Microsoft Flight Simulator

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveals a clear hierarchy across the four available presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 136.3 FPS, which is competitive with High at 144.2 FPS. However, the jump from Ultra to High at 1440p is more significant: High produces 110.6 FPS while Ultra falls to 106.8 FPS, a difference of roughly 3.6%. The most pronounced gap appears between Medium and High at 1440p, where High's 110.6 FPS represents a 27.8% improvement over Medium's 153.1 FPS? Actually, the numbers show Medium at 153.1 FPS, which is higher than High. This inversion is notable: at both 1440p and 1080p, Medium outperforms High, with Medium at 185.9 FPS versus High at 144.2 FPS at 1080p, and Medium at 153.1 FPS versus High at 110.6 FPS at 1440p.

Given this data, the Ultra preset is the best experience for visual fidelity without sacrificing playability, as it maintains an average above 80 FPS at 4K (80 FPS) and 106.8 FPS at 1440p. For users prioritizing smoothness over maximum detail, the High preset offers a modest frame rate uplift at 1440p (110.6 FPS) and 1080p (144.2 FPS) compared to Ultra, but the difference narrows at 4K where Ultra (80 FPS) and High (80.3 FPS) are nearly identical. The Medium preset, while delivering higher frame rates (185.9 FPS at 1080p, 153.1 FPS at 1440p, 107.7 FPS at 4K), likely reduces visual quality enough that the gains are not worth the trade-off for a flight simulator where scenery detail matters. Therefore, the data suggests Ultra as the recommended preset, with High as a fallback for those seeking a slight frame rate buffer at lower resolutions.

The measured rows show a consistent pattern: Ultra and High are closely matched at 4K, while Medium and Low scale more aggressively. At 1080p, Low achieves 223.2 FPS, which is the highest measured average across all configurations, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. For a balanced experience, Ultra at 1440p (106.8 FPS) provides a strong middle ground, though 4K Ultra (80 FPS) is still fully playable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a dominant component in this pairing, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 170 RT cores position it as a top-tier GPU, with a percentile rank of 94 among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 84306. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is evident in the scaling of frame rates with resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 80, while at 1080p Ultra it rises to 136.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver at higher resolutions. The 32 GB VRAM is particularly relevant for a flight simulator that loads extensive scenery and terrain data, ensuring that texture streaming does not become a bottleneck.

The GPU's clock speeds—2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost—contribute to its consistent performance across presets. The data shows that at 4K, the difference between Low (143.1 FPS) and Ultra (80 FPS) is a 44.1% drop, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's workload scaling with visual complexity. The RTX 5090's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (deltaPct 0.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct 0.2), but the desktop 5090 maintains a slight edge in average score. This GPU is clearly not the limiting factor in most scenarios; instead, the CPU and the game's engine constraints become more apparent at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data illustrates how Microsoft Flight Simulator scales across resolutions, with the RTX 5090 and i5-14600K combination. Moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 136.3 to 106.8 to 80, representing a 21.6% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 25.1% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This scaling indicates that the GPU is increasingly stressed at higher resolutions, as expected, but the game remains playable even at 4K Ultra.

At High settings, the progression is similar: 144.2 FPS at 1080p, 110.6 FPS at 1440p, and 80.3 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 23.3%, and from 1440p to 4K is 27.4%. Interestingly, the Low preset shows a different pattern: 223.2 FPS at 1080p, 189.6 FPS at 1440p, and 143.1 FPS at 4K, with percentage drops of 15.1% and 24.5%, respectively. The Medium preset follows the trend with 185.9 FPS at 1080p, 153.1 FPS at 1440p, and 107.7 FPS at 4K.

These numbers reveal that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the i5-14600K's performance (with 14 cores and 20 threads, boosting to 5.30 GHz) becomes more relevant, as the GPU has headroom to render frames quickly, but the CPU must feed it with game logic and draw calls. The relatively smaller percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (15.1%) suggest that the CPU is still a factor, while the larger drops at Ultra (21.6%) indicate GPU-bound behavior. At 4K, all presets show significant drops, confirming that the RTX 5090 is the primary bottleneck, though the game's engine also plays a role in limiting frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1080p is 223.2 FPS, achieved with the Low preset. This is significantly higher than the Ultra preset's 136.3 FPS, a 63.8% increase.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 4K compared to 1440p?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 80, while at 1440p Ultra it is 106.8 FPS. This represents a 25.1% drop when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's performance close to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84306, while its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84241, a deltaPct of 0.1%. The RTX 5090 is effectively tied with the RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct 0.2%).

Q: What is the CPU's percentile rank among all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49166. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with a deltaPct of 0.2%.

Q: Does the Medium preset ever outperform High in this game?

A: Yes, at every resolution, Medium delivers higher average FPS than High. At 4K, Medium achieves 107.7 FPS versus High's 80.3 FPS, a 34.1% difference.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p Low, and how does it compare to 4K Low?

A: At 1440p Low, the average FPS is 189.6, while at 4K Low it is 143.1 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 24.5%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It belongs to the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, and features 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In benchmark tests, it scores 32881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4642 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 15846. Its percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs places it in the upper tier, and its average benchmark score of 49166 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49062, deltaPct 0.2%).

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is evident in the frame rate scaling at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (223.2 FPS) and Ultra (136.3 FPS) is 63.7%, which is larger than at 4K where Low (143.1 FPS) and Ultra (80 FPS) show a 44.1% gap. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is more involved in processing the game's simulation logic, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The i5-14600K's high boost clock of 5.30 GHz helps maintain single-threaded performance, which is critical for flight simulators that often rely on a primary simulation thread. However, the data shows that even with this capable CPU, the RTX 5090 is not fully utilized at 1080p, as frame rates vary significantly with settings, indicating a CPU bottleneck in certain presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the average FPS varies by settings: Low produces 143.1 FPS, Medium produces 107.7 FPS, High produces 80.3 FPS, and Ultra produces 80 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 44.1%, and High and Ultra are nearly identical (80.3 vs 80 FPS). Medium offers a 34.5% improvement over High, making it a strong choice for higher frame rates at 4K.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the averages are: Low at 189.6 FPS, Medium at 153.1 FPS, High at 110.6 FPS, and Ultra at 106.8 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 38.4%, while High and Ultra differ by only 3.6%. Low provides a 27.5% uplift over Medium.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the averages are: Low at 223.2 FPS, Medium at 185.9 FPS, High at 144.2 FPS, and Ultra at 136.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 63.7%, and Medium is 28.9% higher than High. High and Ultra are closer, with a 5.8% gap.

This breakdown shows a consistent pattern across resolutions: Low and Medium settings deliver substantially higher frame rates, while High and Ultra are clustered together. The combo's rank in the game is 8 out of 1795 combinations, indicating it is among the top performers for this title. The data confirms that the RTX 5090 is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions, while the i5-14600K ensures that even at 1080p, the system remains well above playable thresholds.