Microsoft Flight Simulator

The data for Microsoft Flight Simulator using the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT shows a configuration that is well-balanced for a simulator that stresses both heavy single-threaded logic and substantial GPU throughput. The measured frames per second across resolutions and presets indicate that this combination lands in the middle of the database, ranked 1929th out of 3714 tested combos. The following analysis breaks down the specific contributions of the CPU and GPU, how the pair scales with resolution, and which settings provide the most playable experience.

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K is built on the Alder Lake architecture and features 12 cores and 20 threads. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.00 GHz. The processor is a desktop part from the Core 12th Gen series, using a 10 nm process from Intel, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. For a flight simulator like Microsoft Flight Simulator, the single-threaded performance is critical, as the simulation engine processes physics, weather, and flight systems in a largely serial fashion. The processor’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz is a strong indicator of its capability in this regard, allowing it to handle the complex calculations that determine aircraft behavior and environmental interactions.

Benchmark data for the i7-12700K shows a strong showing in both single-threaded and multi-threaded tests. In Cinebench R23, the processor scores 1850.5 in the single-core test and 19784 in the multi-core test. Similarly, in Geekbench, it achieves a single-core score of 2308 and a multi-core score of 15790. The 3DMark results also illustrate the scaling of the chip: it scores 2065 with 2 threads, 4011 with 4 threads, 7202 with 8 threads, and 9979 with max threads. This pattern shows that the processor scales efficiently as more threads are utilized, which is beneficial for a simulator that may offload tasks like AI traffic or complex scenery generation to additional cores.

The i7-12700K’s overall standing among all CPUs is at the 84th percentile, and its average benchmark score is 35287. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i5-13600T with an average score of 35305 (a delta of -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF at 35365 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core i7-13700T at 35403 (-0.3%). These deltas are minimal, meaning the i7-12700K is essentially performance-equivalent to these processors in general compute tasks. The processor holds 25 MB of shared L3 cache and has 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, which helps in maintaining fast access to frequently used data. For this game, the high boost clock and robust single-thread score are directly relevant, as the data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 121 FPS, which is the highest measured result in this dataset and suggests the CPU is not the primary limiting factor when the GPU load is reduced.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and uses the Navi 22 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 2321 MHz, with a game clock of 2424 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. The memory runs at 2000 MHz, which translates to 16 Gbps effective. For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the 12 GB VRAM capacity is a relevant factor, as the game loads high-resolution textures for terrain, aircraft, and airports, especially at higher resolutions. The memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s ensures that the GPU can feed data to the rendering pipeline without causing significant stalls.

Compute specifications for the RX 6700 XT include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 40 ray tracing cores. The GPU delivers 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and has a texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s. These specifications allow the card to handle the heavy geometry and shading loads present in the simulator’s detailed aircraft models and dynamic lighting scenarios. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 19786 in Passmark G3D and 44152 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27425.

The RX 6700 XT’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile with an average score of 27435 (a delta of 0%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 27565 (-0.5%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 at 27839 (-1.5%). The delta of 0% against the RTX 4070 Mobile indicates that the RX 6700 XT is perfectly matched in raw compute performance to that mobile part, which is notable given the power envelope differences. The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12 GB of VRAM are significant for a modern simulator that pushes for high-fidelity visuals. The data shows that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, as evidenced by the FPS dropping from 121 at 1080p Low to 72 at 4K Low, which represents a performance reduction that is more pronounced than what the CPU alone would cause.

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 pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 121 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the FPS drops to 97, and at 4K Low, it falls to 72. This represents a 40.5% decrease from 1080p to 4K in the Low preset. The fact that the FPS does not scale linearly with the pixel count (which increases by 4x from 1080p to 4K) indicates that the GPU is not the only limitation at lower resolutions, but it becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises.

The Medium settings provide a clearer view of the scaling, as this preset includes min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 94, with a min of 80 and max of 108. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 76, with a min of 64 and max of 87. At 4K Medium, the average is 56, with a min of 47 and max of 64. The drop from 94 to 76 FPS between 1080p and 1440p is a 19.1% reduction, while the drop from 76 to 56 FPS between 1440p and 4K is a 26.3% reduction. The increasing percentage drop at higher resolutions is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the limiting component, as the pixel fill rate demands grow faster than the CPU’s ability to feed the renderer.

For the High preset, the FPS values are 71 at 1080p, 57 at 1440p, and 42 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 19.7%, and from 1440p to 4K is 26.3%. In the Ultra preset, the FPS is 67 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p, and 40 at 4K. The delta between High and Ultra at the same resolution is smaller than the delta between resolutions, which suggests that the Ultra preset is pushing the GPU harder but the CPU is still keeping up. The data indicates that the i7-12700K has sufficient headroom to maintain playable framerates at 1080p, but the RX 6700 XT’s performance ceiling is reached as the pixel count increases, with the 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS being the lowest in the dataset.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 1440p in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: Yes, but only with the Medium or Low presets. The measured average FPS at 1440p Medium is 76, and at 1440p Low it is 97. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p average 57 and 54 FPS respectively, which fall below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth experience with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1080p provides the highest framerates across all settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 67, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, even the Low preset only averages 72 FPS, and the Medium preset drops to 56 FPS, so 4K is less consistent.

