Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a highly versatile Microsoft Flight Simulator experience, but the optimal settings depend heavily on your display resolution. For a balanced experience, the Medium preset is the standout choice across all resolutions, offering a significant frame rate uplift over High settings while maintaining visual fidelity. At 1080p, Medium delivers 140.5 FPS, which is 29% higher than the High preset's 109.1 FPS. At 1440p, the gap widens to 31%, with Medium hitting 111.5 FPS versus 85 FPS on High. Even at 4K, Medium produces 81.8 FPS, which is 28% higher than High's 64.1 FPS. The Ultra preset is only marginally faster than High, with differences of just 4.1% at 1080p and 1% at 1440p, making it a poor trade-off for the extra visual load. Low settings are only recommended for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, as they push frame rates to 183.4 FPS at 1080p and 146.5 FPS at 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

The data clearly shows that the Medium preset is the optimal configuration for this hardware pairing. It strikes the best balance between fluidity and image quality, consistently providing a substantial performance buffer over High and Ultra across all three tested resolutions. The frame rate deltas between Medium and High are remarkably consistent—ranging from 28% to 31%—which indicates that Medium avoids the more demanding graphical features that disproportionately impact the RTX 4070 SUPER. For users with 144Hz or higher refresh rate monitors at 1080p, the Medium preset's 140.5 FPS will comfortably saturate the display, whereas High at 109.1 FPS falls short. At 1440p, Medium's 111.5 FPS is still above the 100 FPS threshold that many consider smooth for a flight simulator, while High at 85 FPS is playable but less fluid. At 4K, Medium's 81.8 FPS is the only preset that stays above 80 FPS, making it the clear recommendation for 4K users who want to avoid the sub-60 FPS territory of Ultra (58.1 FPS). The Ultra preset is essentially a marginal downgrade from High, offering no meaningful frame rate advantage, so it should be avoided unless the user prioritizes maximum visual fidelity over the negligible performance difference.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth proves adequate for Microsoft Flight Simulator's demands. The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, particularly at 4K, where the frame rate drops from 108.1 FPS on Low to 58.1 FPS on Ultra—a 46% reduction. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's raw compute power, rated at 35.48 TFLOPS FP32, is being heavily taxed by the simulation's complex rendering. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz are the key clocks to watch, as the GPU's ability to sustain higher clocks under load directly impacts the average FPS figures. The 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores are present but do not appear to provide a unique advantage in this title, as the performance penalty from Low to Ultra is consistent with a traditional rasterization workload. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42576, places it just behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42653, deltaPct -0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42723, deltaPct -0.3), but ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41991, deltaPct 1.4) and NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41897, deltaPct 1.6). This mid-to-high-tier positioning is confirmed by the measured FPS, which shows the card can handle 4K High at 64.1 FPS, but struggles to maintain 60 FPS on Ultra at that resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 140.5 at 1080p to 111.5 at 1440p (a 20.6% reduction) and then to 81.8 at 4K (a 26.6% reduction from 1440p). This progressive decline is characteristic of a GPU-limited workload, where the increase in pixel count directly taxes the rendering pipeline. The Low preset shows a similar pattern, falling from 183.4 at 1080p to 146.5 at 1440p (20.1% drop) and then to 108.1 at 4K (26.2% drop). The High preset sees a steeper decline: 109.1 at 1080p to 85 at 1440p (22.1% drop) and then to 64.1 at 4K (24.6% drop). The Ultra preset is the most punishing, dropping from 104.6 at 1080p to 84.1 at 1440p (19.6% drop) and then to 58.1 at 4K (30.9% drop from 1440p). The consistent 20-30% drops per resolution tier confirm that the RTX 4070 SUPER's memory bandwidth and compute are the limiting factors, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences at 1080p, where the CPU has less time to prepare frames. Instead, the data shows that 1080p Low (183.4 FPS) is the only configuration that approaches the CPU's potential, while all other settings are constrained by the GPU.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using over High?

