Microsoft Flight Simulator

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 show a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combo delivers 166 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 133 FPS at 1440p and further to 98 FPS at 4K. This represents a 41% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K on Low settings, indicating that the system is heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions and only begins to shift toward GPU limitation as pixel count rises.

The High preset tells a similar story: 97 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K on High is 40%, nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling. This consistency across presets is notable because it suggests that the limiting factor remains the same regardless of graphical load — the CPU is constraining performance even when the GPU has less work to do at lower resolutions. If the RTX 4090 were the primary bottleneck, the frame rate would drop more steeply as resolution increased, because the GPU would be processing progressively more pixels.

The Medium preset shows the same pattern with slightly different absolute numbers: 129 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K reduction here is 40%, reinforcing the trend. Ultra settings produce 92 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K, with a 40% drop from 1080p to 4K as well.

What this scaling data reveals is that Microsoft Flight Simulator's performance ceiling with this hardware combination is set by the CPU at 1080p and 1440p. The RTX 4090 is capable of rendering far more frames than the Core Ultra 5 125H can feed it, so the GPU sits partially idle at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU workload increases substantially, but the frame rate still only drops by 40%, which is less than the 2.25x pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K would suggest if the GPU were fully saturated. This indicates that even at 4K, the CPU still plays a significant role in limiting performance, though the GPU is now contributing more to the bottleneck.

The min FPS data available for Medium settings further illustrates this point. At 1080p Medium, the minimum frame rate is 109 FPS, while at 1440p Medium it is 88 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 65 FPS. The gap between average and minimum FPS narrows as resolution increases: 20 FPS at 1080p, 16 FPS at 1440p, and 12 FPS at 4K. This tighter distribution at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming more consistently utilized, reducing the frame time spikes that can occur when the CPU occasionally stalls. Players targeting consistent frame pacing may find 4K Medium more predictable than 1080p Medium, even though the average frame rate is lower.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a 14-core, 18-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and it carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 79th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,507. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (average score 27,535, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i5-12600K (average score 27,578, delta -0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (average score 27,578, delta -0.3%). These deltas are all within 0.5%, meaning the Core Ultra 5 125H performs essentially identically to these desktop-class competitors in synthetic benchmarks.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is critical because the simulation engine must process flight physics, weather systems, and terrain data in real time. The measured frame rates at 1080p — 166 FPS on Low and 97 FPS on High — are strong indicators that the CPU can handle the simulation load at high refresh rates. However, the fact that 1080p Low (166 FPS) is only 71% faster than 1080p High (97 FPS) suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor even when the GPU is given minimal work. If the GPU were the bottleneck, the Low preset would show a much larger frame rate advantage over High.

The single-thread performance of this CPU is particularly relevant for flight simulators, which often rely heavily on a few primary threads for core simulation logic. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1647.5, and the PassMark single-thread score is 3399. These scores indicate solid single-thread capability, though not class-leading. The multi-thread results are more impressive: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 12,804.5, and PassMark multi-thread scores 21,100. The 18 threads allow the CPU to distribute secondary simulation tasks, such as AI traffic and scenery loading, across multiple cores.

The boost clock of 4.50 GHz is the key frequency figure for determining how quickly the CPU can execute the simulation's main thread. At 1080p, where the GPU is not stressed, the CPU's ability to maintain high boost clocks directly translates to frame rate. The 166 FPS at 1080p Low shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 4090 with a substantial number of frames, but the relatively modest gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (166 vs 92 FPS) suggests that the CPU's ceiling is around 166 FPS in this title. The 14-core configuration with 18 threads provides headroom for background tasks, but the simulation's primary thread will still bottleneck performance.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, delivered through a dual-channel DDR5 interface, is another factor. Flight simulator workloads often stream large amounts of terrain and scenery data from memory, and the measured frame rates indicate that this bandwidth is sufficient to avoid major stutters. The minimum FPS of 109 at 1080p Medium, compared to the average of 129, shows that the CPU can occasionally dip but generally maintains steady performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an Ada Lovelace architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process, with 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. It features 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, and its transistor count is 76,300 million on a 609 mm² die. The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and it operates at a TDP of 450 W. Memory is 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 88th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (average score 60,326, delta 0%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (average score 61,896, delta -2.5%).

In this game, the RTX 4090's role is to render the detailed cockpit instrumentation, terrain textures, and atmospheric effects. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is far more than Microsoft Flight Simulator requires at any preset, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming from VRAM to the rendering pipeline is never a bottleneck, even at 4K Ultra where texture detail is highest.

The GPU's raw compute power is substantial, with FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS. However, the measured frame rates reveal that this power is not fully utilized at lower resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 92 FPS, which is only 55% of the 166 FPS seen at 1080p Low. This 74 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution shows that the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates when the CPU is not the limiting factor. The fact that 4K Ultra (55 FPS) is only 40% slower than 1080p Ultra (92 FPS) — despite a 4x increase in pixel count — demonstrates that the RTX 4090 has enormous headroom in this title.

