Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator with Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The data indicates a pairing of a 10-core Intel Core Ultra 5 225 with a 12 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, running the 2020 flight simulator. Across all measured settings, this combination delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K Ultra being the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS. The measured results show a clear hierarchy where resolution scaling impacts performance more than settings changes, suggesting a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions while the CPU demonstrates sufficient headroom to feed the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and consistent across all settings. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 96 FPS at 1920x1080 to 77 FPS at 2560x1440, then further to 57 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 20% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 41% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 3080 Ti becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases, since the CPU workload for flight simulation logic remains relatively constant across resolutions.

The Low settings row tells a similar story, with 164 FPS at 1080p dropping to 132 FPS at 1440p and 97 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 20% and 41% respectively, mirroring the High settings pattern almost exactly. This consistency across different quality presets indicates that resolution scaling is driven primarily by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities rather than by settings-dependent effects. The RTX 3080 Ti's 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth and 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 performance are the likely contributors to this scaling behavior.

At Medium settings, where min and max FPS are recorded, the spread narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the range is 108 to 146 FPS (38 FPS spread), while at 1440p it narrows to 87 to 118 FPS (31 FPS spread), and at 4K it tightens further to 64 to 87 FPS (23 FPS spread). This compression of frame time variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's workload becomes more uniform and consistently saturated, reducing the impact of scene complexity fluctuations. The data implies that at 4K, the RTX 3080 Ti is operating near its sustained limit, leaving less headroom for momentary spikes in rendering demand.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic resolution sensitivity, with 91 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combination of CPU and GPU cannot maintain smooth gameplay at maximum quality and resolution simultaneously. For users targeting 4K, the data suggests that dropping from Ultra to High provides a modest 3 FPS improvement, while moving to Medium yields a more substantial 22 FPS gain.

FAQ

Q: Is this CPU-GPU combination capable of running Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K?

A: Yes, but with caveats. The measured results show 57 FPS at 4K High and 54 FPS at 4K Ultra, both above the playable threshold but below 60 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset achieves 76 FPS, while Low reaches 97 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS across all settings?

A: At 1920x1080, all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) exceed 60 FPS, with the lowest being 91 FPS at Ultra. At 2560x1440, all settings also stay above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 74 FPS being the lowest. 4K is the only resolution where some settings fall below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 41187 places it 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40870) and 2% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40377). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB by 1.2% (41707) and the Tesla M40 by 1.7% (41897).

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 achieves an average benchmark score of 36938, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945 (0% delta). It sits slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which scores 37018 (-0.2% delta).

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests not. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 164 FPS, which is high enough to indicate the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. The consistent resolution scaling pattern (similar percentage drops across settings) points to GPU-bound performance, especially at 1440p and 4K.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the RTX 3080 Ti provide, and how might it affect flight sim performance?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has a 384-bit memory bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth using GDDR6X memory. This high bandwidth is likely beneficial for Microsoft Flight Simulator's streaming of terrain and scenery data, especially at higher resolutions where texture bandwidth demands increase.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is an end-of-life product from the GeForce 30-series, built on the GA102 chip with 28,300 million transistors on an 8 nm Samsung process. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth across a 384-bit bus. The GPU has 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units, along with 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores. Its boost clock reaches 1665 MHz, producing 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The data shows that this GPU is the primary driver of frame rate differences between resolution steps. At 1080p, the RTX 3080 Ti can push frame rates up to 164 FPS at Low settings, suggesting it has substantial headroom at lower pixel counts. However, at 4K, the same GPU drops to 97 FPS at Low, a 41% reduction that aligns with the 4x pixel count increase from 1080p. This scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is bandwidth and fill-rate limited at higher resolutions, despite its 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth.

The RTX 3080 Ti's position in the GPU hierarchy is solid but not dominant. Its average benchmark score of 41187 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (0.8% higher score), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (1.2% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (2% higher). In this game, the GPU's performance at 4K Ultra (54 FPS) suggests that it is adequate for high-fidelity flight simulation but not excessive for the most demanding configurations.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) aligns with the game's modern rendering requirements, and its PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for data transfer. The 350 W TDP and suggested 750 W PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the data focuses purely on measured performance rather than power characteristics.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti achieves a rank of 665 out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong overall performance profile, though it is by no means at the advanced. The CPU's 85th percentile standing (36938 average benchmark score) and the GPU's 83rd percentile (41187 average) are closely matched, suggesting a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically overshadows the other.

The rank of 665 implies that approximately 2,331 other combinations outperform this setup in this specific game. Given that the measured data shows 4K Ultra at 54 FPS, the ranking likely reflects the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings and resolution. However, the combo's ability to exceed 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra (74 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (91 FPS) suggests that it is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors at lower resolutions.

Comparing this combo to the CPU's nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F has an essentially identical average benchmark score (36945 vs 36938), while the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% lower (37018). The Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% lower (37112). These small deltas indicate that the Ultra 5 225 is positioned in a dense competitive cluster, and the choice of CPU is unlikely to be the deciding factor in this game's performance.

