Microsoft Flight Simulator

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: This combination ranks 1449th out of 2996 tested combos in the database for this game, placing it in the middle of the pack. The rank reflects a balance between the CPU's strong processing capabilities and the GPU's mid-range performance tier.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129 in average benchmark score, sitting within 1.7% of the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and within 1.4% of both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (16361). It also trails the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014) by just 0.7%. This shows tight competition in this performance bracket.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of processors in general compute tasks. Its average benchmark score is 93785, placing it within 1.5% of the AMD EPYC 4564P (95183) and within 1.9% of the AMD EPYC 9175F (95615).

Q: Does the RTX 3060 Ti have enough VRAM for Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The GPU comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. For this game's measured results, the VRAM capacity supports playable frame rates at all tested settings, though the data shows that Ultra settings at 4K push the average down to 41 FPS, suggesting memory bandwidth and capacity constraints become more pronounced at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the best measured performance result for this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 124 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The most balanced measured result appears at 2560x1440 Medium, where the combo delivers 78 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS and maximum of 89 FPS, providing a smooth experience without sacrificing too much visual quality.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In Cinebench R23 multi-core, the Ultra 7 270K Plus scores 44253, while its single-core score is 2439. The CPU's passmark multithread score is 68574, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6520P at 93786 average benchmark score (0% delta) and the AMD EPYC 4564P at 95183 (-1.5% delta), showing the Ultra 7 is competitive but slightly behind those server-class parts.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU contains 4864 shading units, 152 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units, alongside 38 ray tracing cores and 152 tensor cores. Its base clock runs at 1410 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, while memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is paired with a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU delivers 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 16.20 TFLOPS of FP16 (1:1 ratio), with pixel rate at 133.2 GPixel/s and texture rate at 253.1 GTexel/s.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role is to handle geometry, texture streaming, and rendering of the vast terrain and aircraft models. The measured data shows that the RTX 3060 Ti's performance scales predictably with resolution. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 124 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 73 FPS on High and 69 FPS on Ultra. At 2560x1440, these figures are 100 FPS (Low), 58 FPS (High), and 56 FPS (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the numbers fall further to 74 FPS (Low), 43 FPS (High), and 41 FPS (Ultra).

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases: at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 55 FPS, while at 4K it is 33 FPS. This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is increasingly constrained by memory bandwidth and capacity, preventing it from fully utilizing the CPU's capability. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K Ultra, the average of 41 FPS indicates the GPU is approaching its limits.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. Its passmark G3D score is 20349, with a passmark GPU compute score of 10006. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2626, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 78927 and 47784 respectively. The GPU sits in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 16129 places it within 1.7% of the AMD Radeon R9 370X and within 1.4% of both the Radeon Pro 5600M and RX 5700 XT. This indicates the RTX 3060 Ti is a solid mid-range performer that handles this flight simulator adequately, especially at lower resolutions.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh codename and manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 115.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU supports ECC memory and offers PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes (CPU only). It includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units.

For synthetic performance, the CPU scores 6656 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 354 in single-core. In Cinebench R20, it achieves 24461 multi-core and 3453 single-core. Cinebench R23 results show 44253 multi-core and 2439 single-core. Passmark tests reveal strong integer math (175986), floating-point math (229491), and data encryption (59097) scores. The CPU's passmark single-thread score is 5068 and multithread score is 68574. It sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93785.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is critical for physics calculations, flight dynamics, and AI traffic management. The 24 threads provide ample processing headroom, and the 5.50 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance for the game's main simulation loop. The measured data suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 124 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. However, the CPU's capability is only partially utilized because the RTX 3060 Ti becomes the limiting factor at higher settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6520P with an average score of 93786 (0% delta), the AMD EPYC 4564P at 95183 (-1.5%), the AMD EPYC 9175F at 95615 (-1.9%), and the AMD EPYC 4565P at 95764 (-2.1%). These deltas show that the Ultra 7 270K Plus is competitive with server-class parts in general benchmarks, though the game's performance is ultimately constrained by the GPU. The 36 MB of L3 cache helps with terrain data access, and the 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth supports smooth asset streaming during flight.

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1449th out of 2996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 48th percentile of all tested configurations. This middle-of-the-pack ranking reflects the imbalance between the high-end CPU and the mid-range GPU. The CPU's 96th percentile standing among all processors suggests it is capable of driving higher frame rates, but the GPU's 59th percentile ranking holds the combo back.

The ranking distribution suggests that most combos above this one pair stronger GPUs with comparable or weaker CPUs, since the game is heavily GPU-dependent at higher settings. The data shows that the combo performs best at 1080p, where the CPU can keep the GPU fed, but the GPU's limitations become apparent at 1440p and 4K. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (124 FPS) is more than double the 4K Ultra figure (41 FPS), indicating that resolution scaling heavily impacts the GPU's ability to maintain frame rates.

