After many years, I finally made a microcenter trek and made some big improvements to my sluggish PC.
Went from a Ryzen 5 2600 // RX 570 to a Ryzen 9 5900x // RTX 3070.
I’m hoping I just need to play with it more (Nvidia control panel is new to me) but I’m really disappointed in the results with MSFS. I’m still barely cracking 20 fps on the ground at busy airports, usually less, and it’s a stuttery mess over big cities in the F-18.
There’s moments of clarity where I’m able to hit 35+ and it’s smoother than it’s ever been, but those are always followed by micro stutters and fps drops that take the smile off my face. Saw some minor improvements by turning on DX12 and lowering LOD to 120, but I really thought I’d see a bigger a bump with the new parts.
Does anyone have any tips or things I should look into? Is anyone surprised at this performance with my new build and think there’s a bigger problem at play?
Can you take what you bought back? To start with, digital electronics have complex timing requirements such that motherboards and their corresponding chip sets are engineered for specific cpu models. Do you know for certain that your motherboard can run your new cpu at full speed? Generally, upgrading a cpu involves buying a new motherboard (and possibly new RAM.) When it comes to MSFS graphics, I’m not convinced that anything less than x80ti is an actual upgrade. From what I can tell from the forums, the level of complaining about graphics performance seems inversely proportional to the amount of VRAM one has. I think 8GB just isn’t enough regardless of chip generation. I don’t think I’d trade my 1080ti for a 3070…
Yup, I agree here. I have the same CPU and an RX6900XT and have 70-80 FPS unlocked in 4K.
You will most likely require completely new hardware to run these CPU/GPU. The CPU requires fast and modern RAM sticks, 32GB at (important) 3600MHz for good timing. A modern mainboard like for example a Strix X570-F, a powerful and stable (!) Power supply, I usually recommend BeQuiet, probably not less than 850W. Last but not least good cooling, it’s okay to cool with air if it’s done properly. Likely a new tower with a good cooling layout to get the hot air out.
I know this reads discouraging but anything else won’t help with this powerful new hardware I fear.
Do you have 2 ram sticks or just 1?
For Ryzen processors you should always have 2 sticks in dual channel to have the best result.
Also, when replacing CPU and GPU always do a clean fresh install of Windows. I know it’s tedious to reinstall everything again but necessary.
8gb isn’t ideal, 16GB is much better but when you can afford it get 32GB.
I wasn’t aware Ryzen could just stick any cpu on a motherboard! Intel it seems to change every two generations or cycles.
Hopefully the pin structure hasn’t been compromised on the older board trying to put the cpu in. Like the others said you’re no way getting the full utility from this newer equipment yet.
All recent Ryzen CPU’s use socket AM4.
The install procedure is very straight forward so bending a cpu pin is almost impossible.And if so, the PC won’t even boot…
Just reinstalling everything (OS, MSFS) might be the solution.
Also, never use the stock cooler that comes with most Ryzen CPU’s.
A graphic intensive program like MSFS can generate some heat on the cpu…
Yes, I think you should be getting better FPS than you are doing. I have a system going back 5 years (i5 7600k, 48gb ram, 2070s, water cooling, 750w Gold PSU, SSD) and I am getting 60 fps or more with the F18 with ‘high to ultra’ settings. I also get similar performance with 3rd party ac such as Hjet, Milviz 310, FSW Cessna 414, JF Pipers, Sting S4. I run a 35 inch Ultra screen at 1440p as my main monitor and also 2 27 inch side screens for addon programs.
I wouldn’t be discouraged though. You have the makings of a decent system. Just think a bit before you start spending a lot of money and upgrade your system. Some of the things I would look at have also been mentioned above including:
PSU - do you need another one? Maybe you need a new one if your current one is a ‘generic’ one and less than 750w?
Cooling - measure your CPU/GPU heat levels? If too hot there may be throttling reducing your PC performance. Consider better cooling if it is running hot.
RAM memory - have you less than 16gb and what speed is it running at? 8gb ram running at a slow speed can impact PC performance quite a lot. 32gb ram correctly ‘synced’ running at a decent speed can sometimes help a lot.
Sim/nvidia settings - there is quite a lot of good advice on some of the best performance settings. Maybe have a look here too.
BIOS and Motherboard - you have changed your CPU but do you also need to look at updating your Motherboard and BIOS (make sure you know how to do this before changing it!)
PC backround programs. Anything ‘heavy’ running in the background e.g. anti virus? I use ‘Defender’ but have FS20 as an exception when it’s running
Community Folder - I run the sim with only 2 or 3 updated addons only
Do you have a decent internet speed. Low speeds will impact scenery streaming performance.
