Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with Intel Core i5-12400F + AMD Radeon RX 580

This pairing combines a 12th-generation Intel six-core processor with an AMD Polaris-based graphics card that was already considered mature when this flight simulator launched in August 2020. The data shows a combination that can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p with reduced settings, but struggles significantly at higher resolutions. The Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, boosts to 4.40 GHz and sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs tested, while the RX 580, with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, lands in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Together, they rank 1651st out of 1795 tested combinations for this game, placing them in the lower tier of system configurations for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for playable performance?

A: The only configuration that exceeds 50 FPS is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which averages 57.2 FPS. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average drops to 41.3 FPS, and High settings yield 32.4 FPS. For a smoother experience, 2560x1440 Low averages 40.6 FPS, but anything higher at that resolution falls below 33 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-8700K at 19210 (only 0.1% difference) and the Intel Core i5-1335U at 19167 (0.3% ahead). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% and beats the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score of 13559 puts it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 at 13564 (a 0% delta), with the GTX 950 just 0.1% behind. The AMD Radeon Pro 455 trails by 1.1%, while the NVIDIA P106-090 leads by 1.1%.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck this game at 1080p?

A: The frame rate scaling from Low to Ultra at 1920x1080 suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. At Low settings the average is 57.2 FPS, but stepping up to Medium drops it to 41.3 FPS, High to 32.4 FPS, and Ultra to 29.6 FPS. This significant performance hit with each settings tier indicates the RX 580's rendering capacity is the constraint.

Q: Is this CPU capable of handling more demanding graphics cards?

A: Yes. The i5-12400F scores 16518 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2332 in single-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 19433. Its 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates substantial headroom beyond what the RX 580 can utilize in this title.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: This combination ranks 1651st out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of systems tested for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This reflects the GPU's age and position in the 53rd GPU percentile.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 brings 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and it contains 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s, with 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the data shows this GPU is the primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080, the spread between Low settings (57.2 FPS) and Ultra settings (29.6 FPS) is 27.6 FPS, a 48% reduction in performance. At 2560x1440, the same settings range yields 40.6 FPS down to 25.8 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it drops to 33.3 FPS at Low and 17.1 FPS at Ultra. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that runs out of shading and texture throughput as resolution and quality demands increase.

The RX 580's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 43 (PassMark) and DirectX 11 score of 60 illustrate its modest API performance relative to modern cards. Its Vulkan score of 45173 in Geekbench and OpenCL score of 37453 provide additional context for its compute capabilities. Given its 53rd percentile ranking and the fact that its nearest rivals include the GTX 570 and GTX 950, this GPU is firmly in the entry-level to mid-range category for this demanding simulator.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 57.2 FPS, which drops to 40.6 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 29% reduction) and further to 33.3 FPS at 3840x2160 (another 18% drop from 1440p). At High settings, the progression is 32.4 FPS at 1080p, 26.8 FPS at 1440p, and 20.3 FPS at 4K.

The Medium settings tier shows similar scaling: 41.3 FPS at 1080p, 32.3 FPS at 1440p, and 25.8 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings yield 29.6 FPS at 1080p, 25.8 FPS at 1440p, and 17.1 FPS at 4K. The fact that 1440p Ultra (25.8 FPS) performs identically to 4K Medium (25.8 FPS) suggests that beyond a certain point, the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are saturated regardless of the specific quality preset.

This scaling behavior indicates that the RX 580's 256-bit memory interface and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the high-resolution texture streaming that Microsoft Flight Simulator requires. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for most scenarios, but the bandwidth constraint becomes apparent at 1440p and above. For users targeting 1080p, the GPU can deliver acceptable frame rates at Low settings, but the experience degrades quickly with higher quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1651st out of 1795 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the system in the bottom 8% of all configurations benchmarked for this game, which is consistent with the GPU's 53rd percentile standing among all graphics cards.

The CPU's 77th percentile ranking (19221 average benchmark score) is substantially higher than the GPU's 53rd percentile, indicating a significant imbalance in this pairing. The i5-12400F's nearest rivals — the i7-8700K, i5-1335U, Ryzen 5 7533HS, and EPYC 7773X — all have average scores within 1.3% of the i5-12400F, showing that this processor is competitive with a wide range of other CPUs. However, the RX 580's rivals are all much older or lower-tier cards, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor in this combination.

For a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for demanding both CPU and GPU resources, this combo's low ranking reflects its inability to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The data suggests that users with this configuration should prioritize 1080p gaming with adjusted settings rather than attempting to push higher resolutions, as the performance cliff at 1440p and 4K is steep.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400F demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 and a PassMark multithread score of 19433. Its single-thread performance is equally solid, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 2332 and PassMark single-thread at 3481. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 909 in single-thread to 5895 in 16-thread tests, indicating good utilization of its 12 threads.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the complex flight dynamics, weather simulation, and scenery processing. The i5-12400F's 12 threads provide sufficient parallel processing capability, and its 4.40 GHz boost clock ensures responsive single-thread performance for the game's main simulation loop. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration, as the frame rates drop consistently with increased GPU load from higher resolutions and settings.

The CPU's 77th percentile ranking and its benchmark scores, which are within 1.3% of several rival processors, confirm that it is a capable mid-range option. Its 65 W TDP and active production status also indicate that it remains a relevant choice, even if the GPU pairing in this test holds it back.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance: Low settings average 57.2 FPS, which is the only configuration exceeding 50 FPS. Medium settings average 41.3 FPS, High settings 32.4 FPS, and Ultra settings 29.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 27.6 FPS, showing the GPU's sensitivity to quality preset changes.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably: Low averages 40.6 FPS, Medium 32.3 FPS, High 26.8 FPS, and Ultra 25.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 14.8 FPS, a smaller absolute spread than at 1080p but representing a proportional decline. Notably, 1440p Ultra (25.8 FPS) matches 4K Medium (25.8 FPS) exactly, suggesting a hard performance ceiling for this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings: Low averages 33.3 FPS, Medium 25.8 FPS, High 20.3 FPS, and Ultra 17.1 FPS. Even at Low settings, 4K performance is below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered minimum for playable, and Ultra settings produce a stutter-prone 17.1 FPS average.

The data indicates that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming with Low to Medium settings, where it can achieve 41-57 FPS. For 1440p, Low settings provide a playable 40.6 FPS, but any higher quality preset pushes the system below 33 FPS. At 4K, the system is not viable for smooth gameplay, as even Low settings yield only 33.3 FPS and higher presets fall into the 17-26 FPS range. These results are consistent with the combo's 1651st ranking out of 1795 tested configurations, confirming that this pairing is at the lower end of the performance spectrum for Microsoft Flight Simulator.