Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding flight simulation title that stresses both the processor and the graphics card in unique ways. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, using benchmark data collected at three resolutions and four quality presets. The data shows a system capable of high frame rates across the board, but the relationship between CPU and GPU workloads shifts significantly depending on resolution and settings.

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

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process node. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. This processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. Its launch MSRP is $196.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14400F posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and a single-core score of 3055. Geekbench results show 11268 multi-core and 2058 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score is 25470, with a single-thread score of 3701. These numbers place the CPU at the 83rd percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 32279. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U at 32233 (a 0.1% difference), the Intel Core i9-11900 at 32226 (0.2% difference), the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS at 32354 (-0.2% difference), and the Intel Core i7-12800H at 32121 (0.5% difference).

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is substantial. The game simulates weather, physics, and complex scenery loading, all of which are highly dependent on single-thread performance. The i5-14400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz and its strong single-core Cinebench R23 score of 3055 are relevant here. The data indicates that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 196 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at these settings. However, as resolution increases, the GPU takes on more of the workload, and the CPU's contribution becomes less dominant.

The 10-core configuration with 16 threads provides adequate multi-threading for the simulation's background tasks, such as terrain streaming and AI traffic. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps with data locality, which is beneficial for the game's complex data structures. The processor's 65W TDP indicates it is a power-efficient part, but the benchmark scores show it performs well above its power class. The CPU's percentile ranking at 83 means it outperforms the majority of processors in the database, which is consistent with the high frame rates observed in this game.

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

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 142 FPS. This is the lowest average among the four settings at this resolution, but it remains well above 60 FPS for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, scores 76904, which is a 1.1% difference. The RTX 5090 D is slightly ahead. Other rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78940 (-1.6% difference), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79396 (-2.1% difference), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79605 (-2.4% difference).

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 196 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only measured configuration that exceeds 190 FPS, indicating a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions and settings.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 33rd out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the top 1.1% of all tested combos, which is an elite position for this pairing.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's memory bandwidth affect performance in this game?

A: The RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In this game, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 84 FPS average, which suggests the GPU's memory subsystem is sufficient for the high-resolution textures and geometry that Flight Simulator demands.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance relate to the game's FPS at 1080p?

A: The i5-14400F has a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3701. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 196 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it achieves 142 FPS. The high single-thread scores correlate with the ability to maintain high frame rates even when the CPU is more heavily loaded at lower resolutions.

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

Examining the measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear scaling pattern. At 1080p Low, the average is 196 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 182 FPS, a decline of 14 FPS or approximately 7.1%. At 4K Low, the average is 151 FPS, which is 45 FPS lower than 1080p Low, a 23% reduction. This gradual decline indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is still a significant contributor, and the GPU has headroom to handle higher resolutions.

For Medium settings, the pattern is similar. At 1080p, the average is 179 FPS. At 1440p, it is 159 FPS, a drop of 20 FPS (11.2%). At 4K, it is 118 FPS, which is 61 FPS lower than 1080p Medium, a 34.1% reduction. The larger percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium compared to Low suggests the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as settings increase.

At High settings, the scaling is more pronounced. 1080p High yields 149 FPS, 1440p High yields 120 FPS (a 19.5% drop), and 4K High yields 88 FPS (a 40.9% drop from 1080p). This indicates that at High settings, the GPU's workload is significantly increased, and the RTX 5090 D's capabilities are being more fully utilized.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling. 1080p Ultra produces 142 FPS, 1440p Ultra produces 114 FPS (a 19.7% drop), and 4K Ultra produces 84 FPS (a 40.8% drop from 1080p). The consistent percentage drops at High and Ultra settings suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting component at these quality levels. The data indicates that from 1440p to 4K, the FPS reduction is roughly 25-30% across all settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance. At 3840x2160 (4K), the system achieves 88 FPS average at High settings, 151 FPS at Low settings, 118 FPS at Medium settings with a minimum of 100 FPS and maximum of 135 FPS, and 84 FPS at Ultra settings. The 4K results show a spread of 67 FPS between Low and Ultra, highlighting the significant impact of quality settings on GPU load.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the average FPS is 120 at High, 182 at Low, 159 at Medium with a range of 136 to 183 FPS, and 114 at Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 68 FPS, nearly identical to 4K. This consistency suggests that the GPU's relative performance across settings is stable regardless of resolution.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the average FPS is 149 at High, 196 at Low, 179 at Medium with a range of 152 to 206 FPS, and 142 at Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 54 FPS, which is smaller than at higher resolutions. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role, and the GPU is not as stressed, leading to a narrower performance gap between settings.

