And AMD equivalent CPUs and GPUs
I am thinking of upgrading my GPU but just experienced the following:
Present system:
MSI Z 390 MB (Pro Carbon AC)
32 GB Memory
C: = M2.1 is a 970 EVO Plus 500GB (90 GB for Win 10) and D: = same(500 - 90)GB
FS2020 installed on C: and D: (32 GB Rollover on C:)
Intel i7 9700 CPU
Nvidia MSI 1660Ti GPU
I upgraded to an Intel i9 9900 CPU (wanted Multi threading)
Very surprised with the great scenery improvement in FS2020.
I was thinking the GPU controlled this mainly. (Never seen a 2080Ti on FS2020 in person)
Cessna CJ4 flies smoothly and is responsive.
But going from (8 Cores 0 Thread) to (8 Cores and 16 Threads) was the only change.
9700 running 4.7 GB and 9900 4.8 GB (plus Multi threading)
I am very surprised (and delighted).
I wonder what a 10, 12, 16 Core processor would do.
Would an expensive GPU be needed (or worth it)?
Frame Rates listed don’t seem to be that much higher.
It does sound crazy to me!
But I can’t afford the new 10th Gen CPU and required new MB.
What are your thoughts on this? CPU or GPU ???
Note: Just an FS2020 person.
This comment does not apply to other Games.
I should also state that I fly the Cessna 172 G1000 and Cessna Citation CJ4.
KJFJ to KEWR for example.
Flying on a TCL 65" OLED TV at 4K.
I fly at Ultra with the 3 sliders at 100% but the 1st one was at 60% by default.
It does not bother me. Smooth flying. Even over NYC.
CPU % is all over but seems like 20% (MSI Afterburner).
GPU % (Nvidia 1660 TI) is at 99% a lot of times but not always. Yes, sometimes 4 FPS. But not a lot of the time.
I don’t notice any jerking of the screen. Flight is smooth as I said.
I can’t complain. I enjoy the flying.
Maybe, I just don’t know what it could be like.
What do you think?
Tell me…!!!
i7 9700 and i9 9900 both are 8-core/16-thread CPUs (CORRECTION: i7 9700 is an 8-core/8-thread CPU, while i9 9900 is 8-core/16-thread CPU), but have different clock rates and some different feature sets; the 9900 is a bit faster, and a friend of mine who has an even faster i9 9900K gets great performance in MSFS.
However I would be surprised if it made much difference for you if your GPU is already running at full utilization, as that likely makes it the limiting factor, not your CPU.
In general, MSFS is very bad at multithreading, and going above 8 cores will be very unlikely to make any difference. (Going above 6 probably doesn’t make much difference either.)
Note that the “threads” in 8-core/16-thread means that the operating system can treat the processor as if it has 16 “logical cores” but it still only actually has 8 – each core has two instruction pipelines that share common execution units. In MSFS you’ll get absolutely no benefit from these additional CPU threads, because there aren’t enough threads in the simulator running at once to actually load them up.
This is why your CPU usage floats under 25% (that means it’s loading up about 3-4 cores at any given time, and no more.)
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If you’re happy with your performance, then great! You’re done and can just enjoy the sim. 
If you want to learn more about how to tune it, you can try enabling Developer Mode in options and turning on “Display fps” from the menu. This will show the current frame rate and per-frame timing information for the four main CPU threads and the GPU, and show you which one is limiting you at any given time.
This can be helpful for determining what settings to change, or what to alter in your computer, if you want to get better performance.
Again, if you’re happy with your performance don’t worry about it! You already have the absolute best CPU you can get for this game, don’t worry about getting a fancier one. 
I was looking at an improvement in Graphics card , I have an i7 9700k with a GTX 1660, I was looking at a 3080 but out of range price wise. A RTX 3070 is reachable but as I have found out they are almost all out of stock everywhere.
The ones you can find seem overpriced because of the shortage and unsurprisingly the shortage seems to be down to the Covid situation. Manufacturers unable to get components flown in etc
Actually though with my set up , up to the last update I could do Ultra settings, now I have High End settings and all fine.
I was planning to create a thread asking what people thought , whether I should upgrade to the RTX 3070 or not but as there aren’t any seems moot now.
One thing I will ask, are prices inflated at the moment or is around ÂŁ1,000 to ÂŁ1,500 correct for an RTX 3080 ? If we were in normal times!
I don’t wont to worry about it. That is not the point.
The point is for we people that can’t afford the newest and greatist hardware
and software, Is there any peace of mind?
As said, I am not unhappy. Would I want more? Yes…
But, does more make the challenge worthy? I can settle for reality
and let the pocketbook rule. But I wish for more…anyway…
I am not trying to lower you who can afford it but just to say, we should
and can accept our current state and enjoy it…
It is still rewarding. And fun for us ( maybe at a lower level than you).
If I could buy the 3090XT 30 G or the 6900XT ?G, I would, in a heartbeat …
Prices are absolutely inflated right now, but they’re also expensive to begin with.
