Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this CPU/GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 105 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (score 2259) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-10710U (score 2248).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 88th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the highest measured average FPS for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 128, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 have a higher average benchmark score than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M?

A: No, the RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 60347, which is 2.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M's score of 61896.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU/GPU combinations for this game?

A: This combo ranks 695th out of 3714 tested combinations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a substantial piece of hardware, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process. It carries 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz, boosting up to 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These specifications place it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, indicating it is a top-tier performer.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is significant, especially at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K (3840x2160), the RTX 4090 maintains high frame rates across all settings. At Ultra settings, the average FPS is 77, while at High it rises to 81. Dropping to Medium yields 98 FPS, and Low produces 108 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 31 FPS, which suggests the GPU is being pushed harder as visual fidelity increases.

Looking at the 1440p results, the pattern holds but with higher absolute numbers. Ultra settings produce 96 FPS, High 98 FPS, Medium 109 FPS, and Low 119 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 23 FPS, which is narrower than at 4K. This indicates that as resolution decreases, the GPU has more headroom, but the game's demands still scale with settings.

At 1080p, the GPU delivers 104 FPS on Ultra, 105 FPS on High, 117 FPS on Medium, and 128 FPS on Low. The difference between Low and Ultra is 24 FPS. Notably, the jump from Ultra to High at 1080p is only 1 FPS, while the jump from High to Medium is 12 FPS. This suggests diminishing returns beyond Medium settings.

The RTX 4090's raw compute power is reflected in its FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s. These figures support its ability to handle the game's complex rendering at high resolutions. Given its 88th percentile ranking, the GPU is clearly not the primary bottleneck in this combo, even with a mid-range CPU from 2018.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 695th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the top 18.7% of all tested configurations. Given the GPU's high percentile rank (88th) and the CPU's lower rank (47th percentile), the combo's overall position reflects a significant imbalance between the two components.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 places it near several rivals. It is 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (score 2259) and 0.4% behind the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2264). It is ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 by 0.4% (score 2246) and the Intel Core i7-10710U by 0.3% (score 2248). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating the i5-9400 performs in a tight cluster with these other CPUs.

The GPU, meanwhile, sits at 60347 average benchmark score, which is essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (score 60326, delta 0%). It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (score 60140) and 2.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (score 58657). However, it is 2.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (score 61896).

Given the GPU's strength, the combo's rank of 695 is likely held back by the CPU. In a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for heavy simulation and CPU-bound scenarios, the i5-9400's six cores and six threads may limit the GPU's potential. The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p, the FPS differences between settings are relatively modest compared to what a top-tier GPU alone might suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). At 1080p, the results are: Low 128 FPS, Medium 117 FPS (with min 99 and max 134), High 105 FPS, and Ultra 104 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a total drop of 24 FPS, but the most significant single-step drop occurs from Medium to High, which is 12 FPS.

At 1440p, the numbers are: Low 119 FPS, Medium 109 FPS (min 92, max 125), High 98 FPS, and Ultra 96 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 23 FPS. Here, the largest step is again from Medium to High, a drop of 11 FPS. The minimum FPS recorded at Medium is 92, which is lower than the average at Ultra (96), suggesting occasional frame dips even at medium settings.

At 4K, the results are: Low 108 FPS, Medium 98 FPS (min 83, max 113), High 81 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. The total drop from Low to Ultra is 31 FPS, the largest of any resolution. The step from Medium to High is 17 FPS, which is the steepest single-step decline in the entire dataset. This indicates that at 4K, the High setting imposes a significantly higher load than Medium.

Across all resolutions, the Medium setting consistently shows a minimum FPS that is lower than the average FPS of the next-higher setting. For example, at 4K Medium, the min is 83 FPS, while High averages 81 FPS. This suggests that Medium can occasionally dip into territory where High is more stable on average.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend on the user's resolution and preference for frame rate stability. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality. It delivers 117 FPS average, which is 12 FPS higher than High (105 FPS) and only 11 FPS lower than Low (128 FPS). The minimum FPS at Medium is 99, which is still comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out. It averages 109 FPS, compared to 98 FPS on High and 96 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Medium to High costs 11 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs only 2 FPS. This indicates that High and Ultra are nearly identical in performance at 1440p, making High the better choice for a small visual uplift over Medium.

