Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti combination delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the data showing a clear progression from strong 1080p performance to marginal 4K results. This pairing ranks 1836th out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the 50th percentile of all configurations tested for this title. The measured frame rates reveal that the system scales predictably across the four quality presets, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening as resolution increases, indicating a mix of CPU and GPU limitations depending on the settings chosen.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K follows a steep curve that highlights the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 124 at 1920x1080 to 100 at 2560x1440 (a 19% reduction), then further to 74 at 3840x2160 (a 40% drop from 1080p). This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, as the RTX 3060 Ti's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 compute are increasingly taxed by the 4K pixel count.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with averages of 96 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 4K here is approximately 41%, nearly identical to the Low preset's drop. This consistency suggests that the scaling penalty is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven, reinforcing that the GPU's rendering throughput is the bottleneck once the pixel count rises. The High preset follows suit: 73 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K, a 41% reduction from the lowest to highest resolution.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling, with 69 FPS at 1080p dropping to 56 FPS at 1440p and finally 41 FPS at 4K—a 41% decline overall. Notably, the relative decrease from 1440p to 4K is steepest at Ultra (27% drop) compared to Low (26% drop), suggesting that the combination of high-resolution and maximum settings pushes the GPU to its limits. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU's role is more prominent, as the Core Ultra 5 245's 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock can keep up with frame generation, but at 4K, the RTX 3060 Ti's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus become the decisive factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, based on the GA104 chip with 4864 shading units, operates with a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores are present but do not appear to provide a decisive advantage in this flight simulator, which is not heavily reliant on ray tracing or DLSS in the measured configurations.

The percentile ranking of 59 for the GPU against all tested GPUs places it in the lower-mid range, yet the measured FPS at 1080p Medium (96 FPS average) and High (73 FPS) show that the card handles the game's demands well at lower resolutions. The passmark_g3d score of 20349 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2626 reflect a GPU that is capable but not top-tier, and the data from this game confirms that performance degrades significantly when moving to 4K with higher presets. At 4K Ultra, the 41 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly desired for smooth simulation, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capacity are insufficient for maximum settings at that resolution.

The GPU's memory configuration (8 GB GDDR6) is a potential limitation for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which can utilize high-resolution textures. However, the measured data does not show a catastrophic failure, suggesting that the game's memory management is efficient at the tested quality levels. The RTX 3060 Ti's closest rivals, the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (deltaPct -1.4%) and Radeon RX 9060 (deltaPct 0.7%), perform within a narrow margin, confirming that this GPU sits in a competitive but not dominant position for this workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth provide solid foundational performance for simulation games that rely on single-threaded physics and AI calculations. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 place it in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, indicating strong overall processing power.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 124 FPS average suggests that the processor can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at higher settings. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (124 vs 69 FPS) is 55 FPS, which is larger than the 33 FPS gap at 4K (74 vs 41 FPS). This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU's ability to handle game logic and draw calls is the limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU's rendering speed dominates. The Core Ultra 5 245's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (deltaPct -0.5%) and Intel Core i5-14600K (deltaPct 0.8%), showing that its average benchmark score of 48995 is within 1% of these competitors, meaning the CPU is not a weak link in this configuration.

The processor's 14 threads (equal to its core count, with no hyper-threading) may slightly limit performance in heavily threaded scenarios, but Microsoft Flight Simulator's engine is known to scale reasonably across multiple cores. The CPU's 3 nm TSMC process node and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die contribute to its efficiency, though the 65W TDP suggests it is not a high-power part. The data shows that at 1440p Medium, the 78 FPS average is likely CPU-bound to some degree, as the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution and settings combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1836th out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it squarely in the middle of the distribution. This rank reflects a balanced pairing where neither component drastically underperforms, but neither boosts the system to the top tier either. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking against all CPUs is offset by the GPU's 59th percentile ranking, resulting in a mid-pack overall position for the combo.

In practical terms, this rank means that roughly half of all tested configurations deliver better or similar performance in this game. The combo's performance is consistent with its component-level benchmarks: the CPU's average benchmark score of 48995 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, deltaPct -0.4%), while the GPU's average score of 16129 is close to the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, deltaPct -1.4%). These margins are small, indicating that the system's in-game results are predictable from its synthetic benchmark scores.

The rank also suggests that for users seeking higher frame rates at 4K, a more powerful GPU would be the primary upgrade path, while the CPU has headroom to support a faster graphics card. Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU's 124 FPS Low and 96 FPS Medium results show that it can drive high refresh rates, but the GPU's limitations at Ultra (69 FPS) would be the constraint. This mid-pack ranking is appropriate for a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K with maximum settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results: Low averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 96 FPS with a minimum of 82 and maximum of 111, High averages 73 FPS, and Ultra averages 69 FPS. These numbers indicate that the pairing is well-suited for 1080p gaming, with even Ultra settings maintaining playable frame rates above 60 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset does not impose a significant additional burden at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 100 FPS for Low, 78 FPS for Medium (min 66, max 89), 58 FPS for High, and 56 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 66 FPS shows that frame pacing remains stable, while the High and Ultra presets dip below 60 FPS averages. The 22 FPS gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is notable, indicating that the Medium preset introduces enough additional GPU workload to meaningfully impact performance.

At 3840x2160, the system's limitations become apparent: Low averages 74 FPS, Medium averages 57 FPS (min 49, max 66), High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 49 FPS shows that the system can experience noticeable dips below 60 FPS, while High and Ultra are firmly in the 40s. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 17 FPS, and the gap between Medium and High is 14 FPS, showing that each preset level has a significant cost at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset at 69 FPS average is the best choice for visual fidelity while maintaining playable frame rates, as the 4 FPS difference from High does not justify sacrificing the higher-quality graphics. At 1440p, the Medium preset at 78 FPS average (with a minimum of 66 FPS) offers the best balance of smoothness and visual quality, as High drops to 58 FPS average and Ultra to 56 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold. For users prioritizing frame rate over visuals at 1440p, the Low preset at 100 FPS is a viable option, but Medium provides a substantial visual upgrade for only a 22 FPS cost.

At 4K, the Low preset at 74 FPS average is the only option that consistently stays above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for smooth simulation. The Medium preset at 57 FPS average may be acceptable for users who prefer better graphics and can tolerate occasional drops to 49 FPS, but the High and Ultra presets (43 and 41 FPS respectively) are not recommended for a fluid experience. The data shows that the system's sweet spot is 1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium, where the CPU and GPU work in balance to deliver frame rates above 60 FPS without significant dips.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 offers the most consistent performance, with averages ranging from 69 FPS at Ultra to 124 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, Medium settings at 78 FPS average are also viable, while 3840x2160 only maintains 60+ FPS at Low settings (74 FPS average).

Q: How does the system perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 41 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 3060 Ti are insufficient for maximum settings at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the CPU's role is more significant, as evidenced by the 55 FPS gap between Low (124 FPS) and Ultra (69 FPS) settings. The Core Ultra 5 245's 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock are capable, but the frame rate drop with higher settings indicates the GPU is also taxed.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1836th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the distribution. The CPU ranks in the 90th percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile, resulting in a balanced mid-pack overall position.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset shows minimum FPS values of 82 at 1080p, 66 at 1440p, and 49 at 4K. These numbers indicate that frame pacing is stable at lower resolutions but can dip significantly at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The GPU's closest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (deltaPct -1.4%) and AMD Radeon RX 9060 (deltaPct 0.7%), showing that the RTX 3060 Ti performs within a 2% margin of these cards in synthetic benchmarks, which translates to similar in-game behavior.