Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor from Intel’s 11th Gen Core series, built on the Rocket Lake architecture and fabricated on Intel’s 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. The chip accesses a 12 MB shared L3 cache, alongside 80 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 per core. Memory support is limited to DDR4, running on a dual-channel bus with a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU uses the Intel Socket 1200 interface and provides PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes from the processor. It has no integrated graphics, so a discrete GPU is mandatory. The processor launched in March 2021 with an end-of-life production status, and its launch MSRP was $157.

In synthetic CPU benchmarks, the i5-11400F delivers a multi-threaded PassMark score of 16,908 and a single-thread score of 2,981, with an average benchmark score of 17,177. Cinebench R23 results show a multi-core score of 14,340 and a single-core score of 2,024, while Cinebench R20 yields 6,022 multi-core and 850 single-core. Geekbench scores are 7,737 multi-core and 1,777 single-core. 3DMark results scale from 868 single-thread to 5,652 max-thread. The processor sits in the 71st percentile of all CPUs tested, and its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher score), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% higher). These margins are tight, placing the i5-11400F in a competitive mid-range bracket.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is foundational but not dominant in the measured results. The game is a flight simulation that heavily emphasizes world streaming, physics for aircraft systems, and complex scenery generation, which can leverage multiple threads. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the i5-11400F provides enough parallelism for the game’s background tasks, but its single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,024—determines the ceiling for per-frame logic that cannot be parallelized. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz helps in this regard, as higher clocks directly translate to faster sequential execution. In practice, the data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 56 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, but as settings increase, the frame rate drops, indicating that other factors, such as GPU load, take over.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2,665 out of 2,996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the lower 11% of all tested configurations, which is a poor showing for a system built around a CPU that itself sits in the 71st percentile of all processors. The disconnect between CPU percentile and combo rank is stark: the CPU is above average in isolation, but when paired with this particular GPU, the overall gaming performance falls to the bottom decile. This indicates that the Arc B390 is the limiting factor in this pairing, dragging down the combo’s standing despite the CPU’s relative strength.

Benchmark results confirm this interpretation. At 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 56 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate across all settings and resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 43 FPS (with a minimum of 37 and maximum of 50), and at 1080p High, it falls to 33 FPS. 1080p Ultra yields 31 FPS. At 1440p, the numbers are 45 FPS Low, 35 FPS Medium (min 30, max 40), 26 FPS High, and 25 FPS Ultra. At 4K, the results are 33 FPS Low, 26 FPS Medium (min 22, max 30), 19 FPS High, and 19 FPS Ultra. These figures show a consistent downward trend as resolution and settings increase, but the magnitude of the drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is from 56 to 33 FPS, a 41% reduction. This is a substantial loss, but it is not catastrophic; the real issue is that even at the best case (1080p Low), the frame rate is only 56 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered smooth for simulation titles.

The combo’s rank of 2,665 out of 2,996 is driven by the GPU’s performance profile. The Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% higher score), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (2.7% higher). These are all older, low-end mobile or entry-level desktop parts, indicating that the Arc B390 is positioned at the very bottom of the GPU performance hierarchy. When a CPU in the 71st percentile is paired with a GPU in the 9th percentile, the combo rank necessarily reflects the weaker component’s limitations, which is exactly what the data shows.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the combo scales across resolutions, and the pattern is telling about which component is the bottleneck. Starting at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 56. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 45 FPS, a 19.6% decrease. Moving to 4K Low, the average falls to 33 FPS, a further 26.7% decrease from 1440p and a 41.1% decrease overall from 1080p. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario: as resolution increases, the pixel count rises, and the GPU must work harder to fill those pixels, leading to lower frame rates. The CPU’s workload does not increase proportionally with resolution, so the fact that FPS drops significantly with resolution indicates the GPU is the primary limiter.

For Medium settings, the same pattern holds. 1080p Medium yields 43 FPS, 1440p Medium yields 35 FPS (an 18.6% drop), and 4K Medium yields 26 FPS (a 25.7% drop from 1440p and a 39.5% drop from 1080p). High settings show 33 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p (a 21.2% drop), and 19 FPS at 4K (a 26.9% drop from 1440p and a 42.4% drop from 1080p). Ultra settings show 31 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p (a 19.4% drop), and 19 FPS at 4K (a 24% drop from 1440p and a 38.7% drop from 1080p). In all settings, the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is between 38.7% and 42.4%, which is a consistent, predictable scaling pattern.

This consistency is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component across all settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, because the CPU would be unable to feed the GPU faster at lower resolutions, but the GPU would still be capable of more work at higher resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops steadily, which means the GPU is saturated at every resolution. The fact that even at 1080p Low the combo only reaches 56 FPS suggests that the GPU is already near its maximum output at the lowest settings, and increasing resolution only makes its limitation more apparent. The CPU, with its 4.40 GHz boost clock and 6 cores, is not the constraint here; the Arc B390’s 9th percentile performance is.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 56, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. No other resolution or settings combination reaches 60 FPS or higher.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17,177, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17,120), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-12450H (17,239), 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17,278), and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17,074). These are very close margins, indicating the CPU performs in line with its direct competitors.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking and what does it mean?