At 4K, the situation is different. The Medium preset yields 98 FPS, while High drops to 81 FPS (a 17 FPS penalty) and Ultra to 77 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is just 4 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High is substantial. For a smoother experience at 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it stays above 90 FPS and avoids the steep performance cliff associated with High settings.

The data suggests that the game's settings scaling is not linear. At all resolutions, the step from Medium to High is the most punishing, while the step from High to Ultra is relatively mild. Users seeking maximum visual fidelity can opt for Ultra without a major FPS penalty compared to High, but those prioritizing frame rate should stick with Medium.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel mode with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s and uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In terms of benchmark scores, the i5-9400 achieves 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 5141 multi-core and 1389 single-core. These figures place it in the 47th percentile among all CPUs, which is below average. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 puts it in a tight cluster with several rivals, all within a 0.4% delta.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is crucial for simulation logic, physics, and AI calculations. The measured FPS data suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU may become a bottleneck. At 1080p, the GPU is less stressed, yet the FPS does not scale as dramatically as one might expect from an RTX 4090. For instance, at 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 104, which is only 8 FPS higher than at 4K Ultra (77 FPS). This relatively small gap across resolutions indicates that the CPU is limiting performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

The 6-core, 6-thread configuration is dated for modern gaming, especially for a flight simulator that can utilize multiple cores for complex scenarios. The lack of hyper-threading means only six threads are available, which could lead to frame dips in CPU-heavy scenes. The minimum FPS recorded at Medium settings (99 at 1080p, 92 at 1440p, 83 at 4K) suggests that the CPU can cause occasional stutters, even with a powerful GPU.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-9400 is essentially on par with the i7-1068NG7 and i7-10710U, but all of these are older or lower-power parts. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking means it is outperformed by the majority of CPUs in the database, which is a significant mismatch when paired with the 88th percentile GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals how the combo scales from 1080p to 4K. At each settings preset, the average FPS drops as resolution increases. For Low settings, the progression is 128 FPS (1080p) to 119 FPS (1440p) to 108 FPS (4K). This is a total drop of 20 FPS from 1080p to 4K, or roughly 15.6%.

For Medium settings, the progression is 117 FPS to 109 FPS to 98 FPS, a total drop of 19 FPS (16.2%). For High settings, it is 105 FPS to 98 FPS to 81 FPS, a total drop of 24 FPS (22.9%). For Ultra settings, it is 104 FPS to 96 FPS to 77 FPS, a total drop of 27 FPS (26.0%).

The data shows that the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K increases as settings increase. At Low settings, the drop is 15.6%, while at Ultra, it is 26.0%. This suggests that at higher settings, the GPU is more heavily utilized, and the resolution scaling has a greater impact. Conversely, at lower settings, the CPU may be the limiting factor, and resolution has less influence on FPS.

The most telling comparison is between 1080p and 1440p. Across all settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively small: 9 FPS for Low, 8 FPS for Medium, 7 FPS for High, and 8 FPS for Ultra. This indicates that the combo handles the jump from 1080p to 1440p with ease, losing only about 7-8% of performance. The bigger drop occurs from 1440p to 4K: 11 FPS for Low, 11 FPS for Medium, 17 FPS for High, and 19 FPS for Ultra.

The steepening drop at higher settings and resolutions points to the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as load increases. At 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090 is working hardest, and the FPS falls to 77. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra (104 FPS) is not much higher than 4K Ultra (77 FPS) suggests that the CPU is also limiting performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU's headroom is not fully utilized. This dual-bottleneck scenario is typical for a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range, older CPU.