The boost clock of 2520 MHz is the frequency that matters for sustained gaming performance. At 4K, the GPU must work harder, and the measured 58 FPS at 4K High versus 55 FPS at 4K Ultra shows that the GPU is approaching its practical limit in this game at these settings. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 3 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects — such as higher-quality shadows and reflections — are consuming GPU resources without proportional frame rate gains.

The RTX 4090's ray tracing cores (128) and tensor cores (512) are present but not heavily utilized in Microsoft Flight Simulator, which primarily uses traditional rasterization. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with the game's modern rendering features. The measured PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 confirm that this GPU ranks among the fastest available, but the game's CPU-bound nature at lower resolutions means those capabilities are only partially tapped.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 614th out of 2,996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the combo in the top 20.5% of all tested configurations, which is strong but not dominant given the GPU's high-end positioning. The rank reflects that while the RTX 4090 is an extremely powerful GPU, the Core Ultra 5 125H holds back the overall performance in this CPU-intensive simulation.

The combo's ranking is influenced by the fact that Microsoft Flight Simulator is known to be more CPU-sensitive than many other titles. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking against all CPUs means that roughly one in five CPUs in the database performs better in synthetic benchmarks, and in this game, those CPUs would likely deliver higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p where the CPU is the bottleneck. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking is higher, but that advantage is muted in this specific game.

Comparisons to other combos can be inferred from the rank position. Combos ranked above 614th would typically pair a stronger CPU with the RTX 4090 or a comparable GPU, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 or Intel Core i5-12600K, which are the CPU's nearest rivals with nearly identical benchmark scores. The delta of -0.1% to -0.3% against these rivals means that swapping the Core Ultra 5 125H for one of those CPUs would produce negligible performance changes in synthetic tests, but in a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator, even small single-thread differences can matter.

The combo rank of 614 out of 2,996 means that 2,382 other combinations perform worse, while 613 perform better. Given the RTX 4090's capabilities, the limiting factor for the rank is clearly the CPU. Configurations with higher-ranked CPUs, such as desktop-class 16-core or 24-core processors with higher boost clocks, would likely achieve better frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, pushing their combos higher in the rankings. Conversely, combos with the same CPU but weaker GPUs would rank lower because the GPU would become the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this hardware combination. For players prioritizing maximum frame rate, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 166 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for a flight simulator. However, this setting sacrifices visual fidelity, and the gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is substantial — Medium achieves 129 FPS, which is still very playable and represents a 22% improvement over High's 97 FPS.

The best balance between visual quality and performance is the Medium preset. At 1080p, Medium delivers 129 FPS with a minimum of 109 FPS, ensuring consistent frame pacing. At 1440p, Medium achieves 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS and provides a good experience for players with higher-resolution displays. At 4K, Medium drops to 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS, which is playable but approaches the threshold where some players might notice reduced smoothness.

The High preset is a viable alternative for players who want better visuals and can accept lower frame rates. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 97 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 78 FPS; and at 4K High, it falls to 58 FPS. The 4K High result is marginal — below 60 FPS — so players with 4K displays should prefer Medium or be prepared to accept occasional frame rate dips.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding and delivers the lowest frame rates: 92 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, and the 1440p Ultra result of 74 FPS is only 12 FPS higher than 1440p Medium's 104 FPS. Given that the visual difference between Ultra and Medium in flight simulators often involves subtle effects like shadow quality and ambient occlusion, the Medium preset provides a better experience for most players.

The data strongly suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for this combo. It delivers frame rates above 60 FPS at all tested resolutions, with the 4K minimum of 65 FPS providing a comfortable margin. For players with 1080p displays who want maximum smoothness, Low at 166 FPS is an option, but Medium's 129 FPS is still well above any competitive threshold and offers significantly better visuals. For 4K players, Medium at 77 FPS is the clear choice, as High at 58 FPS and Ultra at 55 FPS both risk dropping below the 60 FPS target during demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 129 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and maximum of 148 FPS. This provides a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K Medium, the average frame rate is 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS. At 4K High, it drops to 58 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 55 FPS. Medium is the recommended 4K preset.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H has an average benchmark score of 27,507, which is within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27,535), Intel Core i5-12600K (27,578), and AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (27,578). The performance differences are negligible in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the GPU's VRAM capacity and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is far more than Microsoft Flight Simulator requires at any preset.

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

A: The CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p. Evidence comes from the 40% frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K across all presets, which is less than the pixel count increase, and the relatively small gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (166 vs 92 FPS).

Q: What ranking does this combo achieve in the database?

A: This combo ranks 614th out of 2,996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 20.5% of all tested configurations.