Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents one of the most demanding rendering workloads in the benchmark database, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER produces a clear, data-driven story about where the system's limits lie. The measured frames per second across resolutions and settings reveal a configuration that is consistently bound by the graphics card, with the CPU providing a robust foundation that rarely becomes the primary constraint. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, the combo's overall rank among tested systems, and the specific contributions of each component to the final experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 101 FPS, but this drops to 81 FPS at 1440p and further to 60 FPS at 4K. This represents a 40.6% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, a scaling pattern that indicates the render resolution is directly taxing the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities. The RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed harder at each step up in resolution, and the data reflects that increasing workload.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes slightly steeper. The 1080p Medium result is 78 FPS, dropping to 63 FPS at 1440p and 47 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is 39.7%, nearly identical to the Low setting, but the absolute FPS values are lower across the board. This suggests that while the additional shading and texture work of Medium settings does cost performance, the resolution scaling itself remains the dominant factor. The 4K Medium result also includes the only complete min/max FPS data in the pack: a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. This 14 FPS spread indicates noticeable frame time variance at 4K, which can be felt as stutter in a flight simulator where smooth camera pans are critical.

The High and Ultra settings reinforce the GPU-bound conclusion. At High, the combo delivers 59 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is 40.7% lower than the 1080p High result, showing that the higher quality presets do not change the fundamental resolution scaling behavior. At Ultra, the numbers are 56 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p is only 3 FPS, while at 4K it is 2 FPS, indicating that beyond a certain point, the extra settings headroom is not providing meaningful visual gains relative to the performance cost.

The data suggests that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see much smaller FPS differences between resolutions, since the CPU workload in Microsoft Flight Simulator is more consistent regardless of pixel count. Instead, the near-linear drop in FPS as resolution climbs points directly to the RTX 2060 SUPER's pixel and texture processing capabilities being saturated. The Core Ultra 7 265K, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, is providing ample headroom, as evidenced by the fact that even the highest CPU-load scenarios at 1080p Low still produce 101 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of typical monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this particular CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2571 out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the 69th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 31% of the tested combos deliver better performance in this game. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for all the measured FPS data points, giving more weight to higher resolutions and settings where the GPU is the primary constraint.

The ranking is heavily influenced by the RTX 2060 SUPER's position in the GPU hierarchy. The GPU's average benchmark score is 18093, which places it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (average score 18159, which is 0.4% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189, 0.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373, 1.5% higher). This clustering means the RTX 2060 SUPER is performing right at the expected level for its class, but it is not punching above its weight in a way that would boost the combo's ranking substantially.

On the CPU side, the Core Ultra 7 265K is a much stronger performer. Its average benchmark score is 70879, putting it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P (average score 71051, which is 0.2% higher), the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71370, 0.7% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, which is 1% lower). The CPU's performance is not the limiting factor in this combo's rank; rather, the GPU is dragging the overall score down relative to what the CPU could potentially support.

The data shows that the combo rank of 2571 is a direct consequence of pairing a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU. If the RTX 2060 SUPER were replaced with a card that scores closer to the 94th percentile of GPUs, the combo rank would improve dramatically. As it stands, the ranking reflects a system where the CPU has significant untapped potential, and the GPU is the clear bottleneck for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves at 4K resolution?

A: The highest average FPS at 4K is 60, achieved with Low settings. This is the only 4K result that reaches a playable 60 FPS threshold, while Medium produces 47 FPS, High produces 35 FPS, and Ultra produces 33 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1080p Ultra compared to 1440p Ultra?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 56 FPS, while at 1440p Ultra it delivers 45 FPS. This represents an 11 FPS drop, or 19.6% reduction, when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same Ultra settings preset.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a top-tier CPU with an average benchmark score of 70879 (94th percentile), while the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average score of 18093 (62nd percentile). The FPS scaling across resolutions confirms the GPU is the bottleneck, as performance drops significantly with increasing resolution.

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

A: The combo ranks 2571 out of 3714 tested combos for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the lower half of the tested systems, which is consistent with the GPU's mid-range positioning.

Q: Does the combo achieve playable FPS at any 4K setting?