The combo rank of 665 in a game that is known to be demanding on both CPU and GPU indicates that this pairing is competent but not exceptional. The data reveals that the RTX 3080 Ti, while capable, does not have the raw horsepower to push 4K Ultra past 60 FPS in this simulator. For users seeking higher 4K performance, the nearest GPU rival data suggests that a 2% improvement (RTX 5070) might not be sufficient to cross the 60 FPS threshold at 4K Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS, providing a smooth experience with headroom for frame drops during complex scenes. At 1440p Medium, the average is 103 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 76 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS, which is the only resolution where the minimum dips close to but does not breach the 60 FPS threshold.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users who prioritize visual fidelity over guaranteed frame rates. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 96 FPS, and at 1440p High, it achieves 77 FPS. However, at 4K High, the average drops to 57 FPS, which may be acceptable for a flight simulator where frame pacing is less critical than in fast-paced action games. For users who prefer maximum visual quality, the Ultra preset at 1440p (74 FPS) is a better choice than 4K High (57 FPS), as it provides higher fidelity with a higher frame rate.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates but sacrifices visual quality. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 164 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p Low, 132 FPS is achievable, and even at 4K Low, the 97 FPS result is impressive. However, given that the Medium preset provides such strong results (127, 103, and 76 FPS across the three resolutions), Low is only recommended for users with 144Hz or faster monitors who prioritize frame rate above all else.

The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p Medium or High, depending on whether the user prefers higher frame rates or higher visual quality. The 1440p Medium result of 103 FPS with an 87 FPS minimum provides a robust experience, while 1440p High at 77 FPS is still smooth. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it is the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates across settings are as follows: Low delivers 164 FPS, Medium delivers 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS and maximum of 146 FPS, High delivers 96 FPS, and Ultra delivers 91 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 73 FPS, representing a 45% reduction in performance from the lowest to highest quality preset. The Medium preset's min-max range of 108 to 146 FPS shows a 35% variance, indicating that scene complexity in Microsoft Flight Simulator can cause significant frame rate fluctuations even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 132 FPS at Low, 103 FPS at Medium (minimum 87, maximum 118), 77 FPS at High, and 74 FPS at Ultra. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, with losses of 32 FPS at Low (20%), 24 FPS at Medium (19%), 19 FPS at High (20%), and 17 FPS at Ultra (19%). The Medium preset's min-max range narrows to 87 to 118 FPS, a 31 FPS spread, which is a tighter distribution than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 97 FPS at Low, 76 FPS at Medium (minimum 64, maximum 87), 57 FPS at High, and 54 FPS at Ultra. The reduction from 1440p to 4K is 35 FPS at Low (27%), 27 FPS at Medium (26%), 20 FPS at High (26%), and 20 FPS at Ultra (27%). The Medium preset's min-max range at 4K is 64 to 87 FPS, a 23 FPS spread, which is the narrowest of the three resolutions, indicating more consistent frame pacing at higher pixel counts.

The Ultra preset at 4K (54 FPS) is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, and it is also the only one below the 4K High result (57 FPS) by a margin of just 3 FPS. This small difference between High and Ultra at 4K suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects have diminishing returns at this resolution, and users should choose High for a negligible visual trade-off with a slight performance gain.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Arrow Lake-S generation, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache, with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core. The CPU is built on a 3 nm TSMC process with 17,800 million transistors in a 243 mm² die. Its memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The processor is not multiplier-unlocked, meaning overclocking is limited, and it uses the Intel Socket 1851 platform.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ultra 5 225 achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655. Its Passmark multithread score is 30459, with a single-thread score of 4412. These results place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36938. The nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4% delta), and Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, -0.5% delta). This tight clustering shows that the Ultra 5 225 is competitive with mid-range processors from both AMD and Intel.

In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU based on the measured FPS scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 164 FPS, which is high enough to suggest that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings. The consistent percentage drops across settings at each resolution (all settings lose approximately 20% from 1080p to 1440p) further indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor, as a CPU bottleneck would typically show larger drops at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

The 10-core, 10-thread configuration (with no hyper-threading) might seem modest for a flight simulator that can utilize multiple cores for terrain streaming and physics calculations. However, the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 suggests adequate multi-threaded performance for the game's CPU demands. The 20 MB L3 cache is shared across all cores, which could benefit the game's data access patterns, though the specific impact is not directly measurable from the provided data.

The CPU's base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost of 4.90 GHz provide a wide frequency range, allowing it to scale performance with workload demands. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 indicates strong single-core performance, which is important for the game's main thread that handles flight dynamics and user input. Overall, the data supports the conclusion that the Ultra 5 225 is a capable partner for the RTX 3080 Ti in this game, neither holding back the GPU at higher resolutions nor being overwhelmed at lower ones.