Microsoft Flight Simulator

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile shows a system that can produce high frame rates but one that is clearly sensitive to preset and resolution changes. The combo ranks 784 out of 3714 tested combinations. The CPU sits at the 88th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 44466, while the GPU sits at the 84th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 45152. These two components land in similar performance tiers, and their measured FPS in Flight Simulator reflects that balance.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 3, based on the Panther Lake architecture. It has 16 cores and 16 threads, so the logical thread count matches the physical core count. The base clock is 2.10 GHz and the boost clock is 5.10 GHz. The processor is built on Intel's 3 nm process, fits the Intel BGA 2540 socket, and carries a 25 W TDP. Memory support is LPDDR5X over a dual-channel interface with 153.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The cache layout includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU also contains Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics and offers PCIe Gen 5 with 4 CPU lanes. This is the CPU foundation for the measured FPS rows.

The CPU's aggregate benchmark score is 44466, putting it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. In Cinebench R23, it scores 18911 multi-core and 2200.5 single-core. In Cinebench R20, the scores are 13101 multi-core and 1849 single-core, while Cinebench R15 reports 2955 multi-core and 309.5 single-core. PassMark results include 36811 multithread, 4280 single-thread, 112550 floating point math, 90882 integer math, 361763 data compression, and 28490 data encryption. The CPU also shows 29943 extended instructions, 3226 physics, 44010 random string sorting, and 358 find prime numbers. These are synthetic benchmarks, but they describe a processor with solid all-around throughput rather than a single extreme strength.

The nearest CPU rivals in the database reinforce this positioning. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average score of 44573, a delta of -0.2 percent from the Ultra X9 388H. The Intel Core i9-13950HX averages 44342, a delta of 0.3 percent. The AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 averages 44309, a delta of 0.4 percent. The Intel Core i5-13600 averages 44240, a delta of 0.5 percent. All four rivals sit within a very small window, which means the CPU is entering Flight Simulator from a dense and competitive performance cluster.

In the game data, the CPU's influence is most visible at the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 173 FPS. At 1440p Low, it reaches 139 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 103 FPS. These low-preset figures are far higher than the High preset values at the same resolutions, indicating that the CPU can feed frames quickly when the GPU work is reduced. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz also stands out in a flight simulator context, because the high frame counts at low settings would not be achievable if single-thread speed were weak. The 16 threads equal the core count, so there is no extra logical thread layer, and the measured data still shows no obvious CPU ceiling at 1080p Low.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured rows cover four presets at each of three resolutions. The most important finding is that the gap between Medium and High is much larger than the gap between High and Ultra. At 4K, Medium averages 80 FPS, High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 57 FPS. At 1440p, Medium averages 109 FPS, High 82 FPS, and Ultra 78 FPS. At 1080p, Medium averages 135 FPS, High 101 FPS, and Ultra 96 FPS. This profile makes Medium the measured sweet spot.

Medium at 4K is especially convincing. It produces 80 FPS average, 68 FPS minimum, and 92 FPS maximum. High at 4K sits at exactly 60 FPS average, leaving no meaningful headroom, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. Medium is the only one of the three higher presets that remains above 60 FPS at every resolution and every supplied minimum. At 1440p, Medium averages 109 FPS with a 92 FPS minimum, and at 1080p it averages 135 FPS with a 114 FPS minimum. Those minimums are all above the 60 FPS threshold, which is useful for a flight simulator where smoothness is often more important than raw peak frame rates.

Low is also measurable, and it produces the highest numbers in the dataset: 173 FPS at 1080p, 139 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. But Low by definition removes higher visual features, and the data does not suggest that the CPU or GPU needs Low to be playable. Medium performs well at all three resolutions, so the recommendation from the measured rows is Medium. If a user wants the highest preset possible, the data points to 1440p Ultra at 78 FPS rather than 4K Ultra at 57 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling pattern is consistent across every preset. Low starts at 173 FPS at 1080p, falls to 139 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 103 FPS at 4K. Medium starts at 135 FPS at 1080p, then 109 FPS at 1440p, then 80 FPS at 4K. High starts at 101 FPS at 1080p, drops to 82 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 60 FPS at 4K. Ultra starts at 96 FPS at 1080p, falls to 78 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 57 FPS at 4K. Every resolution step lowers the measured average, and the drop is especially clear when moving from 1440p to 4K.

The Medium preset also supplies minimum and maximum values, which scale in the same direction. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 114 FPS and the maximum is 155 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 92 FPS and the maximum is 125 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 68 FPS and the maximum is 92 FPS. This means the low end of the frame-time distribution also moves with resolution, reinforcing the idea that the render workload is increasing.

What does this say about the limiting component? At 1080p Low, the system can generate 173 FPS. If the CPU were the dominant bottleneck, changing resolution would not move the frame rate as much as the data shows. Instead, Low at 4K falls to 103 FPS, and Medium at 4K falls to 80 FPS. The data also shows an interesting cross-preset comparison: 4K Low averages 103 FPS, while 1080p High averages 101 FPS. Those two rows are nearly identical, suggesting the GPU is spending its capacity either on more pixels at Low or on more rendering features at High. The CPU is fast enough to expose that trade-off, while the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution and settings rise.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo's in-game rank is 784 out of 3714 tested combinations. That is an upper-tier placement, though not at the very top of the database. The CPU's 88th percentile and the GPU's 84th percentile are similar, and the aggregate benchmark scores are also close enough that neither component wildly overpowers the other. The CPU averages 44466 and the GPU averages 45152.

