Microsoft Flight Simulator

The data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER shows a combination that demands careful settings management. The i7-13700K is a high-end desktop processor, ranking in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282. The RTX 2060 SUPER, while a capable Turing-generation card, sits in the 63rd percentile against all GPUs, with an average score of 19774. The measured frame rates across resolutions and presets reveal a system that is consistently GPU-limited, making the choice of graphics preset the single most important factor for playability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the "Ultra" preset is only viable at the lowest resolution tested, and even then it delivers a modest 58.8 FPS average at 1080p. At 1440p, the Ultra preset drops to 47.9 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 33.4 FPS. The "High" preset offers a more balanced experience, providing 57.2 FPS at 1080p and 45.4 FPS at 1440p, but it struggles at 4K with only 31.4 FPS. For a smooth experience, the "Medium" preset is the most consistent choice, delivering 79.4 FPS at 1080p and 65.3 FPS at 1440p. The "Low" preset is the only option that maintains playable frame rates at 4K, averaging 56.1 FPS.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on the target resolution. For 1080p, the "High" preset is the recommended starting point, as it achieves a playable 57.2 FPS while retaining more visual fidelity than Medium. For 1440p, "Medium" is the optimal choice, as it stays above 60 FPS at 65.3 FPS, while "High" falls below that threshold. At 4K, the data shows that only the "Low" preset avoids significant frame rate drops, meaning users must sacrifice visual quality to maintain a playable experience. The gap between Low and High at 4K is substantial, with a difference of 24.7 FPS, highlighting the GPU's limitations at that resolution.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary bottleneck in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 1650 MHz and its FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS are modest by current standards, explaining the steep performance drop when resolution increases. The card has 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, which are typical for a mid-range Turing part.

The benchmark results show the GPU's overall standing. In the Passmark G3D test, it scores 16462, while its average benchmark score is 19774. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, which has an average score of 19706, a delta of 0.3%. The RTX 2070 is also close, with an average score of 19680, representing a 0.5% difference. These small deltas indicate that the RTX 2060 SUPER is positioned right at the edge of its performance class. The data shows that the GPU's DirectX 12 performance in Passmark is 61, which is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 130, suggesting that this older Turing card may not be optimally efficient in newer API workloads, which could affect Microsoft Flight Simulator's DX12 path.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with "High" settings, the average FPS is 57.2. Moving to 1440p drops this to 45.4 FPS, a reduction of 11.8 FPS. At 4K, the same settings yield only 31.4 FPS, which is a further drop of 14 FPS from 1440p. This scaling is consistent across all presets. For example, with "Low" settings, the frame rate goes from 97.5 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 1440p, and then to 56.1 FPS at 4K.

This pattern indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would not fall so dramatically with increased resolution. The i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, has substantial headroom. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and single-core score of 5505 suggest it can handle the simulation logic of Microsoft Flight Simulator without being the primary constraint. The data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER is simply overwhelmed by the pixel count at 4K, as the rendering workload scales with the number of pixels, while the CPU workload remains relatively constant. The difference between 1080p and 4K on "High" settings is 25.8 FPS, which is a 45% reduction, underscoring the GPU's inability to sustain high frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the most suitable resolution, as it provides playable frame rates across all presets. At 1440p, only the "Low" and "Medium" presets stay above 60 FPS, while at 4K, only the "Low" preset achieves a playable average of 56.1 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rival in this context?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (19706). It also holds a 0.5% advantage over the RTX 2070 (19680). These small margins indicate that the card performs near the top of its immediate class.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this test?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate drops significantly from 1080p to 4K (e.g., 57.2 FPS to 31.4 FPS on "High"), which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. The i7-13700K's high CPU scores, such as 39000 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, suggest it is not the bottleneck.

Q: What is the performance difference between the "Low" and "Ultra" presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset averages 97.5 FPS, while the "Ultra" preset averages 58.8 FPS. This represents a 38.7 FPS gap, showing that the Ultra preset costs a significant amount of frame rate for increased visual fidelity.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threading performance matter for this game?

A: The i7-13700K's multi-threaded performance is strong, with a Passmark multithread score of 45887 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 17731. However, the data shows that the game's frame rate is more dependent on the GPU, as the CPU's capabilities are not fully utilized when the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: How does the combo rank among other tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1297 out of 1795 combinations in the database for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower third of tested hardware pairings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a Raptor Lake processor with 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficiency) and 24 threads. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, and it boosts up to 5.40 GHz. The CPU has a 30 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core. Its benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505. In the Passmark suite, it scores 45887 in multithread and 4333 in single-thread. These numbers place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the simulation logic, including flight physics, weather, and AI traffic. The data shows that the i7-13700K is more than capable of this task. The frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU, not the CPU. For instance, at 1080p with "Low" settings, the system achieves 97.5 FPS, which suggests the CPU is not holding back performance. The CPU's nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which has an average score of 47334, a delta of -0.1%, indicating the two are nearly identical in performance. The AMD EPYC 4364P is 0.3% ahead, and the Intel Core i9-12900F is 0.4% ahead. These rivals have similar scores, showing that the i7-13700K is well-matched to its peers for this workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset yields an average of 97.5 FPS, "Medium" yields 79.4 FPS, "High" yields 57.2 FPS, and "Ultra" yields 58.8 FPS. Interestingly, the "Ultra" preset at 1080p performs slightly better than "High," which is an anomaly in the data. Moving to 2560x1440, the "Low" preset averages 79 FPS, "Medium" averages 65.3 FPS, "High" averages 45.4 FPS, and "Ultra" averages 47.9 FPS. Again, "Ultra" edges out "High" by a small margin.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. The "Low" preset averages 56.1 FPS, "Medium" averages 48.2 FPS, "High" averages 31.4 FPS, and "Ultra" averages 33.4 FPS. The data shows that the gap between "Low" and "High" at 4K is 24.7 FPS, which is the largest relative spread. The "Ultra" preset at 4K is only playable in the sense that it averages above 30 FPS, but it is far from smooth. The overall trend is clear: the RTX 2060 SUPER can handle 1080p and 1440p with reasonable settings, but 4K requires the lowest settings to be playable. The combo's rank of 1297 out of 1795 in this game confirms that this is a mid-tier pairing for Microsoft Flight Simulator, where the GPU's age is the primary constraint.