Notably, the Medium preset at each resolution includes minimum and maximum FPS values, which are not provided for other presets. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 152 FPS and the maximum is 206 FPS, a range of 54 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 47 FPS (136 to 183). At 4K Medium, the range is 35 FPS (100 to 135). This narrowing range at higher resolutions further supports the GPU-bound interpretation, as the GPU's more consistent frame pacing reduces variance.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process node. It features the GB202 chip with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The card includes 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. It achieves a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D scores 14326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 310674 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376915 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score is 44065, with a GPU compute score of 28396. The card ranks at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76904 (1.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78940 (1.6% behind), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79396 (2.1% behind).

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is central at higher resolutions and settings. The 32 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's high-resolution textures, which can be extensive at 4K Ultra. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. The boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with the high shading unit count, drives the measured FPS at 4K Ultra to 84 FPS average. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is directly relevant to the game's rendering workload, which includes complex lighting and shadow calculations.

The GPU's percentile ranking at 92 places it in the top 8% of all GPUs, which aligns with the high frame rates observed. The RTX 5090 D's performance at 1080p Low (196 FPS) is likely limited by the CPU, as the GPU has ample headroom. At 4K Ultra (84 FPS), the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as indicated by the significant FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's priority for frame rate versus visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 149 FPS average, which is only 7 FPS lower than Medium (179 FPS) and 7 FPS higher than Ultra (142 FPS). Given that High offers a significant visual improvement over Medium with a minimal FPS cost, it represents a balanced choice at 1080p. Ultra at 142 FPS is also playable and provides the maximum visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 120 FPS average, while Medium produces 159 FPS and Ultra produces 114 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 6 FPS (120 vs 114), but High offers better visual quality. For users seeking higher frame rates, Medium at 159 FPS is a strong option, as it provides a 39 FPS advantage over High. The data suggests that at 1440p, High is the recommended preset for a balance of quality and performance.

At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 88 FPS average, Medium achieves 118 FPS, and Ultra achieves 84 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, making Ultra a viable choice at 4K for users who prioritize visual fidelity. Medium at 118 FPS offers a substantial 30 FPS advantage over High, which is significant for smoother gameplay. For 4K, Medium is recommended for high frame rates, while Ultra is acceptable for those who prefer maximum quality.

Overall, the Medium preset at 4K (118 FPS) and High at 1440p (120 FPS) provide the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 1080p, High at 149 FPS is the sweet spot, as it offers a substantial quality improvement over Medium with a minimal FPS penalty. The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1080p (142 FPS) and 1440p (114 FPS) where frame rates remain above 100 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 33rd out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This ranking places the combo in the top 1.1% of all tested setups, which is an exceptional position. The rank is determined by the measured FPS across all tested resolutions and settings, and this combo's performance is among the best in the database.

To contextualize this rank, consider that the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier GPU (92nd percentile), and the i5-14400F is a strong mid-range CPU (83rd percentile). The combination of a high-end GPU with a capable CPU results in a system that excels at all resolutions. The rank of 33 out of 2996 means that only 32 other combos perform better in this specific game. Given the CPU's 83rd percentile ranking, the fact that this combo ranks 33rd overall suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of the high ranking, but the CPU does not hold the system back.

The nearest CPU rivals in terms of average benchmark score (AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, Intel Core i9-11900, AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS, Intel Core i7-12800H) all have similar average scores within 0.5% of the i5-14400F. This indicates that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo's ranking; instead, the RTX 5090 D's performance is what pushes the combo to the 33rd position. The GPU's nearest rivals (AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT) have average scores within 1.6% of the RTX 5090 D, but the RTX 5090 D's higher percentile ranking (92 vs. the others) and superior measured FPS in this game contribute to the top-33 placement.

In summary, the combo's rank of 33 out of 2996 reflects a well-balanced system where the GPU's high-end capabilities are fully utilized, and the CPU provides sufficient performance to avoid bottlenecking at lower resolutions. This makes it one of the top-performing combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator in the database.