Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination in Microsoft Flight Simulator presents a study in balance and bottleneck behavior. The measured data, spanning three resolutions and four quality presets, reveals a system where the GPU’s performance ceiling is the primary constraint at higher settings, while the CPU’s six-core architecture provides a stable foundation. The benchmark results indicate a setup that is well-matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but one that begins to show its limitations when pushing 4K Ultra, where the average frame rate drops to the high 30s.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions is telling. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 112.3 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 87.1 FPS, a 22.4% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 65.8 FPS, which is a 41.4% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario at lower quality presets, where the pixel count directly dictates the workload for the RTX 2070 SUPER.

However, the scaling becomes more complex at higher settings. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (67.4 FPS) to 1440p (50 FPS) is 25.8%, and then from 1440p to 4K (40.8 FPS) is 18.4%. The diminishing percentage drop at 4K suggests that the CPU is starting to play a larger role in limiting performance. The game’s simulation logic, which is heavily single-threaded, appears to be a factor at this resolution, as the frame rate does not scale down as aggressively as the pixel count increases. The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component, but at 4K, the i5-12400’s architectural limits begin to surface, preventing the GPU from being fully utilized even when the graphical load is high.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo based on the measured FPS?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS across all presets, with an average of 62.2 FPS at Ultra and 112.3 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (87.1 FPS) and Medium preset (68 FPS) break the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400’s average benchmark score of 19850 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894). It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771) and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19928).

Q: What is the performance delta between the RTX 2070 SUPER and its nearest rival, the RTX 4060 Mobile?

A: In the GPU benchmark data, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s average score of 22206 is 2.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile’s score of 22729. It is also 0.9% higher than the GeForce GTX TITAN Z’s score of 22006.

Q: Does the CPU’s boost clock matter for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Given that Microsoft Flight Simulator is known for heavy simulation workloads, the ability to reach 4.40 GHz on a single core is likely beneficial for the game’s primary thread, though the data does not isolate this specific effect.

Q: What is the combo’s standing among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1099 out of 1795 tested combos in this game. This places it in the top 61.2% of all tested systems, indicating a mid-to-lower tier position relative to the entire database.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: The difference is 50.1 FPS. The Low preset yields an average of 112.3 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields an average of 62.2 FPS, representing a 44.6% reduction in performance when moving to the highest quality settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of the performance trade-offs. For a smooth experience at 1920x1080, the High preset offers an average of 67.4 FPS, which is a good balance between visual fidelity and fluidity. The Ultra preset at this resolution still achieves 62.2 FPS, which is playable, but the data suggests that the jump from High to Ultra costs 5.2 FPS, a relatively small penalty for the potential visual improvement. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the highest setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 68 FPS. The High preset at 1440p falls to 50 FPS, which may be acceptable for a flight simulator but is not ideal for all users. For 4K, the data shows that even the Low preset (65.8 FPS) is the only viable option for a 60 FPS target, while Medium and High drop to 50 FPS and 40.8 FPS respectively.

The best experience, considering the measured rows, appears to be the High preset at 1920x1080. This configuration provides a stable frame rate above 60 FPS while offering a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset. For users with 1440p monitors, the Medium preset is the recommended choice to avoid dropping below the 60 FPS threshold. Pushing to Ultra at 1080p is possible but yields diminishing returns in frame rate, making High the sweet spot for this hardware pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 1099 out of 1795 combos, this system sits in the 61st percentile of all tested configurations for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a notable position, as it indicates that while this pairing is not top-tier, it outperforms a majority of other systems in the database. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of the i5-12400 and RTX 2070 SUPER, which together provide a competent but not exceptional experience in this demanding title. The data implies that the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs are not directly additive; the game’s specific engine bottlenecks prevent the combo from achieving a higher rank. The gap between this combo and higher-ranked systems likely stems from both a lack of additional GPU memory bandwidth and the CPU’s core count, which is sufficient but not extraordinary for the simulation’s background tasks.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are key metrics for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on a single main thread for its simulation loop. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249, is critical for maintaining frame pacing. The benchmark results show that this processor is capable of feeding the RTX 2070 SUPER adequately at 1080p, where the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. However, at 4K, the frame rate drops suggest that the CPU’s processing of game logic may be limiting the GPU’s output. The L3 cache of 18 MB (shared) is also a factor; flight simulators often require large data sets to be quickly accessible, and this cache size is reasonable for the task. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking against all CPUs, along with its average benchmark score of 19850, confirms it is a solid mid-range performer. The data indicates that the CPU is not a weak link at lower resolutions, but its architectural limits become apparent at higher resolutions where the GPU workload is more intense.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are: Low 112.3 FPS, Medium 85.3 FPS, High 67.4 FPS, and Ultra 62.2 FPS. The scaling between presets is consistent, with a 27 FPS difference between Low and Medium, and an additional 17.9 FPS drop when moving to High. The Ultra preset is only 5.2 FPS lower than High, suggesting diminishing returns in performance cost. At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 87.1 FPS, Medium 68 FPS, High 50 FPS, and Ultra 46.6 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is 18 FPS, which is a substantial penalty for the visual upgrade. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 65.8 FPS, Medium 50 FPS, High 40.8 FPS, and Ultra 37.9 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra here is only 2.9 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is not worth the performance cost. The data also reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra presets shrinks as resolution increases: 50.1 FPS at 1080p, 40.5 FPS at 1440p, and 27.9 FPS at 4K. This trend confirms that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions, with the CPU’s role in determining the final frame rate diminishing relative to the pixel-pushing workload.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz are standard for the 20-series. The GPU’s performance in this game is directly tied to its memory bandwidth and compute capabilities. The measured FPS shows that at 1440p and 4K, the GPU is the primary limiter, as the frame rates scale closely with the pixel count. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the presets tested, but the data does not indicate whether higher-resolution texture packs would exceed this limit. The GPU’s benchmark scores, including a Passmark G3D score of 18169 and an average benchmark score of 22206, place it in the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4060 Mobile, is 2.3% faster in synthetic benchmarks, but the in-game data for this specific title is what matters. The GPU’s 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for the pixel throughput, and the results show that at 4K Ultra, the card is simply overburdened, producing an average of 37.9 FPS. The data suggests that for this game, the RTX 2070 SUPER is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but it lacks the raw power to deliver high frame rates at 4K with maximum settings.