Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents a demanding rendering workload, and the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT show a clear progression as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 147.4 FPS, which drops to 120.6 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 89.1 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 39.6% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU is beginning to feel the strain of higher pixel counts.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. With Medium settings, the combo delivers 115.6 FPS at 1080p, 91.9 FPS at 1440p, and 66.3 FPS at 4K — a 42.6% drop from the lowest to highest resolution. For High settings, the figures are 88.6 FPS, 69 FPS, and 47.4 FPS respectively, a 46.5% decline. The Ultra preset shows similar behavior: 81.9 FPS at 1080p, 66.6 FPS at 1440p, and 47.7 FPS at 4K, a 41.8% drop.

The fact that frame rates decline by roughly 40-47% across the resolution range, regardless of preset, suggests the system is not purely GPU-bound at 1080p. If the GPU were the sole limiting factor, the scaling from 1080p to 4K would typically show a larger proportional drop. Instead, the relatively modest scaling at Low settings — where 1080p yields 147.4 FPS but 4K still manages 89.1 FPS — indicates that the CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are providing sufficient headroom to feed the GPU even at higher resolutions. The data points to a balanced configuration where neither component becomes a severe bottleneck until the Ultra preset at 4K, where the 47.7 FPS result approaches the threshold where fluid simulation becomes less comfortable.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1,795 tested combinations in the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 644th for Microsoft Flight Simulator. That places it in the upper third of all tested combos, roughly the 64th percentile. The ranking reflects the system's ability to maintain playable frame rates across most settings, though it does not crack the top tier of configurations.

The CPU's individual standing provides context for this result. The Core i5-14400F sits at the 88th percentile among all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 32,508. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with an average score of 32,513 (a delta of 0%), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 32,446 (0.2% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 at 32,584 (0.2% faster). The tight grouping of these scores — all within 0.2% — shows that the i5-14400F delivers processing power squarely in line with other mid-range and older high-end parts.

The GPU ranks at the 76th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32,619. Its nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 at 32,540 (0.2% slower), the NVIDIA P104-100 at 32,747 (0.4% faster), and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile at 32,849 (0.7% faster). The RX 7800 XT's score is competitive with these parts, though the deltaPct values indicate it sits slightly below the NVIDIA offerings in raw compute benchmarks.

The combo's overall rank of 644 out of 1,795 — rather than a higher position closer to the 88th percentile of the CPU or 76th of the GPU — suggests that Microsoft Flight Simulator's specific demands do not perfectly align with the strengths of either component. The game's heavy reliance on single-threaded performance and large world streaming may not fully utilize the i5-14400F's multi-core capacity, while the GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is ample but not the sole determinant of performance in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-R architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, boosting to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3. This configuration delivers strong multi-threaded performance — a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,914 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 25,783 — while single-thread results are also respectable: Cinebench R23 single-core at 3,093 and PassMark single-thread at 3,723.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is primarily to handle the simulation logic, physics, and world-streaming tasks. The game is known to be sensitive to single-core performance, and the i5-14400F's 4.70 GHz boost clock provides solid headroom. The measured FPS at 1080p Low — 147.4 FPS — shows that the CPU can drive frame rates well above typical display refresh rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. The fact that dropping to 4K Low only reduces FPS to 89.1, rather than a more dramatic decline, indicates the CPU is not the primary limiter in this scenario.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i5-14400F's average benchmark score of 32,508 is essentially identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,513) and marginally ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32,446). The AMD Ryzen 7 250 edges it out slightly at 32,584 (a 0.2% advantage). These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, but the data suggests that the i5-14400F holds its own against parts from different generations and architectures.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache is relevant for flight simulation, where terrain and scenery data can be reused across frames. While the benchmark data does not isolate cache effects, the combination of high clocks and respectable cache size supports the frame rates observed in the measured results.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain high frame rates?

A: At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo achieves 115.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. For 1440p, Medium settings yield 91.9 FPS, and even High settings at 1440p deliver 69 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings (89.1 FPS) and Medium (66.3 FPS) remain playable — High and Ultra drop to 47.4 FPS and 47.7 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 7800 XT has an average benchmark score of 32,619. It is 0.2% faster than the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32,540) and 0.7% faster than the AMD FirePro S10000 (32,388), but 0.4% slower than the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,747) and 0.7% slower than the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more limiting in this game?

A: The data shows the system is relatively balanced. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 147.4 FPS, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is feeding the GPU adequately. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is about 39.6%, which is less than what a purely GPU-bound scenario would show, indicating the CPU contributes to limiting performance even at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has a launch MSRP of $196. This figure is provided as reference; no pricing analysis is offered.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and does it matter here?

A: The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS data does not show VRAM capacity being a limiting factor — even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 47.7 FPS, suggesting the 16 GB buffer is sufficient for this game's demands.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in the database?

A: For Microsoft Flight Simulator, this CPU-GPU pairing ranks 644th out of 1,795 tested combinations. The CPU alone sits at the 88th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 76th percentile of all GPUs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process. It contains 28,100 million transistors across a 346 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1295 MHz with a boost clock of 2430 MHz, and a game clock of 2124 MHz. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective), delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth over a 256-bit bus.

The GPU's compute resources include 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also features 60 ray tracing cores, though the measured FPS data does not specify ray tracing performance. The FP32 throughput is 37.32 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 74.65 TFLOPS (2:1). These specifications place the RX 7800 XT in the upper-mid range of the GPU hierarchy, as reflected by its 76th percentile ranking.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is to render the complex scenery, weather effects, and aircraft models. The benchmark results show that the GPU handles the game well at lower resolutions: 147.4 FPS at 1080p Low and 120.6 FPS at 1440p Low. However, the strain becomes evident at higher quality presets. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 47.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target that many users prefer for a smooth experience.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is notable for a game that streams large amounts of terrain data. The measured results do not indicate any VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops, suggesting that the memory buffer is adequate for this title's requirements. The GPU's texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s provide the raw throughput needed to handle the game's dense visual environments, though the 4K Ultra result of 47.7 FPS shows that even this hardware is challenged by the highest settings at 4K resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings based on resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, all presets are playable: Low delivers 147.4 FPS, Medium 115.6 FPS, High 88.6 FPS, and Ultra 81.9 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p offers the best visual quality while maintaining frame rates above 80 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users with 1080p displays.

At 1440p, the situation is more nuanced. Low settings yield 120.6 FPS, Medium 91.9 FPS, High 69 FPS, and Ultra 66.6 FPS. High settings provide a good balance of visual fidelity and performance, staying above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra is also viable at 66.6 FPS, but the marginal visual improvement over High comes with a 3.5% performance penalty. For users prioritizing smoothness, High at 1440p is the recommended preset; for those wanting maximum detail, Ultra remains acceptable.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. Low settings produce 89.1 FPS, which is comfortable, but visually sparse. Medium settings yield 66.3 FPS — above the 60 FPS target and the best quality-to-performance ratio at this resolution. High settings drop to 47.4 FPS, and Ultra to 47.7 FPS, both below the 60 FPS mark. The data indicates that 4K Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, delivering a playable experience without sacrificing too much visual detail. Users who insist on 4K High or Ultra should be prepared for frame rates in the mid-40s, which may be acceptable for a flight simulator where precise timing is less critical than in fast-paced genres.