at 69 FPS — though this is above 60, the margin narrows considerably at 4K where even Low settings only reach 66 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, is the dominant factor in these results. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K with higher settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz are relatively high, yet the measured performance at 4K Ultra (37 FPS) shows that the graphics card cannot maintain fluid frame rates at the highest resolution and preset combination.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129 with a deltaPct of -0.7%, meaning the RX 9060 is slightly weaker in synthetic tests. However, in this specific game, the performance profile shows that the GPU's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver acceptable results at lower resolutions. The pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are the key metrics that determine how quickly the card can fill frames at various resolutions.

At 1080p, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor across all settings, as even the fastest preset (Low at 111 FPS) does not approach the CPU's theoretical ceiling. The 4K results at 37-39 FPS for Ultra and High settings indicate that the GPU is rendering scenes with significantly more pixel work, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity may be insufficient for the highest texture detail levels at that resolution. The measured minimum FPS values for Medium settings — 73 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K — show that frame time consistency degrades with resolution, reinforcing the GPU-bound analysis.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU combination ranks 1712 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack positioning reflects the balanced but not exceptional performance of the pairing. The CPU alone sits in the 71st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, suggesting the combo's ranking is dragged down by the graphics card's relative position.

The data shows that this combo outperforms approximately 57% of all tested configurations in this specific game. This is a respectable position for a mid-range setup, but it indicates that a substantial portion of tested systems deliver higher frame rates. The rank of 1712 out of 2996 means there are roughly 1284 combos that perform worse in this game, which contextualizes the measured results as above-average for the broader hardware landscape.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (deltaPct 0.3%), Intel Core i5-12450H (deltaPct -0.4%), AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (deltaPct -0.6%), and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (deltaPct 0.6%). These small deltas indicate that the i5-11400F's processing power is closely matched by several other CPUs, and the differences in game performance are likely minimal. The GPU's nearest rivals — RTX 3060 Ti, Radeon R9 370X, Radeon RX 7700, and Radeon Pro W5500 — show deltas ranging from -0.7% to 2.1%, placing the RX 9060 in a tight competitive cluster where synthetic benchmarks translate to similar real-world results.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 65 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 62 FPS, offering a marginal improvement in visual quality with only a 3 FPS cost. For users prioritizing visual fidelity at 1080p, Ultra is the best choice since it maintains playability.

At 1440p, the Medium preset provides 69 FPS, which is the only setting at this resolution that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The High preset at 1440p drops to 52 FPS, which may be acceptable for some users but falls below the 60 FPS target. For 1440p gaming, Medium is the recommended preset as it balances image quality with playable frame rates, and the measured minimum of 59 FPS indicates that frame times remain consistent.

At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The Low preset reaches 66 FPS, which is technically above 60, but this comes with significant visual compromises. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, which may result in noticeable stuttering during complex flight scenes. For 4K users, Low is the only viable option if frame rate is the priority, but the data suggests that 1440p with Medium settings is the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 111 FPS, Medium reaches 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 and maximum of 99, High produces 65 FPS, and Ultra delivers 62 FPS. This represents a 44.1% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the higher settings presets impose a significant rendering load on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 89 FPS, Medium produces 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80, High reaches 52 FPS, and Ultra achieves 50 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at each settings level reduces performance by approximately 20-23 FPS across the board, with the Medium preset showing the smallest absolute drop of 17 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 66 FPS, Medium reaches 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 and maximum of 59, High produces 39 FPS, and Ultra achieves 37 FPS. The 4K results show a dramatic compression of performance across settings, with only a 29 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, compared to 49 FPS at 1080p. This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even the lowest settings cannot overcome the pixel throughput demands.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides the processing foundation for this combo. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, combined with 12 MB of shared L3 cache, deliver solid single-threaded performance that is critical for flight simulation games. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 14340, while Geekbench multicore scores 7737. The single-thread scores — 2024 in Cinebench R23 and 1777 in Geekbench — indicate that the CPU can handle the per-thread demands of the game's simulation logic.

The CPU's 3DMark scores reveal a scaling pattern: 868 in single-thread, 1691 in 2-thread, 3171 in 4-thread, 4691 in 8-thread, 5619 in 16-thread, and 5652 in max-thread. This shows that performance gains plateau after 8 threads, suggesting that the game likely utilizes fewer than 8 threads effectively. The PassMark multi-thread score of 16908 places the CPU in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s with dual-channel DDR4 support is sufficient for feeding the GPU, and the PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides adequate bandwidth for the RX 9060. The fact that performance drops uniformly across resolutions — rather than showing a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions — confirms that the processor is not the limiting factor in this configuration. At 1080p Low, the 111 FPS result demonstrates that the CPU can drive the GPU to high frame rates, and the consistent scaling pattern across all settings suggests that the processor maintains adequate headroom even at the lowest resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 1080p, all settings presets achieve above 60 FPS, with Low at 111 FPS, Medium at 86 FPS, High at 65 FPS, and Ultra at 62 FPS. At 1440p, only Medium (69 FPS) and Low (89 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while at 4K, only Low (66 FPS) reaches that threshold.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest GPU rival in this game?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, while its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129 with a deltaPct of -0.7%. This indicates the RX 9060 performs nearly identically to the RTX 3060 Ti in synthetic benchmarks, with a negligible 0.7% deficit.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. The CPU's 3DMark max-thread score of 5652 and single-thread score of 868 indicate it has sufficient processing power, as evidenced by the 111 FPS result at Low settings. The uniform performance scaling across resolutions confirms the GPU is the primary constraint.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1712 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This means it outperforms approximately 57% of all configurations tested in this game.

Q: Does the CPU's 6-core configuration limit performance in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU limitation. The 3DMark scores show performance scaling up to 8 threads (4691) with minimal gains beyond that (5619 at 16 threads), suggesting the game uses fewer than 8 threads effectively. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs further indicates it is not the bottleneck.

Q: What settings preset provides the best balance at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and maximum of 80 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS while maintaining visual quality, making it the optimal choice for 1440p gaming.