Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The performance trajectory of this Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing in Microsoft Flight Simulator shows a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces 205.3 FPS, which drops to 187 FPS at 1440p and further to 137 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the Low preset, indicating that even at the lowest graphical load, the rendering pipeline is still heavily engaged.

The scaling story changes dramatically when examining the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the system delivers 132.4 FPS, while 1440p Ultra yields 104.2 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 76.4 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is 42.3%, a much steeper decline than the Low preset's 33.3% drop. This widening gap suggests that as graphical complexity increases, the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the limiting factor, with the RTX 4090's massive shading resources being taxed by the simulator's dense geometry and lighting calculations.

The Medium preset occupies the middle ground, delivering 181.8 FPS at 1080p, 142.8 FPS at 1440p, and 108.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage decrease from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 40.4%, closely mirroring the Ultra scaling. High settings produce 140 FPS at 1080p, 106.7 FPS at 1440p, and 79.9 FPS at 4K, for a 42.9% reduction. The consistency of these drops across Medium, High, and Ultra — all hovering near 40% to 43% — points to a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings, where the RTX 4090's 24 GB frame buffer and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being pushed to their limits by the simulator's volumetric clouds and terrain streaming.

At 1080p Low, the system achieves 205.3 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's instruction throughput ceiling for this simulator. The fact that 1440p Low still maintains 187 FPS — only 8.9% lower — reinforces that the i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads are keeping pace admirably at lower settings. The data reveals a system that scales predictably: resolution increases disproportionately punish higher settings, while lower settings remain viable across all three resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 anchors this configuration with its Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU's 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide the raw compute foundation for Microsoft Flight Simulator's visually intensive rendering. The 128 RT cores handle ray-traced effects, while 512 tensor cores accelerate DLSS-related workloads, though the measured FPS data here reflects native rendering without upscaling.

Memory bandwidth is a critical factor for this simulator, which streams vast terrain and photogrammetry data. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X across a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that texture streaming at 4K Ultra does not become a bottleneck. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample headroom for the simulator's draw calls and shader complexity.

The clock behavior of this GPU is noteworthy: base clock of 2235 MHz and boost of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with the 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate, explain why 4K Ultra still maintains 76.4 FPS — a playable frame rate for a flight simulator where smooth camera panning matters more than competitive response times. The GPU's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design indicate substantial thermal headroom for sustained loads, which is relevant for long flight sessions where the simulator continuously renders complex scenery.

The RTX 4090's benchmark results reinforce its position: it scores 38,194 in Passmark G3D and 26,613 in GPU compute, with a percentile ranking of 91 among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database — the NVIDIA Tesla T4, Tesla P40, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, and Quadro P6000 — all score within 1.3% of the RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66,473, though these are professional compute cards with different driver optimizations. For gaming specifically, the RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 24 GB VRAM give it a decisive advantage in modern titles that leverage DirectX 12 Ultimate features.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF brings Alder Lake architecture to this pairing, with 10 cores and 16 threads operating at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost of 4.90 GHz. This hybrid design combines performance and efficiency cores, though the FACT PACK does not specify their distribution. The 20 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide the memory hierarchy needed for the simulator's complex AI and physics calculations.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12600KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 23,444, while single-core reaches 3,309. Geekbench shows 12,373 multicore and 2,529 single-core. The Passmark multithread score of 27,575 and single-thread score of 3,925 indicate balanced performance that translates well to flight simulation, where the main thread handles aircraft systems while background threads manage scenery loading and AI traffic.

The CPU's 3DMark results show scaling from 1,016 single-thread to 7,956 for 16 threads, indicating efficient thread utilization. The i5-12600KF's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it above average, with its nearest rival — the Intel Core i9-10900K — scoring nearly identical at 27,829 versus 27,827 average. This parity is remarkable given the i5's newer architecture and lower core count, suggesting that Alder Lake's IPC improvements compensate for fewer cores.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 205.3 FPS result suggests the CPU is feeding the GPU adequately, but the drop to 137 FPS at 4K Low — a 33.3% reduction — indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU's workload scales significantly with resolution. The i5-12600KF's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a flexible choice for overclocking, though the measured data reflects stock clocks. Its support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory gives platform flexibility, though the FACT PACK does not specify which memory type was used in these tests.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 33rd out of 1,795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 1.8% of all configurations. This top-tier ranking is expected given the RTX 4090's position as an end-of-life flagship, but it also validates that the i5-12600KF does not bottleneck the GPU significantly in this title.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the i9-10900K at 0% delta, i5-12600K at -0.1%, Core Ultra 5 125H at -0.2%, and i7-13700H at 0.4% — all cluster within half a percent of the i5-12600KF's average score of 27,827. This tight grouping suggests that the CPU choice has minimal impact on overall system ranking in this simulator, provided the GPU is identical. The RTX 4090's nearest GPU rivals — Tesla T4 at -0.4%, Tesla P40 at 0.5%, Radeon Pro Vega 56 at -0.9%, and Quadro P6000 at -1.3% — are all professional cards, meaning the RTX 4090 is effectively the top consumer GPU in this database.

The combination's rank of 33 out of 1,795 implies that only 32 configurations achieve higher FPS in this game. Given the RTX 4090's end-of-life status, those higher-ranked combos likely pair it with newer or higher-clocked CPUs, but the i5-12600KF's 4.90 GHz boost clock and 10-core layout clearly suffice for near-top-tier performance. The data suggests diminishing returns: moving from rank 33 to the top 10 would require a CPU upgrade that yields perhaps 5-10% FPS gains at most, based on the synthetic benchmark parity among rivals.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 205.3 FPS, Medium reaches 181.8 FPS, High hits 140 FPS, and Ultra drops to 132.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 72.9 FPS, or 35.5%, showing that even at this resolution, settings have a substantial impact. The step from High to Ultra is only 7.6 FPS (5.4%), suggesting that Ultra's additional effects — likely enhanced shadows and reflections — are relatively modest at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected scaling. Low produces 187 FPS, Medium 142.8 FPS, High 106.7 FPS, and Ultra 104.2 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra delta at 1440p is 82.8 FPS (44.3%), wider than at 1080p. Notably, the High-to-Ultra gap shrinks to just 2.5 FPS (2.3%), indicating that at 1440p, Ultra settings are nearly indistinguishable from High in performance terms — a useful data point for players seeking maximum visual quality without significant FPS loss.

At 3840x2160, the system still maintains playable frame rates across all settings. Low yields 137 FPS, Medium 108.4 FPS, High 79.9 FPS, and Ultra 76.4 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra delta is 60.6 FPS (44.2%), consistent with the 1440p scaling. The High-to-Ultra gap at 4K is 3.5 FPS (4.4%), again minimal. The 4K Low result of 137 FPS is particularly strong, proving that this combination can drive high refresh rate 4K displays in lighter scenarios, while 4K Ultra's 76.4 FPS remains smooth for a simulator genre where 60 FPS is often considered the target.

The most striking comparison across resolutions is the Low preset: 205.3 FPS at 1080p versus 137 FPS at 4K represents the smallest absolute drop among all settings (68.3 FPS), while Ultra drops 56 FPS from 132.4 to 76.4. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU plays a larger role in limiting performance, while at Ultra, the GPU's work dominates. The Medium preset shows the largest absolute drop (73.4 FPS from 181.8 to 108.4), indicating that Medium settings create a balanced workload that scales most steeply with resolution. For players targeting specific frame rates, these numbers indicate that 1440p Ultra at 104.2 FPS offers the best visual-to-performance ratio, while 4K Ultra at 76.4 FPS remains viable for those prioritizing image quality.