A few things off the top of my head and apologies to you if you find some of these a bit too obvious and basic
Hi @Disc0Sweat
You’ll need to provide more detailed information because obviously Fs should run without problems with these specs.
I agree with @Kayembee370 and would advice you to start checking the list provided.
From there you can start fine-tuning Fs. Be careful not to apply every single advice given, because being to enthusiastic can result in new conflicts.
Appreciate the feedback all. Running through Kayembee’s (very helpful) list here. If I need to upgrade further I can, I just want to rule out any other larger issues so I’m not frustrated after spending more. Performance is just so bad I’m hard pressed to believe more power or upgraded RAM is going to totally fix it. Especially with every other game I’ve thrown at it being a night and day difference to my old setup.
PSU: Thermaltake 650W Gold
Cooling: Kraken x63 280mm (temps have been consistently good, hovering around 65 after 1-2 hour flights)
RAM memory: 32gb DDR4/3200MHz (could see this being a starting point for an upgrade but I’ve read on a few boards that the performance improvement for the 5900x is minimal so I’m skeptical?)
Sim/Nvidia settings: Lots of room for improvement here for sure, I haven’t messed around too much. Will research and dig in further.
BIOs and Motherboard: Upgraded to the latest BIOs version before installing the new chip.
PC background programs: Running very lean. Super Alt+4 and the streamdeck app are the only things running in my tests so far.
Community folder: The standards. A few planes. Fenix + PMDG737. We loveVFR. etc. I will try a clean community folder and see if there’s an add-on causing issues and report back, for sure.
High disc0Sweat
I read this a few weeks ago but in relation to a higher spec Video card installed.
The user fitted a higher spec card but it resulted in poorer performance.
It was corrected by just selecting a graphics option of Medium or High-end setting from the " Global Rendering Quality " tab and then running the Sim, and it fixed the problem. After he did this he could select the settings he expected to use.
Well … Your system is a lot better than I had hoped so I’m pleased for you there .
The only really obvious weakness that stands out to me may be your PSU but if that was the problem I would have expected your PC to be crashing to desktop or just periodically resetting itself and from what you say this is not happening.
So, there is something else going on somewhere which, at least to me, is not obvious.
Just out of interest what aircraft are you siming in? I fly in relatively light GA aircraft and my FPS would be quite a lot less if for example I simed in the Fenix A320.
Also, I have disabled photogrammetry (not a massive fan anyway so no loss to me), I don’t use live weather, and airport traffic is at 10% (using aerosoft simple traffic).
Other than this I’m beginning to struggle a bit
Edit: I just noticed you have the Fenix which some people think is heavy on fps. Is your bad fps also with other aircraft?
Edit 2: you state that your ram is 3200. Is it actually running at this speed. In my system, years ago, I had to go into BIOS and use an XMP option to increase my speed to 3000 which is the maximum recommended speed for my ram. A slow ram speed could have quite a negative effect on your PC performance.
Performance is certainly worst in the Fenix, but I’ve tried other AC as well with similar results.
I’ll check my RAM speed. I’ve made that change in the past and it caused a heap of CTD issues for me with MSFS, but maybe worth giving it another go with the CPU.
After messing with MSFS settings and Nvidia control panel. Manged to get myself to around 20 fps reliably, dipping lower at busy airports with some stutters (though they’re less frequent)
Stumbled on something interesting that I don’t know much about though, maybe one of you will. NZXTCam is showing my clock speeds very low (I think) mid-flight. Should these be much closer to 3200 for my RAM?
A few suggestions, but nothing earht shattering, and caveat is that I have intel/nvidia set up, so not familiar with AMD world.
Check the RAM speed in task manager/system monitor - you need to enable the XMP profile in your bios to unlock the full 3200MHz speed. That should be easy and it should work, but RAM sticks that are not a pair may not work. Check that 3200 is shown here:
The screenshot you showed above that showed 1066MHz looks like the XMP profile is not enable or is not working. I suspect this is the most likely issue.
Chexk that your CPU is not power limited in windows power options. In power settings, go to additional power settings, then whichever plan you have, click change plan settings/change advanced power settings and check the maximum processor state is set to 100%:
In graphics performance settings, check that MSFS is set to use High Performance:
In the sim settings, clear and disable manual cache. The turn off multiplayer and turn on real time traffic. Then set the graphics level to low. With these settings you should be getting very good performance. If not, then there is something configured wrongly with your set up rather than the sim itself.
Hope this helps - I think it’s your RAM speed though
