Microsoft Flight Simulator

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-13700K compare to its closest rival, the i7-13700KF, in overall benchmark scores?

A: The i7-13700K posts an average benchmark score of 47,282, which is essentially tied with the i7-13700KF's 47,334. The delta between them is a mere -0.1%, meaning the K variant is statistically indistinguishable from the KF in synthetic tests, despite the KF lacking integrated graphics.

Q: What is the GPU's standing among all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti sits at the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30,849. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME, scores 30,755, placing the RTX 3070 Ti just 0.3% ahead — a negligible margin in raw compute terms.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance scale from 2 to 16 threads?

A: The 3DMark results show a clear progression: 2,262 points with 2 threads, rising to 4,469 with 4 threads, 8,193 with 8 threads, and peaking at 10,717 with 16 threads. The scaling is not perfectly linear, indicating diminishing returns as more threads are engaged, but the 16-thread score is 4.7 times the 2-thread result.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded for this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS is 139.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only measured result that exceeds 120 FPS, and it drops significantly to 84.5 FPS at the same resolution when settings are raised to High.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 3070 Ti have, and what memory type does it use?

A: The GPU is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Microsoft Flight Simulator among tested configurations?

A: This combination of the i7-13700K and RTX 3070 Ti ranks 688th out of 1,795 tested combos in this game. That places it in the top 38% of all configurations, which is notable given the game's heavy demands on both CPU and GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this combo at rank 688 out of 1,795 tested configurations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That is a solidly mid-pack position, but the context matters. This game is notoriously demanding, and the rank reflects a pairing where neither component is the absolute top tier. The CPU's percentile against all processors is 93, meaning it outperforms 93% of CPUs in general benchmarks. The GPU's percentile is lower at 74. The disparity suggests the graphics card is the more limiting factor in this pairing.

Looking at the measured FPS, the combo is capable of playable framerates across all resolutions, but only at lower settings does it approach high-refresh territory. At 1080p Low, the 139.8 FPS average is strong. At 4K Ultra, the 45.1 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider smooth. The rank of 688 indicates that while this setup is competent, there are over 1,100 combinations that deliver better overall performance in this specific title. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's moderate percentile hints that upgrading the GPU would yield more benefit than upgrading the CPU.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 Ti brings 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 256-bit bus, yielding 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. For a flight simulator with vast, detailed terrain, memory bandwidth is crucial for streaming textures. The boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz are modest, but the 6,144 shading units and 192 texture mapping units handle the geometry load. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking, however, shows it is not a top-tier part.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes evident when comparing resolution scaling. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 84.5. At 1440p High, it drops to 69.7. At 4K High, it falls to 49.8. The consistent decline across resolutions points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts. The 8 GB VRAM may also be a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the 45.1 FPS result suggests the card is struggling with both memory capacity and compute throughput. The data indicates the GPU is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured results provide a clear matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low 139.8, Medium 110.7, High 84.5, and Ultra 79.7. The spread from Low to Ultra is 60.1 FPS, showing that settings have a major impact at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the numbers are: Low 112.7, Medium 87.5, High 69.7, and Ultra 65.7. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively consistent, roughly 20-25% across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall further: Low 84.5, Medium 67.6, High 49.8, and Ultra 45.1. The 4K Low result matches the 1080p High result exactly at 84.5 FPS, illustrating how resolution can be traded against settings for similar performance. The 4K Ultra figure of 45.1 FPS is the lowest recorded, and the gap between 4K Medium (67.6) and 4K High (49.8) is a steep 17.8 FPS drop. This suggests that the High preset introduces a significant computational load relative to Medium. The min and max FPS fields are null in the data, so only averages are available for analysis.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot. It delivers 69.7 FPS average, which is smooth for a flight simulator where precise control matters. This is a 40% improvement over 4K High's 49.8 FPS, while still offering visual fidelity above Medium. If the user prioritizes framerate over visuals, 1080p Medium at 110.7 FPS is a strong choice, nearly doubling the 4K High result.

The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend. At 1440p Ultra, the 65.7 FPS average is playable, but the gain over High is minimal — only 4 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the 45.1 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target that most players prefer. The data suggests that High settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, High at 84.5 FPS is solid, but Medium at 110.7 FPS offers a 31% framerate increase for what is likely a modest visual compromise. For those with 4K displays, Medium at 67.6 FPS is the highest playable average, as High and Ultra both dip below 50 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K features 16 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per core of L2 cache. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 47,282 place it well above the GPU's standing. In Cinebench R23, it scores 39,000 in multi-core and 5,505 in single-core, indicating strong both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance.

Flight simulators are known to be CPU-intensive, particularly for draw call generation and physics calculations. The i7-13700K's high single-thread score of 5,505 in Cinebench R23 suggests it can handle the game's single-threaded bottlenecks. The multi-thread score of 39,000 indicates headroom for background tasks. The CPU's nearest rival, the i7-13700KF, scores 47,334, a 0.1% difference that is negligible. The AMD EPYC 4364P scores 47,131, also within 0.3%. This CPU is clearly not the weak link in this configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is telling. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 139.8 at 1080p to 112.7 at 1440p to 84.5 at 4K. That is a 39.6% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 79.7 at 1080p to 65.7 at 1440p to 45.1 at 4K, a 43.4% reduction. The consistency of these declines across settings points to the GPU as the limiting component as resolution increases.

If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions at lower settings, since the CPU workload is largely resolution-independent. Instead, the steady decline from 139.8 at 1080p Low to 84.5 at 4K Low shows that the GPU is being saturated. At 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames to reach 139.8, but as pixel count rises, the GPU's rendering time dominates. The 4K Ultra result of 45.1 FPS is particularly revealing: it is 56% lower than the 1080p Ultra score, indicating the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K. The data strongly suggests that for this combo, resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's limits, not the CPU's capabilities.