Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a notoriously demanding title, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT produces a dataset that reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. The measured frames per second (FPS) show a system that is capable of smooth flight at high settings in 1080p, but which begins to buckle under the weight of 4K Ultra. The data suggests a balanced pairing at lower resolutions, but a definitive GPU bottleneck emerges as pixel count and graphical fidelity increase. The benchmark results indicate that this combo ranks in the 48th percentile of tested configurations, placing it squarely in the middle of the pack for this specific simulator.

FAQ

Q: What is the best 1080p preset for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The data shows that the Low preset at 1920x1080 achieves 128.8 FPS, while Medium reaches 96.9 FPS, High reaches 72.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is a small 1.2 FPS loss, making High the most sensible choice for a quality-to-performance balance.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25236, which places it 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-13620H and 0.5% above both the AMD EPYC 9474F and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340. It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by 0.5%.

Q: Is the GPU more powerful or less powerful than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080?

A: According to the average benchmark scores, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 35327, which is 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's score of 35787. It is also 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra settings?

A: The difference is significant. At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 75.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers only 42.4 FPS. This represents a 33.3 FPS drop, or about a 44% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Does the GPU have enough video memory for high resolutions?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. The benchmark results at 4K High (43.1 FPS) and 4K Ultra (42.4 FPS) suggest that the memory capacity is sufficient to run the game, though performance is limited by other factors.

Q: What is the single-threaded performance of the i5-13400F?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 960 in 3dmark_single_thread, 302 in Cinebench R15, 1261 in Cinebench R20, and 3004 in Cinebench R23. Its Passmark single-thread score is 3634.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 7 nm process, featuring 2560 shading units and a 192-bit memory interface. Its role in this game's results becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is a key asset for a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast amounts of terrain and scenery data. The card's boost clock of 2600 MHz and game clock of 2495 MHz provide the raw compute throughput needed to process the complex rendering workloads.

The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU has headroom to spare. The difference between High (72.2 FPS) and Ultra (71 FPS) is negligible, suggesting that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting at this resolution. However, as the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU's workload expands exponentially. The 4K results are telling: High yields 43.1 FPS and Ultra yields 42.4 FPS, a meager 0.7 FPS difference. This indicates that the GPU is already saturated, and the additional strain of Ultra settings does not meaningfully change the output. The GPU is the limiting component at this resolution, as its processing power, rather than memory capacity, becomes the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a pronounced scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At the Low preset, performance drops from 128.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 98.5 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 75.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 41.2% decrease in FPS from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is less steep but still significant at the High preset, where FPS drops from 72.2 at 1080p to 61.6 at 1440p (a 14.7% loss), and then to 43.1 at 4K (a 30% loss from 1440p).

This pattern indicates a shift in the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the high frame rate suggests the system is not fully GPU-bound, allowing the CPU to push more frames. As resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shader processing become the primary constraint. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra at 4K (0.7 FPS) versus the larger gap at 1080p (1.2 FPS) suggests that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling at 4K, and the extra work required by Ultra settings cannot be completed in time. The data implies that for a smoother 4K experience, reducing settings from Ultra to High or even Medium (56.8 FPS) yields a more playable frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT pairing ranks 855th out of 1795 combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 48th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly half of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the component's individual positions: the CPU sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 79th percentile of all GPUs.

The ranking suggests that while each component is above average, the combination is not exceptional for this specific game. This could be due to the game's high demand for both single-threaded CPU performance and raw GPU throughput. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, has a slightly higher average score, which might offer a marginal advantage in simulation-heavy scenes. The GPU's position relative to the RTX 3080 (1.3% lower) indicates that the combo is competitive with systems using higher-tier graphics cards from previous generations, but it falls short of top-tier configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full set of measured results provides a comprehensive view of the combo's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 128.8 (Low) down to 71.0 (Ultra). The Medium preset achieves 96.9 FPS, while High achieves 72.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, the scores compress: Low delivers 98.5 FPS, Medium 81.7 FPS, High 61.6 FPS, and Ultra 55.0 FPS. At 3840x2160, the results are lower still: Low produces 75.7 FPS, Medium 56.8 FPS, High 43.1 FPS, and Ultra 42.4 FPS.

The most striking observation is the small delta between High and Ultra at every resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 1.2 FPS; at 1440p, it is 6.6 FPS; and at 4K, it is 0.7 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features do not translate to a proportional performance hit, or that the system is bottlenecked elsewhere. Conversely, the gap between Low and Medium is substantial: a 31.9 FPS jump at 1080p, a 16.8 FPS jump at 1440p, and an 18.9 FPS jump at 4K. This indicates that the Low preset is severely CPU-limited in this game, and that the GPU has significant headroom to handle more work.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience, the High preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended choice, delivering 72.2 FPS. This provides a smooth frame rate while maintaining visual fidelity. The Ultra preset offers almost no benefit at this resolution (71.0 FPS), so it is not worth the performance cost. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset stands out, achieving 81.7 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over High (61.6 FPS) and much smoother than Ultra (55.0 FPS). For users prioritizing frame rate over visual detail, the Low preset at 1440p yields an excellent 98.5 FPS.

At 4K, the data suggests that the High preset is the ceiling for playability, with 43.1 FPS. The Medium preset is a viable alternative, offering 56.8 FPS, which is a 31.7% improvement over High. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as it provides 42.4 FPS, which is nearly identical to High but with a negligible visual gain. Given the GPU's position relative to the RTX 3080, which is only 1.3% faster, these results are expected for this performance class.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with a 20 MB shared L3 cache, provide strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for flight simulators that often rely on a single main simulation thread. The CPU's benchmark scores are robust: it scores 960 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3004 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its multi-threaded scores, such as 21279 in Cinebench R23, indicate ample capacity for background tasks and AI traffic simulation.

The data shows that the CPU is likely the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the frame rate hits 128.8 FPS. This is a high score that suggests the GPU is not fully utilized. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's role diminishes. The CPU's 82nd percentile ranking shows it is a solid performer, but its nearest rivals, such as the Ryzen 5 5600X3D, offer comparable or slightly better performance, which could translate to higher frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The 65W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile choice, but the data indicates that for this game, the GPU is the component that needs upgrading for higher resolutions.