Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with this Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination shows a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 155.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 129.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 97.3 FPS. That is a fairly modest decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, suggesting the GPU still has headroom even at the highest resolution when visual load is light.

The picture changes dramatically when you look at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 91.3 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, that falls to 75.3 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 50.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial, but the scaling from 1080p to 4K on Ultra is steeper in percentage terms than on Low. This indicates that at higher settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor more quickly as resolution rises.

Looking at the Medium preset, the numbers sit between the extremes: 129.8 FPS at 1080p, 101.8 FPS at 1440p, and 76.7 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern is almost linear, with each resolution step costing roughly 20-25% performance. The High preset follows a similar trend: 96.8 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 57.2 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is more involved in the performance equation. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 64 FPS, while the same comparison at 4K is only 47 FPS. This compression of the settings gap at higher resolutions confirms that the RTX 4070's workload scales with both resolution and graphical complexity, while the i5-11400F's contribution remains relatively constant. For a flight simulator where terrain detail and draw distance matter, the 4K Ultra result of 50.3 FPS is usable but not ideal for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, this specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 477th out of 1795 tested combos. That places it in the top 26.6% of all combinations in the database for this particular game. The ranking reflects the overall balance between the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 when running this title.

The CPU itself sits at the 75th percentile among all processors in the database, with an average benchmark score of 17181. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with an average score of 17189 (a 0% difference), the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (-0.2%), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17215 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core i5-1240U at 17141 (+0.2%). These are extremely tight margins, meaning the i5-11400F is essentially performance-equivalent to those mobile-oriented chips in general compute, though its desktop architecture may behave differently in gaming workloads.

The GPU ranks at the 81st percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 37283. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507 (-0.6%), the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A at 38008 (-1.9%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38135 (-2.2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5300M at 36371 (+2.5%). The RTX 4070's position in the 81st percentile for GPUs combined with the CPU's 75th percentile explains why this combo lands in the upper quartile for this game, though not among the absolute top performers.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory runs at 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective. These specifications matter for Microsoft Flight Simulator because the game streams large amounts of terrain and photogrammetry data. The 12 GB capacity is adequate for 4K Ultra settings, where the measured 50.3 FPS suggests the GPU is working hard but not running out of memory.

The GPU's boost clock is 2475 MHz, with a base clock of 1920 MHz. It has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The Ada Lovelace architecture includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, which are relevant for the game's lighting effects and any DLSS implementation. The FP32 throughput is 29.15 TFLOPS, and the texture rate is 455.4 GTexel/s.

The RTX 4070's performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator shows a clear GPU-bound pattern at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 50.3 FPS, which is 47% lower than 4K Low at 97.3 FPS. This large gap indicates that the GPU's compute resources are heavily taxed by the Ultra preset's additional effects and detail levels. The GPU's percentile ranking of 81 among all GPUs puts it above the majority of cards, but not at the very top tier.

At 1080p Low, the 155.3 FPS result suggests the GPU is not the primary constraint at those settings. The frame rate is high enough that the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely the deciding factor. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU's role becomes more dominant, as evidenced by the narrowing of the FPS gap between settings at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 129.8 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. At 1440p Medium, it maintains 101.8 FPS, still above the 100 FPS threshold for fluid gameplay. Even at 4K Medium, the 76.7 FPS result is playable, particularly for a flight simulator where precise control inputs matter more than twitch reflexes.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users with 1080p or 1440p monitors. At 1080p High, the 96.8 FPS result is still very smooth. At 1440p High, 78 FPS is acceptable for most players. However, at 4K High, the 57.2 FPS result begins to feel less fluid, especially during fast descents or when flying over dense urban areas.

The Ultra preset should be reserved for users with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p or those who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. At 1080p Ultra, 91.3 FPS is still quite good. At 1440p Ultra, 75.3 FPS is workable. At 4K Ultra, the 50.3 FPS result is borderline; it may be acceptable for scenic cruising but could feel choppy during dynamic maneuvers.

The Low preset, while delivering 155.3 FPS at 1080p, sacrifices too much visual detail for a game where the scenery is a core part of the experience. The Medium preset at 1440p (101.8 FPS) represents the sweet spot for this hardware combination, offering good detail and smooth performance without pushing the GPU to its limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 155.3 FPS, Medium settings produce 129.8 FPS, High settings produce 96.8 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 91.3 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 25.5 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 33 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is smaller at 5.5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 129.1 FPS, Medium at 101.8 FPS, High at 78 FPS, and Ultra at 75.3 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 2.7 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects have minimal impact at this resolution, or that the GPU is becoming a bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 97.3 FPS, Medium at 76.7 FPS, High at 57.2 FPS, and Ultra at 50.3 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is 6.9 FPS, larger than at 1440p but still modest. The overall trend shows that the system is capable of 4K gaming with this title, but only at Medium settings does it stay comfortably above 60 FPS.

Comparing across resolutions, 1080p Low to 4K Low drops from 155.3 to 97.3 FPS, a 37.3% reduction. 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra drops from 91.3 to 50.3 FPS, a 44.9% reduction. This steeper percentage drop at Ultra settings reinforces that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 14 nm process node and 65 W TDP make it a relatively efficient desktop chip. Its cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F scores 14372 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2029 in single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 7579 multicore and 1979 single-core. The 3DMark results show 5619 for 16 threads, 1691 for 2 threads, and 868 for single-thread. These numbers indicate a solid mid-range desktop CPU that can handle the game's simulation logic and AI computations.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is significant because the game simulates flight physics, weather systems, and air traffic in real time. The 6 cores and 12 threads provide enough parallel processing capacity for these tasks. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures responsive single-threaded performance, which matters for the main game loop and input handling.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 75 among all processors suggests it is above average but not exceptional. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all mobile processors with similar average scores, which is notable because the i5-11400F is a desktop part. This means the desktop CPU's performance advantage is minimal in general compute, but its sustained clock speeds and desktop platform may provide more consistent gaming performance.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 155.3 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited given the low graphical load. At 4K Ultra, the 50.3 FPS result is clearly GPU-limited. The CPU's 12 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel memory bandwidth are adequate for feeding the RTX 4070 without causing significant stutters or frame pacing issues, based on the consistent average FPS values across repeated measurements.