Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

This combination pairs a 12th-gen Intel processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU, and the measured frame rates show a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions while remaining capable of extremely high refresh rates at 1080p. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth drive performance that scales predictably with resolution, though the gap between Low and Ultra presets reveals where the CPU begins to assert itself.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable decline in average FPS as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the rate of that decline varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the system delivers 210 FPS at 1080p, drops to 192 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 142 FPS at 4K — a total reduction of 68 FPS across the three resolutions. This represents a 32.4% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is still contributing meaningfully to overall throughput even at 4K.

At High settings, the scaling pattern shifts. The system produces 139 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K here is 40.3%, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as visual complexity increases. The 4K High result of 83 FPS is only 4 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra result, which suggests diminishing returns at the top end of the settings spectrum.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with slightly higher absolute numbers: 185 FPS at 1080p, 149 FPS at 1440p, and 110 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K drop of 75 FPS (40.5%) closely mirrors the High preset's percentage decline. Interestingly, the Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute drop from 1080p to 4K — from 133 FPS to 79 FPS, a 54 FPS reduction (40.6%) — but it also starts from the lowest 1080p baseline.

What the scaling data reveals is that this combo is fundamentally GPU-bound at 4K across all presets. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate handle the resolution increase, but the frame rate ceiling at 4K Ultra (79 FPS) is set by the GPU's ability to process the flight sim's complex scenery. The i7-12700KF, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, has enough headroom that moving from 1080p to 1440p costs only about 20-30% of performance at any given preset, rather than the 40-50% that would indicate a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the data points to High as the optimal preset. The jump from High (83 FPS) to Ultra (79 FPS) delivers only a 4 FPS gain for the highest visual fidelity, while dropping to Medium (110 FPS) sacrifices significant visual quality for a 27 FPS improvement. The 4K Medium result of 110 FPS with a measured minimum of 94 FPS and maximum of 127 FPS provides a smoother experience, but the High preset's 83 FPS average is still well within playable territory for a flight simulator where frame pacing matters less than in competitive shooters.

At 1440p, Medium stands out as the sweet spot. The 149 FPS average with a 127 FPS minimum and 172 FPS maximum offers a wide margin above display refresh rates, and the step to High (112 FPS) represents a 24.8% performance loss that may not justify the visual upgrade. The Ultra preset at 1440p (107 FPS) is only 5 FPS below High, so users who want maximum fidelity can run Ultra without a major penalty.

For 1080p, the story changes entirely. The Low preset produces 210 FPS, Medium delivers 185 FPS, High comes in at 139 FPS, and Ultra hits 133 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is negligible (6 FPS), so choosing Ultra at 1080p costs almost nothing. However, the gap between Medium and High is substantial at 46 FPS, which suggests that 1080p users should either commit to Medium for high refresh rates or jump to Ultra for maximum quality — High occupies an awkward middle ground. The Medium preset's measured range of 158 FPS minimum to 213 FPS maximum also shows that frame times remain consistent at 1080p, avoiding the stutter that can plague flight sims during complex scenery loads.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 79 FPS. While this is below the 83 FPS High preset result, it remains smooth for a flight simulator and represents the maximum visual fidelity this combo can produce at 4K.

Q: What is the difference between 4K High and 4K Medium performance?

A: The data shows 83 FPS average at High versus 110 FPS at Medium, a 27 FPS difference. The Medium preset also provides a measured minimum of 94 FPS, which is higher than the High preset's average, indicating more consistent frame delivery.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the system reaches 210 FPS, which approaches the practical limit for many displays. The i7-12700KF's single-thread score of 1043 in 3DMark suggests it can feed the RTX 5090 adequately at this resolution, but the diminishing returns between Low and Medium (25 FPS difference) versus Medium and High (46 FPS difference) indicate the GPU is still the primary constraint.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's memory configuration affect this game?

A: The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. For a flight simulator that loads large terrain and scenery data, this capacity prevents texture streaming bottlenecks, as evidenced by the relatively small performance gap between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings.

