Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator presents an unusually demanding workload that stresses both the CPU and GPU in rapid succession, and the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 reveal a configuration that is capable of smooth flight at high resolutions, though the balance of the system shifts noticeably as settings and resolution change. The data indicates a strong, consistent performer that sits in the 79th percentile of all tested combos for this title, with a rank of 630 out of 2996 combinations. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the roles of the individual components, and the practical implications for users based solely on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop between each step provides insight into where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces 165 FPS, which drops to 133 FPS at 1440p and further to 98 FPS at 4K. This represents a 19% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 26% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is relatively linear, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises, but the CPU still has enough headroom to keep up at the lower resolutions.

The pattern becomes more pronounced when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the system achieves 96 FPS, which falls to 78 FPS at 1440p (a 19% drop) and then to 57 FPS at 4K (a 27% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across these steps indicate that the RTX 4070's rendering capabilities are being taxed progressively, while the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus maintains sufficient frame pacing. However, the fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop is nearly identical to the 1440p to 4K drop suggests that the GPU is not being overwhelmed at any single resolution, but rather that the workload scales proportionally with pixel count.

At the Medium preset, the system delivers 128 FPS at 1080p, 103 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 20% and 26%, respectively, which closely mirrors the High preset scaling. This consistency across presets points to a well-balanced pairing where the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are the main drivers of performance at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads handle the simulation and physics calculations without introducing frame rate variability. The 4K results, particularly the 57 FPS at High and 55 FPS at Ultra, show that the system is playable but not at high refresh rates, which is typical for a flight simulator where smoothness is often prioritized over raw frame count.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant factor in the resolution scaling observed in the benchmark results. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the high-resolution textures and detailed scenery that Microsoft Flight Simulator renders. The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz allow it to sustain high throughput, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra preset producing 55 FPS, which is only slightly below the 4K High result of 57 FPS. This narrow gap between High and Ultra at 4K indicates that the GPU's shading units and ray tracing cores are being fully utilized, and the extra graphical fidelity of Ultra has a marginal impact on frame rate.

The GPU's 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for the pixel throughput, which is rated at 158.4 GPixel/s. This is reflected in the measured FPS at 1440p, where the system achieves 74 FPS at Ultra and 78 FPS at High. The difference between these two presets is minimal, suggesting that the GPU's texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s is not a limiting factor in this game, but rather the overall shader complexity. The RTX 4070's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are also present, though their impact on this specific title's non-ray-traced rendering is secondary to raw rasterization performance.

Compared to its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database, the RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, which places it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3%. This positioning in the 81st percentile of all GPUs indicates that the RTX 4070 is a solid mid-to-high-end part, and its performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator aligns with this standing, delivering playable frame rates at 4K and excellent performance at 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 630th out of 2996 tested combinations in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the 79th percentile of all systems. This is a strong showing, given that the CPU and GPU are not top-tier parts individually but are well-matched for this simulation. The CPU's percentile rank of 96 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84003, puts it ahead of its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, by 0.2%. The GPU's percentile rank of 81 against all GPUs, with an average score of 37648, places it just 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P4.

The combo's rank is influenced by the fact that Microsoft Flight Simulator is known to be CPU-intensive in its simulation loops, but the data shows that the RTX 4070's performance is the primary driver of the measured FPS at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, ensures that the frame rate is not artificially capped, allowing the GPU to reach 165 FPS at Low settings. However, at 4K, the combo's rank is more dependent on the GPU's ability to maintain frame pacing, and the 55-57 FPS range at High/Ultra settings is indicative of a system that is optimized for 1440p gaming rather than 4K high-refresh-rate play.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p offers the best balance of performance and visual quality, with the system achieving 78 FPS at High settings and 74 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, frame rates drop to 57 FPS at High and 55 FPS at Ultra, which is playable but not ideal for smooth flight.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's score of 83807. It also leads the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1% and the AMD EPYC 9135 by 1.2%, but trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the system achieves 165 FPS at Low settings and 92 FPS at Ultra settings, representing a 44% reduction in performance when moving to the highest preset. This indicates that the Ultra preset places a significant load on the GPU even at the lowest resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The measured results show that the system achieves 57 FPS at 4K High and 55 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating that the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient for these settings. The GPU's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is adequate to handle the high-resolution textures without causing frame drops.

Q: How does the combo rank relative to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 630th out of 2996 tested combinations, placing it in the 79th percentile. This is a strong result, particularly considering that the RTX 4070 is not a top-tier GPU and the CPU, while powerful, is not the highest-scoring in its class.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the data?

A: The only minimum FPS values recorded are at Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 109 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 88 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 65 FPS. These values indicate that the system maintains consistent frame pacing without severe dips.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1080p, the system delivers 165 FPS at Low, 128 FPS at Medium, 96 FPS at High, and 92 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset includes minimum and maximum values of 109 and 147 FPS, respectively, showing a stable frame rate with a 38 FPS range. At 1440p, the results are 133 FPS at Low, 103 FPS at Medium, 78 FPS at High, and 74 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 119 FPS, indicating a 31 FPS range that suggests consistent performance under load.

At 4K, the system produces 98 FPS at Low, 76 FPS at Medium, 57 FPS at High, and 55 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS, which is a 23 FPS range, the tightest of any resolution. This indicates that at the highest resolution, the GPU is working near its limits, but the frame pacing remains relatively stable. The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern: the largest performance drop occurs between Medium and High, while the difference between High and Ultra is smaller, particularly at 4K where the gap is only 2 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plays a crucial role in ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU's processing of simulation data is more likely to be a bottleneck. With 24 cores and 24 threads, the CPU has ample parallel processing capability for the multithreaded simulation tasks in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, which is evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303. This is critical for the game's primary simulation loop, which is often single-threaded.

The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is important for the frequent cache misses that occur during flight simulation. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth ensures that the CPU and GPU have sufficient data throughput, though the GPU's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is significantly higher, indicating that the GPU is the primary consumer of memory bandwidth in this workload. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 60860 and single-thread score of 4823 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, confirming its ability to handle the game's simulation demands.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average benchmark score that is 0.2% lower, while the AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135 are 1.1% and 1.2% lower, respectively. The AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% higher, but this is a server-class processor that is not typically used in gaming systems. The data shows that the CPU's role in this combo is to provide consistent frame pacing without bottlenecks, and the measured FPS at 1080p Low (165 FPS) indicates that the CPU is capable of driving the GPU to its maximum output at lower resolutions.

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 High preset delivers 96 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the Ultra preset at 92 FPS is nearly identical, offering the best visual quality without a significant performance penalty. For users with 1440p monitors, the High preset at 78 FPS provides a good balance, while the Ultra preset at 74 FPS is also playable and offers slightly better visuals. The Medium preset at 103 FPS is the best choice for those who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

At 4K, the data suggests that the High preset at 57 FPS is the most practical option, as the Ultra preset at 55 FPS offers only a marginal visual improvement for a 2 FPS loss. The Medium preset at 76 FPS is the recommended choice for users who want a smoother experience at 4K, though it sacrifices some graphical detail. The Low preset at 98 FPS at 4K is the highest frame rate available at that resolution, but it significantly reduces the game's visual quality, which is a core aspect of the flight simulation experience. Overall, the data indicates that the High preset at 1440p offers the best combination of visual fidelity and performance, with the Medium preset at 4K being a viable alternative for users who prefer higher resolutions.