Microsoft Flight Simulator

The benchmark data for Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti presents a clear performance picture across resolutions and settings. The measured frames per second (FPS) values reveal a system that scales predictably, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at higher resolutions while the CPU maintains a strong foundation. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, answers common questions, examines the CPU and GPU roles, and provides settings recommendations based strictly on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show a consistent and expected drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 116 at 1080p to 94 at 1440p, then further down to 69 at 4K. That represents a 19% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 27% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is similar across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 198 at 1080p to 160 at 1440p, then to 118 at 4K. The percentage drops are 19% and 26% respectively. Medium settings show 154 at 1080p, 124 at 1440p, and 92 at 4K, with drops of 19% and 26%. Ultra settings show 110 at 1080p, 89 at 1440p, and 66 at 4K, with drops of 19% and 26%.

This scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti is the limiting component as resolution climbs. The nearly uniform percentage drops across different settings presets suggest that the GPU workload is scaling with pixel count in a predictable manner. At 1080p, the system can push well above 100 FPS on all presets, with Low reaching 198 FPS. The fact that Low at 1080p achieves nearly double the FPS of Ultra at 1080p (198 vs 110) indicates that even at the lowest resolution, the graphics settings have a substantial impact on frame rate.

The 4K results are particularly telling. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 66, which is below the 69 FPS seen at 4K High. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 3 FPS (69 vs 66), while the difference between Medium and High at 4K is 23 FPS (92 vs 69). This suggests that the Ultra preset adds graphical features that are particularly demanding, and the GPU is struggling to maintain higher frame rates. The 4K Medium result of 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS and maximum of 106 FPS shows that the system can handle 4K gaming, but only at reduced settings.

The resolution scaling data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution decreases. At 4K, the difference between Low (118 FPS) and Ultra (66 FPS) is 52 FPS. At 1440p, that difference grows to 71 FPS (160 vs 89). At 1080p, the difference is 88 FPS (198 vs 110). This widening gap indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, and the graphics settings become a larger factor in determining overall performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 198, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed by 160 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings and 154 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution across different settings?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 118 FPS on Low, 92 FPS on Medium, 69 FPS on High, and 66 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a measured minimum of 78 FPS and maximum of 106 FPS, while the other presets only have average values recorded.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 Ti the bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the FPS drops are substantial across all settings, suggesting the GPU is fully utilized. At 1080p, the higher FPS values (198 on Low) suggest the CPU has more influence on the upper limits, but the GPU still plays a significant role in the overall performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 352 out of 3714 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places it in the top 10% of all tested combos, indicating strong overall performance.

Q: How much FPS is gained by dropping from Ultra to Medium at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 124 FPS compared to 89 FPS on Ultra, a gain of 35 FPS. The Medium preset also has a minimum of 106 FPS, which is above the Ultra average of 89 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's 20-core configuration help maintain high minimum FPS?

A: The Medium settings at all resolutions show minimum FPS values: 131 at 1080p, 106 at 1440p, and 78 at 4K. These minimums are relatively close to the averages, suggesting the CPU provides a stable frame pacing foundation, though the exact contribution cannot be isolated from the GPU load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This processor belongs to the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process node. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is primarily to handle game logic, physics, and the complex simulation of flight dynamics. The benchmark results for the CPU show strong performance in both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 35850, while the single-core score is 2020. The Geekbench multi-core score is 23085, and the single-core score is 2713. The Passmark multi-thread score is 58594, with a single-thread score of 4928.

The CPU's percentile ranking against all CPUs is 94, meaning it performs better than 94% of tested processors. The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon 6511P with a score of 71051 and a delta of -0.2%, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 with a score of 71370 and a delta of -0.7%, the Intel Core i7-14700KF with a score of 70163 and a delta of 1%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with a score of 69996 and a delta of 1.3%. These small deltas indicate the Ultra 7 265K is positioned in a competitive performance tier, slightly above the Core i7-14700KF and Ryzen 7 9700F, and slightly below the Xeon parts.

For this game, the CPU's high single-thread performance is relevant because flight simulators often have a single primary simulation thread. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz should help with that thread. The 20 cores and 20 threads also provide ample multi-threading capability for background tasks and any parallelizable game systems. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 198 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The minimum FPS values recorded at Medium settings (131 at 1080p, 106 at 1440p, 78 at 4K) indicate that the CPU maintains a reasonable floor, though these minimums also decrease with resolution, which points to GPU involvement.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 352 out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This ranking places the combo in the top 9.5% of all configurations tested. The rank reflects the overall performance across the measured resolutions and settings.

