CPU, GPU balance under the most extreme conditions.
This should be the mantra of every user struggling with tweaking MSFS. 2D or VR makes no difference. The process is the same.
Find the location you fly that puts the most strain on your system and causes you the most difficulties. Start by setting your resolution to your display’s native resolution then scale it down to standard 1080p. Adjust the CPU heavy settings like LOD so that your primary core is down to about 50%-60%.Don’t forget about all those sliders for rhinos, buses and ferries, not to mention all the annoying vehicles running around on the taxiways. They have a huge hit on the CPU. Adjust textures and other GPU heavy settings to get your graphics card running at about 80%.
You should be pounding out your max frame rates and be smooth as glass at this point. Ignore the sharpness and detail. Not important right now. Now you can start ramping up your scaling toward your native resolution. A bit at a time. Do Not allow your GPU to break 95%. You can make some trade offs now. Want to take res a bit higher? Dial back textures or effects. This stage is all about compromise. I don’t care what your system configuration is. You can’t have it all.
During this process, keep in mind that you are tuning for worst case scenario here. Go fly over the Sahara in a 152 and you will have far better performance than right now. Your target is to get the best trade between performance and visuals without loading the primary core beyond 75% and the GPU beyond 95%. Keep an eye on VRAM as well. You really want to leave some headroom there as well.
When done. Write down your settings. A hardware change or an update to the sim itself can change some of the load. A code change, for instance, on how the LOD is handled under the surface, may mean some adjustments will be needed.
Bottom line here is that pushing ANY single component to the maximum increases the risk that there will be a hiccup at some point. This can result in anything from dropped frames or micro stutters all the way to total system crash. ALWAYS adjust your system load to leave some headroom for those inevitable background tasks or terrain mesh code glitches. If your system has the headroom to handle the unforeseen without taking resources away from your flying, you will have a much smoother flight.