Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a uniquely demanding title, and the data for the Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 reveals a configuration that is perpetually balancing on the edge of what the GPU can deliver. The measured FPS across resolutions shows a clear pattern: this is a system where the graphics card is the primary bottleneck, but the CPU's strong single-core performance ensures that frame pacing remains consistent even when the visual load is extreme. The combo ranks in the 1978th position out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack, which is a nuanced result given the hardware's individual capabilities.

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

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is the most telling aspect of this data. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 119 FPS, but that number collapses to 71 FPS at 4K with the same settings—a drop of 40% simply from the increase in pixel count. This is a classic sign that the RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are being saturated as the resolution climbs, because the CPU is not the limiting factor at these lower settings. The data shows that the GPU's pixel throughput is struggling to keep up with the 4K demand, and the fact that the low preset at 4K still yields more than double the frames of the Ultra preset at 4K (71 vs 40 FPS) confirms that the graphics card is doing all the heavy lifting.

Moving to Medium settings, the delta between 1080p and 4K is 93 FPS versus 55 FPS, a 41% reduction, which is nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4060 is not hitting a memory bandwidth wall that varies with settings, but rather a raw compute limit that scales linearly with resolution. The High preset tells a similar story: 70 FPS at 1080p drops to 56 FPS at 1440p, and then further to 42 FPS at 4K. The step from 1440p to 4K is a 25% loss, which is less severe than the 1080p to 1440p loss, indicating that the GPU is approaching its performance ceiling and the additional pixels are not costing as much proportionally.

The most interesting outlier is the Ultra preset, where the 1080p score of 66 FPS is only 6 FPS higher than the 4K score of 40 FPS. This is a 39% drop, but the absolute numbers are so low that the resolution scaling is almost irrelevant—the GPU is already overwhelmed at 1080p Ultra, so adding more pixels has diminishing returns. The data implies that at Ultra settings, the RTX 4060 is completely saturated, and the i5-14600KF is left waiting for the GPU to finish each frame. This is not a CPU limitation; rather, it is the GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance being insufficient for the game's most demanding visual configuration, regardless of how many pixels are being drawn.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

With a rank of 1978 out of 3714 combos, this pairing sits almost exactly in the 53rd percentile of all tested systems for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is a middle-of-the-road result that seems surprising given the components' individual benchmark scores, but it makes sense when considering the game's nature. The i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394 and sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 4060 has an average score of 17639 and is in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. The CPU is a top-tier performer, but the GPU is merely average, and Flight Simulator is a title that scales heavily with GPU load at higher settings.

The combo's ranking suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the i5-14600KF's nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.3% higher score) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% higher)—all have nearly identical average scores, yet the combo still lands in the lower half of the pack. This points directly at the RTX 4060 as the drag on performance. The GPU's nearest rivals are all older or integrated parts like the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% lower) and the AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% lower), which reinforces that the 4060 is not a high-end part, and its mid-pack percentile is holding the combo back from a higher rank.

The rank of 1978 out of 3714 is a reflection of the balance between the two components. A system with a weaker CPU but a stronger GPU would likely rank higher in this specific game, because Flight Simulator's frame rate is more dependent on GPU rendering than CPU physics at these settings. The data shows that the combo is not a mismatch, but rather an asymmetric pairing where the CPU has surplus headroom. If the rank were higher, it would imply the GPU was sufficient; if it were lower, the CPU would be the bottleneck. Instead, the middle ranking validates that the RTX 4060 is the component determining this combo's position in the database.

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

The RTX 4060's specifications are directly reflected in the measured FPS numbers. The GPU has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, but more importantly, it has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. In Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams vast landscapes and detailed aircraft models, this bandwidth is crucial. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 40 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it only reaches 66 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is not just compute-bound but also memory-bound. The 8 GB VRAM is likely being filled at higher settings, forcing the card to manage textures more aggressively.

The GPU's 3,072 shading units and 48 ROPs are modest for a modern card, and the pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s is the theoretical limit for filling the screen. At 4K resolution, which requires over 8.2 million pixels per frame, the pixel rate becomes a limiting factor. The data supports this: the FPS at 4K High (42) is barely above 4K Ultra (40), suggesting that the GPU is hitting a pixel throughput wall that settings changes cannot overcome. The 96 texture units and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are also relevant, as Flight Simulator's terrain textures are notoriously heavy, and the card's ability to sample those textures is taxed at every resolution.