A: Yes, at 4K Low settings the combo achieves 60 FPS average. At 4K Medium, it drops to 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, which may be borderline for some users but is technically playable. High and Ultra at 4K produce 35 FPS and 33 FPS respectively, which are below typical playability thresholds.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from Low to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the combo achieves 101 FPS on Low and 56 FPS on Ultra. This is a 45 FPS reduction, or 44.6% lower performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 101 FPS average, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 78 FPS average, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 90 FPS, showing a 23 FPS variance. The High preset at 1080p yields 59 FPS average, and the Ultra preset yields 56 FPS average. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional features are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 81 FPS, which is a 20 FPS reduction from 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 63 FPS average, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. The High preset at 1440p produces 47 FPS, and the Ultra preset produces 45 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 2 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is not providing a meaningful visual upgrade relative to its cost at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 60 FPS, which is exactly at the standard playability threshold. The Medium preset at 4K produces 47 FPS average, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. The High preset at 4K produces 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset produces 33 FPS. The 4K results show that the RTX 2060 SUPER is struggling to maintain smooth performance at the highest resolution, with only the Low preset clearing 60 FPS.

The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset offers the best balance of quality and performance, with results that are roughly 25-30% lower than Low but 20-30% higher than High. The Ultra preset offers only marginal gains over High in terms of FPS, suggesting that users should consider whether the visual improvements are worth the performance cost.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary determinant of this combo's gaming performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the 8 GB capacity can become a limiting factor as textures and geometry data exceed the available VRAM, potentially causing the system to fall back to slower memory paging.

The GPU's clocks are set at a base of 1470 MHz and a boost of 1650 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The boost clock is what the card will typically achieve under load, and the data suggests that this clock speed is sufficient to drive the FPS numbers seen in the benchmarks. The GPU's TU106 chip, built on a 12 nm process, contains 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, which are the core components responsible for pixel and texture processing.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark performance places it at 62nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 18093. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3060 Mobile, scores 18159, which is 0.4% higher. This indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is performing at the expected level for its class, and the FPS numbers in Microsoft Flight Simulator align with what would be predicted from its synthetic scores.

The GPU's role in Microsoft Flight Simulator is critical because the game is heavily reliant on GPU-bound tasks such as terrain rendering, cloud simulation, and lighting effects. The measured FPS shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions, as the CPU is more than capable of feeding it data. The 4K results, in particular, show the GPU struggling to maintain performance, with the Ultra preset dropping to 33 FPS. This is a direct consequence of the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth being saturated by the high resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a high-performance desktop processor that provides the computational foundation for this combo. It has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The CPU is built on a 3 nm process and features 30 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 3 MB of L2 cache per core and 192 KB of L1 cache per core. This cache hierarchy is designed to minimize memory latency and maximize throughput for compute-heavy workloads.

The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptionally strong. It achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020, indicating robust performance in both multi-threaded and single-threaded tasks. Its Geekbench scores are 23085 multi-core and 2713 single-core. These numbers place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70879. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6511P, scores 71051, which is only 0.2% higher, showing that the Core Ultra 7 265K is at the top of its performance class.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is to handle the flight model physics, AI traffic, and the game's overall logic. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as the FPS scaling across resolutions is consistent with GPU-bound behavior. The 1080p Low result of 101 FPS shows that the CPU can easily drive high frame rates, and the drop to 60 FPS at 4K Low is entirely attributable to the GPU's limitations.

The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's multi-threaded workloads. The 5.50 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance is also strong, which is important for the game's main simulation loop. The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures that data can be fed to the GPU quickly, but the GPU's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor in the memory subsystem.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers an excellent balance, delivering 78 FPS average with a minimum of 67 FPS. This provides smooth, stutter-free gameplay while still maintaining a reasonable level of visual quality. The High preset at 1080p drops to 59 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p offers only 56 FPS, a marginal improvement over High, and is not recommended given the performance cost.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is again the best choice, delivering 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the time, but the 54 FPS minimum could be noticeable in heavy scenes. The Low preset at 1440p delivers 81 FPS, which is the highest result at this resolution, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the 18 FPS gain over Medium. The High preset at 1440p drops to 47 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for many users, and the Ultra preset at 45 FPS is even lower.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset is the only one that achieves 60 FPS, but the visual quality is significantly reduced. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, which is playable but may experience occasional stutters. The High and Ultra presets at 4K produce 35 FPS and 33 FPS respectively, which are generally not considered playable for a flight simulator where smooth camera movement is essential.

For users with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point. It provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with FPS numbers that are comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold at 1080p and close to it at 1440p. For 4K users, the Low preset is the only option that guarantees 60 FPS, but the Medium preset is a viable alternative for those who prioritize visual quality over absolute smoothness. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended at any resolution, as they offer minimal visual gains over Medium while significantly reducing performance.