In the context of the database, this combo sits near the median, meaning there are roughly 1448 combos that perform better and 1547 that perform worse. The tight clustering of the GPU's nearest rivals (all within 1.7% of the RTX 3060 Ti's average score) suggests that swapping the GPU for a similar-tier card would produce marginal changes in this game's performance. Conversely, the CPU's rivals are all within 2.1% of its average score, showing that the CPU is already performing at a level where further upgrades would not meaningfully change the combo's rank without a GPU upgrade.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator are as follows:

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low settings: 124 FPS average
• Medium settings: 96 FPS average, 82 FPS minimum, 111 FPS maximum
• High settings: 73 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 69 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low settings: 100 FPS average
• Medium settings: 78 FPS average, 66 FPS minimum, 89 FPS maximum
• High settings: 58 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 56 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low settings: 74 FPS average
• Medium settings: 57 FPS average, 49 FPS minimum, 66 FPS maximum
• High settings: 43 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 41 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern across resolutions: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the most demanding. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 55 FPS (124 vs 69), while at 1440p, the gap narrows to 44 FPS (100 vs 56). At 4K, the gap compresses to 33 FPS (74 vs 41). This compression indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and reducing settings has less impact because the GPU is already saturated.

The Medium settings rows provide the only complete min/max data in the dataset. At 1080p Medium, the combo maintains a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS, showing a 29 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the range is 66 to 89 FPS (23 FPS variance), and at 4K Medium, it is 49 to 66 FPS (17 FPS variance). The decreasing variance with higher resolution suggests that the GPU's frame pacing becomes more consistent as it becomes more fully utilized.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth experience at 1080p, High settings at 73 FPS average provide a good balance between visual quality and performance, but Ultra at 69 FPS is also playable if maximum visual fidelity is preferred. The 4 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal, so players with 1080p displays can comfortably choose Ultra without sacrificing playability.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Medium settings (78 FPS average) offer the best balance, as High drops to 58 FPS and Ultra to 56 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is just 2 FPS, indicating that the setting reduction from Ultra to High yields almost no benefit, while dropping to Medium provides a 20 FPS improvement over High. For players who prioritize frame rate over visual detail, Low at 100 FPS is also viable, though the visual compromise may be significant for a flight simulator where terrain detail matters.

At 4K, the data shows that only Low settings (74 FPS) achieve a comfortable frame rate above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 57 FPS, which is borderline playable, while High (43 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS) fall below 45 FPS, which may feel sluggish for a game that requires precise control. The recommended preset for 4K is Low settings, as it provides the largest performance margin, while Medium can be considered if the player accepts occasional dips to 49 FPS minimum.

Overall, the data indicates that Medium settings provide the most consistent experience across all resolutions, with the complete min/max data showing stable frame pacing. At 1080p and 1440p, Medium is a safe choice, while at 4K, Low is the recommended preset for maintaining playable frame rates.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how performance scales from 1080p to 4K for each settings preset. At Low settings, the combo delivers 124 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. This represents a 19.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 40.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the figures are 96 FPS (1080p), 78 FPS (1440p), and 57 FPS (4K), showing a 18.8% drop to 1440p and a 40.6% drop to 4K.

At High settings, the combo achieves 73 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K, representing a 20.5% drop to 1440p and a 41.1% drop to 4K. Ultra settings show 69 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K, with a 18.8% drop to 1440p and a 40.6% drop to 4K. The consistency of these percentages across all settings presets is striking: the drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 19-21%, and the drop from 1080p to 4K is consistently around 40-41%.

This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the percentage drops to be larger at higher resolutions, as the GPU would be underutilized and frame rates would be more constrained by CPU processing. Instead, the uniform scaling suggests that the RTX 3060 Ti's rendering throughput is the primary factor determining performance, and the CPU is capable of feeding it adequately at all resolutions.

The fact that the drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 40% across all settings, rather than the theoretical ~75% reduction in pixel count (from ~2 million to ~8.3 million pixels), indicates that the game's rendering workload does not scale linearly with resolution. This is typical for flight simulators, where the CPU handles a significant portion of the simulation logic, and the GPU's workload is partially offloaded to other components. The data shows that the combo is GPU-bound at 4K, but not purely pixel-bound, as the CPU still contributes to frame rate determination.

The near-identical percentage drops across settings presets also suggest that the game's graphics settings do not dramatically alter the resolution scaling behavior. Whether running Low or Ultra, the relative performance loss from increasing resolution remains consistent, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are the primary constraints at higher resolutions, rather than specific rendering features enabled by higher settings.