The CPU itself ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU ranks in the 86th percentile among all GPUs. The combo rank of 352 out of 3714 is consistent with these individual rankings, though the game-specific performance may differ from synthetic benchmarks. The nearest GPU rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 with a score of 50001 and a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Arc A550M with a score of 49737 and a delta of 0.4%, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT with a score of 50951 and a delta of -2%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT with a score of 48477 and a delta of 3.1%. These deltas are small, indicating the RTX 5070 Ti sits in a tight performance band around these cards in synthetic tests, but the measured game FPS is specific to this title.

The combo rank of 352 out of 3714 suggests that this system is well-suited for Microsoft Flight Simulator, delivering high FPS at most settings and resolutions. The ranking also implies that a significant number of combos (3362) rank below this configuration, while 351 combos rank above it. This places the combo in a strong position for the game, though not at the absolute top tier.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the recommended settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the High preset delivers 116 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset provides 154 FPS, and Low provides 198 FPS. For players with high refresh rate monitors, Low or Medium at 1080p would be preferable, as they exceed 144 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 110 FPS, which is still very playable but not as high as the other presets.

At 1440p, the High preset achieves 94 FPS, which is good for most displays. Medium delivers 124 FPS, and Low delivers 160 FPS. Ultra at 1440p drops to 89 FPS. For a balance between visual quality and performance, High at 1440p is a solid choice. For those prioritizing frame rate, Medium at 1440p offers a 30 FPS advantage over High (124 vs 94) while still providing reasonable visual fidelity.

At 4K, the situation changes. Ultra delivers 66 FPS, High delivers 69 FPS, Medium delivers 92 FPS, and Low delivers 118 FPS. The Medium preset is the best option for 4K gaming if a frame rate above 90 is desired. The High preset at 69 FPS is still playable, but the jump to Medium provides a 23 FPS improvement (92 vs 69) with only a moderate reduction in visual quality. Ultra at 4K should be avoided if a stable 60 FPS is required, as the 66 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The Medium preset at 4K also has recorded minimum and maximum FPS values of 78 and 106, which shows the frame rate can fluctuate. The other presets do not have minimum or maximum values recorded, so the consistency of those presets is unknown. Overall, Medium at 4K or High at 1440p appear to offer the best balance of visual quality and frame rate based on the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, for a total of 12 data points. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 198 FPS. The Medium preset achieves an average of 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 177 FPS. High achieves 116 FPS, and Ultra achieves 110 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 44 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low achieves 160 FPS. Medium achieves 124 FPS, with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS. High achieves 94 FPS, and Ultra achieves 89 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 36 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 5 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low achieves 118 FPS. Medium achieves 92 FPS, with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. High achieves 69 FPS, and Ultra achieves 66 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 26 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 3 FPS.

These numbers show a consistent pattern: the difference between Low and Medium is larger than the difference between High and Ultra at all resolutions. Also, the absolute FPS values decrease as resolution increases. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values at all resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range from minimum to maximum is 46 FPS (131 to 177). At 1440p Medium, the range is 37 FPS (106 to 143). At 4K Medium, the range is 28 FPS (78 to 106). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 8960 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It has 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. The base clock is 2295 MHz, and the boost clock is 2452 MHz. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is to render the detailed scenery, terrain, and aircraft models. The 16 GB of VRAM is sufficient for the game at 4K with high settings, as the measured data shows playable frame rates. The GPU's FP32 performance is 43.94 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a desktop graphics card. The pixel rate is 235.4 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 686.6 GTexel/s.

The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 86, meaning it performs better than 86% of tested GPUs. The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are all within a small delta: the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 at -0.1%, the Intel Arc A550M at 0.4%, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT at -2%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT at 3.1%. These small deltas indicate the RTX 5070 Ti is competitively positioned, though the synthetic scores do not directly translate to game performance.

The measured FPS data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 66, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay in many cases. At 4K High, the average is 69 FPS, only slightly higher. The GPU's performance at 4K Medium (92 FPS) shows that reducing settings can substantially improve frame rates. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver up to 198 FPS on Low settings, indicating that the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. Instead, the CPU or other system components may cap the frame rate at higher values.

The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM and 896.0 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample resources for the game's high-resolution textures. The boost clock of 2452 MHz is modest compared to some other GPUs, but the architecture's efficiency compensates. The measured FPS at 4K Medium with a 78 FPS minimum suggests that the GPU can maintain playable frame rates even in demanding scenes, though the maximum of 106 FPS indicates variability. Overall, the RTX 5070 Ti is a capable GPU for this game, with the measured data showing it can handle 4K at Medium settings and 1440p at High settings comfortably.