Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is an exceptionally demanding title, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a fascinating dataset. The data reveals a system where the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, even at extreme resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across presets and resolutions, showing how this combination behaves in practice.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows an unusual pattern: the performance drop from 1080p to 4K is much smaller than what is typically seen with high-end GPUs. At High settings, the average frame rate moves from 130.7 FPS at 1920x1080 down to 81.3 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 37.8% decrease in performance when quadrupling the pixel count. For a game like this, that relatively modest drop indicates a significant CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions, preventing the RTX 4090 from stretching its legs.

Looking at the Low preset, the trend is even more telling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 157 FPS, while at 1440p Low it hits 148.8 FPS, and at 4K Low it still manages 128.4 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 1440p is a mere 5.2% reduction in frame rate, which is remarkably small. This suggests that at Low settings, the simulation logic and CPU processing are the primary constraints, not the graphics card. The RTX 4090 is powerful enough that it can handle the low graphical load at any of these resolutions without breaking a sweat.

The Medium preset shows a similar story. The system delivers 142.3 FPS at 1080p, 135.9 FPS at 1440p, and 107.3 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 4.5%, but the jump to 4K costs a more substantial 21.1% performance. This indicates that as the preset increases, the GPU starts to become more relevant, but the CPU is still holding back the lower resolutions. The Ultra preset, however, shows the most pronounced scaling. From 129.1 FPS at 1080p to 105.9 FPS at 1440p and 77.2 FPS at 4K, the performance loss is 18.0% and then 27.1% respectively.

The data clearly shows that this combo is CPU-limited at 1080p and 1440p across all presets. The 4K results are the only ones where the GPU workload begins to dominate, but even then, the frame rates remain extremely high. For a user with a 1440p monitor, the difference between High and Ultra settings is only 1.5 FPS, which is negligible. This means the user can likely run Ultra at 1440p without worrying about a significant framerate penalty, as the limiting factor is the CPU's ability to feed the simulation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a monolithic powerhouse, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. The data shows it has 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 128 RT cores and 512 Tensor cores. Its memory subsystem is equally impressive, with 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2235 MHz, boosting up to 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz, effectively 21 Gbps.

In this specific game, the GPU's role is to render the world, but the bottleneck analysis suggests it is often waiting for the CPU. The RTX 4090's raw compute power, with 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is more than sufficient for the graphical demands of Microsoft Flight Simulator. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s mean it can easily handle the detailed terrain and aircraft models at high resolutions.

The 24 GB of VRAM is a critical asset for this game. Microsoft Flight Simulator streams vast amounts of map data, and the large memory pool ensures that textures and geometry remain resident, avoiding stutters. The data shows that the GPU is never the limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, as the frame rates are consistently high. Even at 4K Ultra, the 77.2 FPS average is well above playable thresholds, and the GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is likely sufficient for the high-resolution textures.

The nearest rivals for the GPU, based on average benchmark scores, include the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which is 0.4% faster, and the NVIDIA Tesla P40, which is 0.5% slower. However, these are professional compute cards, not gaming hardware. The RTX 4090's percentile of 91 against all GPUs indicates it sits in the top tier of performance. In this game, the GPU's role is to provide enough headroom that the CPU becomes the primary limiter, which is the opposite of most gaming scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks at position 110 out of 1795 tested combos in this game. This places it in the top 6.1% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result. The high rank is almost entirely due to the GPU's immense power, as the CPU is a more modest mid-range part.

The CPU itself has a percentile of 75 against all CPUs, and its average benchmark score is 17181. This places it in the upper half of processors, but it is not a top-tier chip. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which scores 17189 (a delta of 0%), the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17215 (-0.2%). This shows that the i5-11400F is competitive with these mobile and low-power parts but is not a heavyweight contender.

The rank of 110 is impressive because it demonstrates that even with a relatively modest CPU, the sheer power of the RTX 4090 can carry the system to a high position. The data suggests that if the CPU were upgraded, the combo could rank even higher, but as it stands, this pairing is well above average. The fact that it ranks this high despite the CPU bottleneck reflects the GPU's capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 77.2 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 157 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 129.1 FPS, making Low 21.6% faster.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p High?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 High, the system achieves 107.4 FPS, which is very close to the 4K High result of 81.3 FPS. The small scaling drop suggests the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The launch MSRP of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 1,599 USD.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17189, a delta of 0%.

Q: What is the L3 cache size of the CPU?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has 12 MB of shared L3 cache.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear path for optimal settings. At 1080p, the difference between High and Ultra is minimal, with 130.7 FPS versus 129.1 FPS, a mere 1.2% difference. Given this, there is no reason not to run Ultra at 1080p, as the performance hit is negligible. The CPU is the bottleneck here, so graphical settings have little impact on frame rate.

At 1440p, the story is similar. High yields 107.4 FPS, while Ultra yields 105.9 FPS, a difference of only 1.4%. Again, the CPU is the limiting factor, so running Ultra is the best choice. The 1.5 FPS cost is imperceptible, and the visual fidelity gains are worth it. The Medium preset offers 135.9 FPS, but the jump to Ultra is only 22.1% slower, which is a reasonable trade for the visual improvement.

At 4K, the GPU begins to matter more. High settings produce 81.3 FPS, while Ultra produces 77.2 FPS, a 5.0% difference. Both are playable, but if you want the best visual experience, Ultra is still viable. The Medium preset at 107.3 FPS is significantly faster, but the visual quality drop is noticeable. For a flight simulator, where immersion is key, the recommendation is to run Ultra at 1080p or 1440p, and High or Ultra at 4K, depending on your preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. The data shows that this system is so powerful that even the highest settings are well within playable range.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built 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 cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU is the critical component for simulating flight physics, weather, and AI traffic. The benchmark results show that this CPU is often the limiting factor. The single-threaded performance is decent, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2029. The multi-threaded performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 7579.

The data indicates that the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for the game's simulation workload, but they are not enough to fully feed the RTX 4090 at lower resolutions. The fact that the frame rates barely change between 1080p and 1440p across all presets proves that the CPU is the bottleneck. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz helps with the single-threaded tasks, but the game's reliance on the CPU is evident.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which has a nearly identical average score, and the Intel Core i7-1260P, which is 0.2% slower. This shows that the i5-11400F is a solid mid-range performer. In this combo, the CPU's role is to provide adequate simulation performance, and while it does that, it cannot keep up with the GPU's raw power. The result is a system that is CPU-bound in most scenarios, meaning that upgrading the CPU would yield significant frame rate gains, but the current pairing still delivers excellent playable performance across all tested settings.