Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator pairs the Intel Core i5-12400F with the AMD Radeon RX 9070, and the measured frame rates reveal a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions and presets. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, yet one that begins to show strain as pixel count and graphical fidelity increase, with the GPU emerging as the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic and consistent drop in performance across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 157.9 FPS at 1080p to 122.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 88.8 FPS at 4K — a reduction of 69.1 FPS, or roughly 44%, when moving from the lowest to the highest resolution tested. This scaling is steep, but it is at the High preset where the pattern becomes most telling: 88.9 FPS at 1080p drops to 72 FPS at 1440p, then to 55.1 FPS at 4K, a cumulative loss of 33.8 FPS.

The fact that 4K Low still achieves 88.8 FPS while 4K High manages only 55.1 FPS strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau or diverge less between presets as resolution increases, since the processor’s workload remains relatively constant regardless of pixel count. Instead, the data shows that raising resolution from 1080p to 1440p at High settings costs 16.9 FPS, while the same resolution jump at Low costs 35.5 FPS — a larger absolute drop at lower settings, which is counterintuitive unless the GPU is already saturated. This pattern suggests that at Low settings, the RX 9070 is still capable of feeding frames quickly enough that the CPU becomes more relevant, but as resolution climbs, pixel throughput dominates, and the graphics card’s 16 GB of VRAM and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are pushed harder.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more telling: 88.1 FPS at 1080p, 68.4 FPS at 1440p, and 49.7 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K is 38.4 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than the Low preset’s 69.1 FPS drop, but the percentage loss is similar. This consistency across presets reinforces that the RX 9070’s compute throughput — 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 and 322.6 GPixel/s — is the ceiling, not the i5-12400F’s six cores.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a smooth experience at 4K, the data points to Medium settings as the sweet spot. At 3840x2160, Medium yields 71.6 FPS, which is 16.5 FPS higher than High’s 55.1 FPS and 21.9 FPS above Ultra’s 49.7 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 16.5 FPS, a significant penalty for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a flight simulator where terrain detail and cloud rendering matter more than raw texture sharpness. Low at 4K does offer 88.8 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial, and the 17.2 FPS gain over Medium may not justify the loss in scenery fidelity.

At 1440p, the choice is closer. High achieves 72 FPS, which is playable, but Medium’s 99.6 FPS provides a much larger headroom cushion for complex scenes, such as dense city flyovers or stormy weather, where frame rates can dip. Ultra at 1440p delivers 68.4 FPS, which is only 3.6 FPS below High, suggesting that the preset’s additional effects are not overly punishing at this resolution. For 1080p users, High at 88.9 FPS is nearly identical to Ultra at 88.1 FPS — a 0.8 FPS difference — so High is the rational pick unless the Ultra-specific enhancements are desired. Medium at 121.4 FPS is the highest preset that still exceeds 120 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, while Low’s 157.9 FPS is the only configuration that truly maximizes a 144Hz display.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast amounts of terrain and photogrammetry data, this memory capacity is likely a critical factor in preventing stutter at 4K Ultra, where the game can consume significant VRAM. The measured 49.7 FPS at 4K Ultra, while not high, is stable enough to suggest that the 16 GB buffer is not being exhausted — if it were, we would expect severe frame time spikes rather than a consistent average.

Clock speeds play a role in the scaling observed. The GPU’s boost clock is 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz, and the memory runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective). The fact that 1080p Low reaches 157.9 FPS indicates that the GPU’s 3584 shading units and 224 TMUs are not the limiting factor at lower resolutions; instead, the CPU’s single-thread performance (a 3dmark single-thread score of 909) likely caps the frame rate. As resolution increases, the GPU’s pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s becomes more relevant, and the drop from 157.9 FPS to 88.8 FPS at 4K Low shows the rasterization load growing. The 56 RT cores are present, but Microsoft Flight Simulator’s primary rendering load is traditional rasterization, so their impact is likely secondary to the raw shader throughput.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the i5-12400F and RX 9070 ranks 566th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places it in the 68.5th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of the systems tested for this game. The rank is respectable, but it is not elite — the top combos likely pair higher-core-count CPUs with more powerful GPUs, as flight simulators are known to benefit from both strong single-thread performance and substantial multi-core throughput.