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

A: Medium at 2560x1440 delivers 149 FPS average with a 127 FPS minimum, which stays above the 144Hz refresh threshold in most scenes. High drops to 112 FPS, which may still be acceptable but leaves less headroom for complex areas.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide any benefit at 4K?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 79 FPS is only 4 FPS below High (83 FPS). Given that Ultra typically enables the highest shadow and texture quality, the small performance cost makes it a viable choice for users prioritizing visuals over a few extra frames.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3,714 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this pairing ranks 75th. That places it in the top 2% of all tested combos, which aligns with the measured frame rates showing playable performance even at 4K Ultra. The rank reflects the balance between the i7-12700KF and RTX 5090 — the GPU's massive compute resources (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) are matched with a CPU that scores 28,838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,071 in single-core, ensuring neither component completely starves the other.

The nearest rival comparisons for the individual components provide context. The CPU's average benchmark score of 35,365 puts it within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-12700K (35,287) and 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,403). This means the KF variant delivers essentially identical compute performance to its K counterpart, with the only difference being the lack of integrated graphics. The GPU's average score of 79,842 sits between the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959, 1.4% higher) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% lower), though these comparisons are synthetic benchmarks rather than game-specific results.

The 75th rank out of 3,714 is particularly notable because Microsoft Flight Simulator is known to be demanding on both CPU and GPU. The i7-12700KF's 20 threads handle the simulation's physics and AI calculations, while the RTX 5090's 21,760 shading units process the detailed terrain. The combination achieves a 4K Ultra result above 60 FPS, which places it in the upper echelon of systems capable of running this title at maximum settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090's specifications directly influence the measured results. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — essential for a flight simulator that streams high-resolution textures for terrain, aircraft, and weather effects. The 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die (5 nm process from TSMC) enable 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, which translate to a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The boost clock of 2407 MHz (base 2017 MHz) allows the GPU to maintain high utilization even when the CPU is feeding it data at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 210 FPS result shows the GPU is not the bottleneck — the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provide enough single-thread performance to drive frame generation. The GPU's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, while not directly measured in this game's FPS data, contribute to the visual effects that scale between Medium and High presets.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs (average benchmark score 79,842) confirms its position as a top-tier part, but the game-specific results show that even this hardware cannot push 4K Ultra past 79 FPS. This is a reflection of the game's engine and the CPU's role in physics simulation rather than a limitation of the GPU itself. The RTX 5090's predecessor relationship (succeeding the GeForce 40 series) and its 1,999 USD launch MSRP position it as a flagship, and the data supports that positioning — it delivers 4K High at 83 FPS with headroom for future driver optimizations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 210 FPS on Low, 185 FPS on Medium, 139 FPS on High, and 133 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 158 FPS and maximum of 213 FPS, indicating tight frame pacing. The 46 FPS gap between Medium and High is the largest step in the 1080p lineup, while the High-to-Ultra transition costs only 6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 192 FPS on Low, 149 FPS on Medium, 112 FPS on High, and 107 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's range spans 127 FPS minimum to 172 FPS maximum. The drop from Low to Medium is 43 FPS, while Medium to High costs 37 FPS, and High to Ultra is just 5 FPS. This resolution shows the most balanced scaling, with each preset step (except Ultra) costing roughly 30-40 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 142 FPS on Low, 110 FPS on Medium, 83 FPS on High, and 79 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum is 94 FPS with a maximum of 127 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop of 32 FPS is the largest at this resolution, while Medium-to-High costs 27 FPS and High-to-Ultra just 4 FPS. The 4K results show that the game becomes progressively more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the Ultra preset delivering only 56.3% of the Low preset's frame rate.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the largest performance hit comes from moving from Low to Medium, while the High-to-Ultra step is minimal. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional visual features (likely including higher shadow resolution and more detailed terrain tessellation) are not as demanding as the base quality improvements in the Medium preset. The measured data provides no minimum or maximum values for Low, High, or Ultra presets at any resolution, so the Medium preset's 94 FPS minimum at 4K serves as the only floor reference — it is 16 FPS above the High preset's average.