The memory clock of 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) is not particularly fast, and the 128-bit bus halves the bandwidth compared to wider-bus cards. This is why the scaling from 1080p to 4K is so dramatic—the GPU is trying to push more data through a narrow pipe. The RTX 4060's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs is a fair assessment, and the data in this game confirms that it is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but it struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with high visual fidelity. The measured 42 FPS at 4K High is technically playable, but it is not a smooth experience, and the 40 FPS at 4K Ultra is borderline for a flight simulator where precise control is required.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play this game with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings yields 56 FPS, which is a solid balance. The 1920x1080 High setting gives 70 FPS, but 1440p provides more detail without a significant frame rate penalty, as the drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 14 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 capable of 4K gaming in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 with Low settings is 71 FPS, and with Medium settings it is 55 FPS. However, at High and Ultra, the frame rates drop to 42 and 40 FPS respectively, which may be too low for demanding flight simulation.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196). It is also 0.8% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995) and 0.8% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (49796).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, has a score of 17666, which is 0.2% lower.

Q: Does the combo rank well among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1978 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database. This is a mid-tier ranking that reflects the GPU's average performance, despite the CPU's strong 90th percentile ranking.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 119 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 66 FPS. This is a 53 FPS difference, showing that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding on the GPU.

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

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo handles the game across different configurations. At 1920x1080, the lowest measured average is 66 FPS on Ultra, while the highest is 119 FPS on Low. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 107 FPS, showing a stable frame time. The High preset at 1080p gives 70 FPS, which is only 4 FPS higher than Ultra, indicating that the jump from High to Ultra is not as costly as the jump from Medium to High, which is a 23 FPS difference.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. The Low preset delivers 96 FPS, which is still highly playable, but the Medium preset drops to 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 86 FPS. The High preset at 1440p is 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset is 54 FPS, meaning there is only a 2 FPS difference between High and Ultra at this resolution. This suggests that the GPU is already near its limit at 1440p High, and the Ultra preset does not add much extra load. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, as the frame rates are still above 50 FPS even on the most demanding presets.

At 3840x2160, the limitations of the RTX 4060 become apparent. The Low preset is the only playable option at 71 FPS, while Medium drops to 55 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS. The High preset is 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset is 40 FPS, which are both below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider smooth. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is brutal: the High preset loses 14 FPS (from 56 to 42), and the Ultra preset loses 14 FPS (from 54 to 40). This is a clear indication that the GPU's 8 GB of memory and 128-bit bus are the limiting factors at 4K, and the CPU's performance cannot compensate for this bottleneck.

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

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. In this game, the CPU's role is to handle the simulation logic, including flight physics, weather systems, and AI traffic, which are single-threaded tasks. The CPU's single-core performance is exceptional, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594 and Geekbench single-core score of 2445. This is crucial for Flight Simulator, which relies heavily on a single thread for the main simulation loop, and the data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in any of the measured scenarios.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache are also beneficial, as the game frequently accesses terrain data and aircraft models. The benchmark results show that the i5-14600KF is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 49394, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900. This performance headroom means that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not stressed, the CPU is able to maintain 119 FPS without dropping frames. The fact that the FPS at 1080p Low (119) is so much higher than at 1080p Ultra (66) confirms that the CPU can feed the GPU at all settings, and the frame rate is dictated by the GPU's rendering speed.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are standard for a desktop part, and its release date of 2023-10-16 makes it a recent addition to the market. The processor's multi-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544, is more than sufficient for the game's background tasks, but the single-core strength is what truly matters here. The data suggests that the i5-14600KF is overkill for this GPU in this specific game, as the CPU never becomes the limiting factor. If the RTX 4060 were replaced with a more powerful GPU, the CPU's headroom would allow for higher frame rates, but with the current pairing, the CPU sits idle waiting for the GPU to catch up.

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

The measured FPS data allows for clear recommendations on which settings preset to use, depending on the target resolution and desired smoothness. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 70 FPS is the best choice for a balanced experience, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (93 FPS) while still maintaining a frame rate that is above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 66 FPS is also viable, but the 4 FPS difference over High does not justify the potential visual strain on the GPU. For players who prioritize frame rate above all else, the Medium preset at 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS is the most consistent option, as it rarely dips below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 75 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it provides a smooth experience with a minimum of 64 FPS. The High preset at 56 FPS is acceptable for players who want better visuals, but the frame rate is getting close to the edge of playability. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS is not recommended, as the 2 FPS gain over High is negligible, and the visual difference is likely minimal. The data shows that 1440p Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, as it offers a good balance of detail and performance without pushing the GPU to its limits.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 71 FPS is the only way to achieve a smooth 4K experience. The Medium preset at 55 FPS is playable, but the minimum of 47 FPS suggests that there will be noticeable stutters in busy scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 42 and 40 FPS respectively are not recommended for a game that requires precise control, as the low frame rates can lead to input lag and visual artifacts. The best experience at 4K is to use the Low preset and accept the reduced visual fidelity, or to drop the resolution to 1440p and use the Medium preset for a better overall result. The data clearly indicates that this combo is not designed for 4K Ultra, and players should prioritize frame rate over graphical settings at this resolution.