The CPU’s overall percentile is 77th, and the GPU’s is 79th, so neither component is a weak link in a vacuum. However, the combo rank being lower than either component’s individual percentile suggests that the pairing does not scale as well as it could. The i5-12400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate, but its 3dmark max-threads score of 5912 is far below what a high-end CPU would offer, and this could hold back the RX 9070 in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 157.9 FPS, but this is likely near the CPU’s limit; a stronger processor might push this higher, but the GPU would then become the constraint.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 or DDR5) are typical for a mid-range desktop part. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on a single main thread for game logic and physics, the i5-12400F’s single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 909, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2332) is likely the determining factor for frame rates at low resolutions.

The measured 157.9 FPS at 1080p Low is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower settings. However, at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 88.1 FPS, which is nearly the same as 4K High at 55.1 FPS — wait, that is not correct; 1080p Ultra is 88.1 FPS, and 4K High is 55.1 FPS, so the gap is 33 FPS. The key observation is that 1080p Ultra (88.1 FPS) is very close to 1080p High (88.9 FPS), a difference of only 0.8 FPS, while 1440p Ultra (68.4 FPS) is 19.7 FPS lower than 1080p Ultra. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is still partially limiting, as raising settings from High to Ultra does not reduce the frame rate much — the CPU is the bottleneck, not the GPU. At 1440p and above, the GPU takes over, and the CPU’s role diminishes.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are: Low at 157.9 FPS, Medium at 121.4 FPS, High at 88.9 FPS, and Ultra at 88.1 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 32.5 FPS, which is a significant jump, while High and Ultra are nearly identical, differing by just 0.8 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset’s added effects (likely higher shadow quality and more detailed reflections) do not tax the GPU much at this resolution, but the CPU’s limit is reached around 88 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the figures are: Low at 122.4 FPS, Medium at 99.6 FPS, High at 72 FPS, and Ultra at 68.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.5 FPS at Low, 21.8 FPS at Medium, 16.9 FPS at High, and 19.7 FPS at Ultra. The smaller absolute drops at higher settings confirm that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, as the additional pixel load affects all presets but is less pronounced when the GPU is already working harder.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 88.8 FPS, Medium at 71.6 FPS, High at 55.1 FPS, and Ultra at 49.7 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe: 33.6 FPS lost at Low, 28 FPS at Medium, 16.9 FPS at High, and 18.7 FPS at Ultra. Notably, the absolute drop from Medium to High at 4K is 16.5 FPS, which is larger than the 3.6 FPS drop from High to Ultra, suggesting that the High preset introduces a specific rendering feature (perhaps more dynamic lighting) that is disproportionately expensive at 4K.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Ultra with this combo?

A: The measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 49.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but still playable for a flight simulator.

Q: Does the i5-12400F bottleneck the RX 9070 at 1080p?

A: The data suggests yes, partially. At 1080p, High delivers 88.9 FPS and Ultra delivers 88.1 FPS, a difference of only 0.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU’s single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 909) is limiting the frame rate rather than the GPU’s capabilities.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of quality and performance?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves 72 FPS. This is a solid frame rate for a simulator, and the 1440p resolution offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p without the steep performance cost of 4K, where High drops to 55.1 FPS.

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

A: 1080p Low runs at 157.9 FPS, which is 69.8 FPS higher than 1080p Ultra’s 88.1 FPS. This represents a 79% improvement in frame rate, but it comes at the cost of significantly reduced visual fidelity.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 rank 566th out of 1795 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the upper third of all systems tested.

Q: Does the RX 9070’s 16 GB VRAM appear sufficient for this game?

A: Based on the measured frame rates, yes. The stable 49.7 FPS at 4K Ultra, without signs of severe stuttering, implies that the 16 GB GDDR6 buffer is adequate for the game’s high-resolution textures and streaming terrain data.