The CPU rival deltas all fall between -0.2 percent and 0.5 percent. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is -0.2 percent, the Intel Core i9-13950HX is 0.3 percent, the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 is 0.4 percent, and the Intel Core i5-13600 is 0.5 percent. This tells a simple story: the Ultra X9 388H is not measurably ahead of or behind its closest CPU neighbors in aggregate performance.

The GPU rival deltas are similarly tight. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT is -0.5 percent, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is 0.8 percent, the Intel Arc A730M is -1.0 percent, and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is -1.8 percent. These are aggregate benchmark deltas, not Flight Simulator-specific deltas, but they place the GPU in a narrow competitive band around the RTX 5090 Mobile.

Within Microsoft Flight Simulator, the rank of 784 out of 3714 is the result of the measured FPS table. The combo reaches 173 FPS at 1080p Low, 109 FPS at 1440p Medium, and 80 FPS at 4K Medium. It also stays at or near 60 FPS at 4K High. Those numbers put it comfortably above the middle of the tested combo pool. The data does not include scores for the combos ranked above it, so a precise gap cannot be stated, but the position is clear: this is a high-end mobile pairing that is not at the extreme frontier of the database.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest measured average frame rate in the data?

A: 173 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest averages are 139 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and 135 FPS at 1920x1080 Medium.

Q: Can this combo run 4K with the Medium preset?

A: Yes. The measured 3840x2160 Medium row shows an average of 80 FPS, a minimum of 68 FPS, and a maximum of 92 FPS. By comparison, 4K High averages 60 FPS and 4K Ultra averages 57 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU have more threads than cores?

A: No. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has 16 cores and 16 threads, so the counts are equal. Its boost clock is 5.10 GHz, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2200.5.

Q: How does the CPU compare with its nearest rivals?

A: The average benchmark score of the Ultra X9 388H is 44466. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D averages 44573 with a delta of -0.2 percent, the Intel Core i9-13950HX averages 44342 with a delta of 0.3 percent, the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 averages 44309 with a delta of 0.4 percent, and the Intel Core i5-13600 averages 44240 with a delta of 0.5 percent.

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

A: It ranks 784th out of 3714 tested combinations. The CPU is at the 88th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is at the 84th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 Mobile have?

A: The GPU has 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS data does not include VRAM utilization, so the capacity cannot be tied to a specific usage figure from these rows.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 3840x2160 | Low | 103 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 80 | 68 | 92 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 60 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 57 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 139 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 109 | 92 | 125 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 82 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 78 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 173 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 135 | 114 | 155 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 101 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 96 | — | — |

The table contains all twelve measured rows from the data. Medium is the only preset where minimum and maximum values are provided, so the other rows list only averages. The progression within each resolution shows the same pattern: Low is the fastest, Medium is the balanced option, and High and Ultra are close to each other at the top of the settings range.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile is built on the GB203 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture. It contains 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. The GPU has 10496 shading units, 328 texture mapping units, 112 ROPs, 82 ray tracing cores, and 328 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 169.7 GPixel/s, texture rate is 496.9 GTexel/s, and FP32 throughput is 31.80 TFLOPS. FP16 throughput is also 31.80 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The listed base clock is 990 MHz, the boost clock is 1515 MHz, and the memory clock is 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective. The memory interface is 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, giving 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU lists no power connectors and is described as an IGP slot-width device. It connects through PCIe 5.0 x16 and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. These specifications describe a mobile GPU with a very large memory footprint and high bandwidth, which is relevant for Microsoft Flight Simulator because the game's measured performance varies heavily with rendering settings.

The GPU's aggregate benchmark score is 45152, placing it at the 84th percentile of all GPUs. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 5871. Geekbench OpenCL is 201834, and Geekbench Vulkan is 198405. PassMark G3D is 30034, while PassMark GPU compute is 13401. Those are the summary benchmark numbers in the data.

The nearest GPU rivals by aggregate score are the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT at 45384, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at 44795, the Intel Arc A730M at 45592, and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation at 45972. Their deltas are -0.5 percent, 0.8 percent, -1.0 percent, and -1.8 percent respectively. These are very close aggregate scores, which means the RTX 5090 Mobile is surrounded by a dense cluster of GPUs in the database overall, even though the measured Flight Simulator rows show it handling 4K Medium at 80 FPS and 4K Ultra at 57 FPS.

The game data shows the GPU becoming more important as resolution rises. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 173 FPS. At 4K Low, the average is 103 FPS. At 4K Medium, it is 80 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it is 57 FPS. The transition from Medium to Ultra at 4K moves from 80 FPS down to 57 FPS, which is a larger practical impact than the difference between High and Ultra. The GPU's raw compute resources are substantial, but the Ultra preset still pushes it below the 60 FPS average at 4K. At 1440p Ultra, the same GPU manages 78 FPS, so lowering the resolution is enough to keep the highest preset above the 60 FPS line.

The 24 GB VRAM and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth are part of the GPU's measured hardware context, but the data set does not include VRAM utilization. As a result, the frame-rate behavior is best interpreted through the FPS rows themselves. The GPU is clearly capable of high frame counts at low and medium settings, and the measured scaling shows that the RTX 5090 Mobile, not the CPU, is the component most responsible for the frame-rate drop as Flight Simulator moves toward 4K Ultra.