Q: How does the i7-12700K compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287, which is nearly identical to its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, which scores 35305, representing a delta of -0.1%. The Core i7-12700KF scores 35365, a delta of -0.2%, and the Core i7-13700T scores 35403, a delta of -0.3%.

Q: Is 12 GB of VRAM sufficient for the Ultra preset at 4K?

A: The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 40, which is playable but low. The 12 GB VRAM on the RX 6700 XT is sufficient to run the preset, as the test completed with an average FPS of 40, but the performance is limited by the GPU’s compute capabilities rather than a lack of memory.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of this GPU among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27425. This places it in the upper-middle tier of graphics cards.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p Low preset compared to the 4K Ultra preset?

A: The 1080p Low preset averages 121 FPS, while the 4K Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This means the 1080p Low setting is 202.5% faster than the 4K Ultra setting in this dataset.

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

The measured FPS data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 121 FPS. The Medium preset averages 94 FPS, with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 108. The High preset averages 71 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 67 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in settings reduces the average FPS by roughly 20-25%, with the gap between High and Ultra being the smallest at only 4 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 97 FPS. The Medium preset averages 76 FPS, with a minimum of 64 and a maximum of 87. The High preset averages 57 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 54 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra at this resolution is only 3 FPS, which is even smaller than at 1080p, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 72 FPS. The Medium preset averages 56 FPS, with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 64. The High preset averages 42 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is just 2 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is not significantly more demanding than High at this resolution, likely due to the GPU reaching its performance ceiling.

Comparing the same settings across resolutions, the Low preset shows the least absolute drop, going from 121 to 97 to 72 FPS, which is a 40.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The Medium preset goes from 94 to 76 to 56 FPS, a 40.4% reduction. The High preset goes from 71 to 57 to 42 FPS, a 40.8% reduction. The Ultra preset goes from 67 to 54 to 40 FPS, a 40.3% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across all presets indicates that the scaling behavior is uniform, with the GPU being the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions regardless of quality settings.

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

Looking at the measured data, the choice of settings depends on the user’s priority for resolution versus framerate. For a smooth experience at 1080p, the Ultra preset is viable, as it averages 67 FPS, which is above the commonly accepted 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 1080p averages 71 FPS, providing a slight framerate improvement with a minor visual downgrade. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 94 FPS, which is significantly smoother and would be preferable for users who prioritize fluidity over maximum visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the best balance, averaging 76 FPS with a minimum of 64, ensuring that the framerate stays above 60 FPS in most scenarios. The Low preset at 1440p averages 97 FPS, but the visual quality drop is substantial. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p both fall below 60 FPS, averaging 57 and 54 FPS respectively, making them less ideal for consistent smoothness, though they may be acceptable for users who prefer higher quality over a steady framerate.

At 4K, the Low preset is the only option that maintains an average FPS above 60, at 72 FPS. The Medium preset averages 56 FPS, which is playable but not perfectly smooth, and its minimum of 47 FPS indicates that there will be noticeable dips. The High and Ultra presets at 4K average 42 and 40 FPS respectively, which are borderline playable for a simulation game where precision is more important than reflex-based action. For the best overall experience, the data suggests using 1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium, as these provide a good balance of visual quality and framerate stability. The 1440p Medium preset is particularly notable because its minimum FPS of 64 is higher than the average FPS of the 1080p High preset, making it a strong recommendation for users with a 1440p monitor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is ranked 1929th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the 52nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it performs better than roughly half of the systems in the database. Given that the CPU is at the 84th percentile among all CPUs and the GPU is at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, the combo’s overall rank of 1929 indicates that the pairing is not perfectly synergistic for this particular game. The CPU is capable of driving higher framerates, as demonstrated by the 1080p Low result of 121 FPS, but the GPU limits the system at higher resolutions and settings.

The rank of 1929 out of 3714 suggests that there are many other combinations that achieve better performance in this game, likely by pairing a similarly capable CPU with a more powerful GPU. However, the data also shows that this combo is not a poor performer; it delivers playable framerates at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings. The delta between the combo’s rank and the individual component percentiles highlights that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for this specific workload. For a user who values high framerates at 1080p, this combo is adequate, but for those targeting 4K or maximum settings, the RX 6700 XT will be the limiting factor. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation, as the framerate scales consistently with resolution, and the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached at the 4K Ultra preset.