A: No. The data shows Ultra is only 4.1% faster than High at 1080p (104.6 vs 109.1 FPS) and 1% faster at 1440p (84.1 vs 85 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is actually slower than High (58.1 vs 64.1 FPS), making High the better choice for visual quality with superior performance.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the only option that exceeds 100 FPS at 1440p, delivering 111.5 FPS. High and Ultra both fall below 90 FPS (85 and 84.1 FPS respectively), which will not fully utilize a 144Hz display.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to the RTX A6000 in this context?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 42576, which is 0.2% lower than the RTX A6000's 42653. This negligible difference (deltaPct -0.2) suggests the two GPUs would perform nearly identically in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 81.8 FPS, which is smooth, while High drops to 64.1 FPS. Ultra falls to 58.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Users should stick to Medium or High at 4K.

Q: Why is the frame rate at 1080p Low so much higher than other settings?

A: The 183.4 FPS figure at 1080p Low represents the point where the GPU is no longer the primary bottleneck. At this setting, the CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads can feed the GPU fast enough, but any increase in graphical load (Medium at 140.5, High at 109.1) immediately brings the GPU back into the limiting role.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck except at the lowest settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 183.4 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation rate. At all other settings, the FPS drops are consistent with GPU limitations, indicating the i5-14600KF provides sufficient headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores (6 performance and 8 efficiency) and 20 threads, proves to be a capable partner for the RTX 4070 SUPER in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz and base clock of 3.50 GHz are critical for the simulation's single-threaded physics and flight model calculations. The benchmark data shows strong single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2778, which are essential for maintaining high frame rates when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367, places it just 0.4% above the Intel Core i5-14600K (49166) and 0.6% above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49062), but 0.5% below the AMD EPYC 4345P (49595). The L3 cache of 24 MB (shared) and L2 cache of 2 MB per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's streaming of terrain and weather data. The evidence that the CPU is not the bottleneck comes from the resolution scaling: if the CPU were limiting, we would see similar FPS across resolutions, but the data shows a 20-30% drop per resolution tier, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The true ceiling of this CPU is visible at 1080p Low, where the 183.4 FPS figure indicates the CPU can generate frames well above what the GPU can render at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 183.4 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. Medium follows at 140.5 FPS, High at 109.1 FPS, and Ultra at 104.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 42.9 FPS (23.4%), while the gap between Medium and High is 31.4 FPS (22.3%), and between High and Ultra is just 4.5 FPS (4.1%). At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts downward: Low delivers 146.5 FPS, Medium 111.5 FPS, High 85 FPS, and Ultra 84.1 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 35 FPS (23.9%), Medium-to-High widens to 26.5 FPS (23.8%), and High-to-Ultra shrinks to just 0.9 FPS (1.1%). At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop further: Low produces 108.1 FPS, Medium 81.8 FPS, High 64.1 FPS, and Ultra 58.1 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 26.3 FPS (24.3%), Medium-to-High is 17.7 FPS (21.6%), and High-to-Ultra is 6 FPS (9.4%). These numbers demonstrate that the Ultra preset provides no meaningful benefit over High at 1080p and 1440p, and it actually hurts performance at 4K, where High is 9.4% faster. The data also shows that the Medium preset consistently outperforms High by roughly 22-24% across all resolutions, making it the most efficient setting for this hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 287th out of 1795 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 16% of all tested systems. This ranking confirms the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU's strong single-threaded capabilities complement the GPU's high-end performance, resulting in a system that can handle the game's demanding requirements. The rank of 287 out of 1795 means that 1508 other combos perform worse, while 286 perform better. Given the GPU's 84th percentile ranking and the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking, the combo's overall position is slightly dragged down by the GPU, which is the more limiting component. The top 16% placement suggests that this system is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p and smooth 4K play on Medium settings, but it does not reach the upper echelon of performance that would require a higher-tier GPU. The data indicates that users seeking better performance would need to upgrade the GPU first, as the CPU has ample headroom (evidenced by the 183.4 FPS at 1080p Low) to support a more powerful graphics card. Conversely, users with this combo should feel confident that they are getting a near-optimal experience for the hardware, with the Medium preset providing the best balance of visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions.