Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents one of the most demanding real-time rendering workloads in the current benchmark database, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile produces a distinctive performance profile. The measured data reveals a system that is consistently playable at mainstream resolutions, yet one that quickly approaches its computational ceiling when pushed toward 4K and maximum quality presets. This analysis examines the measured FPS records to isolate the roles of the CPU and GPU, contextualize the results against comparable hardware, and provide actionable settings guidance based strictly on the observed data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that resolution scaling has a profound and predictable impact on this configuration, with the average frame rate dropping by 65% from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 106 FPS, which falls to 86 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and further to 63 FPS at 3840x2160 Low. This translates to a 19% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 27% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K at the Low preset. The scaling pattern indicates that pixel throughput is a significant limiting factor, as the frame rate drops are roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count.

The situation becomes more pronounced at higher quality settings. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 83 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p (a 19% decline) and then to 49 at 4K (a 27% decline from 1440p). At High settings, the figures are 62 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the steepest curve: 59 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the GPU's shading and memory subsystems are the primary bottlenecks, rather than any CPU-side limitation that would manifest more strongly at lower resolutions.

The data indicates that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can maintain an average above 60 FPS across all presets, with the Ultra preset at 59 FPS being the sole exception. At 1440p, the Low preset (86 FPS) and Medium preset (67 FPS) remain comfortably above 60 FPS, but High (50 FPS) and Ultra (48 FPS) fall below that threshold. At 4K, even the Low preset (63 FPS) barely clears 60 FPS, while Medium (49 FPS), High (37 FPS), and Ultra (35 FPS) all demonstrate that this GPU is not suited for 4K gaming in this title beyond the absolute minimum quality settings. The scaling behavior points to the RTX 4060 Mobile's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus as the likely constraint, as the frame rate collapses in a manner consistent with memory bandwidth saturation rather than compute exhaustion.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its benchmark results place it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 63173. In Cinebench R23, it scores 40642 in multi-core and 5737 in single-core, indicating strong sustained throughput for a mobile part. The Passmark single-thread score of 4500 further confirms that per-core performance is competitive, which is relevant for a flight simulator that often relies on a limited number of heavily loaded threads.

In the context of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The near-identical percentage drops from 1440p to 4K across all presets (27% for Low, 27% for Medium, 26% for High, and 27% for Ultra) indicate that the frame rate is scaling with pixel count rather than being capped by CPU throughput. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller FPS drop when moving to 4K, as the GPU would be doing more work per frame while the CPU maintains a similar draw call rate. The data does not show this effect, which implies that the 265HX is able to feed the GPU adequately even at 1080p Low where the GPU is least loaded.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Core i7-13790F (0.1% faster), AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G (0.2% slower), AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185 (0.5% faster), and Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX (0.7% faster). These deltaPct values are all within 1%, indicating that the 265HX is positioned in a tightly contested performance tier. For this game, the data shows that the CPU's 20 cores and 30 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample headroom, as evidenced by the fact that even at 1080p Low (106 FPS average), the system is not exhibiting CPU-bound behavior that would flatten the resolution scaling curve. The 3 nm process node and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) round out a platform that appears well-matched to the GPU's capabilities in this workload.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip, featuring 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its boost clock is 1890 MHz, and it comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 67th percentile among all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 17469. In the nearest rival comparison, it sits within 1.3% of the Intel Arc B580 (which is 1.3% faster), 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, and 0.7% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080.

The measured FPS data strongly implicates the GPU as the performance limiter in this title, particularly at higher resolutions and presets. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS average represents a utilization of only 33% of the 1080p Low frame rate (106 FPS), which is a more severe drop than what would be expected from pixel count scaling alone. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) and 8 GB VRAM capacity are being taxed heavily by the high-resolution textures and complex shaders of Microsoft Flight Simulator. The FP32 throughput of 11.61 TFLOPS is respectable, but the 128-bit memory bus is a known limitation for this class of mobile GPU when dealing with large, memory-intensive scenes.

The data shows that the GPU's performance ceiling is reached at 1440p High, where the average FPS drops to 50, and at 4K Medium, where it drops to 49. These results indicate that users seeking consistent 60 FPS gameplay must either reduce the resolution to 1080p or lower the quality preset to Medium at 1440p. The min FPS values recorded for the Medium preset (57 FPS at 1440p, 42 FPS at 4K, 70 FPS at 1080p) show that frame pacing remains stable even when the average dips below 60 FPS, but the overall trend confirms that the RTX 4060 Mobile is a 1080p-oriented GPU for this specific title. The 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present for features like ray tracing and DLSS, but the measured data does not include results with those features enabled, so their impact cannot be assessed from this dataset.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 106 FPS, achieved with the Low settings preset. The Medium preset delivers 83 FPS, High delivers 62 FPS, and Ultra delivers 59 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival in the database?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX has an average benchmark score of 63173. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13790F, scores 63080, which is 0.1% faster. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G scores 63331, which is 0.2% slower than the 265HX.

Q: Is this GPU capable of 4K gaming in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 63 on Low, 49 on Medium, 37 on High, and 35 on Ultra. Only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS, while the Medium preset falls to 49 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming is only viable at the lowest quality settings.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is in the 67th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22729. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, which is 0.7% faster.

Q: Does the CPU become a bottleneck at lower resolutions?

A: The data does not indicate CPU bottlenecking. Moving from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings increases FPS from 86 to 106 (a 23% improvement), which is proportional to the pixel reduction, suggesting the GPU remains the limiting factor even at 1080p.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: This combination of CPU and GPU ranks 2268th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the lower half of the database (approximately the 39th percentile).

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2268th out of 3714 combos. This places the system in the lower 39% of all tested configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's 67th percentile ranking among all GPUs but tempered by the demanding nature of this specific title. The rank suggests that while the individual components are mid-range performers, the combination produces results that are more representative of entry-level to mid-range gaming systems in this workload.

The ranking position is notable because the CPU is a top-tier mobile processor (93rd percentile), yet the overall combo rank is dragged down by the GPU's limitations in this game. This disparity between CPU and GPU performance tiers is reflected in the measured FPS data, where the system achieves 106 FPS at 1080p Low but only 35 FPS at 4K Ultra. The database rank of 2268 indicates that there are 2267 tested combos that deliver higher average FPS in this game, many of which likely pair similarly powerful CPUs with more capable GPUs. The 3714 total combos tested provide context that this system sits below the median performer, which aligns with the observed difficulty in maintaining 60 FPS at 1440p with high-quality settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system averages 106 FPS on Low, 83 FPS on Medium, 62 FPS on High, and 59 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset includes min/max values of 70/95 FPS, indicating a stable frame delivery with a 25 FPS range. At 2560x1440, the averages are 86 FPS on Low, 67 FPS on Medium, 50 FPS on High, and 48 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution shows min/max of 57/77 FPS, with a 20 FPS range. At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 63 FPS on Low, 49 FPS on Medium, 37 FPS on High, and 35 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium preset has min/max of 42/57 FPS, which is a 15 FPS range.

The data reveals a consistent pattern where the difference between Low and Ultra presets grows with resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (106 FPS) and Ultra (59 FPS) is 47 FPS, or a 44% reduction. At 1440p, the gap is 38 FPS (86 to 48), a 44% reduction. At 4K, the gap is 28 FPS (63 to 35), also a 44% reduction. This consistent percentage reduction across resolutions indicates that the quality preset scaling is uniform, and that the GPU's performance penalty for Ultra settings is proportional regardless of resolution. The min FPS values for the Medium preset across all resolutions (70, 57, and 42 respectively) show that the system maintains a playable minimum in most cases, but the 4K Medium minimum of 42 FPS suggests potential stuttering in dense scenes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution and the user's preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. For 1080p gaming, the High preset delivers 62 FPS average, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, while the Ultra preset drops to 59 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p provides a comfortable 83 FPS average with a 70 FPS minimum, making it the best choice for users who prioritize smoothness over maximum quality. The data suggests that the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as the Ultra preset only provides a marginal visual improvement but sacrifices 3 FPS on average.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, delivering 67 FPS average with a 57 FPS minimum. The High preset falls to 50 FPS, which is noticeably below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 48 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay. Users who insist on 1440p High or Ultra will need to accept frame rates in the 48-50 FPS range, which may be acceptable for a flight simulator where precise timing is less critical than in fast-paced action games. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 63 FPS is the only option that maintains 60 FPS, while the Medium preset at 49 FPS is the highest quality setting that remains playable. The 4K High and Ultra presets (37 and 35 FPS respectively) should be avoided unless the user accepts a slideshow-like experience.

The data-driven recommendation is to use Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p for the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability. The Medium preset's recorded min FPS values (70 at 1080p, 57 at 1440p, 42 at 4K) demonstrate that this preset is the most consistent across all resolutions, with the smallest relative drop from average to minimum. For users with 4K displays, the Low preset at 63 FPS is the only viable option, but the 1440p Medium preset at 67 FPS offers a better visual experience with only a 4 FPS penalty, making resolution reduction a more attractive option than quality reduction at higher pixel counts.