I couldn’t get either the 3000-series NVIDIA or the 6000-series AMD GPU due to limited availability and had to get an inflated-price 2000-series NVIDIA (RTX 2070 Super). At 4K res, high-end settings, and 80% render scaling to add a little headroom I usually get a high enough frame rate for the CPU to be the limiting factor, at around 25-35 fps depending on the area, aircraft, and what’s in frame.
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Aterburner gives same FPS as Dev Mode.
I have a I9-9900 with a RTX-2070 and 32Gig of RAM in my Dell Alienware 51M and get great results
with Ultra and High end settings hooked up to a 43’’ ultrawide monitor…
Could not be more pleased with the setup…
Very few stutters and great performance…
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Thanks for the reply. Glad to not be alone.
Q8 Pilot has just done a very interesting video on this exact topic. He has now got a mega PC, all the bells, all the whistles and, he is disappointed!
Worth a look for information.
I’ve just ordered an i9-9900kf.
Currently running an i5-9600k with a RTX2060 on an MSI Z390 Gaming Plus mobo.
Many say six cores should be sufficient for the game.
However, hwinfo stats show max usage of all six cores were 90% and above. This means all of the cores had been put to work and none were left dawdling twiddling thumbs.
Current price is attractive and the chip does not require a motherboard change.
The extra 6MB cache shouldnt hurt performance.
The final push was your impression of the upgrade I had been mulling over.
Thank you for sharing!
MSFS just like P3d v5 and X Plane and to a lesser extent Aerofly Fs2 are all CPU bound.
I have an i9900KS Oc to 5.3 Ghz and an OC RTX 2080Ti and the video card is not fully utilised as the code is not using more than 1 core to run the sim physics with the other cores hardly used for subsidiary tasks . It all comes down to Clockspeed and you really need only one fast core .
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i have a i7 - 9700K + 32GB DDR4 + RX 5700 XT 8GB + SSD 1TB and i have a very poor performance into the cockpit of A320nx … this game needs a lot of otimizations is more than clearly…few months and no otimizations…
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When you increase from 1080ti to 3090, you find that many airports have increased from 45 frames to 50 frames, or from 20 frames to 23 frames. Money is never too much, but desires never end.
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im thinking in upgrade my RX 5700 XT to a RTX 3080. What you say ?
After watching Q8 Pilot’s video I did some testing with the same settings as him and found myself in the 25-30 fps range most of the time, so just max 5-10fps less than him on my 2017 rig.
core i7-7820x, 1080Ti, 32GB, SSD
Also seems to me that 120% rendering scale adds quality at a low fps price.
No need for any upgrade soon.
cheers, Sailando
I have the i9-10900 (10 cores/20 threads) but limit it to 8 cores with Lasso. Using the Nvidia 1080Ti. I have zero complaints about running FS2020 on this setup. Other than the main core, the others just barely register activity so 8 cores is plenty.
There are different responses on CPU usage;
BatsCorn7433386:
“video card is not fully utilised as the code is not using more than 1 core”
HeliBrewer:
“Other than the main core, the others just barely register activity so 8 cores is
plenty.”
Here is my screen shot rolling down the runway at JFK (New York).
Green box is “Xbox Game Bar” and Orange is “MSI Afterburner With
RivaTuner”.
I added all 8 CPUs which I assume is the 8 Cores.
Sum of al 8 Cores divided by 8 = 18.5 percent average usage.
shothttps://forums.flightsimulator.com/uploads/default/original/3X/c/0/c00f68a38b134dc8e6f1d4845690821987e88bab.jpeg
Looks to me like the i9-9900K is spreading the usage across all 8 cores.
Since each Core has 2 Threads, the 9900K is working 16 different code
processing tasks simultaneously at one time. (Multithreading)
Would that mean that a 8 C-16 T CPU is equal to a 16C-0T CPU?
Tell me…
Vibstronium:
“Note that the “threads” in 8-core/16-thread means that the operating system can treat the processor as if it has 16 “logical cores” but it still only actually has 8 – each core has two instruction pipelines that share common execution units. In MSFS you’ll get absolutely no benefit from these additional CPU threads, because there aren’t enough threads in the simulator running at once to actually load them up.
This is why your CPU usage floats under 25% (that means it’s loading up about 3-4 cores at any given time, and no more.)”
I don’t know enough to challenge your statement but I do know from 30 years
ago writing x86 Machine Language Code, my program code sends an
instruction to the CPU to execute. Nothing about how many cores and threads are there and how many to use or not use. Actually, the CPU then only had 0 Cores. It was just a CPU. I have no idea how the FS2020 program is coded or runs.
You didn’t state how many threads are running in the MSFS Simulator.
You state there aren’t enough threads running at once in the simulator
to load up the CPU cores/threads. If FS2020 has only x threads running,
why buy a CPU with more threads than that?
My 9900K is loading all 8 Cores (and 16 Threads). I think.
Am I wrong?