A: The Intel Arc B390 is in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,482. This means it performs better than only 9% of tested GPUs, placing it at the entry-level tier of graphics hardware.

Q: How does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 56. At 1440p Low, it drops to 45 FPS (a 19.6% decrease). At 4K Low, it drops further to 33 FPS (a 26.7% decrease from 1440p and a 41.1% decrease from 1080p). This large drop indicates the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: Is the combo rank better or worse than the CPU’s individual percentile?

A: The combo ranks 2,665 out of 2,996 tested combos, which is in the bottom 11% of all configurations. The CPU alone sits in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. The combo rank is far worse than the CPU’s individual standing, confirming that the GPU drags down overall performance.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 35, with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS. This is the only 1440p setting with min/max data provided.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel’s 3 nm process. It features 1,536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU clock runs from a base of 300 MHz to a boost of 2500 MHz. Memory is system shared, meaning the GPU uses the host system’s RAM for video memory, with a bus width and bandwidth that are system dependent. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 7.680 TFLOPS. The TDP is 80 W, and it has no power connectors, as it is an IGP. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and its display outputs are portable device dependent.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Arc B390’s role is to render the complex 3D scenery, weather effects, and aircraft models. The game is known for demanding GPU resources, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The measured FPS data shows that the Arc B390 struggles to maintain playable frame rates in most configurations. At 1080p Low, it achieves 56 FPS, which is the only setting where it approaches playability. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 19 FPS, which is essentially a slideshow for a flight simulator that requires smooth visuals for navigation and landing. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1,482 places it in the 9th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all older, low-end NVIDIA parts with scores within 2.7% of the Arc B390. This confirms that the GPU is a very low-performance part, and the benchmark results reflect that.

The GPU’s system shared memory is a notable weakness. Since the GPU relies on the system’s DDR4 memory (which the i5-11400F supports at 51.2 GB/s bandwidth), it must compete with the CPU for memory access. In a flight simulator like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams terrain and scenery data continuously, this contention can exacerbate performance issues. The data shows that at 4K Medium, the average FPS is 26 with a minimum of 22 and maximum of 30, indicating significant frame time variability. This is consistent with a GPU that is starved for memory bandwidth or is simply overworked by the game’s rendering demands. The GPU’s boost clock of 2500 MHz is decent, but the low shading unit count and the lack of dedicated VRAM limit its ability to handle high-resolution textures and complex geometry.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance on the best settings for this combo. The goal is to maximize playability, which for a flight simulator typically means maintaining a stable frame rate above 30 FPS, with 60 FPS being preferable. The data shows that the only setting that achieves 56 FPS is 1080p Low. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 43 FPS, which is still playable but with a minimum of 37 FPS, indicating occasional dips. At 1080p High, the average is 33 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it is 31 FPS. Both of these are below the 60 FPS target but above the 30 FPS minimum threshold.

At 1440p, the situation is worse. 1440p Low yields 45 FPS, which is playable, but 1440p Medium drops to 35 FPS (min 30, max 40), and 1440p High and Ultra yield 26 and 25 FPS respectively, which are below the 30 FPS playability threshold. At 4K, all settings yield 33 FPS or lower, with 4K Low at 33 FPS, 4K Medium at 26 FPS, and 4K High and Ultra both at 19 FPS. None of these 4K results are playable for a simulation title, as frame rates below 30 FPS make it difficult to control the aircraft smoothly.

Given this data, the recommended settings are 1080p with Low settings for the best experience. This yields 56 FPS average, which is the closest to a smooth 60 FPS experience. If the user prefers higher visual fidelity, 1080p Medium is a viable alternative, offering 43 FPS average with a minimum of 37 FPS, which still maintains playability. However, 1080p High and Ultra should be avoided, as they drop below 35 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering in a game that requires precise control. At 1440p, only Low settings (45 FPS) are recommended, as Medium dips to 35 FPS with a minimum of 30, which is borderline. 4K is not recommended at any setting, as the highest result is 33 FPS at Low, which is too low for a smooth flight simulation experience.

The data also shows that the difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra is only 25 FPS (from 56 to 31), which is a 44.6% reduction. This is a significant penalty for higher settings, and given the minimal visual improvement in a flight simulator where the view is often distant scenery, the trade-off is not worth it. The Arc B390’s 9th percentile performance means that it cannot handle the game’s high and ultra presets without dropping to unplayable levels. Therefore, the practical recommendation is to run the game at 1080p Low or Medium, accepting lower graphical fidelity in exchange for a frame rate that is at least consistently above 30 FPS. For users who prioritize visuals over smoothness, 1080p High at 33 FPS is the maximum acceptable setting, but it is not recommended for serious flight operations.